Urbanista Manila Living in Style

I received a text from my co-staff nurse last night asking me to join them to go for the last day of Max’s chicken all you can. In celebration of their 65 years in the restaurant business serving delectable and traditional chicken with tagline “The house the fried chicken built”.
The promo gives you all you can eat Max’s fried chicken from 6pm to 11pm for only P165.
I set my mind up and did not eat anything until we met up at Flapjacks in Greenhills. I was wondering why we did not meet up at Max’s.. I was the last person to arrive and I learned that the Max’s promo starts at 6pm. I was so frustrated I just contained myself in the pancake leftover and a pot of brewed coffee.
I was trying to talk them into waiting for the promo hour but I failed.
I left and headed for SM Centerpoint to have my newly purchased lemon shoes changed. I happened to pass by the Max’s branch there and was surprised to see a long line of people in groups waiting to be seated to avail of the promo. I really wanted to in there but seeing the line, I might collapse in hunger before I get a seat.
Should have I know earlier that it is a nationwide gimmick and is going on for so long already, I could have dragged my sister to shove as many as fried chicken down our throats.
I just hope it gets extended.

I have loved Jewel ever since college and although her career plunged into silence for quite a while, I have never gone tired listening to her songs.
I was glad to learn that she resurfaced but later on got frustrated learnign that she has joined the flock of dancer-wannabes on Dancing with the Stars but then again I was glad that she has quit immediately.
She is a talented singer for crying out loud.
Recently, I saw this viral video about her being in disguise as someone else in a Karaoke Bar in LA.
Wearing prosthetics, Karen (her undercovername) went to the said bar along with the reality crew pack posing as regular customers.
When it was her time to take the center stage, Karen rocked Jewel’s version of Who will save your soul and Foolish games.
Expectedly, she wowed the crowd.
She later on uncovered herself and gave the audience another set of songs as Jewel.

Paul the Octopus has predicted that Spain the World Cup over the Netherlands.
More than the chanting for the Spain, they also have loved Paul the Oracle Octopus and they have even created an anthem for him saying Paul the Octopus we love you.
Paul has predicted that Spain would become the 2010 World Cup champion for the first time with an Andres Iniesta goal in extra time.
Paul that came from Germany have had made eight predictions and all of them were correct. As the Spanish tea, comes home to Madrid to heroes’ welcome, this eight-tentacle being is also enjoying a share of the lime light as his music video goes viral.

The ever controversial young actress Lindsay Lohan was sentenced to serve 90 days in jail for violation of her probation. This is no longer a shocker for many people like me but what is shocking to see is Lilo burst into tears as her verdict has been read. Lilo has been into controversial law violating acts such as DUI, drug addiction and alcohol abuse. She even had this anklet alcohol monitoring device as part of her probation.
If this would makes things lighter for her, the Los Angeles County’s Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore says: Women sent to jail for nonviolent crimes generally serve 25% or less of their sentence due to overcrowding. The exact time served can depend on the wording of the judge’s order and the level of overcrowding in the jails.
I hope that this will serve as a wakeup call for her. Life is not a game Lilo.

Facebook is one of the effect medium in spreading viral videos.
My friend’s friend on FB has posted a video found on YouTube about an Aeta (a minority in the Philippines found in the central part of Luzon) boy giving his rendition of Colbie Calliat’s Bubbly.
A very soothing cover and this makes me proud of my race a a Pinoy.

I was the charge nurse that night.
We are preparing for her expiration as the doctor ordered to consume the ongoing dopamine drip. A part of her DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) order. Her family refused giving of medications, feeding via nasogastric tube and conduction of any other tests.
She was hooked to cardiac monitor to check on her cardiac rhythm.
Her dopamine drip was consumed.
At 10:00 pm the monitor showed widened QRS complex with cardiac rate spiking at 150s beats per minute and her blood pressure was 80 mmHg palpatory. Her pupils were dilated and non-reactive to light.
I was fighting my tears but I could not.
She totally lost pulse and heart rhythm became flat line.
At 11:06 p.m. she was pronounced dead due to multiple organ failure.
I began to sob when her son, an elderly doctor, told me: Your grandmother has left you already.
Mrs. C born on March 10, 1915 and died July 3, 2010 has lived her life to the fullest.
She was admitted on August 1, 2008 and has been in and out of the medical ICU.
We shall miss you Lola!

I ran into Jessica Zafra’s article on the Gadgets section of the Philippine Star dated June 20, 2010. She is raving about the Pulse Smartpen and the dot paper that she recently acquired.

She said she was intrigued by it when she saw the video promotion in National Bookstore so I tried to Google it for the full details.

I was pretty impressed by what this Pulse Smartpen and dot paper can do.

Focus is one of the common problems of the listeners during lectures and I am one of those who tend to snooze and drool during these events. Judging on its presentation, the invention of the Pulse Smartpen and dot paper is the most genius of them all. It is like the messiah of all listening and writing instruments.

Taking down notes during class even if the professor speaks too fast, will never be a problem. You can actually take a discreet nap without a fear of missing out on important points. This means I have to skip on caffeine overload.

The Pulse Smartpen can record everything you hear and write while you can listen to the recording by tapping on your notes. It can still record even if you are scribbling. I am hoping that I can get to squeeze this into my budget in time for my Critical Care Course in September.

This serious gadget also has serious price tag on it. I have to shell out roughly P12,000 for it so I am also looking for reviews about this little but powerful stick.

I was scanning through channels last night and my fingers led me to TV 5′s Dokumentado which has Luchie Cruz-Valdez as the main host (imagine Harvey Levin) and around her are, I think, journalist wannabes just like Levin’s employees.

They presented Luchie issues or latest gossips they have gotten about celebrities and politicians.  They pitched in their tongue in cheek statements which I find entertaining. They also tried to be at par with TMZ as they also have these charicatures and parodies to go with the issues they tackled.

It is really good.

Looking back at my journalism  background, I want to be a part of the show.

On June 14th, I asked my friend in the ward, Lai to go with me for a breakfast. I was actually planning on treating her to a breakfast at Pancake House at the back of the Philippine Heart Center.  Actually, in my numerous dining experiences at this resto, I never tried their pancakes.  It simply because  I usually eat there during lunch or dinner time and I think pancake is a bit off during these meal times.

Since it was still breakfast period when we punched out, I talked her into filling our tummies there.

I was really imagining myself digging into layers of pancakes  and my bubble was burst instantly reading the announcement on  the shop’s  door that it is closed for that day in observance of the Philippine Independence Day.

We decided to head for Mc Donald’s but we did not settle for pancakes.

I was kind of frustrated.

The following day, right after my 6-month exam in the ward, I decided to indulge…at Pancake house.  Since I have fasted for more than twelve hours, I thought I had a monstrous appetite so I ordered the Seafood Gambero and my old time fave that is the two-piece chicken combo.

After 15 minutes of waiting, which is pretty annoying because it was humid outside and the temperature in the  resto was no difference because the a/c was busted.

Seafood Gambero is a tomato-based pasta dish. Fettuccine noodles smothered with shrimps, mussels and quid sautéed in rich tomato sauce topped with parmesan cheese. The sourness of the sauce is just right and I was really pleased by the taste and presentation. It served as my appetizer.

The main entree was the chicken which I find frustrating. The chicken was oily and not juicy. The side macaroni salad dish was salty and soggy. The dish was cooked not in the usual appetizing way. I was really frustrated by this particular dish.

I volunteered to call the Shakey’s  hotline to order pizza for delivery for our meeting.

I ordered two party size pizzas aand since I have the Pizzanatic card, I was entitled to two free party size  pizzas (choice of pepperoni or Hawaiian).

And we synchronized our time. It was 11:08 am and again before I hung up, the operator on the other line reminded me that if it’s late it is free.

It was already 11:55 on our clock and the 45-minute marker is already over.

Then I got a call from the concerned branch who’ll deliver the pizza that the pizza was ruined during baking and the person on the other line was making excuses that their time is 10 minutes late from the synced time we had.

What they’re selling I did ont buy. For one, even if they’re clock is ten minutes behind, basic mathematics shows that they did not hit the 45-minute deadline.

Another call was made by the branch’s supervisor and she was also making excuses saying that they still have 7 minutes on their clock and the delivery crew has been dispatched. I told her I am not caving in to her excuses and we hang up.

The seven minutes has past and not even a shadow of the delivery man has showed up. A few minutes more he came in panting emphasizing  that he’s not late. Again, I stood my ground.

It was not my fault if they will be paying P2200 worth of delivery. It’s their slogan and they should live up to it.