iamninoy

iamninoy. areyouninoy? doyouknowninoy? Saw this ad on TV today and immediately checked out the website. Following are excerpts from the "iamninoy campaign background" which i got from the site:

"The year 2008 marks the 25th death anniversary of the martyred national hero Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. In tribute, the Benigno S. Aquino Jr., Foundation (BSAF), together with friends and supporters, will hold a year-long celebration of his life and legacy through a campaign entitled: iamninoy

The core message of the Campaign is the selfless giving of the best of ourselves for our countrymen and women and the advancement of the country as a whole. Hence, the campaign is designed to create innovative mechanisms and systems for the participation of corporate brands and their customers in schemes that contribute to causes and projects that enhance the welfare of the poor and marginalized Filipinos."

If you want to know more, you can check out their site, iamninoy. It contains a lot of stuff like information about ninoy for those who don't know him and since this is a year long campaign, they have several events lined up. And one the events is the Ninoy Aquino Photo Exhibit that features the Willy Vicoy Collection organized by the Ayala Foundation in partnership with Hewlett-Packard. :p

There are lots of other events being planned but what got me excited was the word "marathon". I hope this pushes through because I'm sure a lot of runners will be excited to join it.

My Miracle Run

This is my 100th post and I will write about my recent run, the Men's Health Miracle Run. It's a miracle that I was able to finish the 10K run. I normally wouldn't have a problem finishing a 10K run but not this time. It took me over 15 mins more to cross the finish line than my average finish time. Good thing this run was all about just being able to finish in order for MH to donate P200/runner to the GMA foundation.


But the real question here is "Why did it take me that long to finish the 10K run"? There's only one answer. Blame it on my injured knee. Yes, it's the same left knee that I injured during the rush to infinity run last June 29. After getting that injury, I stopped running to let it heal. Problem is I didn't go to the doctor like I said I would to have it checked. I was hoping it would heal itself and that I would be back to normal by the time I run again which is why I skipped running for more than a month. And a day before the run, I even bought a Phiten UPS Titan Tape roll hoping that it would help prevent any pain.

I was psychologically ready for the run. I woke up early and was at the venue an hour before the run would start. I made sure that I did the proper stretching and was able to do a few laps around the parking lot for my warm up. But even during the warm up run, I started to feel a little pain on that stubborn knee. I would later learn that the pain was only the preview of more pain to come.

I was relaxed and was chatting with Wa when the run started. Since we were positioned at the back of the crowd, we had to walk for a while but eventually started to run when the crowd started to disperse and there was more room to run. I thought that if the pain would reoccur then it would probably be around the 5K mark. But no, my knee has its own mind. I started to feel the pain even before I reached 2K. I had to slow down but that would not stop me from running. I almost reached 5K without walking or stopping. I tried as hard as I can to forget about the pain until I could no longer take it which eventually forced me to walk a few hundred meters before reaching 5K. And it was downhill from there. While the others were running, I had to walk and walk I did for more than half of the remaining 5K. It was frustrating! Nevertheless, I am still thankful that I was able to finish.

A big lesson learned here. An injury cannot heal itself. I have to go see a doctor. I have to run regularly. I have to! I have to!

A big thanks to Wa as well for accompanying me during my walks. Hehe..

Latent TB and Why I Care...

Even before Trisha turned one, her pediatrician had advised the possibility of doing a test to rule out "Primary Complex" due to the slow increase of her weight. We initially thought that Trisha didn't need the test because aside from the slow weight gain, she had no other symptoms that would suggest she had primary complex. She rarely gets sick and her milk intake was normal. Our only problem was she prefers chips, chocolates and candies to real food. Her doctor even accepted the fact that maybe she was just petite.

And then just 2 weeks ago when we went for her monthly check-up, her pediatrician advised us that it was better to have Trisha undergo the test just to be sure because she was concerned that at her age, she was still at less than 10kgs. And so last week, we had her tested (procedure was to inject a TB-like substance under the surface of the skin). We had to wait for 2 days before we would know the results. We were hoping that it was nothing but her test results came out positive. However, her doctor said that she has no primary complex but what she has instead was referred to as "latent TB". She said that Trisha might have been exposed to someone who has TB. Anyway, she ordered an X-ray to be done just to be sure that it was really not a primary complex. I'm glad it was not.

But since Trisha has latent TB, it still needs to be treated. Her doctor prescribed a medicine that she needs to take for 9 months. Poor Trisha! Looking at the bright side, at least there is a way to prevent her from developing active TB. Cases like these may be normal but it still affects us as parents to think that our daughter has it. =(

But what is Latent TB?

According to Wikipedia... "Latent tuberculosis is where a patient is infected with Myobacterium tuberculosis, but does not have active tuberculosis disease. Patients with latent tuberculosis are not infectious, and it is not possible to get TB from someone with latent tuberculosis. The main risk is that approximately 10% of these patients will go on to develop active tuberculosis at a later stage of their life. The identification and treatment of people with latent TB is an important part of controlling this disease."

I also found an article comparing Latent vs Active TB here. Basically, a latent TB can be compared to a dormant volcano. Once it comes out of hibernation and explodes, it becomes active. This is the same case with latent TB, once it turns active, then it's referred to as active TB. Makes sense huh? =) Anyway, the great news is latent TB can be prevented from becoming active by taking medication which would kill the TB bacteria. Here's a useful link on how to treat latent TB.

Bottomline here is, there's really nothing to worry about but of course as parents, we can't help but worry especially if it's our child who has it. That's human nature!

Trisha's Apology

Trisha is just turning 2 in a few months and we (Tet and I, and some of our friends as well) are amazed how well she is able to converse with people.

Anyway, I want to share an incident today when I was scolding her for not being careful when she spilled water on the couch from her water bottle.

This is how she responded.

Trisha: Galit na Daddy.
Me: Oo, galit na talaga daddy kasi hindi ka careful.
Trisha: Sorry. Sorry na Daddy. Sorry na.

This was the first time that she voluntarily apologized because usually when she does something wrong, we would tell her to say sorry and she would say it but doesn't seem to mean it. But today, she actually meant it.

How could I continue to be mad after hearing that? My heart just melted with those words. Yun lang!

23.. 32.. Who cares?

I just turned 23 yesterday. At least that's what I want to believe my age is. Hahaha.. Anyway, at my age, I don't really expect to receive gifts from anyone except from myself, my wife and my co-workers. Haha.. Lo and behold, I received gifts from each one. I am truly blessed! =)

Let's start with what I got myself for my birthday.. I am somewhat on a budget so as a gift for my birthday, I got myself and Tet tickets to the Cinderella musical. I picked the Aug 8 show because it's the one closest to my birthday. Another gift I got for myself is the Amphipod RunLite Hydration Belt which Deedee was gracious enough to buy for me in the US.

Tet, on the other hand, got me an Oakley. It's a half jacket model (jet black frame and fire iridium lens). She got me this so that I have eye protection when I run. How thoughtful!

And lastly, my Finsys teammates got me a New Balance singlet. See me model the singlet below (while holding a chocolate cake and a bottle of caramel sauce).

Thanks to me (Haha..), Tet and my Finsys teammates for the gift/s and for all those who remembered to greet me on my special day. God bless you guys!

That's it. If I had free-flowing cash, a perfect gift to myself would probably be a trip to Beijing with Tet and Trisha to watch the Olympics. I could only wish...

Another Busy Weekend..

Last weekend was a busy weekend for us. We had activities lined up from Friday to Sunday.

August 1 - Friday

We had dinner at the Kabisera restaurant in Bonifacio High Street. By "we" I meant the FinSys oldies.. hehe.. namely Wa, Jon, Joaqs, Roy, Lancer, Suraj, Barbs, Thea, Vicky + me, Tet, Trisha and Kat. The dinner was a get together for Vicky who had already resigned from HP and had recently come back from Canada.

picture to follow..

August 2 - Saturday

Joaqs' birthday party @ Linden Suites, room 1114. Tet, Trish and I were the first to arrive at around 7:30pm. Peter then arrived shortly after which was followed by Kabby, Cris and Roy. And then the others started to arrive. The food (by Verleo except for the Pancit which was bought from Orchid motel) and drinks were overflowing. Trisha had a fun time but we had to leave early (around 10pm) because it was already past her bedtime.

picture to follow..

August 3 - Sunday

Attended Smile's Christian wedding at "The Greenery" in Bulacan on a rainy day. The place was quite far and there were very few signs along the way. Wa and Kat carpooled with us and we got lost several times trying to find the venue. The wedding had already started when we got there but we were still able to witness most parts of the wedding ceremony. The place was nice especially where the actual wedding ceremony took place and the train. The food was also good. On our way back, we convoyed with Ralph's vehicle to make sure we don't get lost again.

picture to follow..

So that was our weekend. Didn't really have much time to rest but it was a fun weekend.