Charley horse

Charley horse or muscle cramps

* involuntarily and forcibly contracted muscle that does not relax

* mild twitches that can last anywhere from a few seconds to a quarter of an hour or occasionally longer

* may recur mutliple times until it finally goes away

* may involve a part of the muscle, the entire muscle, or several muscles that usually act together

* skeletal muscles are most prone to cramping: calf, thigh, and arch of the foot are most notorious sites of cramps

* Causes: insufficient stretching before exercise, exercising in the heat, muscle fatigue, imbalance in the levels of electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium and phosphate in the blood)

* most resolve spontaneously within a few seconds to minutes

I woke up very early this morning with a cramp on my right leg. It must have been caused by poor sleeping position. I noticed I hadn't moved that leg the whole time so it must have caused that too. I did a quick research and got the information above---nothing serious, but it can be painful.

I just can't help reacting

Another heart-breaking news I read is this story of a brother who is dying of leukemia and that his sister has refused to help him even if she knows that her refusal could mean death for her brother. For more details of the news, you can read it at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=4442388in_page_id=1770 which talks of a sister's refusal to donate bone marrow to her bother for a life-saving operation. Simon Pretty is father of 3 children and is going to die from leukemia within months if he did not get that bone-marrow transplant which only his sister can give since his sister Helen who is 43 years old is a perfect match to his bone marrow. The chances of finding a match outside of the family is very slim and there are not enough donors. Pretty's doctors had helped him look for a match but couldn't find any. Only his sister holds the key to his survival but the sister already declined and refused to elaborate on her reason why. What can you say about this story? Do you think the sister has her own good reasons for doing this? You may want to share your views here.

6-year-old girl arrested?

I got this interesting piece of news from Mylot forum about a 6-year-old girl who was arrested by the police at her school after hitting and biting her teacher. The girl had been yelling and screaming so when the teacher tried to calm her, she had, instead of obeying her teacher, started to hit and bite her. The others who were around tried to extract the little girl from the scene but when it was impossible to do so, they called the police who instantly arrested the wild misbehaving kid. The girl had been processed in jail like an adult.

This news story stirred various reactions from the community but on general concensus, members believe that violent behavior among children is a reflection of their home environment. There was a strong request for the girl's parents to take drastic measures to shape up the child

Scenarios like the one narrated above is not an isolated case. We hear of many cases of violence committed by children aged 5 to 10 and teen-agers aged 13-15 killing homeless people for fun. Now this is not fun anymore involving kids' stuff. This is about the future and what these kids who are exhibiting early signs of violence will do with their lives if adults do not intervene at the first instance early signs of violence are shown by these kids.

According to developmental psychiatrists, adult intervention is crucial from ages 1 to 6. After these ages, it will be hard to control our kids.

the food we are eating could be slowly killing us

A certain food additive called MSG or monosodium glutamate or Ajinomoto has been dubbed by a study as "slow poison" or otherwise known as the international nicotine for food. Most popular fast food chains use MSG because of its addictive nature which keeps consumers coming back for more. MSG has also been pegged as the number one cause of obesity for it triggers the production of more insulin in the body. People rallying against the use or the buying of food containing MSG (read labels and ask restaurant owners what ingredients they are using) are racing against a Bill recently pushed by Bush banning anyone from suing food manufacturers. The bill is otherwise known as "Cheeseburger Bill" or "Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption" even if the truth is, restaurant owners deliberately use MSG in their food because of its addicting capacity.

We as consumers have the right to know this and it is up to us to make rightful decisions with regards to our buying and eating habits. After knowing how harmful MSG is to our body, it is about time that we spend some moments to read labels before buying anything that we use at home. We cannot do much about what these restaurants are serving us but we can be in complete control over what we buy and eat at home.

why I do not like insurance companies

My first bitter experience with an insurance company happened years ago when I was a fresh graduate from college. No, I did not work in one but my mother when I was a student had been religiously paying on a daily basis to this insurance company which promised her the moon and the stars. I have vivid recollections of the company's collector going to the house everyday to collect payment from my mother. The insurance money was supposed to be accessible anytime the member wants to quit. My mother must have been paying this company for over two years when a tragedy happenned to her. She slipped on the floor and broke her bones and she needed operation. Through the collector my mother expressed her desire to use her insurance for medical purposes. She was promised yes and asked to fill out a form. But months rolled by and nothing came out of that claim. The collector had stopped coming to the house and we soon found out that he had been pocketing much of what he had collected from my mother. Much of her payments were not reflected on her ledger because the collector did not remit the payment money. My poor innocent mother had been receiving fake receipts or unofficial receipts for her payments. This time I stepped into the picture and wrote a lengthy letter to the main branch in Manila while at the same time sent the same copies to major newspapers in the country for publication. It was only then when we finally got some positive action from them. My second bad experience with insurance companies happened about three years ago when this certain company tried to change their rules for whatever reasons just to avoid payment. I had to get a lawyer to write the company a letter demanding for the right amount. It was only then when we got what was right. It is no wonder then why most people have negative feelings about insurance companies because they seem to be too eager to get your money but when it's payback time, they use all sorts of delatory tactics or avoidance schemes.

another rant

I know that this is not the right avenue for this but I just need an outlet for this anger of mine against a househelp who I only discovered three days ago had been using my landline phone to call people's cellphones! I learned this when I received the latest bill from Globelines which reflected huge long distance uses amounting to almost a thousand pesos for the month of February alone. And because it is supposed to be her salary day today, she had asked permission to go home. I could not let her fly away like that considering the fact that there is still the whole month of March's telephone bill to consider. Imagine deserting you like that because she knows that she had betrayed us by using our phone to make long distance calls to her relatives and friends! Isn't that so unethical and so dishonest! I will have to be dealing with her after this blog. GrRRRrrr!

have they read this blog?

I doubt it. But two blogs ago, I expressed my observation regarding the road repair these people were supposed to be doing along Daro area and which did not actually amount to anything after a long period of inconvenience. When the road blocks were removed, we saw no progress at all except for the gravel spread all over the area. Today, when I travelled to West City Elementary School ( my alma mater) to deliver a graduation speech the road was blocked again obviously for completion or start of real road work. Both outlets are barricaded so commuters and other vehicle owners will have to take a round-about turn to reach the other end. I thought, have they read the blog? I guess not but I am glad anyway that they will now do something about those rocks and gravel that are giving the taxpayers a bumpy ride each time they take that road. Hopefully, whatever they are doing will be finished before elections for the convenience of everyone.

then fuming, now ranting

My blood pressure went up this morning during the final exams of my three classes because one proctor, who is a parttime teacher, did not appear to do her duty of proctoring one of my classes! That would have been fine if I was not in charge of one class for I could always take over. Through a student I relayed the problem to the staff of the office in charge of scheduling and assigning of proctors but was told that I look for a teacher to do the proctoring! I was like "What? That is not my problem anymore. Getting someone to proctor and scheduling of exams are within their turf and now they are asking me to trouble-shoot this problem they have created? I was almost forced to use effing words at that time. There is no way they could make me do that because I was tending over one class! Don't they see the mess they are creating everytime parttimers are assigned to proctor outside of their class, they always do not appear to do their work. This whole thing bothered the students involved in that class so they went to the office and got told to have the exam rescheduled because no one will proctor. So when these students came to me for rescheduling I told them to let the office do that because my work does not include scheduling or rescheduling of exams. Finally, after almost an hour of waiting, the office sent a proctor. Now that is what I call "Pinoy style of management". Do we ever wonder at all why we remain locked up in caves?

so much hulabaloo for so little

Recently in our city there are certain sections that have been blocked because of road repairs or construction and the only way vehicles can get to their destinations is to make a longer tour. Of course this has created some inconvenience and eyebrow-raising. Why are these repairs only done now? Oh, I almost forgot that election time is up and coming in May. Better late than never but this is supposed to be good for the constituents. Okey, no use arguing that. However, I still could not understand this. There was a time when this major road in Daro was blocked because of this. The section was not avalaible from both sides so travelers had to make a turn to the other road. This lasted for quite a few weeks so when the blocks were finally removed and people were allowed to travel that area, I was in for a big surprise because the road area which they were trying to fix was actually very, very short---maybe only about a few meters . And it is not even done yet! What had they been doing during those weeks they were blocking the area? And to think that they had to subject people to so much inconvenience with so little or no proof of work progress at all. If you have noticed, the only thing they have done there was spread gravel all over the area. This has made it even more difficult than what it was before they attempted to "fix" it. What's going on? As a taxpayer I think I have the right to ask these questions. How much budget was alloted for this spreading of gravel in the area? How many men were paid to do that task any small child can do in a mattrer of minutes? I just don't get the whole thing.

no matter what, I'm hugely proud of this

Bent in getting some referrals I mentioned about blogging at my workplace and one teacher, about half my age asked me, "What is a blog, ma'am?" Well that made something clear: not all young ones are computer-savvy. Many are still as clueless as I am about a lot of online things. The fact that I have already started this while many still do not know what a blog means, seems like a huge leap for me and it all of a sudden gives me the feeling of being one step ahead.

the untold umbrella story

This is one episiode of my life which I find amusing when I remember it now. I was never a big fan of umbrellas when I was young.Until now I just do not know why I did not like carrying umbrellas whether it rained or shined. To my young mind at that time carrying one was not in harmony with my personality. Weird, right? My late mother who always carried one along was always mad at me for this weird attitude I had against this multi-purpose gadget called the umbrella. One day it was raining real hard and my mother insisted that I went to school with an umbrella. It was difficult to argue with her at that moment because I saw that she was boiling mad! That settled it. I brought an umbrella to school but under one condition----that I did not have to carry it inside the campus. My younger sister had to carry two umbrellas in school and when her classmates asked her why, she told them the truth and they all found it not normal. Today, I have gotten over that crazy feeling. I can now carry any umbrella whenever it rains.

tons of foooood!

These are just samples of the variety of foods prepared by Mandarin Catering Services for the Mercado family in celebration of Roxanne's graduation from school. Roxanne as you will remember in the earlier blog, did not merely graduate from high school but did so with high honors. (read previous blog). And for congratulating and sharing the family's moments of joy, this is what we were treated to....

McDonald's is here!

Another famous name in the food industry has found a good timing to open at such a time when schools and universities are busy churning out graduates to the pride and happiness of parents. Good cause for celebration and what better way to treat the family than to bring everyone after the ceremonies to the nearest fast-food restaurant. We passed by McDonald's and were amazed to see a long queue of people patiently waiting for their turn under the heat of the mid-day sun! What is this? Is it the food which they surely have not tasted yet or plain curiousity which made these people line up to wait? On the other hand, the other fast-food which is as popular is also not to be outshined. Their Jollibee mascots were put to work, as loud music and a band around the city gave everyone the impression that there is healthy competition going on around here in this small city of ours called the City of Gentle People or the University Town. the crew of Chowking, yet another food house, are extra nice and fast. With the mushrooming of these fastfood restos, we can easily conclude that people in this city are indeed eating.

no connection

Hello! It seemed like ages but it was only a matter of hours when internet access became impossible in our area. Something close to panic seized me when I could not get connected late yesterday afternoon. Why? I made a call to the internet provider and was told that restoration work on the site's server was going on around Visayas and Mindanao and that they hope everything would go back to normal the following day. The following day? That to me sounded like years! So I had to deal with that until the thing gets restored. Hey, watch for my next catch on photo of the week for she will surely mesmerize you. Tip: she's got the rare combination of brains and beauty.

flying high!!!!

the world salutes all the graduates of

2007! go and pursue your dreams!

Congratulations, Roxanne and all of batch 2007!

Whether you finished high school or college, it does not matter, but if you are one of those who will proudly walk up the stage to receive your diploma anytime this month, you deserve lots of hugs and congratulations. You did it! A case in point is one girl who belongs to the 2007 batch of high school graduates of Catherina Cittadini, a Catholic school run by Ursuline sisters. This 15-year-old girl will march on the 25th of this month with flying colors. Roxanne Mercado is the first of two children of Atty. and Mrs. Raymund Mercado. Her awards include the second to the highest academic award as Salutatorian of the class, Debater of the Year, a silver award in Journalism, YMCA Outstanding Student award, as well as other leadership citations. She was chosen as one of the Ambassadors of Goodwill of the Philippines which she represented in a two-weeks' leadership congress in George Washington University in Washinton, D.C. Roxanne or Roxie had also travelled with her family to San Francisco, L.A., Las Vegas, and New York. A distant yet worth mentioning was her winning the title of Little Miss Dumaguete in 1999 when she was just a little girl. This vibrant and intelligent daughter of the Mercados has the makings of becoming a fine lawyer like her father someday. When asked about what course she intends to pursue, Roxanne will break into a smile and say,"A course in Economics or Accountancy". With that there is no doubt as to what career route this girl is taking. To our featured lady this week, keep it up and you go, girl!

this week's feature: this girl named Roxanne

Our photo of the week is that of a fresh high school graduate who answers to the name Rosanne or Roxie. Why did I choose her to be our photo of the week catch? Well, for several reasons which I will be writing in detail when I come back. I still have a class to catch and I just dropped these few lines to explain briefly the photo that you find in our "photo of the week". Duty calls now and I must abide. I'll see ya later.

writing an effective application letter

It's another season of harvest---thousands of college graduates will march out of school to find their niche in the world and the race begins. Usually those seeking for employment will be asked to submit an application letter together with a resume. If there are three hundred interested applicants for a single position, there will be a total of 300 application letters all aiming to catch the interest of the prospective employer. Which letters will gain favorable attention and which ones will be junked? If you were an applicant, how do you want the reader to treat your letter? The answers to these questions depend on how well you have written your application letter.

The first step to do before writing that crucial letter is to ask yourself this question: What is my purpose of writing this letter? I could almost hear you say, "to get a job". But that is not the real aim of the application letter. The real role of the employment or application letter is for you to be granted an interview---that is, if your letter is well written and convincing enough to attract the attention of the prospective employer who should schedule you for an interview. However, if the letter is poorly written, meaning, it is merely copied from someone else's letter and is therefore laden with cliches and not specific about your goals and achievements, then you lose the opportunity to sell yourself during a face-to-face interview. It is important therefore to write your application letter with much care and thought.

First, make an assessment of your personal characteristics, your assets or positive characteristics that will make you a valuable new hire. In other words, what have you got to deserve the post you want? Take note of these top selling traits and use them in your application letter. Remember, an application letter is much like a sales letter in which the product you are marketing is you. And before you can market anything, you need to know the product very well. After taking stock of your potentials, be ready to know which companies will need your services. Then be very clear about the kind of work you want to do. Do not just state "any position". That shows weakness on your part because it means you don't know what you want. Be specific with the kind of work that you can do and want to do. Use this to start your letter along with your top three assets or selling points. Then after stating the position you are seeking and your capabilities, move on to the second paragraph and explain what you mentioned in the first paragraph. State your academic preparation, your experiences in school which have prepared you to tackle future responsibilities. Since you are explaining your academic training and experiences on the second paragaph, it is understood that this should be the longest of the 3 paragraphs your application letter should contain. The third and last paragraph will seek for action from the reader. Do not say " I am hoping for your reply" or "I will be waiting for your call", because they sound weak and are downright cliches. What do you want your reader to do after reading your letter? Of course, you would like him or her to schedule you for an interview by giving you a call or sending you a telegram or an e-mail to that effect. The last part of your letter should make it easy for the reader to get in touch with you by telling him how you can be reached and what you would like to happen after that.

never too late

Driving had always fascinated me in the past. Everytime I took the passenger's seat and watch someone maneuver and ply the roads with not a tinge of fear, I would imagine how it would be like to be the one in control, to be at the wheel and go where I wanna go. That opportunity came, at last, at an age when most of my contemporaries would say "We're too old for that, Glen". Well, I have proven to them that the skill is not that hard to learn when you're "old". I am now driving while they, who've had their vehicles many years ago, still have to depend on their husbands or children driving for them. The good thing about being able to drive is that you become mobile, you can go places and accomplish many things even with little time. With a one-hour vacant period, I can finish 5 tasks without arriving late for my next class. I am doing this almost everyday shooting one task after the other----buying e-load, bondpaper, going to the local post office, to the bank, then to studio to pick up some pictures---did it in a breeze! All because I can drive myself to places. There is nothing more energy sapping than to wait for a pedicab or someone to drive for you each time you go from one place to another.

40% of crossroads fatalities involve drivers over 70

In Washington, a study shows that 40% of fatalities at crossroads involve elderly drivers over 70 whose vision problems were tagged a big factor. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, elderly drivers have difficulty judging distance and when it is safe to make a left turn across traffic. It is hard for older drivers to judge whether they have enough time to make a left turn or not, says Anne McCartt, senior vice President for the insurance institute. The issue of aging drivers surfaced as the nation of baby boomers starts to age. In the study it was noted that the percentage of people over 65 with a license increased from 61% in 1980 to 80% in 2003. By 2030, the number of elderly drivers is expected to double to a million or 25% of the driving population. The study is struggling to find ways of determining which older drivers are at the highest risk for accidents and which could sufficiently be used for licensing decisions.

In 2003, an 86-year-old man drove his car into Santa Monica, farmers' market, killing 10 and injuring more than 100 people.