Wednesday, January 26, 2011

House M. D. Quotes - Season 7 Episode 10 - Carrot or Stick

Dr. Eric Foreman: Whoever did this has a bone to pick with you. Ironic, since your bone is...

Dr. Robert Chase: is not in that picture. My proof is right here. You really want to see it?



Dr. Eric Foreman: He slept with three women there.

Martha Masters: Oh, you're a whore!



Dr. Gregory House: Steroids isn't fascinating, it's moronic. There's no other sign of hormonal imbalance. What's fascinating is that you equate discipline with bullying. Which means that your parents either disciplined you too much or too little ... I'm guessing too little.

Martha Masters: It's hardly surprising you agree with our patient's philosophy. You run your department like a boot camp. As if cruelty ensures performance.

Dr. Gregory House: ... Oh, is this where I'm supposed to disagree with you?

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

House M. D. Quotes - Season 7 Episode 9 - Larger than Life

Dr. Gregory House: Your enthusiasm is impressive. Wish I could say the same about your presentation. Everybody knows you lead with your most interesting symptom.


Dr. Robert Chase: House's worldview doesn't include random acts of self-sacrifice. He's gonna count heroism as a symptom until proven otherwise.

Martha Masters: The guy did a wonderful thing. Can't we just take that at face value?


Dr. Gregory House: You are adorable. Heroism does exist.


Martha Masters: What about firefighters?

Dr. Gregory House: The guys who undergo months of training to deny their own instincts for self-preservation?


Martha Masters: So humanity is apathetic and self-serving?

Dr. Gregory House: Yeah.


Dr. Robert Chase: I always thought it was fight or flight. Didn't know it was fight or
flight or faint. (He laughs.)


Dr. Chris Taub: Laugh all you want. The other hundred people stayed on that platform. That's a normal response to danger.

Dr. Gregory House: The coward has spoken. Our patient's problem is neurological. Sympathetic stimulation ... stress to the brain triggers a response in the heart. Go forth and look for masses in Clark Kent's limbic system.


Dr. James Wilson: You have to go. Your girlfriend's birthday? It's not even a question.

Dr. Gregory House: She has one every year. How often do you break up with the love of your life? Okay, for you, it's more often than most, but still...


Rachel Taub: Hey. Am I imagining things, or did I see a billboard with your face on it on my way home tonight?

Dr. Chris Taub: Oh, was my whole face there? 'Cause I just saw the nose.


Rachel Taub: You're still my husband. I still love you. And I want things to be okay between us. Also, you're a famous model now. That's pretty cool... sexy, even.


Dr. Gregory House: So we finally know what Taub would look like if he were life-size.


Dr. Chris Taub: That poster got me laid when I got home last night, so do your worst.


Dr. Gregory House: So when you're not on a billboard, you sleep with nurses. But when you are, you sleep with your wife. I think you got that backwards.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

New Books on Our Bookshelf

Among other things, our recent trip back to the Philippines triggered my latent fondness of books... Thanks to the frequent trips to National Bookstore beside Shopwise. :)

So for the last three weeks, these are some of the books that really took my fancy:

Guess How Much I Love You
Written by Sam McBratney
Illustrated by Anita Jeram
Published by Walker Books Ltd

I guess my daddy-side is already showing, ain't it? :) Anyway, it's a story about Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare telling how much they each other. It's a rather short and simple story but one that you would love telling your kids every night. Although it's "short", it's actually quite longer than other baby picture story books out there. Plus, the watercolor illustrations on each page is great and makes the story even more endearing. Personally, my favorite picture is the one shown below, in which Big Nutbrown Hare is holding Little Nutbrown Hare who finally falls asleep.


Ang Pera na Hindi Bitin
Written by Eduardo O. Roberto Jr.
Illustrations by Roli Sabado
Published by OMF Literature Inc.

This one we got as New Year's gift. Like most of the self-help financial management books, this one deals on how one should manage money. Unlike most of self help financial management books, this one actually has a religious tone about it -- citing several verses from the Bible; it is written in Taglish (Tagalog-English "slang"), which means it's specifically intended for local Pinoys; and, containing just about 100 pages, it is very brief and concise.

The presentation is rather simplified which makes it easier for anyone -- or at least anyone who readily understands Taglish -- to read and follow. The strategies are presented simply and logically, with some Bible verses cited every now and then as needed.

Interesting fact (I've learned from the book): Money is the second most talked-about topic in the Bible, with over 2000 verses in all.


Book of 101 Fables
Retold and Illustrated by Johnny C. Young
Published by Luminaire Printing and Publishing Corp

In case you haven't noticed, I like stories. And in my opinion, there's no better collection of timeless stories than Aesop's Fables. The good thing about this particular book is that (1) it contains several fables which are not attributed to Aesop such as the local Philippine fables; (2) there are commentaries and moral lessons at the end of each fable, which is the reason fables are written in the first place -- to teach a lesson; and (3) the index at the latter part of the book groups the fables by the general moral lesson (i.e., Honesty, Sincerity, Procrastination), which makes it easier to look for fables for different ocassions.

Sunday, January 02, 2011

Baptism Ideas for your Baby Born Abroad

Happy New Year!

After completing your "quest" to get a valid pass for child -- and you're Roman Catholic -- it's only natural that you arrange for your newborn to be baptised. For most Filipino Catholics here, you either have your child baptised where you are, or back to the Philippines where most of your relatives and friends are.

We went for the Philippine route. So anyway, if you're interested, here are some firsthand tips from us.
  • Prepare the documents. Namely, the child's Birth Certificate and the parrent's Marriage Certificate. Prepare some photocopies as well. If you don't have this, you'll be in a whole lot of trouble.
  • Contact your Church. You should have done this waaaay ahead of your target date of baptism --even way ahead of your flight back to Philippines. Ask for the requirements (i.e. above documents, seminar for parents and godparents, etc.), whether they offer "special" (i.e. solo) baptism or only mass baptism, available schedule, and what fees are required, if any. Most parishes have websites nowadays, so you should check them out online.
  • Contact your local contact. To make things even easier for you, you need someone "onsite" -- could be a relative or a close friend -- to actually help smoothen things out even before you arrive. They should be able to help out arranging with the church/parish, talk with caterers, prepare your place, etc.
  • Prepare the budget. Can't be stressed enough. A well-planned budget goes a long way. This will help you plan ahead with the event.
  • Prepare the Guestlist. With the budget on hand, you should be able to make a list of the people you want to invite. Usually, this should always include your immediate family, close friends, and godparents. This is a bit trickier than what you may think. So plan ahead.
  • Consider your luggage when booking a flight. Expecially if it's your baby's first-time to travel, you should consider the amount of luggage. You'd be surprised that the large bulk of your total check-in baggage is your kid's. So you may want to consider carefully before going for the cheaper airline's 15kg check-in limit or the more expensive one with a slightly more 20kg check-in.
  • Pictures, Pictures, Pictures! If you're like us, you'd probably want to take pictures of your newborn everyday if you could. Save, collect, and collate. It may not seem much now, but you should organize the pictures before the total number is way too much to handle -- you'd be surprised that you may end up with hundreds of pictures in one month alone. Anyway, where are you going to use this pictures? Well, in case you have absolutely no idea, here are some hints for you:
    • invitations
    • sourvenirs
    • tarpoulins
    • guest book
  • Hire some Help. Might be a bit costly and some may think even unnecessary. However, you need some people to take care of stuff -- food, pictures, video, whatever -- so that  you can have the time to concentrate on the things that are more important. You don't need to hire someone for everything, but you should consider hiring for the "big stuff" that you should not be worrying about like caterers and a photographer.
  • DIY Stuff. There are some stuff that you can do yourself, provided, you have the time, energy, and resources. Example: for us, since we have photoshop, tons of pictures, and a decent printer, we did the invitations ourselves.
Guess that's it. There are still many other considerations but this list, based from our personal experience, tops them all off. Good luck! :)