More and more, I find that the photos I take throughout the week become prompts for my blog posts. I think that’s awesome 🙂
Yesterday found me back at the hospital for the neck xray. While awaiting my turn, the boyfriend was wrapped up on the PSP, while I was so fascinated by the bright red fire alarm box at St. Luke’s X-Ray section.
It was a stark contrast to the recently painted white walls. Certainly, I didn’t notice this fire box when I had a nasal xray back in April. Hmm, so that means I’ve had three different types of xrays done to me in the past six months. Chest, nasal and then the neck yesterday. Interesting. I never saw the plates for the previous ones but yesterday I peeked in at the radiologist’s screen in his private enclave to get a quick glimpse of my neck. Haha 🙂
So I haven’t gone back for the results. No rush since my next appointment with the neuro is on Friday. We did swing by the Pathology Department to get the blood work results.
So what’s the verdict? I’m not sure.
I think my fasting blood sugar is within normal range, but the results for the first and second hours of the OGTT are definitely above that level. What it means exactly, I am yet unsure. I will visit the physician within the week. Another obvious result is that uric acid is high, and maybe cholesterol too.
If all those is not enough to convince me to shape up or die, I don’t know what will. Still, it’s so darn difficult to convince yourself to exercise when it can really be so tiring. Haha! 🙂
Time to jump on the stationary bike, or maybe even the ellipticals. Â Also time to consider bringing comfortable walking clothes to work with me so it wouldn’t be so uncomfortable walking home. And yes, time to say hello to my old friend Marie France.
Around two years ago (maybe more, but I don’t specifically remember), Alfred and I took to eating regularly at Petruss. In fact I’ve dug up two posts from the past where I mentioned the cafe (haha!), they are here and here. Petruss was a small cafe located right across our office building and we loved having brunch there after work. One of the lighter meals we’d order would be french toast, but then we’d go too for their yummy mango crepes. Hmmm I can almost smell the yummy rice meals we would order too, what were they again babe?
Another food joint we’d frequent at the time would be the Pancake House along E. Rodriguez, right beside St. Luke’s Medical Center. This one’s just walking distance from the house. Of course my favorite to order are their chocolate chip pancakes with peanut butter, but we also love their potato salad and their french toast as well. Ooh their club house sandwich isn’t so bad, and the boyfriend would order all sorts of other heavier meals – most are yummy too.
(Now you get the picture why we don’t have a lot of savings? Haha. We eat too much, and not at (cheap) fast foods all the time!)
Anyway, Petruss has moved out and Ministop (a convenience store) now occupies that space (so sad), and we don’t go to the Pancake House anymore (I can’t even remember when the last time was?)
On Friday night I started fasting so I could finally get the blood work done that the doctor ordered. Last meal was at 930 in the evening. I got a very good night’s sleep (surprisingly because I had fully intended to stay up all night), and got up before 8am. I was in the hospital before 830 on Saturday morning. I thought, like all the blood work I had done in the past, that it would only take a few minutes. Boy was I wrong. I needed to wait a full two hours because of a specific test (the OGTT which I am not in the mood to discuss).
The unfortunate thing about it, is that I could neither eat nor walk around during the intervals of the blood drawing (I had to be pricked thrice). At the end of the first hour, I was already dreaming up french toasts. Â Since I was already at the St. Luke’s, I decided to go for a quick brunch (with Vanilla Milkshake, another indulgence – at least it wasn’t extra thick chocolate) at Pancake House en route to the nearest drug store where I picked up my prescriptions (from the neurologist whom I visited on Friday morning).
Mind you, I intended to go for a long walk and take some photos at the same time. But the darn blood work took up more than two hours of my time and it was nearly noon when I finished. It was too hot to take a leisurely walk! I did have to do some legwork to the drugstore, and then heading home. I didn’t get to visit the camera shop though, maybe I’d just pick up UV filters after work sometime this week.
I did get to take some photos of the Pancake House window (how pathetic am I?), while I experimented with apertures. Check these out – variations of a theme, hehe:
S 1/2500 | A f/1.8 | ISO 200 | Focal length 50mm
S 1/2500 | A f/2.2 | ISO 400
S 1/1600 | A f/2.2 | ISO 400
S 1/3200 | A f/2.2 | ISO 400
Did you notice the differences between the shots? Too bad if you don’t, but that’s just me playing 🙂
Apart from the food, it is usually the feel of the place or the ambiance that keeps us coming back. I don’t need candlelight, nor candle sconces on the wall (though those would be a really nice touch) but comfortable seating and a bright and open area is something I appreciate in a restaurant. Having big open windows is also a very big plus for me. Of course if the view was something better than E.Rodriguez, that would be wonderful!
Anyway, have you been to your old favorites lately?
Yey!!! Â I got into the basic digital photography class at JessicaSprague!
I mentioned my intention to sign up to this class during it’s run last June, but I wasn’t lucky enough to catch any of the limited slots. Â This morning (9am for me, but 9PM EST), I made sure I had my browser opened at the class page and I kept on refreshing as the clock ticked 9:00. Then the button finally turned to “Add to Cart.” Yahoo!
I encountered some technical difficulties – I couldn’t figure out how to checkout after adding the product to my cart. Then my Paypal payment will not go through – something to do with transaction limits!
Finally, the credit card payment went through and I finally saw the confirmation page! Â Classes start on the seventh, and already I can’t wait!
Getting in was enough to lift my dampened spirits a bit.
As a gift to myself, I signed up for a Photo Editing class at JessicaSprague.Com. Check out the class page to understand why I feel excited about this.
I’ve been trying to edit my photos through my Paint Shop Pro X, but it’s mostly a hit-or-miss thing. Through this class, I’m learning how to take my photos from good to great! It also helps me get more acquainted with Adobe Photoshop CS3.
I have so far only finished Lesson 1 where I learned to adjust Exposure, Brightness and Contrast. Here’s a look at one photo’s before and after:
That’s my niece Butchik/Chiki and this was taken on my birthday. I think I definitely brightened up the photo but I may have overdone the saturation – doesn’t her skin look too yellow? It’s a first attempt after all, cut me some slack! Hehe 🙂
