Tomorrow, I’ll be going to Bulacan to accompany a group of students on their field trip to Biak-na-Bato. I’m a little excited but, at the same time, dreadful because of a lot of reasons.

For one, the students that I’m going with are much younger than the students that I usually handle (fourth and fifth graders). These are children that are around 10 to 12 years of age, which means rowdy and boisterous bunch of girls and boys. Second, I still have a ton of things that I have to finish before the week ends. Third, out-of-town trips are usually tiring enough even without having to watch over students. Fourth, since the destination is far, assembly time would be really early, as in 5:30-in-the-morning kind of early.

On the other hand, a field trip is a field trip. It’s still a break from work even though it entails accompanying the children. Might as well enjoy it!

Our friend is thinking of settling down for good in New York. She’s looking into the North Fork real estate market for possible properties she might be interested in. She’s trying to look for a good real estate agent and I told her about Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate. Since she’s thinking of getting a property in North Folk, I looked at the site and saw that this company has a good, extensive listing of properties in the Hamptons and North Folk. Their site would even make her search for her dream home easy because they have a lot of photos, she can easily see and browse through different properties. I hope she finds a house soon, we’re also eager to visit her once she gets settled down.

Finally, the science expo eliminations has come to a close. We’re done with the presentations, the judging and the setting up. All that’s left is to tally to scores and determine the best projects in each division.

Of course, I have my biases. I can’t wait but hope that my advisees make it to the top of their divisions. I am genuinely proud of most of them. But, alas, I can’t do anything about the scores. The outcome depended purely on the judges’ call from the moment that the presentations began. Now, all I have to do is to bear the suspense and wait for the official announcements.

I can only cross my fingers…

There are a lot of people a lot to say about customer service. Andrea’s aunt has a small boutique that sells clothes and shoe. One of her main concerns is providing excellent customer service to her clients. She’s not always in her store to monitor how her employees are treating their customers so it’s a current problem for her. There are a lot of ways to evaluate a customer shopping experience. I’ve suggested getting some mysterious shoppers who will help identify the strengths and weaknesses of her employees. It would then be easy to address the improvements needed for the store. I’ve told her about Bestmark.com, a site that provides a unique mystery shopping program and customer survey programs. They go beyond providing such programs, instead they also introduce solid management and data alignment solutions to help improve your business. She’s all for it if it means the betterment of her shop.

Before mateo was born, I promised andrea I would do the cleaning whenever the baby poops. And I did exactly that. In fact, my first encounter with mateo’s behind was explicitly described by my wife in her previous post. But because I had to go back to work and also because she decided on staying home to take care of mateo, andrea got the lion’s share of the cleaning eventually. I only help out occasionally when mateo’s in a grouchy mood.

But a few days ago, unfortunately, I started cleaning his bottoms again. Why? Because when we inspected his butt, we saw that it was already red with scrapes, perhaps from all those times when cat or andrea would wipe off the poop with tissue. We decided to forget the wiping for now and stick to good old hand-washing in order to clean him without irritating his butt.

But andrea, of course was adamant that I should do the deed. I, on the other hand, didn’t want to provoke a fight so I decided not to argue anymore. Anyway, I promised her I would be the one to clean mateo’s butt in the first place, so I did. Now, I’m proudly reclaiming the role of mateo’s poop cleaner. Huhu!

Is there such a thing? Is it possible to have an accident and expect it to be hassle-free? An accident is a hassle itself. Things get more complicated if other people other than yourself are involved in the accident too. Andrea’s dad has been in more than one accident already. Almost all of those were car-related accidents. Most of the time, it’s his fault. Thankfully, the most damage he has inflicted is on a plant box. God forbid if he injures anyone in the future. Despite having injured no one in any of his accidents, all of them are definitely not hassle-free. What more if people are involved? Or worse, you’re the injured one? My sister, on the otherhand, has a friend who was sideswiped by a truck. It seems that processing Accident Claims are not that easy too. According to him, he never realized how important it is to get a good legal service whenever you’re claiming compensation for personal injury. There are great services like Keypoint Legal Services that offers a No Win No Fee agreement which means their services cost you nothing if the claim is unsuccessful. Great, huh? It’s a shame that my sister’s friend didn’t know about this when he was trying to get compensation from the accident. Next time, he knows which help he’s going to get. But let’s hope there won’t be any next time.

I can’t remember how long it’s been since I last bought myself a decent pair of shades. That’s because I don’t often go to places that require wearing them. And whenever I do, it usually just becomes my driving companion and a permanent accessory to the red car. This year, however, it’s gonna be different.

Since we’re going to go to the beach this summer, we deemed it necessary to get ourselves a good pair. This is why andrea and I scoured the malls for shades that would work well against the sun but, at the same time, would not hurt our budget that much. In the end, she found herself a large flashy one from Spinto while I got myself a sporty-looking pair from the same brand.

I guess she went for looks. I, however, chose my glasses for several reasons - look, price and the really cool fact that it has changeable lenses. Yes! it has changeable lenses. In fact, it came with 2 extra pairs of different hues. So I had 3 pairs of lenses in total. One pair was black, which I thought was perfect for driving. One was red (the usual kind you often see worn by cyclists). While the last one was clear. (I figured it could serve as my lab goggles if I can’t find any other use for it.)

Anyway, I was so happy with my choice. In fact, I was so glad that I just had to try all lenses as soon as we got home from buying the shades. This is it, I thought! These are the perfect summer shades!

I can still remember vaguely the mangled mix of emotions that I felt when andrea first showed me the pregnancy kit that she had just tested. I was afraid. I was excited. I was proud and happy but I was also seriously concerned. We were able to produce a new life. It was simply a miracle.

This I’m sure of because I know how difficult it is for something like this to happen. I mean, having studied all the particular details about it in Biology, I can imagine how small the odds are in conceiving a baby. In fact, I even know some people who’ve been trying for years to have one, but are still unsuccessful. Among them, there is one couple who’s considering going to the US to ask help from Dr. Randy Morris, medical director of the IVF 1, this summer. They said they want to try out IVF PGD, or In Vitro Fertilization Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis, just to see how they can improve the chances of having their own baby. 

It seems that IVF 1 has found a way of improving the chances for pregnancy while reducing the risk for miscarriage because of this pre-implantation testing. If this is true then this is extremely good news not only for trying couples but also for humankind. I would certainly hope that everyone having difficulties getting pregnant consult IVF 1.

This weekend, we’re going to boracay to attend a wedding, thanks to the groom. It’s mateo’s and andrea’s first time to go there. And it’s going to be my third, but it might as well be my first because the last time I went there was when I was still in fourth grade.

Anyway, I can’t say I’m too excited for myself. But, I am, however, really excited for my wife and baby because I know how breathtaking the place is - the white sand, the smooth beach, the clear waters. It has everything that an ideal beach resort should have. At least that’s what I can recall from my trip there about 17 years ago. I just hope that it has not become too commercialized over the years.

I want my family to enjoy their first boracay trip!

When andrea and I got together, it was only then that I became aware of how much everything costs. You see, before we became a couple, I didn’t care about how much money I saved or how much I’d spend. That’s why I was surprised to find out that in UK, according to a news article that I read, singletons spend less than couples.

Apparently, the average UK single consumer spends only £281 a month on rent and bills compared to £500 spent by members of couples. Moreover, a single person consumes a monthly average of £22.85 in restaurant bills while people with partners reach a monthly total of £39.50.

It was really shocking. But then, I got to thinking. Isn’t it just normal? I mean, although singletons show very little care for money, they also normally settle for thrifty items because they’re only concerns are their own basic needs. Couples, on the other hand, spend for more than themselves. They spend for their partners too. Not to mention, because they’re spending for the ones they love, they’d be more willing to pay larger amounts just to get the items with the best quality. This could be the main reason why there’s a large gap between expenditures of singletons and couples.

This basic difference may also be the cause of why new couples find themselves pushed against a wall and facing Secured Loans after a few years of being in a relationship. They are trapped in the web of bigger spendings without any warnings whatsoever. And with very few ways of getting out of the situation, some choose to get out of relationships just to get away from bigger responsibilities.

Fortunately for andrea and I, we’re both as thrifty now as we were before we dated. So now, we are still able to keep track of how much we save because we know how much we spend.