Andrea’s dad works as a seaman. He plays the role of first mate in a crew of around 20-30 individuals and his job is to make sure that cargoes or shipments get to their destinations safely and on time anywhere in the world. It’s a very financially rewarding job but like any other job it is not without a price.

For months he spends his time at sea thousands and thousands of miles away from andrea and the rest of his family. There were even some instances when he would celebrate Christmas and New Year on the ship being unable to go home because of schedules. And since he’s not just within the country, his family can’t go to him either. Instead, he makes do with just listening to their voices over the phone. Sometimes, he would even spend a small fortune just to be able to talk long enough to them through hotel room phones.

This is why andrea and I are thinking of getting him several phone cards before he goes back to work. I’m sure he’d be able to appreciate them. Andrea and I had been searching for not only the cheapest ones but also the coolest ones as well so that when he uses them, he won’t have any difficulty tinkering or following instructions. So far, the coolest we’ve seen are the pinless, rechargeable, dialing phone cards. They might do for now, but I know it’s still nothing compared to the real thing.

Andrea and I have never been able to keep up with the movies ever since we both started teaching. I guess it’s pretty much because a teacher’s work never really stops when the bell sounds off.
Sometimes, andrea and I would just hear about how good the movies are from our students who merrily and generously talk about them after watching with their parents or friends.

I remember that one of these good movies we failed to see was the famous Happy Feet. I recall us both wanting to see the film but we just didn’t have the time. So when we heard that it was going to be shown in HBO, we just knew this was it. We weren’t going to let it pass this time. We made Mateo go to bed early. We made sure that sounds were kept to a minimum so that he wouldn’t wake up in the middle of the movie.

And guess what? It paid off. After a long time, andrea and I were able to watch a movie again. But even though it was just on the TV, it felt like a real deal. The songs were fantastic and the characters were really funny. We had a blast. It sure was a nice movie - this movie entitled Happy Feet.

When Mateo’s grandparents came yesterday, they brought with them several toys. Actually, I believe several is an understatement. They had two large plastic bags filled with all sorts of toys like balls, action figures, puzzles, building blocks and even a waiting-to-be-assembled motor city.
At first I thought, hey it’s so nice having the first grandson in the family. Your kid gets to be pampered in attention as well as in toys. But then shortly after they left and it was already time to clean up, I realized it has its down sides too. Now that Mateo has all these toys, we’re quickly running out of space to put them in. It was getting so crowded that we even had to utilize the old refrigerator just so we can store away Mateo’s toys for a while.

When we were cleaning up I remembered thinking never to get him new toys again. Hehe! Fortunately, we were able to fix the place up again. And then I remembered changing my thoughts to, I’ll just buy him a new toy when he gets tired of playing with everything he has. Hopefully he doesn’t tire of them any time soon.

Andrea bought us our own domains a year ago. She initially had our sites hosted with the free ad-supported hosting account that came with the domains. Unfortunately, the ads that came with it was a big banner across the top of the page. It grew to be an irritating eyesore for us after a few months so she bought us a hosting account account which is valid for two years. Right now, we have a lot of unused storage space and bandwidth. She’s been telling me to think of other domain names I might want since she doesn’t want the storage space to be put to waste. She’s been scouting for cheap domain registration so that we don’t have to spend that much to get different domains. Paylessdomains.com.au gives special discounts if you register a domain with them for two years and also for bulk domain registrations. My mind is now teeming with the endless blog topics I could start. I’m also currently thinking of more interesting and easy-to-remember domain names. Any suggestions?

It was not until elementary when I got acquainted with the singing purple dinosaur known as Barney. And I can still remember being disgusted with the weird-looking creature. I mean, the whole idea of a long-dead, not to mention primitive, animal teaching kids how to read, write and sing is just a little too twisted for me, even back then.

I don’t know exactly why. Maybe it’s because I lived in the era of Sesame Street and Batibot, or the age of the muppets, that’s why I’m having trouble accepting Barney. I’m not sure. I guess I was just being loyal.

Mateo, on the other hand, is different. He was born in the age of Barney. He doesn’t know any of the characters I grew up with - not Big Bird, nor Pong Pagong, or even Kermit. He loves only the purple dinosaur who hops and sings and performs magic. And with the hundreds of times that we had to watch over him while he listens and dances to Barney’s songs, I’m slowly learning to accept the purple dinosaur.

Hey, I have to face it! Whether I like it or not, Barney’s already in the house!