I’ve already forgotten the last time I logged in to my yahoo account to edit my information. Yes, I am fairly active with YM but I still use Gmail as my primary account just because I feel that Yahoo is already too populated. So, when I logged in today, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Yahoo has put their identity theft protection service to the next level.

I’ve always thought their old method for verifying users was too easy to break. Now, unless you really know the person eerily well, (or a stalker perhaps?) you will be having a very hard time breaking into their account. Kudos to Yahoo!

Here’s to you stalkers!

Pampering your feet is a must, especially after standing on them the entire day. And with all the walking we “dakilang alalays” aka medical clerks do, feet pampering becomes an essential if not a requisite.

I received a text message from my ex-roommie Mela this afternoon asking if I was free for pedicure and dinner. It was the perfect moment. We were from duty the previous night and a few hours relaxing our tired feet is the cherry to cap our duty. But imagine our dismay when we discovered how the three affordable salons near our place along E. Rodriguez could not feed our needs. While we were walking, we chanced upon a tarpaulin advertising a new place offering foot and body massage services at such a very, very friendly price.

The place is called Feet Galore Spa which is gps systems-friendly located at the 2nd floor of Dona Anita Bldg along E. Rodriguez Ave. in front of St. Luke’s Medical Center and Burger King.

The place is new – barely a week old - according to the front desk attendant whom I surmise to be the owner. The ambiance is so relaxing that I’d really want to doze off while plopped on such a comfy chair if only I wasn’t very ticklish. Mela and I availed of their foot scrub which came with a pedicure. Their foot scrubs come in three variants: peppermint, strawberry and milk. I was told most of their guests prefer the peppermint scrub which the both of us tried. The service lasted about an hour and a half as my attendant, Joyce, very carefully scrubbed my feet (she was too careful that I honestly think she could have scrubbed my feet harder than she did). I was told that their pedicurist wasn’t around so what they’ll be doing after the scrub is only to push the cuticles and clean my nails without removing toenail ingrowths. Good enough for me as I just had a pedicure exactly a week ago. There aren’t much nail colors to choose from but it didn’t matter since we’d be wearing closed shoes most of the time. What delighted me was the massage part of the foot scrub which bolstered my desire to try their other body massage services in the future. I can’t vouch much for their services as I’ve only tried their foot scrub but their pocket-friendly price and accessibility alone is enough for me to come back for my weekly feet spa-mpering.

Wanna try their services? Visit Unit 211 Dona Anita Bldg. E. Rodriguez Ave. QC or call 466-0861 for inquiries. Say “hello” to them and don’t forget to drop my name (Marinel) or mention my blog.

Services:
Foot Scrub (Choice between: Peppermint, Strawberry and Milk) 199
Authentic Thai Foot Massage 199
Traditional Foot Massage 199
Foot Reflexology 199

Body Massage:
Head and Shoulder Massage 149
Swedish Massage 250
Shiatsu Massage 250

Manicure 70
Pedicure 70
Manicure and Pedicure 120

As of 5 pm of August 19, 2009, I’m tipping the scales at 96 lbs. Yep. 4 lbs shy of being within the normal BMI limit. My friends envy me because I don’t need weight loss supplements or the best diet pills around to keep thin.  What they don’t realize is that I’m actually struggling to gain weight. I’m actually surprised at how I’m still able to keep myself from losing more pounds now that I’m in the land of retractors and sterile drapes aka “The Operating Room” (I’m rotating now in Surgery you see). The Surgery rotation is very notorious for making poor clerks like me thinner by a few pounds. Two weeks after my rotation, I’ve just lost 2 pounds and that’s already a feat since I know of a lot of clerks who lost more.

Wish me luck that I don’t lose another pound next week!

I just finished reading a thread from Candymag’s teentalk (yes, I know I am way past my teenage years LOL). I must say I am pretty amazed at how “knowledgeable” teens are nowadays when it comes to beauty and skin care. But then it also alarms me at the same time; because admit it or not, what they “know” is most often courtesy of Google whose reliability has always remained to be in question.

Having recently finished my rotation in Dermatology, I’ve come to appreciate a lot of facts and health and beauty practices which I weren’t fully aware of before. That is despite my addiction to googling the worldwide web. I must admit that what I’ve picked up from my 15-day stint as a pseudo-Dermatologist will never come up in any Yahoo or Google search. In fact, the actual experience of handling a patient beats the millions of search queries that these engines will harvest for you at any given time.

Perhaps what bothers me most about what I’ve witnessed to be going on online among many women is how the practice of self-medication has become more rampant than before. And for that I point the accusing finger towards Mr. Google because of his ability to come up with results from Medicare supplement to the latest fad in skin whitening. Don’t get me wrong. Internet results are not necessarily evil; but misleading advertisements under the guise of reliable medical information are and I sure hope that internet users have high enough IQ to know how to spot a fake from the real deal.

I’ve realized that Dermatologists in practice are losing in the battle against non-medical people peddling their skincare goods online. It’s actually a double whammy. For one, they lose potential patients. Second, they become the option of last resort of patients whose problems are even worse than how they started from trying various products without knowing their drug interactions. I’m a witness. Most of the patients I’ve seen would claim to have applied certain lotions, medications and ointments they could not even read. For me, such practice is the same as taking medications without knowing what they’re for. Perhaps most think that the harm would be less since they are topically applied. They have entirely forgotten however that the skin is virtually the largest organ in the body with a huge potential for systemic absorption.

I wish people would be more vigilant not only on the price tag of the goods they see online but moreso on the indications of their use; because no matter which way you look at it, they’re all drugs and just one and the same banana.