Desperateblogger is a Pinay Mom {Who} Blogs

I started this blog with this in mind: A blog on insights & anecdotes of my life, family, home, motherhood, parenting, lifestyle, health, home & fitness tips, entertainment, current issues and more...to vent my rants and rages. I had no intention of interacting with fellow bloggers. My main goal was to blog, blog and blog. It has been six months since my first post - and I do declare that I have come a long way (babeh!)

I started out as a blogspot. I was and am a desperateblogger - as the essence of my blog was a mom who was desperate to blog. After a couple of months I wanted my own domain. I really prefer the domain name desperateblogger but I also wanted a domain name that would identify me as a Filipina. Thus, pinaymomblogs it is.

I have changed my blog's template 4 times. I have learned the importance of back links and technorati authority. I have gotten to know bloggers from all around the world. I have read all about their lives ( at least the part that they want to make public) all graciously spread out in their blogs.I have been informed of pregnancies, births, weddings, baptisms, parties - birthday, graduation, farewell, etc. Like most bloggers or SAHM or WAHM, I too have become involved in monetizing my blog.

My posts have become a hodgepodge of articles - sometimes not even remotely connected to the genre of my original blog - all for the mighty moolah! However, I cannot possibly abandon my extra income source - oh no! not when this blog is PR 3! I just have to consistently incorporate my extra income ventures to my blog's genre. Note how I do not use the word p*id b*ogging - g*o*gle robots, you know.

Six months of blogging - 325 posts, PR 3, Alexa 188,042, Top Blog #37, Real Rank 544, Technorati Rank 12,810 and most of all a blog roll full of wonderful blogger friends like you! From the bottom of my heart, I thank each one of YOU for being part of my blogging life!

Air Conditioned

Due to the escalating prices of gas and other basic utilities and commodities, my husband has declared that air conditioner units (ACU) will no longer be turned on as if we are the Lopezes (Manila Electric Company major stock holders). All my kids complained as they have gotten used to turning on the air-conditioner units the moment they arrive home. Of course, I am irritated too. Why? First, I too prefer cool rooms where I need not sweat. Second, because my kids are suffering from the heat! I hate it when my kids are uncomfortable. For moms out there, I know that you know what I mean.

There is now an ongoing cold war between my kids and their dad. In order to pacify everyone, I did not really (only slightly) say on whose side I am on. I explained that we just have to adjust to the ACUs being on only at bedtime. No one is happy with the set up. Ethan (the 24/7 ACU user) complained that he is melting. Daughter # 2 said her asthma has acted up. Daughter #3 and #4 had thought of paying for their own energy consumption. For the past week the two had logged in their ACU usage. The log is actually posted on their door where their dad can see it - which he cannot for he refuses to wear corrective lenses. My son is not greatly affected for he only comes home on weekends, likewise daughter #1.

So, now, after a week of suffering from heat, did my husband actually saved money? I think so for there was definitely a marked drop in the ACU usage. But wait! Did I actually saved money in this no-ACU-usage-till-bedtime ploy? I certainly did not! Ethan got sick with cough and cold. Electric fan induced air does not suit him. The intensity of the cough forced me to buy a new nebulizer- for the old one conked out- which cost me 3,000 Php plus another 1,000 Php for meds. I had to buy two new electric fans at 1,300 Php. I now have watery eyes and itchy throat. I am about to get sick, for like Ethan,I have very low tolerance to the air turbulence created by an electric fan.

Someone... please turn on the air conditioner.

Writing Gig Galore

An online buddy ,Herson, introduced me to a site that pays you to do essays and research works. He said he has been with that company for a year and that the pay is good. Wanting to spread out my wings in terms of writing and well, earning money online, I signed up. All I had to do was fill-up the online application form and attach a sample of my work. I was readily approved to be one of the site's new writer for hire.

I was excited. Finally, a writing gig where I am not hired based on my site's PR or popularity or location or domain(or lack of it). Google will be happy with me. No more paid blogging! I received emails after emails of writing opportunities. As I peruse the topics, I thought what the heck did I get myself into? Here are some samples of opportunities offered to me.

Topic: Mobility/Continuing Care Nursing Care Plan
Type: Case Study (Health and Social Care)
Pages: 30
Level: Specialized Level (Nursing)
Page cost: $10.65
Total: $319.50
Deadline: 2008-05-07 06:21:15 PST
Style: APA, UK English
Sources: 10

Topic:How does an initially successful behaviour establish itself
as a self-defeating behaviour and why is it so difficult for the client
to recognise it?'
Type:Problem-Solving (Other/Not Specified)
Level: College Level
Page cost: $7.14
Total: $71.40
Deadline: 2008-05-03 23:36:17 PST
Style: MLA, UK
Sources:2

I signed up to write for subjects in art, religion and other easy social sciences. The clients specify the number of resources that is why it's imperative to do research work. Researching is not really a daunting task: but if you have to write a 30-page-10-resources-research- in- specialized nursing, a subject I know nothing about, to be written in UK English in 3-4 days, I say, old chap count me out.

The in-demand topics are business, health care and philosophy related. As I continue to receive offers of perplexing topics, my nose persists to bleed!

Apartment Hunting

My son and a couple of his teammates have been looking for an apartment or condominium or house to rent for the coming academic year. I have my own list of requirements. The place has to be a stone throw away from their school for easy commute. The place has to be secure and the neighborhood peaceful. The place has to have passed the fire code in that zone: should be clean and presentable and of course, affordable.

They have found a condo unit in one of the neighboring villages near the school. It is a well-ventilated and lighted 2-bedroom unit with two toilets and baths, a compact kitchen-dining-living room and a squeeze-tight laundry area. The building itself has 24/7 security guard, working fire escapes, an elevator, 2 sets of stairwells, a penthouse, and a weight's room. The architect in me gave the place 7/10. Not bad.

How much? It's 12,000 Php per month excluding utilities. So that will be 4,000 Php as my son's share of the rent plus water and electricity bills. Umm.. okay still within my price range. However, we need to make a 2 month's deposit and one month advance bringing the total to 36,000 Php down payment which translates to 12,000 Php for my son's initial share.

But that is robbery! I told my son. But mom!!.... cried the son. Okay. Let's see the contract so we can sign right away. As I read the contract the more I became convinced that the owner was indeed a legitimate robber.

Aside from the 36,000 Php deposit and advance, we need to issue 12 checks for the association fee of 2,350 Php per month.

What association fees? I asked.

Oh, that's usual for condo units, you know, to use for the 24/7 security guards said the thief err, owner. There are 60 units in the building multiply that by 2350 Php totals 141,000 Php allotted for the guards' salary. Wow, lucky guards indeed!

Well, what about the clause that says the lessee have to pay for the real estate taxes, fire insurance , and other related fees?, I exclaimed, my eyes bulging, which was really not intimidating as I am chinky-eyed. There is also no guarantee that we can get back our 36,000 Php deposit and advance since you might qualify the unit in need of major repairs because of misuse!, I added.

Ah, well that's the way it goes here the owner said quite irritated.

I conferred with the parents of my son's teammates. They were also astounded by the seemingly unfair terms of the owner. We said no to our devastated sons. They were so bent on that condo unit. To ease their aching hearts, I promised to go apartment-hunting with them on Thursday.

Do you know of a place for rent around UPD campus?

Safelist's Saga

I was clearing my desk this afternoon when I chanced upon the three old notebooks that I used when I was involved in internet marketing. These notebooks contained my accounts and passwords to the various programs that I have joined in my short 2-year stint in online money making schemes.

I was doing advertising through e-mail marketing and paid ads on surf sites. I was actually shocked to find out that during the peak of my crazy internet episode I was a member of about 10,000 safelists. Now, you may ask, what the heck is a safelist?

A safelist is a type of e-mail marketing and advertising where the members signed-up and agreed to receive each others messages of advertising. Usually, the safelist administration reserves the right to mail its members. A member logs in into his account and types in his ads and send it to the safelist's members. Types of safelists include: Paid, Credit Based and Free.

I did not actually log-in to each of my accounts. I had three safelist submitters where I just typed in my ads and have it sent to available safelists of the day. Being a member to more than 10,000 safelists translated to approximately 100,000++ sent e-mails. Sometimes, I pay extra for a one-time send to 5 million e-mail addresses. Effective?

I sent 4,000 credit mailer with the subject Check this Out. A credit mailer gives you credit to advertise once you view an advertiser's site. Anyway, out of the 4,000 email ads I sent only 56 emails were credited or clicked through. That is only 1.4 % of 4,000 which means the click-through rate is not good.

Maybe the heading was not catchy enough. The content of the ad, none . All I wrote in the ad was my blog's URL. Anyway, the experiment resulted in 56 additional surprised (as in what the heck am I doing viewing this blog?) visitors to my site.

Ignoramus Irked !

The extremely hot weather finally caught up on me. I have a cold: clogged nose, itchy throat, watery eyes, congested chest, irritating cough, hot-cold sensation and a splitting headache.

So what am I doing blogging? Sick or not, life goes on. I just had to check my e-mail for I've been expecting one from my brother. In the course of my checking, I saw an anonymously written comment on my Black Suede post. He/She/It said that I am ignorant. Let me clarify that anonymous #2 called me ignorant because I wrote that the highly publicized rectal surgical procedure was interesting. Umm... that set me thinking. (If you can actually declare my brain to be capable of the task). Just what does ignorant means?

According to my favorite online dictionary, ignorant means:

1. lacking in knowledge or training. True, I am not a doctor but do I need to be one for me to say that the surgical procedure was interesting?

2. lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact. I did not report on the surgical procedure. I merely wrote what I have read and gave my two cents.

3 uninformed. unaware. Oh I was aware of the incident.

4. due to or showing lack of knowledge or training: an ignorant statement. Was commenting that I find the much-viewed-and-talked-about surgical procedure interesting validates that I am indeed ignorant?
If that is ignorance, than we have a lot of ignoramuses traipsing about, happily.

Gas at $1.20 per Gallon

Ten years ago, the price of premium gasoline was at 10.00 Php per liter. If I fill up my tank 100.00 Php worth of gas, that was10 liters. That was more than enough for me to consume in two days. Long drives then were not a problem. I was more than willing to take my children, my mother, my mother-in-law, my friends, my friends' kids, just about anywhere, snacks included! Gas was cheap! McDonald's, cheap! Tuition fees, cheap! Food and basic commodities cheap!..well... affordable by majority of the working force.

Not now! Gosh! Gas is Gold! Diesel used to cost 7.00 Php per liter. Today, it's 40.15Php. Why? Why does the gas price keeps 0n increasing? A neighbor of mine recently came home from the Middle East. He works in one of the leading company of oil producers in that region. He said, he too is baffled as to why gas price keeps on hiking whereas oil producers have not upped their prices. He said gas is 30 cents per liter in the Middle East: that's $1.20 per gallon: that's 12.00 Php per liter, 34.00 Php less than what we pay per liter here.

I received an e-mail from a high school classmate. As I read the e-mail, a scheme on how to lower gas price, the more I became convinced that the idea might actually work.

The e-mail basically suggests that we, the gas consumers, stop buying (boycott?) gas from the two leading gas companies here in the Philippines for a year; starting now. There is rumor that the gas price will hit an all-time high at 60.00 Php per liter. When that happens, no one ( except the super rich, executives and employees of the oil companies and gov't officials) can afford to live.

I would have posted the e-mail here but my lawyer (huh?) said I might get in trouble! Anyway one is supposed to forward the letter to 10 people then those 1o people to another 10... much like a pyramid scheme. The idea is that after 8 days of receving and forwarding e-mails, the target number of 300,000 people will be reached. I just hope the 300,000 e-mailers will do as they are told. As of three hours ago, I have spammed about a hundred people. Not! More like fifty friends and relatives. I can actually submit the e-mail to safelists to reach thousands of people but then again, my lawyer (duh?) said no.

I have a favorite local gas station near my house. It sells gasoline at 2.00 Php less than the current price in other gas stations. This only proves that if the two major oil companies choose to lower their freaking profit, a price roll back can happen.

Whodunnit?

I left the house at 9:30 am today to take the dentist to her residency duty somewhere in Quezon city. With me were my son and Ethan. Since the dentist will only take an hour to finish her rounds, we (son, Ethan and I) decided to leave her at the hospital and eat an early lunch at Burger King near the Quezon City Memorial Circle: the one intersecting Rodriquez Ave., Quezon Ave., and Espana Boulevard.

After eating, I decided to order take-out for the dentist. I got out of the joint's parking area while son and grandson were happily eating their sundaes. I then proceeded to the rotonda to make my u-turn. Crap! The circle is all blocked up. No more circling the rotonda to go Eastward of Quezon Ave. Okay. I'll just proceed along Espana Boulevard and hope to make a u-turn in one of the intersections.

Heavy traffic at lunch time. The car aircon was in full blast but I was still feeling hot! hot! hot! My gosh! There's no freaking u-turn or left turn in any of the intersections I have passed. Just then, my mobile phone rang.

Mom! Where are you? I'm done.
I'm somewhere along Espana looking for a u-turn.
There's no u-turn there. You have to turn left at the street before UST. Oh wait! There's no left turn there either.

Okay. I was then officially pissed off. My son was making some guttural noise-like ihavetobeinschoolbyonethirty. Heh!

I had to turn left at Lacson, do an illegal u-turn near the UST Hospital ( I was pass caring at this point), crossed Espana to get to Forbes, drove some more to get near the bottom of the fly-over at the Magsaysay and Nagtahan junction where I finally did the badly-needed u-turn to drive north of Lacson to turn right at Espana to finally go east of Quezon Ave, to pick up dentist then take son to school.

Crappity-crap! A five-minute drive turned into a 35-minute detour disaster which translated into wasted time and gasoline.

Who ever thought of closing all the u-turn points along Espana Boulevard?!

Show yourself!

There's Money in Blogging

Do you blog? Do you enjoy blogging? Do you believe that someday your blogging will pay off and you will actually earn money?

That day is today. Introducing Bloggerware.

This company is aiming to be Europe's number one advertising media in blogs. It is definitely taking advantage on the phenomenal growth and emerging power of the blogosphere. What are you waiting for? Join the bandwagon of bloggers who are earning extra money through Bloggerware.

The Vamps are Here

Blogging is fun. Blogging is an expression. Blogging is liberating. Blogging means money (for some). Blogging is a hobby. Blogging can be habit-forming (addicts!). Blogging is free (unless you get your own domain and server) . Blogging is contagious.

Yes. I have contaminated a trio of self-expressing, highly-articulate, first-rate teachers, who have the audacity to call themselves..... VAMPS. There are actually four major meanings of the word VAMP. First, the portion of a shoe or boot upper that covers the instep and toes. Second,something patched up or pieced together. Third, in jazz, an accompaniment, usually improvised, consisting of a succession of simple chords. Fourth, a seductive woman who uses her sensuality to exploit men.

The first three meanings do not apply to them. The fourth meaning is highy inconclusive too for I just can't see them exploiting men by using their charms. Wait I got it! The VAMP is actually shortcut for VAMPira.

There's a new kid on the block. My kid and two of her best friends: The Temptress, SPAManiac and CornFlakes..... collectively....

The Vamp Squad


vamp squad: you owe me $10 for the buzz

New CEO ?

I got this e-mail with the header: Bill Gates recruits a new CEO for Microsoft Europe.

I thought wow, Microsoft is still expanding. I wonder what the rest of the e-mail says. Copy/Paste.

> Subject: Fwd: Bill Gates recruits a new CEO for
> Microsoft Europe
>
> Bill Gates organized an enormous session to recruit a
> new CEO
> for Microsoft Europe.
>
> Exactly 5,000 candidates assembled in a large room.
> One candidate is
> MARIO DIMACULANGAN.
>
> Bill Gates: Thank you for coming. Those who do not
> know JAVA may leave.
>
> 2,000 people leave the room.
>
> MARIO says to himself, 'I do not know JAVA but I
> have nothing to lose if I stay. I'll give it a try'
>
> Bill Gates: Candidates who never had experience in
> managing more
> than 500 people may leave.
>
> 2,000 people leave the room.
>
> Mario says to himself ' I never managed anybody but
> myself, but I have
> nothing to lose if I stay. What can happen to me?' So
> he
> stays.
>
> Bill Gates: Candidates who do not have management
> diplomas may
> leave.
>
> 500 people leave the room.
>
> Mario says to himself, 'I left high school at 15 but
> what have I got
> to lose?' So he stays in the room.
>
> Lastly, Bill Gates asked the candidates who do not
> speak Serbo - Croat to leave.
>
> 498 people leave the room.
>
> Mario says to himself, ' I do not speak one word of
> Serbo - Croatbut
> what do I have to lose?' So he stays and finds
> himself with one other
> candidate. Everyone else has gone.
>
> Bill Gates joined them and said 'Apparently you are
> the only two candidates who speak Serbo - Croat, so
> I'd now like to hear you have a conversation together
> in that language.'
>
> Calmly, Mario turns to the other candidate and says
> `Ano ba yan,
> dong?'
>
> The other candidate answers 'Ewan ko, pare.'



Have a Nice Day!

PR is What?

Just what the heck is PR?

Public Relations?

Press Release?

Pocholo Ramirez?

PreRog?

I always sees this type of ad :Increase your PR with PRzoom7 (fictitious).

What is PR?

Page Rank? Did you just say page rank? So, what the heck is page rank?

Googling.... Wikipedia.....

According to Wikipedia :

PageRank is a link analysis algorithm that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of "measuring" its relative importance within the set. The algorithm may be applied to any collection of entities with reciprocal quotations and references. The numerical weight that it assigns to any given element E is also called the PageRank of E and denoted by PR(E).

What the.......?!.......WHAT?!!!

Googling......Webworshop:

PageRank is a numeric value that represents how important a page is on the web. Google figures that when one page links to another page, it is effectively casting a vote for the other page. The more votes that are cast for a page, the more important the page must be. Also, the importance of the page that is casting the vote determines how important the vote itself is. Google calculates a page's importance from the votes cast for it. How important each vote is is taken into account when a page's PageRank is calculated.

PageRank is Google's way of deciding a page's importance. It matters because it is one of the factors that determines a page's ranking in the search results. It isn't the only factor that Google uses to rank pages, but it is an important one.

Ummmmm.... okay.

The exchange of links that we do with fellow bloggers actually does good to boost our PR. There are ceratin sites that offer reciprocal linking. Reciprocal linking means just that. Reciprocal.Mutual. You link me and I'll link you.

However, not all links are counted by Google. It filters out links from known link farms. A link farm is any group of web sites that all hyperlink to every other page in the group. Be careful who you link too. It is also important to link to a site that has at least has traffic. If you link your blog to a site that has 0-5 visitors a day, that defintiely defeats the purpose of the linking.

What is my PR? I started blogging January 30, 2008. That's just a month and a half in the blogosphere. Sometime ago, I tried to rate myself in the Google PR checker. I was N/A. Not Applicable. It's as if I don't exists. N/A. My blog is invisible to Google! The crawlers zigzagged through my blog.

Ooooppsss.... said the robot crawler, Desperateblogger's blog ahead. Hard right!

Wait. I'll check again. Now.

Wow! I have improved. My PR now is 0/10! From a non-entity rank of N/A, Google has decided to rank me 0. The robot crawlers have passed by my blog and have decided to acknowledge my existence. I am now 0/10. Still no value but at least I now have numerics.

While I ponder and figure out a way to increase my PR, why don't you try computing yours?

PR(A) = (1-d) + d(PR(t1)/C(t1) + ... + PR(tn)/C(tn))

In the equation 't1 - tn' are pages linking to page A, 'C' is the number of outbound links that a page has and 'd' is a damping factor, usually set to 0.85.

Gosh! 'Ever!

Time To Toss

You discard bad food and change the oil of your car. You buy new shoes when your pair is scruffy. You buy new pans when the Teflon coat is peeling. Basically you know when to buy new stuff to replace the old ones. Here are some more guidelines on when to throw out your stuff and buy replacements.

Toothbrush: You know it’s time to replace it when the bristles are worn-out. Even if you brush your teeth for 15 minutes (which is highly unlikely), an impaired toothbrush is useless. A toothbrush’s life span can be from one month to 3 months depending on usage.

Hairbrush: Wash your hair brushes! Do no let loose hair accumulate on the brush. If you take care of your hair brush its lifespan can reach up to ten years.

Mousse: As long as it does not smell more like alcohol and is not runny or hard as a rock, then I guess you could still use it. It usually has a shelf life of five to eight years which is pretty insignificant for a canister of mousse, no matter how rarely and sparingly you use it is gone in 3 weeks.

Lipstick: I have tons of lipstick dating back to the early 90’s. I read that lipstick tubes should be thrown our after two years. I cannot even finish a tube of lipstick in a year. Why? I have about 4-6 tubes that I use alternately, not counting the tons hidden in my dresser. Maybe someday I’ll be able to throw them out.

Mascara: Throw in the thrash after 6 months which I’m quite sure none of you will follow. Mascara tubes cost a lot and unless you coat your eyelashes with a quarter –inch thick of mascara day-in day-out, there’s no way to finish a regular tube.

Eye shadow: Just like the mascara, it should be discarded after 6-12 months. Again, just like the mascara, there is no way to finish one color in your usual 4-color compact unless, just like the mascara, you apply a copious amount on your eyelids and maybe on your neighbor too.

Perfume: I have a real oil-based perfume that is sitting patiently inside my dresser, waiting for the day that I will finally open the bottle. The perfume is older that my 4th daughter and son. I read that a perfume should be thrown out if its smell has changed. That would be a problem for me since I do know the original scent of the still unopened bottle of perfume.

Blush: Not in pristine condition after 1-2 years. At its third year of existence, do throw it out if you can. I use 2-3 shades of blushers. I’ve been using it for the past 4 years. We’ve bonded; the blushers and I. Parting with them now will break my heart.

Talcum Powder: Will last forever as long as it stays dry.

Razors: If it nicks, then junk it.

Now that I’ve given some tips on when to throw out stuff, I’ll read up on “how to part with old stuff the easy way.”

"TOP FIVE HOTTEST BLOG MEME"

This tag was sent by Juliana. The tag she sent might ruffle some feathers. Please. Do not be offended. My opinion is worthless.

RULES:
1. Simply choose five blogs you want to be included in your "top five list".

2.Give a short line or explanation why you put them on your list.One explanation for eachof every blog.

3.Now tag as many blogs as you want.You can also tag those blogs you've listedin your TOP FIVE....you can also put your own blog in your list if you want

4.[for those who've been tagged]you can also vote for a blog that was been nominated already(besides,this is what this meme is intended for,to know how many bloggers will nominate your blog)

5.Submit your TOP FIVE HOTTEST BLOG ENTRY here . Submitted blogs will be the only one to be included in the tally

6.Remember:Submissions of entries starts from MARCH 1 2008 to MARCH 25,2008
and top five hottest blog winners will be anounced in MARCH 29,2008

7.enjoy listing your top five!!!

This is hard for each blog has its own personality. Each writer his own style. What to do? Julina! I thought you were my friend!

Okay. I am going to tag youngblood bloggers. Theses below 30's writers are pretty, witty and smart. ( Umm.. West Side Story) Anyway. Here goes.

1. Splice and Dice: a 21 yr old student who tackles Philippine political issues with gusto.

2. BipolarBlogs: funny musings of a nursing student Filipina advocate.

3. PinayWahm: the domain name itself is a winner. seriously, the reads are interesting

4. Fil-Am Journey: interesting diversed articles to read.

5. And Life Goes On/Desperateblogger101: because i like what i write.


Now, I am tagging splice, bipolar and fil-am. Guys, I know you don't do tags but please do it this one time.