Weekend: Downs and Ups

After blogging about my sick daughter last Friday, it turned worse. Around 4pm, our yaya texted me that Miya's temp was at 38.6 so she gave her Calpol. After a few minutes, Miya was vomitting. I immediately went home. I arrived past 5pm and she was still weak from all the vomitting. I carried her and asked, "What's owie?" She pointed to her head and her mouth. She was still feverish then because she threw up the meds she took earlier. For about an hour, she would throw up once in a while sometimes just saliva and nothing else. She was so kawawa. I was broken hearted. I smelled like vomit but I didn't care. I took care of her. I gave her a sponge bath and then after an hour we gave her meds again. She was feeling a bit better afterwards. She asked if we can go upstairs na, so we went even if it's not yet sleeping time. I thank God, she was better almost immediately after. When Joema got home, she's almost her usual self. After a few more hours, she was okay already. I also called her pedia just to make sure. He told us to give her round-the-clock meds and bring her the next day for check-up. Since Joema was in a hurry to go home, he wasn't able to passby the pedia's clinic to list Miya down for the next day's check-up. On Saturday, we had to wait for almost two hours before she was checked by the pedia. Thank God, she was not ill anymore. There was a toddler in the clinic who was sick, she was so matamlay, I feel for her.

Playing at the pedia's clinic while waiting for her turn

That Friday night, we had to forego a dinner with some friends because Miya was sick. We had to cancel our plans for the weekend because we weren't sure if she'll be okay during the entire weekend. Good thing, the doctor said it was viral respiratory tract infection and she wouldn't be sick any more. True enough, she was well enough after (well, even before the check-up).

So for dinner on Saturday, we asked our friends if they could dropby our condo to have dinner with us. One of Miya's ninongs is home from Singapore during the weekend. He hasn't seen Miya since she was born. At first, Miya didn't want to come near him. But later on with some bribery, she softened up to him hehe. You know what he used to briber her? Pizza! The moment she saw the pizza delivered to our unit, she was calling out to him "Ninong! Ninong! Kiss!" even volunteering to kiss him hahaha!

with Ninong Bud

Sunday was my mom's birthday. We ordered from Amber's (their crispy pata is the best) and bought cake for her. Miya, of couse, sang "Happy Birthday" to her Yaya - that's how she says Lola or sometimes it's Yoya. My mother was more than happy.

Happy birthday, Lola!

All in all, the good trumped the bad. Even Vettel had a good weekend (he finally won another race this season and in Singapore no less!). How was your weekend?

Hell and Heaven

...or their equivalent in hardware stores.

As I’ve blogged previously, we’ve been preparing to ready our condo for Joema’s transfer. Since we're in a hurry, one early evening when I got home, my parents and I went to the nearby Handyman in Robinsons Metroeast. We were there before 8pm, their store closes at 9pm. I told my parents we can just buy the bathroom fixtures there because on our previous visit I already saw some items that I liked. There was no one to assist us in the aisle for the bathroom mirrors and vanity shelves. We had to ask someone (who was chatting with his co-worker) to help us and show us if they still have stocks for the mirror I liked. Okay, he was able to help us there but he kept on telling us to get the more expensive one blah blah blah. I don’t like people telling me to buy the more expensive things especially if they can’t justify why the expensive one is better than the cheaper one. And that guy CAN NOT give us a proper explanation. As for the vanity shelf, he told us that it’s better to buy the oblong one because the mirror we’re buying is oblong too. What the?!?! Why can’t he let us choose no! He asked a girl to help us instead for the vanity shelf. The girl doesn’t even want to show us the other shelves available. And then when we were asking her about shower curtain rods she just gave us a blank stare and then proceeded to go to the other aisle. We were left there to fend for our ourselves. We asked an attendant who happened to pass by but he didn't help us either. OMG! So even if they already gave us a cart with the mirror and the shelf I told my parents to just leave it there and I don’t want to buy anymore! Haller! Their customer service sucks! In the two times I’ve been there, their service attendants are always chatting with each other. You have to pry them away from each other to get some help. That is, if they can really help you. Grrr!!!

Now on the other hand, Ace Hardware in SM Megamall (and other branches I believe) is heaven. You can ask anything and they can answer you. Joema and I went there to buy the bathroom fixures, our light fixtures, even the exhaust fan that needs to be installed in our bathroom. See the architect from the condo told us what we need to buy for the installation. When we went to Ace, we didn’t know that there were exhaust fans for ceiling and wall installations – and they are two different things. Joema and I were insisting that we should buy the one for the wall because that has the flaps at the back (we remember distinctly that the architect told us to buy the ones with the flaps). But the very good attendant at Ace told us to buy the one for the ceiling and explained to us why. So helpful and so knowledgeable on what he’s doing! I can almost hear the angels singing hahaha!

Showing us the different types of exhaust fan. That's an aluminum flexiduct right there - the silver cylindrical thingy

When we went to buy our lights, the guy there was extremely helpful as well. He had to assemble four light fixtures but we didn’t hear any complaint from him. This is why when we went to Antipolo city hall to apply for our marriage license, Joema was joking that there should be someone from Ace hardware there to answer our questions hehehe.

You light up my life :)

Eagerly assembling the light fixture

So finally when we had to buy the vanity mirror and shelf for our bathroom. The attendant at Ace showed us the different selections that they have. And when we told him the size that we needed he showed what we can buy. And then he showed us the different designs we can choose from. For the vanity shelf, he showed us the different colors and then suggested the colors of the holders as well. For the shampoo and soap holder, we were choosing the cheaper ones and the attendant there just gave us what we needed. He didn’t insist on us buying the stainless ones that are really expensive. In the end even if we paid a lot for those things we bought, we were really excited to make the condo look like our home. My family and I even went back to Ace the following weekend to buy other things that we forgot to buy.

Living Space

I would love to have something like this in our condo.

We can sit..

lounge..

entertain friends...

sleep...
and work...

All in our own little space.

More of Matroshka Living Concept here.

Customer is Always Right

I'm so pissed off with this agent I sent an email to the developer of the property she was selling to tell them of her unprofessionalism. Tomorrow I will fax my letter to their home office to make sure that they get it! Here's my email to them:

I saw an ad of your project Spazio Bernardo at this link:

http://bahay.ph/ads/15421/

I inquired about the property (on 12 Dec 2006) and Ms. Marivick Barbo sent me an email with the payment terms for the condo unit (on 13 Dec 2006). I made an appointment with her via text message on 28 Dec 2006, 2pm at SM North Edsa as I was eager to see the site and the model unit. She agreed on the date and time I set. The day before the appointment I was a bit anxious as she has not confirmed with me if we are pushing through with the meeting. But since she agreed, based on her earlier text message to me, I assumed that the meeting will push through. On the day of our appointment before 1pm, I sent her a text message asking her if we could move the time to 3pm instead because my boyfriend who was accompanying me was running late. She said it was okay but the meeting place she indicated in her reply was at 'Bluewave, Marquinton'. It turned out she set up another appointment on the same date and time that we agreed on. I wanted to cancel the meeting because of her unprofessionalism but she insisted that Ms. Lorie, the secretary in their office, will assist me. She also offered to meet me at 5pm instead. But since I had a previous engagement at 5pm the same day I agreed to meet Ms. Lorie which turned out to be alright because she was able to answer all my questions and she showed me the model unit and some of the condo units that were being renovated to show me a better view of what the unit will look like.

Ms. Marivick followed up on me asking how I found the property so I told her I will contact her for feedback. I sent her an email (on 4 jan 200) with some questions I have regarding the property and again set up a meeting for tomorrow, 11 Jan 2007, at 5pm at SM Megamall. On the same date, she confirmed our appointment via email and text. Again today, one day before our set appointment, I did not receive any confirmation from her. So I sent her a text message asking her if we are still okay to meet for tomorrow. She replied asking me what time we'll meet. I can't believe this agent of yours! She doesn't keep track of her appointments with her clients. Maybe you should give them diaries/planners as Christmas gifts! I accepted her apology the first time she forgot about our appointment, but the second time is unforgiveable.

She told me that your condo units are selling like hot cakes. I'm sure that's true with your very affordable price and the very nice environemtn of your project, but that doesn't mean that she will not take time to service all of her clients. She could have told me to set another time and date if she already has a previous appointment. As a working individual myself, time and money is of value to me. If your agent does not think that I am worth her time and attention then that is okay. I am letting you know how this agent has treated me so that you can teach them on how to handle your clients. The truth is, I was already keen on getting a unit but because of this I am extremely turned off with the service of your agent, I would rather get a condo unit from a not-so-famous developer than get one from you because I was not treated as a valued customer. Just so you know, customer service is still the most important factor in running a business.

Thank you for your time.