Do You Have A Girlfriend?

One question that really irritates me is "Do you have a girlfriend?". Why? Well it's just because why do you want to know if ever I have a girlfriend? Is it a requirement to have a girlfriend to be successful in my chosen career or finish college? Or does having a girlfriend make me a better person and most importantly, will having a girlfriend contribute to the betterment of mankind?

I don't think so.

It irritates me so much when I'm asked this because it degrades the idea and point of having a relationship. Having a relationship is not just for the sake of it. That is what most teens think that's why they look for a relationship just for the sake of having one because it is the norm or the "in" thing in college.

My ideals and principles dictates to me that a relationship is based on love. I don't have a girlfriend or any intimate relationship for that matter because I haven't found the one that I love, my other half, my equal. Love will come and you don't look for it. If you try looking for love then you would just find losers who are in desperate to have a relationship for very wrong reasons.

My idea of having a relationship is having a partner who you will love and who loves you and both of you would live your entire life together. I'm after a serious-marriage type of relationships not just flings or one night stands.

So if I wasn't in a good mood while that mother asked me if I had a girlfriend, I would have replied: "I don't have a girlfriend because I don't want to end up like your kids who ended up getting pregnant and married early without finishing college (such losers)!"

Being an Ultrasound Technician

For some while now I have been talking about choosing another career related to health & medicine aside from nursing. You see I really wish to pursue a career in nursing but I guess that I'm sort of having difficulties achieving that goal since I'm transferring to another university in another country and my credits in my Bachelor of Science might not be credited and I might go back to first year. I do have an Associate in Health Science Education so I'm thinking of starting fresh from there.

I have been browsing the net and I found the site medical-career-training.com and it had a complete list of medical careers like for example being an ultrasound technician. Ultrasound is a routine diagnostic procedure in the hospital so an ultrasound tech will have a lot of job in his hands. But an ultrasound tech's job description is very interesting. He will be able to make a scan of a woman's ovaries & uterus, her baby, to the organs in the abdomen, up to the brain.

What's even more attractive in an ultrasound tech career track is that you may only have to study for 2 years (there's also a 4 year course)! And your pay is very good too! How does a median income of $48,660 per year sound? You have a very nice paying career and a very interesting job too!

So why not check out more information about being an ultrasound tech or better yet find ultrasound schools near you and start your medical career now!

Nurse No-Duty

Oh boy! Good thing that I don't have to go to class this summer. I went to Xavier University to get my recommendation letter (which my CI did not give to me yet huhuhu, but it's ok ^_^) and I met some of my classmates and friends. They were just from duty and boy did they look so haggard and stress looking.

Imagine 4 days straight of duty and on two days of those days you have to sleep late into the night to finish requirements for the next day. So you get to sleep at around 1:00 am and you have to wake up at 5:30 am. I know because back when I was on duty I also experienced that.


Oh well, but it beats staying at home and being intellectually stagnant and bored.

Finding the Right Home

You know what? I'm still getting the goosebumps and a bit frustrated with this moving thing. I know that I shouldn't be the one worrying about selling our old home and buying/renting a new home. It's quite frustrating because putting up old houses for sale signs won't simply work and driving all around the city looking for "for sale" signs is equally as frustrating!

Thank God for the internet, looking and selling your house is made very simple! If you want to sell your house then posting private property online is the way to do it. You get to reach many prospective buyers and tenants. And if you're a tenant you don't have to drive around the city and personally ask landlords or real estate people for your inquiries. That would be time consuming and very tiring. Looking for possible homes on the internet is more comfortable and you get the ease of selecting properties from hundreds of houses that match your style, budget, and preferred location.

I just wish that I found a real estate company like PropertyHome.co.za sooner because they not only have a wide listing of available properties they also aids you in home valuation, home loans, and finding an agent. If you're interested in houses for sale high desert located in South Africa then this company is for you. Why don't you visit their site for more information.

Me, the Assistant Professor

Who would have guessed that being a teacher could be so darn difficult. I had a first hand experience of how tiring it is a professor when my mom asked me to help her check her test papers and my God my brain almost fried. If you think that checking test papers is just simple, well you should try checking bookkeeping test papers!

I had to check every entry to check if the students did not just copy their total. And it's quite frustrating how many of them copied and how many of them who had no clue what they are doing. If I was a teacher then I'd have no double thoughts and I will report them for cheating and fail them.

But my mom is too kind with them and told me that she'll just pass them. My mom is just teaching as a part-time job by the way since it's a great way to earn money plus she'll be able to make use of her Masters degree.

I still am not finished and I'm just resting for a bit. I think that I may need to get some glasses already since my eyes are starting to hurt already from all those bloody entries.

McAfee SiteAdvisor

Today we have a lot of various sorts of webpages and websites on the internet and everything is so topsy-turvy. We have absolutely no idea what sites are safe from viruses, adware, spam, and even fraudulent acts. An unsuspecting internet user could be mislead into revealing her e-mail and PayPal account passwords and usernames thinking that the site is legally safe.

The internet could be a pretty unsafe places as thieves could just hide anywhere under the disguise of a respectable website. So how can you protect yourself from online viruses, adware, spam, and fraud? It's very simple! Just download the McAfee SiteAdvisor for free and you can be safe from unsafe sites.

With McAfee Advisor past users of a website could easily report if a website spams, has viruses, adware, spyware, browser exploit, excessive pop-ups, fraud/phishing, scam, and even bad shopping experience plus a detailed explanation why.

I myself could testify that McAfee Advisor had saved me time and effort as it told me that one site that I plan to register in was just a scam. So if I were you guys, you should get your free download now and protect yourself from identity theft, spammers, and all other negative elements on the net.

Treat Your Acne Now!

Ever since I was in high school I seriously had some bad acne problems. I think I don't need to explain what acne is because I think everyone has had their own share of experience of having awful acne breakdowns! Yup having pimples or zits all over your face is quite depressing and you get to have a bad body image and you just want to have your face covered with a paper bag literally.

Without proper acne treatment and blemish treatment then one would not only suffer from acne scars and bad skin but tremendous emotional scars and severe low esteem problems as well.

Several teens and adults are afflicted with recurrent acne problems and they are in serious need of acne treatment. There are a lot of acne treatment products and websites on the internet but I only found one that is very comprehensive and very easy to understand. I highly recommend acne-treatment-answers.com as it gives you reviews on the top acne products most effective acne products as well as a thorough information about all the things you need to know about acne: what it is, how it is caused, and how it is treated. They also give out a thorough and unbiased review about existing acne treatment in the market. Their reviews are also based upon their visitors who have actually tried the effectiveness of these top acne products. Remember that you must be really careful when choosing an acne treatment for you as these are chemicals that may do more harm than good so getting the opinion of actual users is crucial.

Having a clear and smooth skin is not only for beauty reasons but for emotional reasons as well. Everyone wants to feel comfortable and at ease every time they are seen in public. That is why acne treatment is a need and not merely a want. And if you want your skin to be really perfect then you should try having a blemish treatment too.

A Man Becomes Pregnant

Before you think that this is just some hoax well you better believe it. This story was shown on Oprah and the story spread on the web and the world like wild fire! Mr. Thomas beatie, 34 years old, a resident of Oregon announced on Oprah his story that he was 6 months pregnant. As proof he even had an ultrasound and hold and behold a health baby girl! But how could a man be biologically be capable of bearing a child? Simple! Thomas was actually a she and not a he. Confused? Well let me enlighten you a bit. Thomas, was born and lived for 24 years as a girl called Tracey. Tracey's mother committed suicide at the age of 12 and only had her 2 brothers and father has role models. Tracey had known by then when she hit puberty that she was a man trapped in a girl's body. Although she won the title of Miss Hawaii Teen USA and had a boyfriend by the age of 17 she knew that she was a transgender and decided to have a sex transplant and hormone replacement when she was with her partner Nancy, who was fully supportive of her. And now she became a he because his breasts were removed (mastectomy) and he grew a beard and his body became more muscular because of testosterone therapy. He still has his female organs retained but he claims that his clitoris looks like a small penis now due to hormone replacement and that he can have intercourse with his wife (yup he is legally male and married).

So why would he want to get pregnant when he wants to be a male? It's because of two reasons. First, he says that, "It's not a male or female desire to have a child. It's a human desire." Second, Nancy can't bear a child because she had to have her uterus removed because of endometriosis.

So Thomas had artificial insemination done. He actually had triplets at the first attempt but had to have the pregnancy aborted because he had an ectopic pregnancy (the fetuses implanted themselves in his falopian tube). The second attempt is his present pregnancy which by the way is normal and would be normal through NSVD or Normal Spontaneous Vaginal Delivery.

The first impact of this story to people would be "Wow! Unbelievable!" The second thing that would rush to some closed-minded people is "What kind of freaks are these!" Society may have great difficulty accepting such situations which society brands as abnormal but time will come when the society will accept these occurrences.

The relationship of Thomas and Nancy is a testimony that nothing can ever be a barrier to true love may it be race, age, economic standing, and in this case gender. Thomas and Nancy are just two happily married couples where the husband is having the baby. Let's just all wish them good luck!

Bumrungrad International

If you're thinking that these are pictures of a famous 5-Star hotel located in a famous tourist destination then you are partly correct.

Bumrungrad (Thai meaning "care for the people") International is an internationally accredited, multi-specialty hospital located in the heart of Bangkok, Thailand. It's the largest private hospital in Asia and well known for it's medical tourism. Millions of patients come every year to have their medical procedures because health care is cheaper in Thailand and the hospital is fully staffed (700+ nurses and 945 doctors, covering 55 sub-specialties) and has all the latest medical equipment and facilities. Red Cross gives Bumrungrad its top classification of "A" – defined as "a tertiary care center which should be able to provide quality care in all medical specialties including invasive cardiology, cardiac and neurosurgery."

And speaking of specialized doctors, Bumrungrad even has a golf doctor. Yes they have a golf course and an in-house ortophedic doctor/surgeon that not only cures golf-related injuries but help you improve your game! How cool is that.

And yes, Bumrungrad is a tourist destination/hospital that offers a shopping center, restaurants, and fully furnished private rooms. The room amenities include private bathrooms, cable TV, refrigerator, DVD players (available on request) and high-speed Internet connections. Suites also come with full kitchens as well as washing machines and dryers (available at one bedroom apartment up). The shared facilities include a swimming pool, Jacuzzi, sauna, steam room. And did I mention maid-service?

But before you pack your bags to have a cheap cosmetic surgery and recuperate in a 5-star hotel suite you better think twice. Because Bumrungrad has some secrets behind it. Just like the death of 23 year old Josh Goldberg who died because of malpractice but Bumrungrad is protected from medical suits since it is a huge money earning company that brings a lot of income to the Thai government so it's natural to protect this gold mine from being exposed.

Bumrungrad has also been speculated to harvest organs from live patients that is why it's quite easy to get organ "donors" from Bumrungrad. But all of these are not proven because they are all perfectly covered up as said by bumrungraddeath.com.

But aside from these controversies Bumrungrad International is still such a wonderful place (for the filthy rich anyway). So if you plan on staying at Bumrungrad or any hospital for that matter please take note of these reminders/tips:

• Always have a watcher with you at all times. You don't want to be a victim of organ theft or dying due to malpractice.
• Always ask for explanations for all procedures and treatment, especially medications. Doctors might be blinded by greed and over treat a patient to get more pay from insurance.
• Take note of all expenses and know the "hidden charges" are carefully tagged as miscellaneous fees and don't hesitate to ask what these fees are for even before checking in to any hospital.
• Check the accreditation of the doctors and staff.
• Refer to friends and relatives for feedback on their hospital stays so that you will be aware of what to expect.

Let us remember that health care is now a business (sadly). So let us not be victims of large greedy health corporations and let us protect our rights by always being informed.

***
Sources:
Bumrungrad International
Bumrungrad Death

Awesome Town

I was just surfing the net as usual (blog hoping) when I bumped into "Awesome Town". I've heard that it's a TV series for Fox Network but I really can't relate because I don't get Fox here in our cable subscription.

These guys are weird to the point of being stupid but they have a sense of appeal don't you think as they make you laugh your head off. Hmm... maybe I need more sleep though words are just flying out my head and I can't seem to think straight. Kind of like the guys from Awesome Town huh? Lol.

Are you a Unicorn? Yes! Hahaha!

Too Tired to Blog

I don't know why I suddenly feel so tired today. I was planning to do my daily routine this evening, blog and drop Entrecards but I am just too darn tired to stay awake. I guess that my body is already feeling the recoil of sleep deficit. I have to pay up for my lost hours of sleep.

It's really amazing how I manage to sleep late at night during days with out classes and be flat on bed snoring during school days hehehe. But maybe it is just more relaxing to sleep when you know that you have a lot of boring school stuff to do.

Speaking of school stuff it reminds me of my brother's high school, Holy Cross High School. I have never studied there and I am glad that I did not because their rules and policy are so insanely stupid. Why do they need to have the parents retrieve the student's report card? Am I not enough to satisfy the role as guardian? Like my parents have no time because they have to work for our living. Besides my brother already graduated so there is no need to talk to the parents about my brother's performance in school.

I just wonder what the basis of their rules are. Just for the sake of having rules? Well I have 2 words for that: BS! Sorry for my French.

Being a Pharmacy Technician

I'm still young and I still have many opportunities waiting for me. I still don't have a clear picture of who I will be in the future but I am definite that I will be in the health care industry someday. Upon checking out many health-related careers I had my eye on being a pharmacy technician.

So what are the job responsibilities of a pharmacy tech? Quite simple really, pharmacy technicians assist licensed pharmacists. In the hospital setting, after the patient's meds are checked by the licensed pharmacist, the pharmacy tech delivers it to the patient. While in the pharmacy, technicians prepare the prescription after checking its accuracy, which could include counting pills, or weighing, measuring, or mixing the medication. There's no need to worry about making mistakes here because the pharmacist will always double check your prepared medications before it is dispensed.

Being a pharmacy tech requires no formal education too! One could just have an on the job training how cool is that? All you need in being a pharmacy tech is being a hard worker, organized, and alert. You must also be careful with your drug preparations as wrong dosages could seriously harm a patient.

So the most important part, the pharmacy technician salary. In 2002, the median hourly pharmacy tech salaries were $10.70. But wages actually vary and other factors that affect wages include the job environment, certification, union membership, and shift.

So being a pharmacy technician is not bad! In fact it's a very interesting career choice! So if you want more information about how to be a pharmacy technician and where you might want to study why don't you visit this very informative site: medical-career-training.com.

Harsh CI Love

As a student nurse I have encountered so many kinds of clinical instructors (CI's). There are CI's who are very friendly, there are CI's who you admire so much for their intelligence and skills, but the CI's that you might want to get away from are the "terror" CI's with matching tiger-looks hahaha!

Who are these "terror" CI's? They are the ones who will not hesitate to shout at you in public, fail you, and even throw heavy steel patient charts (you must evade to avoid serious injury hehehe). But I understand why CI's may sometimes be strict and uptight. This is because their hard-earned professional license is on the line. So if ever students become lax in the hospital student nurses might do more harm than care to patients. and who would suffer the consequences? Not the students but the CI's because what will you take away from student nurses they don't even have any license yet. So if you hate your CI go kill a patient, joke. ^_^

But if CI's are not strict with their students the clear line that marks authority is broken and student nurses won't show respect and won't follow the instructions of CI's. Plus if our CI's don't care about us then they would just leave us making a lot of mistakes. If CI's don't inform us of our mistakes then we would never learn.

But at the end of the duty or class CI's are more friendly because they don't have to be the authority after class hours, they are now our friends. I'm really going to miss my clinical instructors especially Ma'am Asne who has always been a mother figure to us. She has always been so generous with us in terms of time and food (hehehe). I will try to be like my clinical instructors and I will make them proud me, their student nurse who gave them trouble once in a while...

Shopping Cart Anyone?

You have heard that I was having a Nursing Garage Sale right? I only wish that I have heard of Ashop Commerce's shopping cart software sooner so that I could have easily sold my items online! Anyway selling stuff online is one way to earn a lot of money as you have a much wider customer range that is why an ecommerce software is needed in online businesses.

I say ecommerce because Ashop does not only provide a shopping cart but also sales analysis, web optimization, inventory, and shipping and tax. Plus Ashop offers free store designs! It's like having a software that is the master control of your whole business operation! How cool is that?

And did I mention that this software requires no installation at all? Yup Ashop Commerce's ecommerce software is a web-based program so even if your not a computer geek you can easily use this software with ease and immediately. And about being a computer geek Ashop has a live technical support so you can get help easily.

Interested? Why don't you try Ashop Commerce' right now for 10 days without any use of a credit card!

I Hate Smokers!

Honestly I think smokers have a disgusting habit and I guess you would know what that is right? SMOKING!

I don't know what is it with them that they want to die that much! There are so many reasons to quit and one reason is good enough to quit! So what are these reasons? Here they are:

• CANCER! What kind of cancer? Adult Acute Leukemia, Adult Chronic Leukemia, Cervical Cancer, Esophagus Cancer, Laryngeal Cancer, Lung Cancer,
  Kidney Cancer, Oropharyngeal Cancer, Pancreas Cancer, Stomach Cancer, Urinary Bladder

• CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES Stroke, aneurysms, high blood pressure, and other cardiovascular illnesses.

• RESPIRATORY DISEASES Smoking is cited as a risk for dying of pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, or emphysema.

• OTHER ILLNESSES:

  A report recently published in the American Journal of Epidemiology suggested that smoking increased the risk of developing non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) by more than three times.

  Studies have pointed to smoking as a risk in vision loss among older people, mental impairment later in life, Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

• EFFECT ON PREGNANCY Pregnant women who smoke can pass nicotine and carbon monoxide to their baby through the placenta leading to fetal injury, premature birth, or low birth weight.

Still not convinced? Here are some fast fact from the FDA Fact Sheet:

> Number of deaths per year attributed to tobacco in the United States: 400,000 *.

> Number of deaths per hour: 45.

> Number of deaths due to:
Cardiovascular disease: Almost 180,000. *
Obstructive lung disease (chronic bronchitis and emphysema: 65,000 *.

> Risk for a smoker dying of lung cancer, compared to a never-smoker:
Male: 22 times
Female: 12 times

> Number of scientific studies on the health effects of tobacco, approximate: 50,000.

> Percentage of United States adults who smoked in 1993: 25 *

> Percentage in 1965: 42 *

> Number of years of life smoking costs the average smoker: 7 *

> Number of identified carcinogens in tobacco smoke: 43

> Estimated 1993 health care costs due to smoking, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: total $50 billion. This figure includes:
$26.9 billion for hospital costs
$15.5 billion for doctors
$4.9 billion in nursing home costs
$1.8 billion for prescription drugs
$900 million for home-health care expenditures

But what do I care if these smokers die? They want to die then let them die. But what's so disgusting with these kind of people is when they drag other people down with them to their graves. Who do they kill with them? The non-smoking people! Smokers are so shameless! Non-smokers have a 20 percent greater chance of death from coronary heart disease when they become secondary smokers or when they inhale smoke from smokers. Also non-smokers have a greater risk to have respiratory diseases and lung cancer because smoke particles that are inhaled cannot be expelled again unlike smokers.

And another important fact to know is that smoking by parents following the birth of babies is linked to sudden infant death syndrome, or cot death, and higher rates of infant respiratory illness, such as bronchitis, colds, and pneumonia.

So smokers are only liabilities in society! Billion of dollars are wasted on health care for them when they caused their own illness. These people also don't have any conscience as they kill other people.

Whenever a smoker smokes in public like the public transportation i never hold back on showing my great disgust and annoyance. if you want to die do it alone don't drag non-smokers with you!

A New Way to Search for People

I just joined a website that offers a unique people search engine! It's like a hybrid of Google & Wikipedia because you can search for people using his/her name, email, or tags like has brown eyes, lives in Canada, and etc. What's more exciting and unique about this people search is that you can actually edit the search result of a person adding more information related to that person. And the search results also contains the person's contact details or homepage making it easier to contact that person.

If more people joined this people search then you can search for people who have similarities with you or even long lost friends! The possibilities are endless with Spock.com!

I have tried out Spock's people search and I searched for "student nurse" and here are the people who turned up! And you notice the websites below the name right? You can reach these student nurses through these websites and befriend them and link to them. Isn't it great? Why don't you check out Spock.com for yourself and go people search right now!

Ever Heard of the Orange Thumb in Gardening?

Before you give me the weird look for saying orange thumb instead of green thumb, let me tell you what this Project Orange Thumb is. Project Orange Thumb is a grant program by Fiscars that aims to promote community involvement, neighborhood beautification, creativity and horticulture education by providing communities and garden groups with garden tools and supplies.

With all those accessories and tools provided by Fiskars then it wouldn't be a wonder how easy it would be for the community to let their imaginations run wild and create beautiful gardens (may it be a flower garden or a vegetable garden).

If only our community became a grant recipient then a lot of people from the community would benefit from the Project Orange Thumb. I have noticed that from the 13 Gardens that would be the lucky recipients of the 2008 Project Orange Thumb are mostly schools (elementary, high school, and college). What a better way to let students learn about science and a way to encourage them to eat fresh organic fruits and vegetables.

In my own experience as a student volunteer in our community, our community garden has helped unified our community by making our neighbors realize how important it is to take care of our environment. Gardening has brought people together and it had even helped beautify our neighborhood because the people in our community has a sense of ownership and cases of littering has decreased.

Fiskar's Project Orange Thumb is a very unique program that not only helped the community be unified but it has helped empower low-income neighborhoods to provide themselves with nutritious food. Project Orange Thumb sure is humanitarian and it had really brought out the student's creativity as the grant recipients each had a unique garden and I'm sure that with Project Orange Thumb their goals will be accomplished.

Like My Ice Cream?

First of all I had you fooled if you thought that this was actually a real life ice cream. Well you're wrong because this is actually a candle. So if you have a craving for wax then this is surely for you! Joke! ^_^

Who would have guessed that people would actually notice my Candle Palace Candle. Like I know that the craftsmanship of the candle is quite good but I didn’t expect so many people asking me if the candle was real or they thought that the ice cream was real. I immediately then became proud of my candle and I myself allowed myself to appreciate it. And what’s more amazing about it is that this is a local product from Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines.

I now realized that we Filipinos do have some products that we can sure be proud of and call our own. I was going to sell the candle for Php 40 pesos but I’m thinking of rising the price a bit because the quality is undeniably excellent.

Hmm. Just looking at the candle make me drool for real ice cream. I think I'll be bringing this one with me to Canada. ^_^

Please Honor the Milk Code!

It was in the OB Ward when I was on duty that I first heard of the "Milk Code". Executive Order No. 51 (Philippine Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes) or more commonly known as the "Milk Code" protects babies from dying by barring milk companies (like Nestle) from promoting their product as a substitute for breastfeeding which of course is morally wrong!

The milk code clearly states that breast milk should exclusively be given to babies younger that the age of one and that milk substitutes is a big no-no! Why? Because failure to breastfeed leads to the deaths of 16,000 children in the Philippines each year and 1.5 million infants die around the world every year (from The Manila Times and Baby Milk Action).

So why is breastfeeding so important that taking it away may lead to the numerous deaths of infants around the world? Here are the reasons:

1. The babies immune system is still inactive and they only get their protection from a great number of childhood diseases EXCLUSIVELY from breast milk, specifically from the colostrum. Antibodies are passively given from the mother to the baby. Without these antibodies babies could die!
   
2. Breast milk is the ONLY COMPLETE source of nutrition. Artificial food supplements that Nestle and other milk companies could never be a substitute no matter how many minerals and vitamins they add to their formulas.
3. Formula milk is NOT STERILE! It’s been proven that some infant formulas contain enterobacter sakazakii, a highly lethal pathogenic microorganism. Milk formula labels don’t have warnings on these (from UNICEF).
4. ONLY breast milk contain necessary growth factors that help babies develop physically, mentally, and emotionally!
5. Bottle feeding will confuse the baby and will prefer to be bottle fed than breast fed making it very difficult to return to breast feeding.

Aside from protecting the baby from dying from diarrhoeal diseases, breast feeding has countless benefits not only for the baby, but for the mother, and society as well. You don't only strengthen family ties with breast feeding, you also help the government save a lot of money! Don't believe me then visit MotheringFromtheHeart.com for the list of some of the numerous benefits of breast feeding!

So why is Nestle an INFANT MURDERER? It's because their infant formula advertisements present artificial feeding as healthy and comparable to breastmilk therefore discourages mothers to breastfeed. Health claims such as “contains all the nutrition babies need for all-around visual, mental and psychomotor development” or “helps your baby fight against harmful free radicals of the environment” manipulate mothers. “Formula milk does not provide babies immunity from infection. It provides inadequate level of nutrition making babies susceptible to infection, malnutrition and death” stresses Sterken, a key player in the 20 country two-decade international boycott against Nestle & breast feeding advocate (from UNICEF). And with all said, Nestle even has the audacity to counter and challenge not only the Milk Code of the Philippines but of the codes of the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nation's Children's Fund (UNICEF)!

Help protect our babies from greedy unethical companies like Nestle! Join the boycott and spread the word that breast milk has no substitute! For student nurses and nurses, or any medical professionals working in the hospital especially in the Philippines, always confiscate milk bottles from mothers! We are the empowered deputes who will enforce the Milk Code. If the mother says that she is only using the bottle but the milk is breast milk and not formula, inform her to use droppers or tablespoons instead because again, using baby bottles for infants below age confuses them and makes breast feeding difficult.

***
Breast Feeding Resources:

• Baby Milk Action
• Department of Health (EO 51 or Milk Code)
• UNICEF
• Manila Times
• Mothering From the Heart
• Infant Feeding Action Coalition Canada

My Nursing Garage Sale!

Yeay! Who would have guessed that I would earn so much for my Nursing Garage Sale! Well I didn't get to take back the original amount that I spent in buying my books and other stuff but at least I get to earn something right? I'm hoping that nursing books in Canada is not that expensive. Besides it's better to buy new books that have updated info right than bring with me very heavy books that I will have to pay for if they exceed the baggage allowance given to us by the airplane company.


But my garage sale isn't over yet so to all people who live near me (Cagayan de Oro) please visit my Nursing Garage Sale HERE so that you can avail of the great stuff I'm selling at an incredibly low and reasonable price, hehehe.

I'm Loving Entrecard

I just love Entrecard! What is Entrecard? Well it's just one of the best ways to get connected with other bloggers and increase your page traffic tremendously! Entrecard works like leaving a business card into a blog/site that has an Entrecard widget and the blog/site owner then visits your blog and drop his/her Entrecard. It's like switching Entrecards (business cards if you want to put it that way).

Plus you have a great incentive when you drop Entrecards! Every time you drop your card or someone drops a card in your site you earn Entrecard credits. These credits can then be used to advertise on other blogs. See my Entrecard at the upper right corner of my blog. Notice the ad? The site owner paid me Entrecard credits to advertise in my blog. So I then use these credits to advertise on other blogs and this increases the chance that other bloggers can hop their way to my blog. Isn't that amazing?

I have spent several precious hours joining in blog directories but it is only Entrecard that had helped me increase my site traffic exponentially! So I invite everyone to join in and don't forget to leave your card on my site! ^_^

My Bro's Blog: The Fil-Can Boy

Boy I really slept late last night. I think it was around 1 am. And it's not because of late night partying and not even because of my blogging! Well it's somehow because of blogging but it's not my blog that I worked hard on, but my brother's blog! Well I have really no complains because like any good elder brother would do, I forced my younger brother to blog. Well there are many reasons why I encouraged him to blog. And these reasons are:

• To aid him in improving his writing skills (to make him comfortable with the English language)
• To make him stay put at home so he won't go out of the house that much (that is when he gets addicted to blogging)
• To give his friends here in the Philippines updates onhis new life in Canada
  
• To give him the opportunity to earn money while blogging (and I get 10% of his earnings hahaha!)

Hahaha! What devious reasons to make him blog hehehe. Well I think I did a pretty well job designing his blogspot but I made myself promise that I won't anymore help him in his posts and linking with people and stuff. That's his responsibility now as it is his blog. It's very difficult having two blogs right now, My Nurses Notes & Grim Angel, and I'm not going to kill myself by managing a third blog, my brother's blog: The Fil-Can Boy.

You might wonder why my brother's blog is entitled The Fil-Can Boy. Well I'm actually responsible for his blog title since my brother has simply no interest in blogging. It's entitled The Fil-Can Boy because a couple of years from now he's going to be a Filipino-Canadian and blogging may sure be a good way to divert his fears and frustrations of being an immigrant into his new home: Canada.

Oh yeah please do visit his blog guys and Please be nice to him. Please ask him too to exchange links with you. Hehehe. :)

Being a Medical X-Ray Technician

These past few days as I blog hopped through other nurse bloggers out there I found out that some of them are actually thinking of taking another job. This isn't a big wonder since being a nurse drains so much out of you, your physical, mental, and even emotional aspect are all exhausted. Even I maybe thinking of pursuing another medical career if I get tired of nursing (hopefully not).

But if ever I do get tired of nursing there is one job that I can see myself someday. And that is being a medical x-ray technician. It's quite fascinating how you operate these radiologic equipments plus those MRI and CT Scans. Being an x-ray technician is also less stressful and the pay is also very good! It's a good way to be able to work in the hospital as a medical professional without the headaches and stress that nurses and other allied health workers have to experience.

And I've heard that there are online schools for anyone interested in being a medical x-ray technician, how cool is that? Wonder how I would look like and be like if I was an x-ray technician? Great I presume hahaha!

I'm Definitely a David Archuleta Fan!

I was going to sleep early tonight but decided to watch TV and American Idol was on. It so happened that it was David Archuleta's turn to perform. I wasn't a fan of David nor do I watch American Idol but when I saw David perform tonight I was totally blown away. I immediately became an Archuleta fan and for very good reasons too!

It has been said that David is the predicted grand winner for this season of American Idol and I couldn't agree more. Like Simon Cowell I also have a nose for star power and oh boy David is one shining star! He does not only have an incredible sweet voice, he also has good looks to come with his adorable smile and personality... and this is being objective of of course. Hey! Even Simon agrees with me that David is great.

Although David had some bad performances (I saw these on Youtube) where he forgot the lyrics I would say, "So what?" I didn't actually notice that he skipped some lines because I was just concentrating on his great over all performance. The studio audience enjoyed it like I did too, I could say this because David (like always) gets the loudest applause. This isn't a wonder because David sure does have a huge fan base because as I said for a 17 year old, he is quite impressive. This is one of the reasons that I can say that he will be the American Idol.

I guess other Filipinos would agree with me as they are already hoping that David would be part Filipino so that they could also vote for him asides from Ramiele Malubay. I'm Filipino but I have to stick with one idol and that is David Archulete even if he isn't Filipino.

And to prove why I think David is just booming with talent here is his video when he was younger playing on the piano and singing Vanessa Carlton's A Thousand Miles. And I rate his performance here a 9/10!



And why is he adorable as people say? Just watch this fan video and you'll understand why:



So ladies and gentlemen, David Archulete, the future American Idol! The young singer with a great voice, adorable looks, and a great personality. What a great package for a future and rising star!

Oh yeah here's more of David:


If you want more David Archuleta resources then go to these sites:
American Idol
Archuleta Fans
Youtube for his other Videos

Being Businessminded

I don't know what aches more, my legs from my morning workout nightmare or my arms from cleaning my mom's boxes fully loaded with her shoes! What is it with women and shoes? Anyway I'm opt to the challenge of cleaning her shoes as I'm excited to sell them for our garage sale. But that's not the main topic of my post today, my main topic is about selling your items to the highest bidder.

Ok you might be wondering why my posts are all about moving and selling stuff, well I'm sorry but that is all that occupies my mind right now. So back to the topic, isn't it normal for you to sell your items to the highest bidder? Some of our neighbors are dismayed at us because we sold our items that they liked to other higher bidders, But the point of selling your stuff is to earn money right so they should understand that a business operates to earn income and not to lose money in the long run. What's wrong with some of our neighbors is that we already have a price for our items at very reasonable prices but they still want to bargain and make the prices lower to the point that their prices are just unfair and insane.

For example, we're selling our bedroom refrigerator for Php 3000 which is still new and we bought it for Php 9000 originally. They still want to lower that to Php 2500 and they are the ones that fixes the price. A sort of take it or leave it attitude. But the point is we won't be cheated because we know that there are other higher bidders. It so happened that another bidder wanted to buy the said refrigerator for Php 4000. What a swell price! So naturally our refrigerator went to the highest bidder. But now we're faced with a neighbor who's dismayed for selling the item that she really wanted. But if she really wanted it then she should have just agreed to buy it at a reasonable price. I know that friendship is important, but we have to consider that we are selling items to earn money for our expenses for our new life at Canada. We still have to buy furnitures and appliances and we also have to pay for our living right? So it's only fair that we sell our items for a right price.

I'm sorry neighbors but we will leave your very cheap price and take a more reasonable price by better buyers.

Download Mac Games Now!

Woah! Guys you wouldn't believe what I just found on the net! I found a site where you can download mac games! I'm really so excited! It's like finding a hidden treasure or something. It's very difficult to find decent mac games theses days that's why you can explain why I'm so happy.

So what's so special about these apple games you ask? Well aside from the fact that these games are very unique and can ultimately kill boredom, these mac games can first be downloaded for free as demo versions so that you can have the choice to buy the game when you really like it.

The prices are really so reasonable and affordable and the games are all neatly categorized and this site is simply amazing! A treasure cove of mac games. So waht are you waiting for? Start downloading these mac games!

My House = My Mall

You might be wondering what I'm ranting about this time. Well I'm not actually ranting, I'm just expressing my views and describing what a total mess my house is today. There are boxes everywhere and everything is at disarray. It's crazy! It's like Hurricane Kathrina has passed and did some serious damage to our house. Well what do you expect to see in a house that is owned by people who are about to leave. It's only natural to find my house in such a mess since we are preparing to leave and stuff. This is a good way to rationalize and explain to all the people that goes to our house.

Talking about people that goes to our house, I can't count how many people has come and gone. I feel like I'm in a mall or a boutique because any time of the day (and even night) people come in to check and see what we're selling and all. It's quite funny how people try to bargain with us but we know our stuff so we know how much we should sell it. It doesn't mean that just because we need to sell our things that we will sell it for a very low price. The price should be reasonable on both parties, the buyers and us, the sellers.

I even feel a bit of tension as some buyers try to out-bid themselves. Some people get dismayed with us as we will definitely sell the item to the highest bidder. What do you expect? Anyone would sell their stuff at a higher price right The common misconception of people is that we should sell our stuff at a lower price because we're friends and that we're already rich as we are already going abroad. But the truth is, even if we already have sufficient money, we can't say it's enough because we're starting a new life and we will begin with nothing. So the bottom line is, "Our stuff goes to the highest bidder!"

I can't wait for our upcoming garage sale. Boy am I going to make a lot of money hehehe. Better place my salesman face hahaha!

Joined Smorty and I'm Loving It!

I'm quite happy with myself that I was able to join Smorty. So what is Smorty anyway? Oh it's just one cool way to get paid to blog by simply writing opinions about a product. Smorty provides a great opportunity for advertisers to reach out to more audiences by advertising through blogs so they earn more profit and we, bloggers, share in this profit as we get paid to blog. is a hot trend by the way, blog advertising that is.

I have already tried posting a review and guess what? I got paid almost immediately and it's also so convenient because we are paid through Paypal so we get our hard earned money instantly. What are you waiting for? Be one of us and share in our profit making. We get to help spread great products that we chose to review and we get paid for it! What more can you ask for?

My Morning Workout Nightmare

I'm quite proud of myself that I was able to partially complete my objectives for this day. After a month of procrastination and exhausting my scapegoats I finally did it! I went jogging early in the morning! I was quite amazed at my determination to lose weight hehehe. I woke up at 4:30 and started jogging at around 5:00 am on the highway. Yup the highway since of some reasons that I have posted here. The dawn was actually beautiful, it seemed as if it was still 12:00 am and the stars were still twinkling and the moon was still up. I told myself that this was a good day to jog. But the beautiful "evening like"-dawn turned to a scene taken out from a horror movie.

So there I was jogging with my headset on and my workout playlist playing. I was running and occasionally slow down my pace when I see people passing by and I keep a safe distance (for all I know they could be dangerous and I couldn't see their faces). The wind was very refreshing but suddenly I realized that this part of the road was very dark and the branches of the trees were like reaching towards the road. This is where hell broke loose. I didn't stop and continued running as fast as I could making sure that I'm at the middle of the road because I don't want to be jumped by "anything" at the sides of the road that had very thick bushes and foliage. My feet were already aching when all of the sudden I see these glowing eyes jump out from the bushes! Damn did I get the scare of my life and I quickly evaded the tiny eyes just to discover more of them ahead. I'm pretty sure that it wasn't a cat because a cat's eyes don't glow in the dark. They only shine when there is light pointed toward their eyes. I still am not sure what those creatures I saw but I didn't want to stop and find out. I'm thinking that they were frogs because the body was small (but do frog's eyes glow in the dark?).

I was already running a kilometer or more when I suddenly felt dizzy. I immediately knew that this was it. I had to go home if I didn't want to collapse on the highway with those creatures around me. I felt like I was going to have a stroke but this must be because I didn't warm up and I was working my self too hard. This was when my fatigue took over. My music wasn't helping since I had a headache. I couldn't run too because I was so tired so I had to walk home. Geez, i was thinking that I'm such in a miserable state.

I was walking home when all of the sudden a dog walked across me to the other side of the street when *Bang*! a truck just passed by hitting the dog. I didn't even notice the truck as it was going real fast and it did not have bright lights. I was thinking that that dog could have been me if I suddenly crossed the road... the dog yelped in pain and I was guilty because I couldn't do anything for him. I can't bring him home because I'm still very far away and that he might be rabid and bite me and all. I had to be safe so I did what i could do, leave him behind. I'm still guilty up to now.

Upon arriving home I gave a sigh of relief but my doggie. Missy, was acting crazy and played with me by nibbling on my lower pants. But at least I'm home. I made sure that my heart beat slowed down a bit and I crashed into my bed with aching legs and an aching head. I arrived home at around 5:45 am and woke up at around 9:00 am.

With my bad experience I swore never to jog again that early in the morning. I'll just have to wait until we move in into our condo unit in Canada so that I could have the right exercise facility. It's safe and it's near my home so I have no problems about collapsing anywhere (but collapsing would be bad of course). I just have to let my body adjust to my exercise routine of course. Overworking my body will do more harm than good.

My Workout Songs

I actually don't workout hahaha! But I plan to do some jogging and decided to create my workout playlist. It is undeniable that music affects our emotions, intelligence, and health. Even without words, music can make us joyful or depressed, energized or sleepy.

Listening to music that induces relaxation, before taking a test has been proven to temporarily enhance IQ and improve scores. Music also has unending benefits on our health.

With regards to health, it has been proven that music reduces blood pressure and music is also used as a form of therapy to pain and to calm patients in mental hospitals.

Mark Tramo, a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School, commented on a study which "showed that the heart muscle of people exercising on treadmills didn't work as hard when people listened to music as it did when they exercised in silence."

That is why I spent some time creating my perfect workout playlist and here it is:

1. Any songs from Britney Spear's Blackout (yup I love it!)
2. Stronger - Kanye West
3. Elevator - Flo Rida Feat Timbaland
4. I Got It From My Mama - Will.I.Am
   
5. Low - Flo Rida feat t-Pain
6. Feedback - Janet Jackson
7. pump it - Blackeyed Peas (or any songs from them actually)
8. Sexy Back - Justin Timberlake
9. Like This - Mims
10. Dance Like There's No Tomorrow - Paula Abdul
11. Easy - Paula DeAnda
12. Aikoi - Kajiura Yuri
13. In the Church - Kajiura Yuri
14. 19 Sai - Suga Shikao
15. I'm Coming - Rain (Bi)
16. Fergilicious - Fergie
17. Tokyo Drift - teriyaki Boyz
18. Get It On the Floor - DMX
19. Show Me The Money - ???
20. Not Gonna Get Us - t.A.T.u.
21. Any Song from Panic! At the Disco!
22. Please Don't Stop the Music - Rihanna (or any other of her songs like Break it Off, etc)
    
23. I'm A Scatman - Scatman Jack
24. maria - Kim Ah Joong
25. Outta My Head - ashlee Simpson
26. Me & You - Cassie
27. Die Another Day - Madonna
28. Do It Well - Jeniffer Lopez
29. Push It - Salt & Pepper
30. Fighter - Christina Aguilera (or her other fast tempo songs)

So how do you choose songs for that incredible workout playlist? Here are some guidelines:

• The song must have a fast tempo with a nice beat to it that would want you to move more
• A song that you personally love (therefore don't just copy other people's workout playlist)
• A song where you lose yourself making you forget your fatigue and make you go an extra mile.

Music is a great motivation to keep on going and it is fun to listen to music right? Happy workout guys!

I ♥ Crunchyroll

I am a known Anime fanatic and I love anime and I am addicted to it. Anime inspires me to dream and to believe that there is something more and greater to this life. Some anime that I have watched and enjoyed are Elfen Lied, Flame of Recca, Erementar Gerad, Vision of Escaflowne, Hunter X Hunter, San Goku, Naruto, xxxHolic, Card Captor Sakura, DNAngel, Detective Conan, and a lot more (I may have even forgotten some titles, damn I have a bad memory). But one thing is for sure, it is very difficult to find these anime titles online. Youtube sucks because they remove it while other online video streaming communities don't have the complete series. So where do I find good quality anime? Simple! Crunchyroll!

Crunchyroll which is sometimes called as the Asian Youtube is a fast growing online community for anime lovers. It was started by the mysterious "Shinji" who started Crunchyroll just for fun.
Crunchyroll has a vast collection of anime (as well as other Asian dramas and movies) for FREE! You just pay if you want to watch a high quality and high definition streaming. And the payment is used to keep the servers running and to give more bandwidth as hosting a site is not free after all.

Like Youtube, Crunchyroll also faced some copyright problems as some of their anime was licensed. But this was already addressed by Crunchyroll so don't expect to find any licensed material (you may still find some videos if you're lucky that are uploaded by some members) and hentai (Anime porn, hehehe). Wait, is hentai even licensed?

But they still have a lot of unlicensed anime that are worth the watch, like Naruto for example.

I'll Miss My Boiled Peanuts

One advantage of living far away from civilization is that you get to go on an hour travel time. And what do I do during these travel times? I either take a nap, listen to music, or I think... Yup I think of emo stuff to serious stuff to dirty stuff hahaha! I just have a lot of thoughts that surges into my mind when I'm not doing anything. And I was on a one way ride to daydream land I was thinking what I'll be missing in the Philippines when I move to Canada.

I was nibbling on my favorite bag of boiled peanuts when the thought hit me, I'll miss my boiled peanuts hehehe. I know that Canada will have peanuts but I'm not sure if they'll have my favorite fresh boiled peanuts. Maybe I'll start my peanut shop there and spread the addiction to peanuts, acne afflicted skin, and anaphylactic shock from allergies to peanuts hehehe. What an evil plan to destroy the world. But seriously, I'll miss Pinoy dishes but I don't think that I'll be missing it that much because my dad (yup he's our personal slave/cook/house boy/carpenter/plumber/driver/assistant/etc) will be with us.

I'll miss my friends, my school, and my way of life here in the Philippines. But I won't miss the sight of poverty, injustice, and plain ugliness that the Philippines has to offer for Filipino. Moving to Canada is a an escape from all these hardships that the common Filipino has. Well, we aren't poor so I haven't really experience real hardship but we're not rich either so I somehow have an idea of how a poor Filipino live.

I know for a fact that I'll be enjoying my new life and I sure can't wait to move.

Corazon Aquino & Colon Cancer

I was actually shocked to discover that the former Philippine president, Cory Aquino, was announced by her daughter, Kris Aquino, a famous celebrity, that Mrs. Aquino was diagnosed with colon cancer. We know Mrs. Aquino as a living symbol of democracy as she was swept into power by a peaceful EDSA I revolution to overthrow the then President, Ferdinand Marcos. She also was the one that helped bring the current President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to power and is also ironically the one joining protests to bring President GMA down. But this time she faces a far more bigger battle, a battle for her life as she fights against colon cancer.

So what is colon cancer? To know that we must first define what cancer is.In a normal body function, rapid division and multiplication of cells are needed to regenerate and heal the body. But there are times when the growth is uncontrollable and spreads (metastasizes) into other parts of the organs where it continue to divides and replaces normally functioning cells with abnormal cells. Cancer cells multiply so fast that they may occlude blood vessels and steal blood flow by forming their own vasculature stealing normal organs their blood supply thus the organ dies. And for the people who are confused, tumors are abnormal proliferation of cells and there are two kinds of tumors, benign and malignant. Benign is non-cancerous and does not spread so it can be safely removed by surgery. The dangerous kind of tumor is a malignant tumor as it is cancerous. Even if the malignant tumor is removed, remaining cells could still multiply at a more rapid rate that is why chemotherapy (the use of medication to kill cancer cells) is also required to kill cancerous cells, but unfortunately it also kills normal cells but that would be a different topic.

I'm not sure if Mrs. Aquino's cancer is malignant or benign, but I'm guessing that it is malignant because she wouldn't have let the whole Philippines know that she had cancer. So let me share the some relevant information as to what causes colon cancer, signs and symptoms of colon cancer, what the treatment is, and what the preventions are. These are very important to know as this could save your life one day.

So what causes colon cancer? It's still unknown but it is believed that a high fat diet increases one's risk for colon cancer. Why? Breakdown of fat leads to the formation of carcinogens (cancer causing substances). Although cancer is not contagious, it is hereditary so if you have any relatives with any kind of cancer then you are at high risk for cancer.

Symptoms of colon cancer are numerous and nonspecific. They include fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, change in bowel habits, narrow stools, diarrhea or constipation, red or dark blood in stool, weight loss, abdominal pain, cramps, or bloating. Other conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (spastic colon), ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, diverticulosis, and peptic ulcer disease can have symptoms that mimic colorectal cancer (from medicinenet.com).

The treatment for colon cancer, like any other cancer is surgical removal to prevent the metastsis or spread of cancer cells to other organs. But treatment does not mean that you will be treated immediately. Factors as to how much the cancer had progressed plays an important role. This is why prevention is better than treatment because one only notices that one has cancer when it is already too late when the cancer has already grown and spread causing the signs and symptoms.

Preventing cancer entails a healthy lifestyle like eating healthy avoiding fatty foods, carcinogens like charred meat, drinking too much alcohol, etc. But the best prevention is early detection. It is recommended that all individuals over the age of 40 have yearly digital examinations of the rectum and their stool tested for hidden or "occult" blood (from medicinenet.com).In a digital rectal exam a doctor inserts his finger through your anus and feels for polyps (abnormal growth). For males, a digital rectal exam is like hitting two birds with one stone as the prostate gland can also be checked for prostate cancer at the same time.

Other early detection procedures are flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy. Here a video camera is inserted to see how your colon looks checking for abnormal growths and other anomalies.

For more information please visit this site: medicinenet.com

Deciphering the Doctor's Handwriting

We all heard about the Da Vinci Code right? But there is something more difficult to comprehend and very difficult to decipher: the doctor's handwriting... it's a great mystery why Doctor's handwriting is illegible. There is also this study conducted by the British Medical Journal to check if doctor's handwriting were legible. Guess what the result is? Doctors Fail Handwriting Test!

For years now I have always been told that my handwriting is like a doctor's. This is meant to be a joke of course, but can also be misunderstood for an insult. It is true that I had my own share of horror and eye strain from trying to read and make sense of the scribbles and marks written by doctor's on their Doctor's Order.
In fact I always have to team up with my other duty mates to help me break the secret of the doctor's handwriting. But we always end up making mistakes. It amazes us though that my clinical instructors are able to understand this foreign handwriting. We always ask our CI's in wonder how in the world do they understand those scribbles and doodles? Their answer? Lot's of experience with doctor's orders. But even the experienced staff nurse also makes mistakes because there are doctor's handwriting are so encrypted to the point that deciphering it is no use. Just a thought: Doctor's should get into the date security business.

But what is so important about doctor's having legible handwriting? Simple, a misunderstood order could lead to death of a patient. Don't believe me then take some time to read this article from BBC News: Health Doctor's Scrawl Blamed For Patient's Death. As the article shows a poorly written order or prescription could lead to a patient's death.

But let us not flame our doctors because it is not their fault too that they have such illegible handwriting. We also have to think that they have a lot of patients to take care of that is why they have to do their charting very quick. But how come nurses are able to have more legible handwriting when nurses are the ones who are with the patient 24/7 and are always documenting every procedure they do for every patient?

But there is nothing we can accomplish with complaining that we can't understand the doctor's handwriting. What we can do is look for a solution. The best solution with this problem is electronic orders or prescriptions. The orders and prescriptions are just flashed into the monitor with beautiful and neat computer generated text. This may be already true to First World Countries like USA, Canada, and the UK. But in the case of the Philippines? We can't do anything but pray that the doctor writes in print or we nag them to death to interpret their handwriting or our license is on the line. Wait, I don't have a license yet.

Skipping a Meal Leads to Brain Death

Hypoglycemia is the medical term for a level of blood glucose (blood sugar) that is too low to meet immediate energy needs of the body. Glucose is a sugar that our bodies use for energy. A normal level of glucose in the blood is between 60-110 mg/dl . If you are hypoglycemic you will encounter the following symptoms: sweating, feeling warm, dizziness, difficulty speaking, inability to concentrate, hunger, drowsiness, anxiety, confusion, nausea, trembling and headaches.

There are two types of hypoglycemia. And these are:

• Fasting hypoglycemia can occur when a person goes without food for eight or more hours. It can be caused by certain underlying diseases (tumors of the pancreas, severe liver disease, adrenal failure) that upsets the body's ability to balance glucose.

• Reactive hypoglycemia is when blood glucose levels fall too low within a few hours after eating. This type rarely has a serious underlying cause. and is not easy to diagnose.
  

But I guess that the type of hypoglycemia that students are more associated with is Fasting Hypoglycemia. Nursing students are guilty of skipping breakfast especially if the duty is very early in the morning and don't expect them to eat lunch either. My duty mates said that they don't want to eat because they want to finish whatever they are doing first. But I wonder what makes them so busy that they don't eat lunch? But I can never go on if I don't eat lunch. I can skip breakfast (I'm used to it) but I can never skip lunch because if I do I'll just end up very grouchy because as shown in the symptoms above, I get a headache and my body weakens because there isn't enough energy being created because of a rapid decrease in blood sugar.

But skipping a meal is not the only cause of hypoglycemia. Other causes are: alcohol on an empty stomach, taking too much insulin, exercising hard without eating a snack first, eating excessive amounts of carbohydrate foods.

But if you think that hypoglycemia can only lead to headaches and body weakness, think again! Hypoglycemia an lead to the decrease supply of glucose as fuel to the brain, resulting in impairment of function (neuroglycopenia). Derangements of function can range from vaguely "feeling bad" to coma (rarely) permanent brain damage or death.

So never skip a meal guys! If you do skip meals because of uncontrollable circumstances then always bring food with you that are high in sugar like candy or chocolates so that you can have something to munch on even when you are on duty.

***
SOURCES:
University of Iowa
Wikipedia

My Bubbly Teacher

I posted here about my day being bad and all but you know what? It's still 2:00 pm and even though I have no money to buy food maybe this day could still turn around and end up with a happy conclusion.

But I don't have to wait for happy things to happen because something wonderful did happen already. I saw three of my old high school teachers and I'm glad that I did. I saw Ma'am Gomez, my beloved first year home room adviser and Science teacher who was very busy so I didn't interrupt her. I also saw Ma'am, I mean, Dr. Vedua, who was very professional looking as always. She's my former Trigonometry teacher by the way and she is a very smart woman! She won't get her PhD if she wasn't, duh! She was with one of my clinical instructors in front of the AVR 1 and they were talking to each other and asking if they had WiFi connections with their laptops. I was wondering how they knew each other but let's just leave that as one of the great mysteries of the world hehehe.
But one teacher really struck me the most: Ma'am Almeñana. I saw her at the high school, actually she saw me first. I was waiting for my transcript of records and I was fiddling with my laptop when a roll of paper swung in front of my screen I looked to see who it was and there was my former Economics teacher smiling and was very bubbly. She was wearing casual clothes and her image was refreshing. I smiled back and great memories flowed in. It was very flattering that after 3 years my former high school teacher still remembered who I was despite having a lot of new students every year.

Awe I'm reminiscing the good days again. As the guest speaker in my brother's graduation said yesterday, we can never be able to pay back our teachers for all of the things that they have taught us. That is why I highly respect my teachers.

What a great day this is indeed. I'll sure miss them when I'll move away.

Fifty-Six Cents... Oh boy... Seriously?

You might be wondering what I'm blabbering about this Fift-Six cents thing. Well let;s just say that this day is so tiring and depressing. Here's the story. I went down to the city (literally since I live in the beautiful mountain province of Bukidnon) to get my transcript of records from Xavier University High School, which is also located on another mountain... why am I obsess with mountains? Anyway my mom gave me Php 150 for my fare and food and I was like what? You're only giving me this amount? How am I going to get home (the fare going to our house is Php 45 by the way)? She told me that we'll just go home together since she already gave the rest of her money to my little brother who went to the beach with friends. At first I was mumbling why is his allowance for the day bigger than mine but I decided not to make a big fuss about it to prevent any problems.

So I went down to the city and decided to take a taxi up the second mountain because it was already 10:30 and business hours today are only up to 12 noon and I still had to go to the main campus to take care of my other transcript of records in college. I was thinking that the fare for the taxi would only cost around Php 60. But to my great dismay and surprise I had to pay Php 75. I would try to make a run for it but not only is that plain evil I couldn't run fast enough because I was carrying with me a laptop and the taxi driver has... well his car.
But if you think that my misery and impoverished state was worst enough I had to pay another Php 30 for the transcript of records processing fee. So to sum up all my fare to go down the city and up another mountain and subtract that from the money I had, I will get the great total of Php 16. Oh my God, I'm so pathetic.

But my misery does not end there. Well I took the jeepney this time since I had no choice, I was broke, and I paid Php 6 for the fare. I then proceeded to our College of Nursing to get my recommendation letter which happened to be not there. Well, I'm not really complaining since there is still a lot of time and I understand that they should prioritize the job application recommendations of past graduates (our 98% PRC Nursing Board Exam Passers). Oh well, I still do have to apply for the release of my transcript of records so no big deal, I'll just return this Monday.

And so this part explains why my post title is Fifty-Six Cents. I went to the finance office to have my clearance card checked and signed when the lady at the registrar printed out an account statement. I new that meant that we still had unfinished financial obligations which seems unrealistic to me because we have already settled all of this before my final exam. How on earth would I take the final exam if I haven't paid my tuition completely right? As I read the statement I was taken back... Running balance: Php 0.56. As in for real? Seriously? Fifty-six cents! They want me to pay Fifty-six cents! Of course I really did not worry about paying Php 0.56 but my point is my school sure does think of money as very important as they still had bothered to hold my records because of an unpaid Php 0.56.

Well I paid up what I lacked and smiled when I was given Php 0.30 cents for my Php 1.00 that I gave. An evil thought came into my mind: what if I demand that I be given the "EXACT" change as it seems that cents these days are very important to them. But of course I didn't do that because the lady was very nice and helpful to me. So in return to her kindness and respect, I shown her kindness and respect.

But my encounter with the bookcenter is the main even why my day is so shitty today. Imagine, there were 6-8 people inside that pathetic useless office and no one even bothered to approach me at the window. I understand that it's still office hours and costumers are always important. But these stupid so-called "Student Assistants" are of no assistance at all. I was very calm and kind when I said, "Excuse me" but they just went on with their lives talking. Finally there was this girl who went to the window to get some paper or something and I asked her where I could have this clearance slip signed. She said Window 5 (without even looking at me the whole time). I peeked at window 5 and it was closed. So I went back to her and informed her that there was no one at Window 5. And my very angry self suddenly blurted what I wanted to suppress: "Mga Bastos!" Translation: You people are so Rude! And it was true. They seem to have all the time doing nothing and they don't even entertain students very well. Well then, you should just close down if you don't want to do any service for the students. Seriously, I never buy things from them because aside from their snail-like movement there goods and books are crappy.

And so that ends my miserable story. I'm hanging out at the bridge of the Aggies Building because it's the only part of the school that I could get a WiFi connection since the library is closed. I'm hungry and I am so bored! Good thing I decided to bring my laptop, I would have died from boredom and hunger pangs if I didn't.

Bottom line, despite some shitty office and services that Xavier University has, I still love Xavier and am proud if it. It just have to remove some unworthy people from their jobs.

On Moral Relativism

Today was very interesting indeed, aside from this day being the Graduation Day for my younger brother, I was able to learn some interesting stuff during the mass celebration's homily delivered by his excellency Monsenyor Pacana.

The topic was about moral relativism. So what is moral relativism anyway? Moral Relativism asserts that morality is not based on any absolute standard. Rather, ethical "truths" depend on the situation, culture, one's feelings, etc (from gotquestions.org). In other words, morality is overrated. There is no right and wrong. A good example is stealing. Moral relativism means that stealing is only wrong if you're caught!

But if you believe this then you should need to reevaluate yourself and your value system. There is no 11th Commandment! The 11th commandment by the way is you can do whatever you want to do as long as you're not caught. A sick joke perhaps but is absolutely untrue.

We all know how to differentiate right from wrong. We have known this since we were little and society upholds these mores or socially accepted norms as our basis of our morality. Because if we disregard morality then we would have a deteriorated society right now. But wait, our society has already start to deteriorate... but this is why we should make a stand to correct this problem before it worsens.

This is why we should uphold our morals and values. It is sad that there are a lot of people out there who know embrace the sad ideology of moral relativism but we should not break and follow this fad. Just because everyone is being immoral doesn't mean that we have to follow them.

We should always put this in mind: We should ALWAYS be morally upright even if others CANNOT, if others WILL NOT, and if others ARE NOT.

Don't Eat Anything That Doesn't Rot

Before I talk about food that doesn't rot please take time to watch this video. Trust me, the video is very interesting and it kind of makes you think what large food companies are creating these days, not to mention what chemicals they add to our food.

Some would say that http://diet.com author and obesity activist Julia Havey is a load of bullsh*t and that it's understandable that any food item would decay and this is just unreal. My comment? No comment, Lol. But another acclaimed author and journalist Michael Pollan agrees with Ms. Julia Havey and argues that what most Americans are consuming today is not food but "edible foodlike substances."

If you want to read the full interview with Michael Pollan then you can check it out at Alternet.org. But the bottom line of the interview is are we really eating real food or a frankenstein-creation that is not really living because it does not decay because it is filled with different kinds of chemicals and preservatives.

I will not be surprised if our food of the future would be those bland capsule like space food because people are only more concerned about vitamins, minerals, no cholesterol, and etc. Anyway, although exercise may help in losing weight, eating the right kind of food would also be important. And this right kind of food would of course be the organic food, aka REAL FOOD.

Writer's Block!

Aah! Oh my God! I'm having writer's block! I don't know what to post in my nursing blog anymore! Like I had thought of an idea a while ago but then it just *poof* flew away. I hate being out of school. I feel like I'm being drained of ideas and such. I know that there are so many things to write about but nothing seems to be nursing related and I want this blog to be 100% nursing or health related.

But posting this ranting won't do anything right? Wait! I just remembered the topic that I'm going to write about. It seems that my memory isn't that bad, Lol!