Acer Aspire 4745G

I bought an Acer Aspire 4745G about May - June of 2012. I thought it was a good deal, being a brandnew laptop for php 25,000 only. Last night, i noticed that it kept restarting when i pushed the power button. As in when you push the power button, you feel whirring inside, and the other indicators light up, but after 7 seconds, it restarts again, leading to a vicious cycle of restarting. Ill be bringing it to a service center, but not to ACER.

Why? Well apparently, the laptop has a WARRANTY sticker (picture to be included in post), but is dated December 2010. The Official Acer sticker already has been cut. I am very unsatisfied with this. The only thing i am even more disappointed with than the laptop, is the fact that i didnt notice the stupid stickers. It should be the job of these lazy salesmen to point out the parts of the laptop that should be checked.

That being said, This is the last time I ever will buy a Acer product. The laptop was working fine when it was still functional, although i could never get the drivers to properly work. I guess thats what I get from buying things cheap.

Entering the medical field

The most important thing you need as a Doctor, is patience. (Forgive the pun)

I overheard a conversation earlier about what traits you'll be needing to enter the medical field. So i decided to take a whack at the topic, to help shed light on it.

1. Brains - First and foremost, you need the brains. Not just any normal brain, but one of those filled with gyri just like Einstein had. There are hundreds of concepts that you have to wrap your brain around, learn and memorize, and put into every day life. An easy way to memorize and prepare for them, is to associate concepts or theories (or diseases) with friends or families so you can put a face to it. 

2. A Good Study habit - I noticed that as i went higher and higher up the educational ladder, exams became harder and harder. Establishing a good study habit from childhood, and carrying into adult life is key to good grades, and eventually, success. Honestly, I went through physical therapy cramming before exams, and tackling my life, day by day. So you're probably wondering, "What the heck is he talking about?". Dude, take it from me. Crazy slackers know a thing or two about life, and they how it is not to have that advantage.

3. Supporting Parents - Now, this is ESSENTIAL. A truly supportive parent and family system is very very helpful for kids. Parents, try not to fight infront of children, or turn your homes into houses. (more on that later). The home is the place where every member of the family should be safe and secure, and family dynamics play a role in the overall development. Do I really need to explain this?

4. Positive Outlook - Remember that old story about "if you think your cross is too much of a burden to bear, look at others"? It just might be. In fact, you just reading this blog may already mean angat ka na over hundreds of millions who cant even drink water or eat 3 meals a day. Be thankful for everyday, nay, every second you live. Dont always think problems are there to bother you, think of them as challenges to better yourself! Like one FB post i saw, "If you are down and lonely, think that somewhere in the world, someone is pushing on a door that says pull." 

5. God - He's the big guy up there watching over anything. Dont worry, he doesnt get angry or snobs you or leaves you hanging, he is there, and always will be, for you. He has a grand plan for each of us, and it will be awesome. Dont worry. 

6. Social Skills - You're going to need to get along. Sometime, or someday, you'll need help from someone. Dont snob anyone. Be helpful and friendly. It pays off, believe me. Karma is lightning fast, especially the good kind. Man, if i had a piso everytime being friendly has helped (i would have a pocketful of coins, but thats not the point). 

7. Perseverance - Probably on of the more important traits. One of my closest's friends asked me, "How did you survive medschool?" Well, thats easy. I just kept my head down, focused on the task at hand, and finished it. Sometimes, standing out in a crowd isnt the way to go. Everything in life is a right of passage, be it gradeschool, highschool, college, or some ridiculously crazy post-grad course. 

My best advice on how to tackle post-highschool life?
Well, one of my Idols back then had a saying for when life started to become hard, and others were successful and "unreachable".

"Nauna lang kayo."

:) God bless you all!

Physical Therapy

Ever wonder what physical therapy was? heres an explanation in a nutshell.

Physical Therapy, in a nut shell, is the use of physical means to bring an individual back to near normal function.

Ako, I studied BS Physical Therapy at De La Salle University - Health sciences institute at Dasmarinas Cavite. It's a 5 year course, with the fundamental basics of english, math, science, logic, and filipino in the earlier years, to the Physical therapy proper in the 3rd and 4th years, with a year on internship in the 5th year. Physical Therapy internship is basically nagchachange ka ng centers monthly, and what centers you go to depend on your academic performance during your college years.

What do you do in physical therapy?
Basically, you teach stroke patients on how to become functional again, on how to be able to transfer from positions, if not how to walk. Stroke patients are a big part here in the philippines, and nothing makes me happier seeing a patient improving and actually thanking you for the change you imposed on their lives. Physical therapy treats many cases, including carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow, torn ligaments like ankle sprains and ACL problems. Also under the umbrella, is helping people to walk, starting from teaching them to shift their weight in chairs, to preparing to stand, to standing. In fact, the lahat ng sinasakop ng PT will take more than just a blog entry to enumerate. Sa akin kasi, I learned to love Physical Therapy and helping people get rid of their problems. Which i guess further cemented my decision into entering medicine.

Back when I was in Physical Therapy, our dean was no other than the legend of the Philippine Physical Therapy world, Dr. Ramona Luisa Pablo Santos. She was in charge of the College of Physical Therapy, before climbing up the rung of the career ladder, to become the vice chancellor of Academics of DLSU-HSI. Watching her discuss the spinal cord pathways from heart, was one of the many reasons I wanted to enter Medicine.

In a few days, ill be posting some exercises that I have learned over the years, and have given a Filipino twist to. Like the Darna exercise for Scoliosis, and my Super Biceps sets. :) (and maybe even give tips on how to massage, which work great on girls!)

Would i recommend Physical therapy as a college course? Of course. Now that the Nursing boom is dying down, although still strong, since they are needed all around the world, but good evidence that Physical therapy is a good job, my own batchmates in the States, once just commuters, now have good lives, a good house, and a great car in the states.

To my Rosarians, i highly encourage you to take Physical therapy if you are undecided. Besides that we only work during office hours and dont do night shifts (although i heard a rumor that UST have night shifts now to cater to call center agents), you can also make quite a good amount working for private PT sessions after work with your own private clients. And priceless about it, is watching the weak and in pain, walk out with a smile.

What is Testmanship?

You've heard it time and memorial. That there is a technique that can beat test questions without even really knowing the answer. I've picked up a few of them along the way. (and long way is an understatement, ive been in nursery, kinder, prep, grade 1 - 7, 1st - 4th year high school, 1st-5th yr College, and 1st-4th year post-graduate school, with another year in internship, making it about 24 years of education).

Anyway, here it goes, 10 Testmanship pointers. :)

1. There is NO such thing as being able to answer a question without knowing the answer. There is something sa subconcious mo that tells you the others are wrong. Believe in the force!

2. Examiners usually construct questions by not putting the answer in choice A, especially since that's the first you read, so sayang naman the effort to make the rest of the answer choices.

3. Neither do they put it sa choice D. for the same reason.

4. So usually tinatago nila sa B or C. Ive always been a fan of the answer C. It can stand for CORRECT, it can stand for your Crush, it can stand for.. catanduanes.

5. Gawin nyo, if you know a choice is ABSOLUTELY WRONG, cross out the choice na. as in, drawing kayo ng mahaaaaabang line all over it, para hindi mo na mabasa. if 4 choices yan, nabawasan na. so tumataas percentage na mahulaan mo. :)

6. What i do kapag exams, whenever may mga words na EXCEPT or marami mga WHICH IS WRONG, i rephrase the question. ganito,

example: "the following is wrong about the color of the dog, except:"
so what i do, is i rephrase it. i actually write the new question beside it..
"What is correct about the color of the dog?"

Diba? hindi na nakakalito? :)

7. When you have an exam na marami formulas, gawin mo.... make a Super duper long formula. tapos yun lang memorize mo... paano?
for example. ay. hehe nalimutan ko na mga formulas. ginawa ko kasi yun sa physics exam ko dati. lahat ng kaklase ko, nsa 60-70 ang grade, nakakuha ako ng 95+ na grade.

8. There are questions na may ALL OF THE ABOVE na sagot. I dont know kung bakit, pero hindi kaya timatamad yung examiner na gumawa ng wrong choices? so yun lagi ko sinasagot. hehe pero you still have to go through all the choices. Maganda kasi na may all of the above, if may maling sagot dun, you can erase the wrong answer, and All of the above, thus increasing your chances of guessing correctly.

9. If you dont know the answer, dont answer it muna. Most likely, there's another question hidden in the exam na may konting clue towards your unknown question. Skip ka lang. hindi naman bawal e!

10. Take your time. Dont get rattled by others already done. Being fast in an exam doesnt mean magaling sila.

11. Basically, noone can tell you how to take an exam. Only you know yourself enough. Listen to others, but not necessarily follow it.

Make Holy Rosary Academy proud!

How to pick what college course to take

How to pick your college course:

First off, decide what you want to be. Decide on what you have a knack for.

Do you have the gift of gab?
Do you have a soft spot for the underprivileged?
Do you like teaching?
Do you like traveling?
Do you like bugs or animals?
Do you like sports like basketball or soccer?

Decide on something that you would be happy doing for the rest of your life. When your happy doing something, it no longer is work, and becomes fun. :)

Dont do something just to please others. Dont be pressured by friends to go into a course you dont like, just to be with them. Listen to your parents. When you fall on hard times, noone will back you up like your parents.

Look at a School's Reputation. Good schools can get you into doors that are hard to enter.

Important also is the schools reputation with your particular desired course. Not all schools are good with specific courses. Dont be swayed by College Rivalry or their basketball teams, or their reputation. Enter a school for YOURSELF. Keep yourself in mind. WHEN you get into the school and your course, THEN decide if you want to join the hoopla of school spirit and school rivalry. Your going to college to learn, not to get into fist fights in the parking lot of basketball games.

And, one very important factor, is reality. Can your parents afford the college?

Now imagine. if you picked a school based on friends and didnt do it to improve your life. One day, in the future, can you make enough money to send your kids to college? Imagine, if you had 1 kid, and send him to college. you pay about 30-90,000 pesos a year in tution. and you have to give him allowance. about 100-200 a day. thats 500-1000 a week. thats 4000 a month. thats 48,000 a year. Now, what if you had 2 kids.

My tution in medicine was 98-110,000 per sem. about 200,000 per year. about 800-900 thousand for 4 years. You need to have it in you to make good and get a good education in your head for you to be able to get good jobs, which can help you provide for your family. Dont listen to what your friends say. How can you listen to someone whos in the same boat with you? Tread on unfamiliar territory. Take the risk. If your friends wont help you, maybe they arent real friends.

High School Senior's College Decision

Hi. I've decided to start my own blog, to put out there, my experiences in life. If you check my profile, you will see that I consider experience my main teacher. anyway, let me get to the story.

Once upon a time, I, too, was a senior in Highschool, once upon a time. I didnt get a pep talk about what to do in my life, my parents didnt have a sit down with me and discussed what I wanted in life. My main influence those days, were my friends who were all into whatever field they went into. Well, my main influence was whether I was going to be green or blue. 

This was a point in my life i wasnt sure what I wanted. My parent's plan for me was to become a doctor. I liked the concept of helping people. I grew up watching movies where there was nothing more noble than healing the sick, or pulling a soul away from the brink of death. Another thing I wanted to be was a scientist, with blue and red potions mixing and exploding and stuff. So I always guessed the science field was my direction.

I know being a senior is real confusing. Deciding on what college to go to, weighing in what you want to be, what you want to do in life. A big factor was also which school my friends would go to, so that it wouldnt be weird, being alone in a new place. What college to go to, where to review for college entrance exams, and what course. I was plagued back then with indecision, and im sure you are too. 

My parents where nothing but supportive (but I needed someone from the medical field to talk to). My brother was busy with College. So i felt i had noone to ask for help, until i met my guidance counselor. She didnt give me good advice on my college course, but she did give advice(she advised me to take Food industry at UP, and Social Science at ADMU). But at least, with time running short, i went into a pre-med, which was a toss-up between nursing (which was a big thing then) at UST and some fast-track medicine program. My mom put me in Human Biology at DLSU-Manila. Which worked great for me and put all my inner voices to rest, since it would put me in a good college, with my friends who were bound to be around me. A problem arose though, which was how do i get to taft? I dont drive, and I didnt know how to commute. I didnt know also what to wear to college, or what style was.

All this questions, with noone to talk with. So, I eventually did what i had to do. I went Headfirst into the craziness of College. I really wish i had someone to talk to. I wish i knew that I wasn't the only one having these problems. I was talking recently to a cousin who is about to Enter college, and he still seemed lost at the idea.

Dont worry. You're not the only one out there. You can always ask. The internet is a great medium to ask questions. Im sure one way or another, you have access to the net.
You can post comments here and ill try my best to help. You can also try emailing me at galangjc@gmail.com, but I dont regularly check that email. :)

Basically, back to the topic. it'll boil down to the main questions on what college course to get.
1. What makes you happy?
2. What do you see yourself being after 10-15 years?
3. Is what you want, really what you want, and not what your peers want?
4. Can you see yourself doing that your WHOLE life?
5. Can you survive it? Emotionally? Physically? Financially? Psychologically?