A Race to the OCP Finish Line (Part 2: Office Trouble)

Almost everyone I know seems to know about my unconfirmed and yet mad dash of a hectic and short-planned trip back to the Philippines only a mere two weeks after I came back to the Philippines for one of my nephew's first birthday.

I have been cramming for a few days now, and something horrible has just come up.

To make the already currently bad matters worse, my supervisor is leaving the company by the end of December, leaving the IT department shortmanned by 1 person. Any hopes of taking any long leaves after his departure is going to be almost a sure fire refusal by the VP/GM of the company, who will be handling all the supervisory items previously handled by my IT supervisor/manager.

This means that I have to REALLY get my act together and pass the OCA exam as early as possible to be able to attend the December 2005 upcoming Oracle10g Administration Workshop 2. There are several considerations before I can actually make it there... those numbered being (1) I pass the OCA exam as soon as possible to be able to (2) reserve seats for the class and (3) and also confirm that I needed to get a ticket back to the Philippines for the class itself.

This is starting to sound like a wild car chase of epic proportions...

Gym Progress Week 22 & 23

Not really. I haven't been to the gym for sometime already, due to my knee problem. So in the meantime, I'll have to stop posting about this... I feel bad enough already always just sitting down, working and typing away. Don't need to remind myself that I've already missed 3 weeks worth of gym ever since Week 20.

I guess you never always get what you want...

A Race to the OCP Finish Line (Part 1:Plan Breakdown)

Things are starting to get a bit tricky now that I have less than a month to get certified for Oracle10g.

To give those unacquainted a run down, I was targetting to get my Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) Certification before the year is out. I started planning for this objective since September 2005. To get the certification requires three things:
(1) pass the 1Z0-042 Oracle10g exam for the OCA certificate (Oracle Certified Associate)
(2) pass the 1Z0-043 Oracle10g exam for one of the requirements for the OCP (Oracle Certified Professional)
(3) Attendance to one of the Oracle approved classes given by the Oracle University for the OCP certification

The tests themselves were no problem, as I could take them anytime in any Oracle or Prometric testing centers here in Hong Kong, through self study. What was troublesome was item#3.

My plan was to review for the 1Z0-042 examination, as a quick view of the exam coverage involved many of the existing hands on experience and knowledge pointing to the fact that I already have a huge familiarity with the topics. The second step was to get a supporting class for the 1Z0-043 exam, which was basically Oracle10g Administration Workshop 2. This was because I realized that a lot of the coverage for the second exam (1Z0-043) were topics I am not readily acquainted with, involving new Oracle10g features that are usually not existing in my expertise in Oracle8i/9i.

What was troublesome was that the current price for a Hong Kong based Oracle University Administration Workshop 10g 2 class was a skyrocketing, unbelievable figure of HKD$17,000. The price for a Philippine based Oracle instruction of the same class was almost less than half of the Hong Kong price, which estimates roughly around HKD$5000. Since all initial finances would be coming straight out of my own pocket, it would be ideal to take the Philippine based instruction to maximize on the opportunity.

And unfortunately, the only scheduled class for Oracle (as a requirement for the certification) was for the Oracle10g Administration Workshop 2 scheduled for December 12-16, 2005. I promptly missed the last class (it was scheduled last October 2005) due to my procrastinating nature, and was stuck to moving my target class enrollment date to this December.

So my only hope was to make it or break it on the Oracle class this December 2005. A week before, during and after my trip this November, I had been burning the midnight oil trying to cram all related Oracle10g stuff in my head, since a prerequisite for the Oracle10g Administration Workshop 2 requires that either I had a previous hands on exposure to Oracle10g, or a Oracle10g Certified Associate (OCA) certification to be eligible to enroll for the class.

Only 2 weeks to cram... and I still have to worry about return flight tickets to the Philippines, as the holiday season is coming up, and a lot of OFWs will be going back for the holidays.

Time definitely seems to be against me right now...

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

Nice... not THAT good, but still nice.

[some spoilers ahead, so in case you haven't read or watched the movie, I'd advise reading on until the last few paragraphs otherwise]

A friend of mine commented that she liked this particular movie installment better than Harry Potter Prisoner of Azkaban. Personally I feel that this one doesn't live up to my expectations compared to the previous movie.

Don't get me wrong, its not crappy or anything. There are a lot of noteworthy mentions for this movie, considering that the director had to wade and preen through a lot of storylines, comparing the previous movie's 448 pages to this one's 752 pages.

Its just that, the movie feels a bit rushed and choppy, particularly in the start of the movie when they introduced the Quidditch World Cup and the other two schools who will be competing against Hogwarts for the Triwizard tournament, as it was too abrupt for my taste.

The movie concentrated particularly on the triwizard tournament, and the interaction between students as they are growing into teen-hood. Some parts seemed to be too obvious, perhaps like the exchanges between Hermoine and Krum, or a bit vague, as with Cho Chang and Harry Potter. But I'd rather like how they presented Neville in this particular bit of movie, as it helped to introduce the character in an altogether different light, besides being one of the usual ad-lib Gyffndors. In fact, he seemed to be the only one in the movie who didn't seem all that childish to me, compared to Harry and Ron's incessant pratting (yes, I know, they've always been a little childish) but then again, since the story has progressed this far into the story, I'd expect some sort of respect for its audiences and maturity for the characters, at least in the way there were presented. It could very well be a flaw in the storytelling, but there is simply no need to treat the audiences with the obvious.

I liked the new casting for the triwizard contestants though, particularly for Krum. He actually fits right the bill. Cedric was also well casted, as well as Fleur Delacour and Cho Chang, although their screen time was much less to my liking.

The best part of the movie was actually the meeting with Voldemort at the graveyard. Ralph Fiennes would make a great Voldemort, as can be seen in this part of the movie. I could already imagine him eminating evil in his full glory, but that's another installment altogether. Similarlyas with the rest of the movie, the final ending was a bit choppy, as I would've prefered that the movie had gone into elaborating and finishing up the movie on the doom that everyone felt right after Cedric's unfortunate demise and Voldemort's return, but it seems that the director chose otherwise, opting instead to show a merry send off by Hogwarts students to the congregations of Beauxbatons and Drumstrang Wizarding schools. How weird is that!

The movie is entertaining at best, but the whole movie didn't come out as how it was imagined from my reading the actual books. Its probably a difference in perspective altogether, but in the end, the movie remained with a good impression, though something that's not likely to last for too long in memory. Despite that, its still good entertainment for the money.

Home Eats

For some strange reason, I always like chronicling what I eat whenever I come back to the Philippines. I suppose it is a reflection of my personality and values. :) Without much further ado, here is what I had for my past trip:

November 25, 2005 (Friday)

• Cibo - bruschetta with mushrooms, salad with lamb jerky and cheese (Well at least it looked like jerky. It wasn't described like that in the menu though)
• Gonuts Donuts - Chocolate flavored donut, Donut Lite, and a slew (box) of other assorted donut stuff that's going straight to the house courtesy of my boyfriend
  
• Pancake House - Taco, Misua
• Noted things: Harry Potter at Greenhills Promenade, My nephew's REAL first birthday :) remember Squigly?
  

November 26, 2005 (Saturday)

• Steak Town - steak tartar
• Popeye - cajun rice and 1 pc chicken and honey bread
• Starbucks - mango frappucino
• Noted things: A dress fitting as a secondary sponsor for my brother's upcoming wedding next year, Harry Potter (again) at Robinson's Galleria with the rest of the family, and a gruelling wait over a deposit for my brother's wedding reception at the designated hotel. (plus a thousand and one rescheduling for that darned massage session that never pushed through)
  

November 27, 2005 (Sunday)

• Hyatt Breakfast Buffet - tomato, grapefruit, dumpling, miso, salmon, bread stick, cereal and yogart and milk, corned beef, scrambled egg, cold cuts, ham (yes i was pretty full, for a price of 600++php)
• @Home - KFC (courtesy of my grandma), rice, soup, radish and scallops
• Food food food! by Chinatown catering - dirty ice cream, hotdogs, lumpia, siomai, cheese fries, noodles, rice
• Noted things: My nephew's first birthday party, located at our place

All in all, a hearty trip for filling up my stomach. It doesn't help that I've stopped going to the gym though... (and also a lot of reviewing and studying for my OCP.. see the succeeding posts :) )

Backtracking.. Again.

I'll probably be screwed for doing this, since I haven't made any posts for the past month, and I've been busy. (You'll now what I'm talking about when you read the succeeding posts after this) Despite the post saying that this is written on Nov 24, 2005, its actually written on Dec 22, 2005, but just to avoid messing up the links as has happened the previous time, I'm resetting the clock for this post and the succeeding posts... despite that, all posts that I'll be publishing until Dec 22, 2005 has happened chronologically.. so.... :) bear with me. ;)

Tripping Back: Missing Octopus Card

(This post is a continuation of my previous post)

Incidentally, I was also able to kill time. Not in an extremely nice way though - I misplaced my autoload octopus card. Not good.

The Octopus card is basically a card you can use to pay for any transport systems. There are 2 types:

1. The normal octopus cards that are unidentifiable between person to person. To load value into the card, people use add value machines located in all MTR(mass transit railway) stations with cash. This is sometimes a bit of a hassle though, as you can lose track of you octopus card value contents and end up stuck in a bus with a negatively charged card, rendering a troublesome circumstance where you will have to scoop out a coins from your purse or pockets (if you even have one) or ask around other commuters for change to pay up for the bus.
2. The automatic add value personalized octopus cards, which are usually connected to a credit card one owns. This removes the hassle of having to explicitly make a trip to the mtr station to load empty octopus cards, by automaticallly loading the card with a fixed value when the octopus reaches 0 or negative value, and charging this directly to the credit card.

I had the second type, so I was filled with worry: since the octopus card was an add value type, any person who picked it up could go on a spending spree since the card will keep on reloading itself when empty. Since the use of these cards are widely available in Hong Kong (convenience stores like 7-11, fast food restaurants like McDonalds, pharmacy stores like Watsons) I could potentially be charged endlessly until I cancel it. I wouldn't want to see a 1000HKD bill in my credit card statement, of course.

I had to double check my luggages to make sure that its really missing, then I had to trackback where I passed hoping against hope that someone hasn't picked it up yet. Then finally, not finding it, had to cancel the card so it doesnt load anymore. Now I'll have to wait it out for my credit card bill to see how much I was really charged. I'm stil hoping no one was crazy enough to use it buying with 1000HKD....

Tripping Back: Early Check-Ins

I was off to my trip back to the Philippines today with the 22:00 flight. Arriving at the Hong Kong Airport at 18:30, I was pretty confident that I'd be killing considerable time until boarding.

Where were the days when you arrive early and get extremely good seats up at the front of the plane when checking in? Checking in immediately right after getting off the airport bus, I requested for an aisle seat and found the attendant informing that there WERE no aisle seats left. I was a bit surprised by this. I'm almost 4 hours early for the flight, and no aisle seats left? It seemed a bit ludicrous.I was later informed that check-ins can be made 1 day before the actual flight date, and to my surprise, being an Asiamiles member lets you check in 2 days before the actual flight, by doing it online. I'm not quite sure if this is just for Cathay Pacific Airlines only, and if its merely for the Hong Kong airport.

Oh well. Maybe next time then.

And Back Then You Thought You Knew What You Were Doing

Here's an interesting interview for all those previous and current C++ programmers out there... Either you'll find yourself appalled, or bonking yourself in the head after you read this. Oh, if my introduction didn't convince you to click on that link above, then maybe you'd be interested to know that its an interview with Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++. So its an interview from the horse's mouth :)

I haven't even gone into a serious, major C++ project before, but now I'm SOOOO seriously rethinking (not that there are a lot of C++ out there anymore).

*I found out about this courtesy of Tom Kyte's blog entry. You can also access the main page by clicking the link to his blog on the side bar. He usually has lots of interesting stuff posted in.
**Here's a backup copy of the interview, in case the original link got lost along the way.

Bruise

I mentioned my bruise last time, didn't I?

Well I got hold of a camera....




Nice, healthy looking bruise, isn't it?

Don't You Hate It When...

... you hit "hh" in a Microsoft Word Document, and arrow down in vi?

Call me old fashioned, but I prefer vi over MS Word. Of course I do have the option of using vim, ed, or something else more forward, but I seem to have stuck myself with vi. You're on a roll working, and you switch between Word document and vi, and make the wrong commands. Then even worse, you save your Word document.

And I wonder why most of my Word documents have missing words or phrases, strangely replaced by h,j,k,l,:wq and :q!.

Don't you hate it when that happens?

Master of the House

Everybody's gone on vacation at home and I'm the only one left.

And the blog entry title is the first thing that came to mind (I like Les Miserables).

The place (and me) feels free, silent and also strangely hollow.

But I'm not afraid of ghosts or burglars though, the building is quite secure, and I've sprayed holy water all around the house (no, not really) so there's no danger of disturbances, ethereal or otherwise.

At the same time, no nephew to worry about (hitting his head on any sharp corners), no dinners to catch up and get home to on time, and almost always silent (except for blaring speakers from my PC, that is.)

The experience is such a strange thing. No disturbances, no noise, no excitement.

I've tried singing at home (wonderful, no one to wake up) as loud as I can. I helps with the voice lesson practice. Of course, on occasion I try to vainly belt out my rendition of "Master of the House, servant to the poor...." not very good I must say.

Now if only I can get myself to start studying for my Oracle certification exams... now is definitely the best time. IF. IF. IF. arg.

Unknown Knee Condition: Solved Methinks

I double checked my physiotherapist's official receipt, and diagnosis says "popliteal muscle strain".

It looks like a hamstring stretch. I found a page relating this to sports injuries in this site, but for the full list you can make a google search on the same diagnosis.

Cooooooooold

Its getting colder now. Last week the weather was ranging above 20 degrees celcius, but today it dropped to 15 degrees. Its starting to get cold, and I neither have any winter clothes out of the storage compartment or the winter blanket for my bed yet. I will have to brave the lowering temperatures for one more day.

Thank goodness the weather still is good though. If it started to rain, things will start getting nasty...

Imagine drenched, and wet, and windy AND darn freezing cold.

*Face crumples* Not yet. Not any time within the next few days, anyway. Time to get my boots out.

Unknown Knee Condition: Partially Solved

I've also finally confirmed with my physiotherapist what actually is wrong with my legs.

The verdict? Well, he didnt really mention any one word condition, but did describe what happened to my legs: My knee caps (and the surrounding joint area) have been strained and worn. It doesn't need any sort of surgery like torn ACLs, but its more of like the area was pulled beyond its normal capacity, that's why I'm now suffering.

The cause? Well, he didn't really say it straight out, but I got the impression that I probably lacked the stretching part that caused my demise. Particularly, he stresses postural, mobility and stretching before going off doing strengthening exercises (weightlifting, aero). Too bad, because I was probably graded poor for those three mentioned areas (I slouch a lot, I dont tend to move to much in a wide range of movements, and I dont stretch enough)

What I can do? Well, I could do upper body exercises at the moment, maybe cycling, or rowing. They do work the leg, but concentrates more on the arms. That's good then. I can do push ups (like what I do know) and work out my upper body while I'm bored waiting for my legs to heal.

What I CANNOT do? No aerobics, no weightlifting for the lower body, no walking too much. (bummer. That's EVERYTHING I like doing!)

And until when? (til I can go back to working out my legs) Welll.... that's a question he didn't answer though. :\ Maybe next visit?

After Effects of Stretching (Popping is Normal)

Yes, that's what I was told. Contrary to the idea that any change in our physical body, particularly those noisy in nature, my legs "popping" more frequently when bent and stretched are more likely to happen, and this was ok. In fact, I was told several things that are contrary to my instinctive belief:

1. The more I stretch (my hurt legs in particular) , the more popping I will likely be hearing. Don't worry, your bones aren't going to pop off your joints. Its because you're getting flexible and more "space" is being created because of this flexibility.
2. The more I stretch, the more pain I will feel in new spots in the surrounding stretched area. No need to be alarmed, this is because once you stretch an area, old spots previously inflexible will become flexible, and some pain or strain that existed previously won't hurt as much/not anymore. At the same time, since the old spot is now pain free, you'll start noticing OTHER areas that may feel "sore" or hurt. In a weird way, becoming aware of new pain is actually a good sign.
3. The more I stretch, the more my tangled muscles tend to loose and detangle itself. In some cases, surface bleeding/ruptures may occur. Despite that it looks bloody black (sometimes even painless) and outright scary and horrible, this is actually normal, and nothing to worry about.

In almost all of the cases, you'll never hurt yourself when stretching by yourself. If any of the above signs do happen, they're not a sign to stop stretching; In fact, they're a good signs that your stretches are leading you to the right direction. (Silly me, I actually reduced my stretching frequency when I thought otherwise)

Oh, and I've clarified with my physiotherapist, it seems that for people with problems, stretching 5x per session, several times a day (5 or 6 actually) is not too much. Normal healthy people should go for 2-5x per session .... and stretch whenever you do remember (and you're excused when you dont pull as hard - just as long as you make sure there IS a pull).

How enlightening. I wonder what other stuff I'm going to find out next week.

Physiotherapist Trip Afterthoughts (Stretching is Good)

There were several things that were stuck in my mind after leaving the physiotherapist last Wednesday, in order:

1. How in the world did he know I sit a lot?
2. How in the world did he know I don't stretch THAT long during my exercises?
3. My legs feel a whole lot better. That's just amazing.
4. He sure is good. It would be nice to be a physiotherapist... its almost like having deductive reasoning much like Sherlock Holmes. I want to be Sherlock Holmes.
5. "During normal state, muscle tissues are parallel to each other. During jumps and landings (like aerobics), muscle tissues become compressed together, and normally they're aligned parallel, so during contractions, they align perfectly and decontract ok. But on occasions, the muscle tissues get mixed and tangled with each other. It seems this like your case. So we need to fix that. Stretching helps."


***** If you are bored as hell to read my comments and ramblings, at least JUST MAKE SURE you scroll down to "To cap it off" at the end of this entry and read THEM. *****


Curious about what the role of stretching actually plays in athletic activities, (I mean, its just stretching right? what's so great about stretching?) I resolved to research about this. It doesn't really bode well that the probable cause (and solution) to my knee problem would be stretches, because I've always never ever stretched "properly" and thought they were just something younger people do not do because they're usually fit. (Of course, I should've known otherwise, since all my aero classes ALWAYS start and end with stretching. That should've given me some sort of idea... but then I was always dense and ignorant this way.)

I came across this nice article while searching the net, that gives a nice overview of what muscles really are and what exactly happens during stretching. The document is a bit scientific in its format, but they're explained clearly, so it shouldn't be too difficult a read if you're really interested and curious. (I usually tend to veer toward more scientific and in-depth explanations, it helps me to understand better when it comes to medical stuff, rather than the usual analogies and metaphors. Of course, analogies always help, but most mainstream news-type documents don't elaborate further than simplistic explanations.) Take note that the author is not actually a physiotherapist, but someone who has taken an interest on the physiological human make up, but all the content are backed by scientific sources.

The article did confirm my physiotherapist's statement, and gave me also an enlightening view of how muscles, ligaments and tendons work. And how stretching is important and beneficial to health and safety of the athlete. (Similarly, during my net searches, I came across numerous instances of "try this stretch and it just made me fly during my competition marathon" type of comments, which were also interesting benefits to stretching pre-workout)

In fact, I was talking to a friend yesterday, and he was surprised I don't take my time stretching out before any actual exercise. He said that on an average, he stretches 15 minutes for an hour's worth of workout like weightlifting (and at his rate, that's only BEFORE the actual exercise, not counting the stretches AFTER exercise) It seems that his Physical Ed class used to time them for stretches (15 minutes actually) and the habit stuck.

Its a good habit to adopt, after what I've been through. I dont think my high school's physical ed (the friend I mentioned studied in a different school) class did try to put their student's health and safety in mind by trying to make sure the students knew the importance of stretching, but then, I may have been NOT paying attention, and besides, I spent almost 90% of my gradeschool and highschool out of PE classes anyway, so who knows. (I was in the school choir, and choir participants were exempted from taking any Physical Ed classes.)

So, the general consensus seems to be more of stretching before actual exercise is VERY, VERY important and not just "do it" or "important" (I should've taken that seriously when someone told me before) and it does not merely make you feel and perform better, but also prevents any damaging injuries, REGARDLESS of the fact that exercise is good for you.

I'm sure a lot of my readers probably know this, but off chance that someone didn't, I hope I can help them out this way. I didn't know about it until now, and fortunately, nothing really extremely serious happened, but it was a bad experience altogether.


To cap it off, here's a summary:

1. Stretching is EXTREMELY important (Unless you have plans to disable yourself)
2. Do it BEFORE and AFTER you do any exercise (and that includes swimming)
3. It's a proper stretch when you feel a pull in the area being stretched (If you're not feeling anything, you're doing it wrong)
4. It's NOT A STRETCH unless you do (and hold) it for at least 20 seconds.
5. One rep is fine, as long as you make SURE its at least 20 seconds.

Good luck, and happy stretching!

Trip To The Physiotherapist

I went to the physiotherapist recommended by my GP yesterday.

This was the first time I've ever been to a physiotherapist, so I was quite curious what he could do for me, and what it would be like. Of course, a physiotherapist is still a doctor, so I was expecting some similarities. But its actually quite different. I'm not sure if this is because of the difference between both doctor's personalities, but I found my trip to the physiotherapist extremely enlightening and informative.

First off, the clinic reception was pretty small, but seemed well kept. After checking in with the receptionist, I browsed through the clinic book shelves to check out several "print outs" that stood out among the many magazines and newspapers also laying around. It had several issues that looked pretty interesting, relating to basic stuff on proper physiology in layman's terms, written by the resident physiologist of the clinic. Most of the print outs were enlightening, and also gave indication of the doctor's personality with snippets of humor - which is pretty much a good idea to explain medical conditions compared to pamphlets you're likely to see strewn around general GP clinic (yes, they're informative in uberly layman's terms, but they don't actually say much except in the form of:

X disease causes severe trauma and long term side effects.
The symptoms are <insert your favorite very vague symptom here>.
To prevent this, do Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4....
<insert your medicine advertisement here> will also help in alleviating X.
Ask your doctor for more details.

Whereas, the clinic print outs are more personal, but still informative. It gives an insight to the personality of the writer, but also has more information on the particular topic:


Spine Evolution

One of my wishes for the Year of the Monkey is that all my patients could behave more like monkeys, more on the move and stretching their arms and legs out. I always tell patients to think more of the evolution figures of the human being that we have evolved from almost on all fours to gradually standing up ... that have led to the success of the human race... It has only been over the last century that more and more of us are request to sit at our workplace and at out leisure activities... Perhaps the next figure to be added to our evolution chart is going to be a sitting human being with a slouching/forward head posture, losing our normal 'S' Shape of the spine and gaining a more kyphotic shape of the whole thoracic and lumbar spine. Perhaps the spine may eventually evolve to adopt such alignment as being normal. This evolution process will certainly take many more centuries and millions of herniated dics, sprained intervertebral ligaments, overused/strained back muscles. Until then, I will still encourage patients to maintain their lumbar lordosis...

- Taken from one of the many pamphlets from Hong Kong Orthopaedic Manipulative Physiotherapy Centre, by Luck Li, Manipulative Pysiotherapist, MHKPA MAPA MMPAA B. Phty (Qld Aust.) Grad. Dip. Adv. Manip. Ther. (SA. Aust.)


After a few minutes of waiting at the reception, I met up with the doctor. Basically did the typical stuff, I described all the symptoms I've been having the past weeks, and he wrote them down. Then he asked me to prop up to the bed so he can look at my leg.

NOTE TO READERS: Try to bring short pants when going to a physiotherapist for a leg related problem, because a skirt isn't ideal. I thought that he was merely going to inspect my knee, so I wore a skirt. But instead he needed to check my leg's full range of motion to make a diagnosis. He did provide me with shorts available at the clinic, and assured me that it is clean, but you can't be too certain at times, particularly with less hygienic clinics. This one seemed ok, but next time I'd prefer to bring my own.

Firstly, he asked me to lie on my back. He did a couple of motions with both legs. Then he asked me to lie on my stomach and bent my knee and did some examination. He also took a look at my back (It did hurt, but I'm not quite sure if they are related to the knee injury) and had a quick examination of my spine.

My results? Well, a couple of points:
1. I'm extremely inflexible at the moment: (Or maybe even way before)
(a) I can't stretch my hamstrings as good as most young people
(b) I can't stretch my quadriceps as good as most young people
2. There's an odd creaking and popping noise on my left leg when bent fully while lying down. Its actually scary. The doctor commented that its bad, cause normally only older people have it (well, would you look at that, maybe I'm already a 40 year old woman disguised as a 20+ year old lady?)
3. Lots of problems with my lower back - and still inflexible (he was commenting about spine 1,4,5 on left side with problem, and spine 2,3 on right side. Didn't make much sense, but I still took note of it, just in case)
4. There should be no danger of surgery (from torn ligaments or ACLs, at least) BUT he did mention that there's a damaged condition that could possibly worsen if not treated correctly.

His recommendations?
1. Do some stretching exercises (particularly in the hamstring, quadriceps and back) While doing the hamstrings, massage my knee cap since its currently holding a lot of pressure from my damaged muscles
2. Try to always maintain a good posture (I slouch a lot)
3. Apply some electrotherapy on my knees
4. Come back again within the week :)

He did some extreme stretching on me ... and well, its pretty much extreme. It was funny because he was talking to me while stretching my hamstring muscles, and I was in a state of extreme pain (from the stretching) to the point where I couldn't get a word in.

But my legs did feel good right after that. :)

Been doing the recommended stretches, and confident to say, they do help a lot. I'm walking more stable now compared to three days ago, because back then I couldn't even stand in a stable state for more than 10 minutes while waiting at the bus stop. I had to shift my weight onto my shoulders (sort of like crutching against the railing found on the bus stop line)

I've made my next appointment for this coming saturday, and I'm looking forward to it.

Dynamic (Non Powerpoint based) Presentation

Something I came across when going through one of regular blogs (Tom Kyte's). This was his entry, in case you're interested.

Pretty interesting presentation - something very dynamic and different compared to other typical keynote session slides out there. It's taken from an OSCON 2005 Keynote on Identity 2.0, presented by Dick Hardt, CEO and Founder of Sxip. Its pretty amazing because of the fact that it delivers the message across to its audience, even without any previous knowledge on the concept of Identity 2.0 and what its all about. It also has a big potential to impact the audience and keep its audience tuning in, compared to keynote sessions that keep on dragging on and on.


Take a look at it from this page first, then you can read about my comments further down this entry, and tell me what you think.



If you're like most of the people who's seen this presentation, you'd probably like it a lot. Its very fast paced, it doesnt drag on, and the stuff just keeps coming at you. Compared to most keynote presentations, which stay on a particular slide for at least 30 seconds, this one will be a refreshing change.

It actually reminded me of Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, particularly when the presentation flashed "The Tipping Point", also from the same author. Blink talks about the concept of being able to get the important information at the mere second (or two) blink exposure of an experience or viewing. Contrary to some beliefs, extended viewing, investigation or study usually will "muddle" the brain into wrong conclusions, but a short time should be just enough to gather enough information to make a sound judgement (of course, there are a lot of factors to this, one of them being the level of expertise of the viewer, to make the correct "sound" judgement.) And this presentation seems like a perfect example of the "blink" theory in its implementation.

You will probably retain a lot more from that presentation than if it was created in the usual standard powerpoint presentation. Its actually ingenious, when you think about it. I wonder if the same "blink" concept was applied during the creation of the presentation. I'm sure marketing and advertising professionals will say a thing or two about it. The whole presentation is actually almost like in a commercial-type format- fast, loaded with information, getting the point across.

This type of presentation would be useful for conceptual, high level based presentation of course. There were thoughts by Tom Kyte to apply this type of presentation to his talks, but I believe he scrapped the idea when applying it to talks that were of hard, technical content, but agreed that it would be more applicable during his higher-level keynote sessions. (Read it yourself from the horse's mouth. Follow the first link in this entry relating to Tom Kyte)

Despite that, the presentation is still enjoyable, when sided along with usual powerpoint presentations from other keynote talks from other speakers. It would be really bad though if each and every keynote session would be like this. Will probably leave you panting and alert your brain to go dead after information overload.

Hong Kong Harry Potter 4 Movie Release Date

While the rest of the world enjoys the world wide opening of Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire on November 18, 2005, us people of Hong Kong will have to endure a little bit more until Dec 22.

That is, unless pirated copies coming from everywhere else won't get to us first.

I could never understand why they have to delay these things for so long. And they're complaining why their sales are down? the piraters seem to be doing a better job than them (even in some cases they're just unintentional. Take Backstroke of the West, for example.) Despite saying that they have to do the chinese translations, I still don't think its an excuse.

Ah well, we'll see soon enough what happens. I'll be heading off to the Philippines on Nov 24, so I'll likely catch it there, since its showing together (actually a bit earlier) with the rest of the world.

200th Blog Entry: Something Intimate For My Readers

Its been more than a year since I started blogging, and after sharing all my thoughts, opinions and experiences - fantastical or otherwise - I believe it would be a good idea to celebrate my 200th blog entry post with something intimate.

My name?

My address?

My tellyphone?

My ATM Pin number?

My most memorable experience with a man?

No.

Much, much, MUCH more intimate.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

All these are only words.. and I do believe that a picture is worth a thousand words. Presenting..




Now isn't that as intimate as you can get? You can now frame me for possible murder by recreating my whole set of teeth using my x-ray dental record.

Aren't you glad you frequent this blog a lot. You can learn quite a bit.

And closer...




Oh, look. I have impacted lower wisdom teeth. On both sides.

This is how intimate you can get with this blog. Really up close and personal, eh?

Cho Chang: A Fresh Chinese Face

I normally don't get caught up with the Harry Potter movie releases. They're generally good, including the books, but I'm not usually the one who lines up for the first day release, and also not the one who'd constantly search for news about movie updates and flim clips before the actual opening date.

Of course, I found myself spending a lot of my waking time this weekend (I've been sleeping like a log, 14 hours per day, almost.) searching for Happy Potter: Goblet of Fire movie updates.

Its not what you think. I resent the fact that you may actually think I'm a Harry Potter fanatic. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose. But I'd rather be a tagged as a LOTR fanatic instead. But. Don't go there.

Well, ok the thing with me looking for Harry Potter updates is because I secretly (well, its not so secret anymore, is it?) like how the girl for Cho Chang looks like. And no, I'm not bisexual or homosexual or anything. Don't go there either.

So what about it that got me searching for her pics?

In my opinion, that's how a normal pretty chinese should look like. Nothing too glamorous, or fancy, just clean, cute and pretty. I mean, generally, westerners have this stereotypical view of asian-chinese: (1) has really slinky, slit-like chinky eyes to the point where you dont see the pupils anymore. (take Lucy Liu as an example) Or (2) stick thin. (Bai Ling anyone?) or tall. They all look like they're lithe, and long. Oh, and sometimes, lets not forget, flat chested. No, no, no.

Not a lot of chinese I know have long legs, for example. Nor do they have long, thin faces. Contrary to the fact, most chinese I know have heart shaped faces, slightly bigger, rounder eyes, and yes, not long legged. (nor short legged either. They're just "ok") Also, chinese girls I know do not have stick thin bodies (ok except for the Hongkongers.. they really take it to the extreme)

It might be because usually media likes to see those model-looking types. Even Hong Kong actresses take it to the extreme. Yes, they're stick thin, they put a lot of goo into their faces. A couple of them looked ok before.. but they seem to get thinner and thinner as the years go by (take the Twins) but to begin with, they're already too thin. But ok, lets not get too carried away. The main thing I like about the girl in the Harry Potter movie, is her face.

This girl casted for the Harry Potter movie, Katie Leung, she's just right. Don't get me wrong, she's not fat or anything. She looks pretty without the overexcessive makeup, and she doesn't look stick thin. She can obviously look made up (see her premiere photos below) but she still looks nice. Maybe its because she's just a neophyte actress, and still didn't get her chance to morph into a glamourized, stick thin version? Maybe. But I still think she looks pretty even without glamouring herself too much.

She reminds me of the two of the chinese actresses that I really like: Maggie Cheung (張曼玉) and Karena Lam(林嘉欣) (and maybe runner up Zhang Zi Yi (章子怡) - no more pics for her, she's well known enough) here are both, respectively:


Maggie Cheung



Karena Lam


All three look simple, pretty and elegant even without overexcessive makeup, or being stick thin. Put tons of makeup on them, and they simply will look worse. They're what I would like to call real Chinese representative actresses, and not the Westernized chinese ones. Must be a pet peeve, but I really loathe actresses that rely only on the goop they put into their faces to make themselves look "pretty". To see for yourself if its really the case, see Katie Leung's pictures for yourself and you be the judge.

Here's a picture of her in the official movie photos (courtesy of MuggleThai.com):



And in a normal photoshoot (courtesy of MuggleThai.com)::



And during the world premiere(courtesy of MuggleThai.com):



Whoops. I think I went photo-trigger happy there. Oh well, I suppose it comes once in a blue moon...

Knee Results 1

Been to the doctor again last Friday afternoon. The doctor checked out my knee again (since the swelling has ebbed) and took a look at it.

The verdict? well, doctor says that there shouldn't be any problem with my bones, based on his physical examination. He says that's also the reason why he didn't recommend to do any x-rays. But he did suggest that I go see a physiotherapist about it since my legs are still slightly hurting. He recommends that I take a ultrasound, and some recommended exercises to strengthen my muscles.

Actually, after talking to a medical graduate friend of mine, it seems that there are 2 types of ultrasound. The well known one is to have ultrasound to check out my muscles to see if there's any problem, and the other one is "a deep heating modality that lessens pain and reduces edema" - basically it means its part of a treatment that would reduce pain, but not necessarily a diagnosis tool. I was hoping it would be the diagnosis tool because I still feel that there may be something wrong with my knee.. but I will have to see on Wednesday (that's when I made my appointment) and check out what happens..

Gym Progress Week 20 & 21

Well, definitely not much the past 2 weeks. So much for not feeling like going to the gym. Having been perpetually inactive the whole week last week, past few days I've just been dreaming of doing push ups and sit ups (since I can't do anything to my legs/knees), maybe just to get rid of the bloated feeling due to lack of any exercise. Hehehe.. that's "dreaming" though. Yesterday I did get tired of just sitting and sleeping, and did do a little push up at home :P As for my gym schedule for the past 2 weeks... *sigh* oh well, here it is:

Week 20
Tue (BP,ISM): ?, Angus
Wed (PS): Michael
Thu (SM): Steve

Week 21
No gym (huhuhuhuh..) see why.

An Example On Ingenious Packaging and Marketing

How funny... a package that targets to the Harry Potter mania building up the past few weeks for the opening of the fourth movie installment of Harry Potter. The original site can be found here:

Harry Potter Premiere
It's a Potter party package, at the Eaglewood Resort and Spa near Chicago: the fourth Harry Potter movie premieres next week (as if you didn't know), and this resort has special events including the Eaglewood Tri-Wizard Trivia Tournament, a pass on the Eaglewood Express pass to go see the movie, and many themed details.

Eaglewood Resort and Spa: “Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire” Premiere

The latest Harry Potter movie will premiere on Friday, November 18, and the Eaglewood Resort and Spa -- in Itasca, Ill., 35 minutes from downtown Chicago-- has created a family weekend around this Big Event.

Eaglewood Resort has 106 acres, golf course, spa, indoor pool, billiards, six-lane bowling alley.

Harry Potter Weekend Package, Nov. 18 to 20 2005, includes:

• special checkin: young Muggles get a Kid’s Harry Potter Box with Marauder’s Map to your room, and an Eaglewood - Hogwarts Trivia questionnaire
• room with double beds
• 2 tix for movie "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" on a giant screen at the Marcus Cinema, plus preferred seating AND no waiting in line
• After the movie is the Tri-Wizard Trivia Tournament, with s’mores in the resort restaurant
• bedtime Berti Botts and Goblet of Milk in your room
• 1 hour of bowling
• breakfast for four
• dive-in movies at the resort pool
• early check-in (availability permitting)

Price is $139/night, and you can buy additional tickets for the movie; also, you can extend to a second night for $69. (No extra goodies on the extra day, though.)

You have to admit, these people have the brains to take advantage of the mania surrounding any extremely popular event and earn money out of it. I wonder if they had this for Star Wars, LOTR and other extremely popular franchises too....

Nothing (Immediate) To Worry About

I don't want to say too much, but I recently found out that one of my favorite instructors, Steve, will be coming back starting next week. It seems like Michelle (yes, she's also one of the instructors that I really like) will be taking a month long vacation, so Lorenzo and Steve will be taking over her classes by then, for a whole month. Well, I guess that rules out him leaving California Fitness. He's probably just taken a vacation since he'll be working over time for the next month or so that's why he hasn't been around the past 2 weeks.

Now, if only I get my knees to work properly.... darn.

Technical Blog: Not As Easy As It Looks Part II (First Entry)

Continued from the previous entry...

As I've mentioned previously, for the technical blog, I've decided to retain my own personal flavor, but also at the same time, still being myself and addressing to neophyte database administrators. I'm not going to pretend to know a lot about database; I can only go so far as to state what I know from experience, and that's it. The blog will be a stepping stone to people who will want to know how to approach the huge complexity that is Oracle, its features and its strengths and weaknesses, through my own journey with Oracle - so I fancied it will end up with a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and probably not as organized as some would like to think. No additional research for now on topics that I may mention in my blog, because if I did I'd probably end up with no entries until 5 years later.

I decided it should be a blog that would contain important and significant points to take note of for the beginners, and take off from there. So in a sense, it's going to be a recount of my journey, and hope that it will come off as both entertaining and informative about challenges of being an Oracle Database Administrator. Many times I will admit what I don't know, but I don't think this is a bad thing - At least I know what I don't know, as compared to not knowing what I don't know. (it is kind of confusing, isn't it? Something like "I think therefore I am" -- huh? what the--? :P) We all have to start somewhere, innit?

A few days ago I attempted to write my first technical blog entry. I found it extremely difficult, passing through a lot of editing. You see, after blogging on this current blog for so long, I noticed that my writing style was on a come-as-you-please basis, including my thoughts and reactions sprinkled all throughout the first entry. Since it was a technical blog entry, all the side comments didn't seem appriopriate at some point for this type of entry, so I was forced to edit it to a less annoying level. (I would imagine to be very annoyed at myself if I read the first few entries a few years later down the road). Trust me, there were a lot of edits, and I probably slashed 40% of the original "hot" draft. I had to get an equal balance between what I wanted to say, my thoughts and the technical content.

It was not an easy job to do.

I think I've gotten an idea how to go about the technical entries, but it'll take some getting used to. And probably some additional polishing. Definitely different from the usual quips I deliver over here in this blog. Its a nice change though... 'tackling a different area of expertise. ;)

Technical Blog: Not As Easy As It Looks Part I (Direction)

For those people who are aware, I've started a technical blog recently to adhere to my technical whims (and also prevent current lurkers and readers of this site to be bored out of their wits, if they're not bored already), more specifically relating to my "excellent" career path into becoming the next Tom Kyte, Jonathan Lewis, Ken Jacobs (plug in your favorite Oracle/Tech personality, except for the big BG). For those readers with an adventurous streak, they've also probably discovered that there's not much update since its inception last September 2005.

I've recently found out that starting a blog for a "categorized" subject has its bumps, particularly for the techie kind. I'm first to admit I don't know in depth level about databases or Oracle, as compared to those with light years of experience. Thus, there are several points that needed to be answered before putting in entries for the first time:

1. What sort of substantial contribution can I do to make the technical blog a worthwhile read for passers by?
2. How can I make the entries more interesting, and yet, still have the content that will deliver?
3. Will I make that critical contact across for readers who have no exposure to databases? Will I seem like a fool for those who happen to pass by who has had infinitely far more experience that I have?
4. Will I be in a danger of making my technical blog yet another spin-off of this current one, becoming more like an online journal rather than a blog that delivers technical content?
5. Will I be making any sense at all?


For a significant amount of time, I've been considering these questions. I've always frequented several oracle blogs, and the sheer technical know-how they display and the content they deliver is light years away from what I know. Although one day I aspire to be as discerning as them, at this point in time, I don't have the in-depth technical goods to deliver this type of content. Then the question remains, what can I put in my technical blog? The pressure is actually a bit unnerving.

Additionally, the problems with a tech blog doesn't seem to necessarily pop up for those writing for literary content. For literary blogs, they do adhere to reality, but these can be creatively rearranged for the purposes of their story. On the other hand, a technical blog is based on something systematic, organized and almost always (at least at the time of writing this entry) predictive. Even if you creatively programmed a script/software that would spout out random results, it would still be certain that it will always generate randomly. There's no change in that; it will rarely ever come out with results that have a pattern, except of the random kind. That's the nature of being technical, particularly of the IT development: They're fixed, they're done what they're told, garbage in, garbage out. No golden egg that will miraculously here. (Except by divine intervention, but that's beyond the scope of this entry)

So weeks pass by and I have yet to post an entry. Until I chanced upon an Oracle blog from a nice lady who still sees herself as a "newbie" (after 4 years of experience, it seems, but already delivering talks to Oracle group conventions). Her entries are open, warm and unintimidating. They dont have extreme details in the form of lets-disassemble-this-bicycle-down-part-by-part-and-see-if-we-can-put-it-back-together-again, but a rather fresh approach that does not intimidate. From that moment on, I decided I should follow her approach, but with my personal style and flavor. This still didn't solve my problem though, and my ideas for an entry still vague, but it did give me a direction to begin with...

Orablog: The Advantages of Patching Part I & II

Entered an entry on my Oracle blog titled The Advantages of Patching Part I and The Advantages of Patching Part II.

My Unknown Knee Condition

Its been 5 days since my doctor diagnosed me with hyperextended knee. And also 5 days without any form of exercise or stress on my legs, based on doctors orders. They're just basically resting for the past 5 days.

Strange thing about this is, I've been sleeping like a log for the past 5 days. Its like marathon sleeping for me... 2-3 hours of napping immediately after I get home, then 9 hours of sleep after dinner, and I still wake up in the morning feeling groggy. I still sleep as if I'm partially awake due to my knee.

I've noticed a slight bruise in my left leg, and it seems like its the one that's taking the bulk of the soreness at the moment. 5 days of medication and rest, and my legs seems to have switched to a different mode: 3 days ago I can barely stand stable. I had to have some sort of support when standing stationary, and I started to sweat just by doing concentrating on doing this. The next day I avoided standing stationary, but then, for the first time after lunch my left calf muscles suddenly froze up and I felt like it was perpetually frozen, leaving me slightly "dragging" my left foot when walking. Yesterday I was walking normally for 10 minutes, then suddenly felt a slight pinching on my left knee, and got to the point where I had to limp lightly (and also frantically) to get to the bathroom (fearing that I would fall over any second now) and put on my knee support (that did help, by the way). Last night while I was sleeping, and my knees (at least the left one) was sore again.

I can't wait to get back to the doctor soon. I hope my left foot didn't develop into something serious. Strangely enough, before resting my legs, I didn't have any of these problems, just a soreness at the back of my knee, and a weird way of walking "noramlly" with bent knees, but no limping or pinching.

I hope that all these changes are a good sign, instead of a bad one. *sigh* Bad enough I've already missed 5 days of gym... I'm already feeling sedentary...

Nice [Music] Site

I was just surfing very late night (yes, my knees still hurt) when I stumbled upon this site. Its called Video Game Pianist, but I doubt that the owner is merely just fooling around with his piano. I'm not a piano expert, but I've been around a couple of them to know this guy looks darn wicked when dumped in front of any piano :)

And yes, I figured that before I scanned through his quick biography.

Oh, and he has very nice interpretations of video game music, too, btw. :P Especially Final Fantasy ones ;)

He has an entry in wikipedia somewhere....

Oh bother. Just search for it yourself.

One of the Last Things I Need To Worry About

OH NO, THIS CAN'T BE RIGHT!

I can't see my favorite aerobics instructor's name anywhere in this week's aero schedule!

*panic*

(Sounds like I'm fixed on drugs, isn't it? I told you before I was starting to sound like a gym rat.)

His name is Steve, and he's the only person so far that I religiously go to and line up for his class 1 hour before it starts (yes, that's 1 hour, cause the lines can be THAT long if I arrive "just on time") Usually, his classes are packed, and people try to stubbornly squeeze into spaces even if its obvious that there's not enough space left to even travel around. He teaches really fast too, and the tempo is always even faster, and he's not afraid of going over the clock just so everyone of us has a good time (its relative, of course).

The first time I went to his class, I was standing around for almost 70% of the time. (Yes it was embarrassing) It gradually got better, and now I can follow almost 100% of the time. It was really funny because I think I shouldn't have been in his class when I started (it was classified as "intermediate" and I followed with other "intermediate" step classes just fine) because after 2 months, I tried his advanced classes, and it was practically the same! (there were thoughts about flying as part of the routine before I actually tried this) But since I'm adequately prepared (1-2 months of scrambling around the step during his intermediate classes trying to figure out what the hell everyone was doing did help, I suppose) that went along fine. Been attending as much of his step classes as far as my financial budget goes (He does have some classes over at the Kowlooon side branches, but the commute expense wouldn't allow me to go any further :) )

I've had this funny feeling he was about the leave the gym, but I wasn't sure. Of course, I haven't really verified this. I'm just hoping against hope that he just took his time off. It would be a shame to have him go, he was one of the three instructors I really liked. I'll probably have to ask someone when I head off to the gym (hopefully... ok I know its ludicrous) later this week.


Still crossing my fingers though ^_^X

Taking R.I.C.E to New Levels

Ok, I know bed rest for my knees should be taken religiously, but I've seem to have taken it to new heights.

I spent the first few hours of my Saturday sort of sulking. This is due to doctor's orders I've received the day before - I can't go to the gym today, tomorrow, or anytime until late next week, and he said "better if I have the legs rest for a bit". That means, I'd have to stay home the whole weekend... NOOoooOOOOoo! (For family members, please, please do not mention this to mom or dad otherwise they'd ban me from going to the gym, oh like, maybe... FOREVER?)

Well, either way, I don't want to end up physically being unable to go to the gym, so I figured to follow doctor's (and the net's) orders religiously. That means: R.I.C.E. I started out my morning trying to setup the elevated leg. I checked the ice packs. I bought the knee supports yesterday immediately right after leaving the doctor's office. Check. Now all I needed was rest for the next 2 days.

Thankfully, I've had enough VCDs and DVDs stocked up. At 8am, I was up and sitting, feet up, ice pack applied, keyboard and mouse within easy reach and speakers adjusted to point directly straight to me. This is one of the first times that I'm glad to have purchased a 19" LCD screen... with my feet propped up in front of me, the screen would've been a bit too far away to see anything. But the big LCD monitor made it up for all that.

And then I watched.

And watched.

And watched.

And got hungry and grabbed a banana.

And then two.

And then three.

Then sick of bananas, I grabbed some pears. Then apples. Then bread. Then corn porridge. Then cookies and cream polvoron this one from Goldilocks.

And its not yet lunch.....

How horrible.

I was so full eating all my snacks, I couldn't even muster to eat lunch, dinner or breakfast or any meals properly. They were just all snacks. And snacks. And snacks.

And all this time I still had my feet propped up, occasionally shifting the ice pack back and forth from the fridge (too much ice is also bad).

Occasionally I'd draw out the curtains to get some sunshine. Then I'd open the windows to get some fresh autumn air. The whole world (at least the flats from the opposite building) was able to see me for the entire weekend with my feet propped up and gorging away while occasionally laughing hysterically to something on the other side of the LCD screen.

My head was hurting by Saturday night, so I devised to get some fresh air by... errr... going out Sunday morning to watch a movie. Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride. That went well I suppose. I had a medium sized caramel popcorn, and an Apple Danish right after. Some fresh air eh?

Then I went home, and was was back up at my seat... feet up, ice pack applied. And still watching from the LCD screen with my keyboard on my lap.

Then had apples. Then pears. Then persimmons. Then 2lbs grapes. Still Polvoron. 2 Oranges.

By the end of the day, my head was throbbing, my back was hurting (from all that propped up sitting) and I was literally too full to eat.

But it was my cousin's birthday, it turns out, and we're heading out to eat with family.

Oh-no.

No more snacking for me for the next week or two. If I snack some more, I'm going to throw up.
Hmm... Do you think I've overdone it? :P

I still hope my legs are better. They don't bother me as much during evenings anymore (I think they were replaced by the headaches from watching too much....)

Temporarily Disabled

I seem to have hurt my knee.

(You saw that coming, didn't you?)

Fine! *pout*

My knee was already killing me last week so I headed off to the doctor. I was a wee bit worried of being laughed at (the last time I went to the doctor, I was worried about heart palpitations but after being looked at, seemed as if there were no abnormalities) due to paranoia, so I waited it out for a week. The last time I went to the gym for aerobics was yesterday, but it got to the point where I couldn't follow the blocks properly because of the slight pain and soreness on my knees, so I was almost pretty sure I had to get it looked at by a doctor.

I made an appointment, and upon meeting the doctor, explained the following problems:

1. Tingly and sore feeling at the back of my knee for the past week, even when resting.
2. Couldn't comfortably sleep because of the soreness/tenderness (it kept me half awake at nights.. I was sleeping, but I still knew my knees were sore). I kept wanting to bend my knees all the way up (like when your stretching your quads) even when lying to sleep, just so I can get into a comfortable position.
3. Couldn't straighten my legs when walking during daytime - I had to walk around with "bent" knees.
4. My knees looked a bit swollen with a slight, almost unnoticeable bruise at the back. (Not sure if it was my imagination)

I explained I've been going to the gym and getting lightweights and doing aerobics for the past 4 months.

The doctor asked me to prop up to the bed and on my back. He took a look at my knees and did a little pressing over at the front and back of my knee lightly.
The doctor asked me to lie stomach down. He bent my knees one at a time, and kept pressing the back of my knee. Ouch. It hurts there, don't press TOO hard!
The doctor asked me to stand up and took a look at them.

And then finally, told me I had hyperextended my knees. (I was thinking maybe the hamstring... I was searching over the net and couldn't find any problems with "back of knee soreness", but I did find out some problems with the hamstring)

The remedy?

1. Get an open patella knee support when planning to walk around for long periods during the weekend.
2. Eat a prescription medicine (Naprosyn 250mg) twice daily after meals to abate the pain. Stop when pain subsides.
3. Rest your legs (and no going to the gym for 1 week! -- me: oh no!)
4. Come back after one week and lets take a look at it again.

So after I came home, with a proper diagnosis on hand, I searched the net for hyperextended knees and did my own version of a home remedy, particularly, R.I.C.E = Rest Ice Compression Elevation. Also, after reading about hyperextended knees, it seems that more serious ones will tear the ACL and possibly require surgery.. I hope I haven't gone THAT far. After that, (scarying the daylights out of me and the thought of the possibility of no more gymming for the rest of my life - and right after its been going so well too, grr ) I've been religiously getting some rest, applying some ice packs occasionally, having my foot elevated most of the time, and wearing the knee support everytime I head out of the house.

I hope next week's doctor's appointment will turn out better.

Maybe Its the Shoes?

Past few weeks I've been having a tough time with gym.

No, its not that I'm getting bored.

No, its not that I'm slacking off.

No, its not that I think its useless.

Its because my feet's starting to hurt.

A friend said that it might be because I'm using running shoes for aero classes, and running shoes don't provide enough side support.

I might also be because of my socks. To thin?

NooooooooOOOooo.... I have to spend again? to buy cross trainer shoes and athletic socks???

*pout*

Philippine Holiday Juggling Season

Quick! what's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's Presidency?

?

First thing that comes to my mind are the mind blogging holiday switch dates she does that make each holiday a long weekend. Nothing tops THAT. Obviously, this year's All Saints Day is no exception. So far I've heard, she's suddenly declared October 31, 2005 a holiday (Halloween Holiday?), the usual Nov 1 All Saint's Day, and further on in the week, a holiday for the last day of Ramadan (Nov 4, if I'm not mistaken).

I'm sure she's very popular with the youth (imagine, no school!) and some of the working class (more holidays=more vacations), but some others I've heard are not so happy with this setup. Seems like she declares these "ad-hoc" holidays just a week before... for some companies, it wrecks their timeline schedules and deadlines. I've also heard in the past that the more holidays a country has, the worse it is for its economy (no trading, everybody's basically a sloth, no revenues generated) I'm not quite sure about that since I'm not an economics expert, but it does sound logical. (At least for now)

She's the first ever country leader in the world that I've heard juggles holidays. Now that's got to be a first... somewhere.

The question is, first WHAT? Fill in the blanks, people.