Getting our new car: a timeline

May 6 – Got in touch with a Toyota BGC agent; applied for auto loans online (BPI, Metrobank, Security Bank)

May 7 – Applied personally at BPI

May 9 – Approved with BPI for 31.01%. Pretty high.

May 9 – Applied online at BDO and RCBC

May 14 – Got in touch with RCBC, was offered 26.80% for regular auto loan and 25.82% for AutoLoan Plus w/ free 1st year insurance, but with a 5yr lock with Malayan. I also need to apply as a Hexagon member to qualify for those preferred rates. I sent this to BPI.

May 16 – After going back and forth with the requirements, Metrobank approved with a rate of 25.81%, 10k discount on CMF, free 1st year insurance but with a 5yr lock with AXA.

May 20 – BDO approved with a promo rate of 24.34% for hybrid and electric vehicles, with option to get insurance separately or from them (free 1st year, but locked with Standard). Unfortunately they tagged me to a branch that was far from our place and there was an issue with having to re-tag it to a nearer branch. For document signing they would just send the papers over which would cause delay so we were kindof iffy with this option even though the rate is really good.

May 21 – BPI was able to price-match RCBC’s 26.80%, with no free insurance and chattel mortgage fee. But I already have a lower offer with BDO, so I sent the info to them.

May 22 – Paid reservation fee of 10k to Toyota BGC so they can order the unit already

May 24 – BPI responded with 24.86% OMA rate with free 1st year insurance in response to BDO. It’s 0.52% shy of BDO’s offer but I really appreciate the effort in price-matching and quite honestly I really prefer banking with this particular branch because it’s very convenient for us. And so we decided to push through with them.

May 29 – Signed with BPI

June 4 – BPI followed up with additional papers to sign. Turns out the free 1st year insurance comes locked with BPI/MS. We felt deceived. There was no mention of this in the quote, but it feels too late. We decided to just get our 1st year insurance separately. This was very disappointing for us, because 1st year insurance cost is the most expensive and for our unit it’s 40k+ for year 1. Just factoring this in the overall cost of this deal with BPI and they have the most upfront cost among all the other banks we inquired. Hay.

So now it’s the waiting game…

June 22 – Followed up with my Toyota agent, he said he’ll get back to me next week

June 24 – My agent told us to stand by as the unit may arrive anytime this week. Exciting!

June 26 – Unit has arrived! Unit details have been forwarded to BPI and the bank has responded with the ATD (Authority to Deliver) and PO (Purchase Order). I was advised to settle the downpayment immediately so we can process for release so I did that. Was supposed to transfer 685k online but the daily transaction limit won’t let me. So I just sent a check to Toyota BGC via GrabExpress. It was deposited within the day. So efficient, I love it!

The bank spelled our street address wrong so it was reflected wrongly on the ATD and PO. I had them correct it because the dealership was particular about it. I made to sure to get the corrected documents within the day.

Since we opted to get our own insurance I also needed to get a policy asap so the unit could be released. I’ve already inquired seperately from Mercantile (34k), Standard (48k), FPG (41k), and Malayan (40k) weeks back, but I still thought to inquire with iChoose since we’ve been getting our insurance from them for the past years soI know they’re very easy to deal with.

12:58pm I emailed a quotation request to the agent who assisted us before

1:07pm I got three quotes from FPG (33k), Cocogen (33k), and Standard (42k). I was impressed at the quick turnaround, much more with the cheaper quotes. And to think I requested for the exact same details directly from the the insurance companies. I wonder why it’s cheaper to get from brokers?

Anyway!

I love it! Renelyn, my agent from iChoose, was online so we just talked on messenger. I paid in full, supplied the required PO and Certificate of Unit Details from the dealership, and she placed me request under rush so I could hopefully get it today.

4:30pm I received the policy and billing details in my email. But the address was wrong! I mean it was correct but they had it in the wrong format or order which BPI is particular with so I had it corrected and made sure they followed what’s written on the Unit Details.

5:13pm The policy was corrected so I sent it over to my Toyota agent. But he says he needs the original copy to forward to the bank so I asked Renelyn if we could deliver a copy to Toyota BGC today. She was so quick with it! She asked the nearest hub to send a copy to BGC.

6:21pm The policy was delivered to BGC and my sales agent has received it.

What a day right?? I feel so lucky I got to catch Renelyn online that afternoon because it was so cruicial I get a policy asap. By the way, wew got FPG as our first year insurance provider. It’s not our first time with them and I know they’re accredited with my dealership and also a nearby repair shop. So now that everything is in place, we’re looking at finally getting the unit out within the week.

Fingers crossed!

June 29 – It’s finally here and it’s beautiful! ♥

So all in all from looking for a bank and talking to the dealership and waiting for the car, it took 2 months. I’m sure it will take shorter if we looked for a dealership with on-hand stock but yeah, we just prefer to get it from Toyota Global City hehe.

So worth it!!!

July 12 – Got a copy of our OR (Official Receipt). It was emailed by LTO but it hasn’t reflected in the portal yet.

Waiting

I’m just here waiting anxiously for one of my automations to kick off. Then I can finally start working on my other task haha. Do you get how I feel? Like I can’t start anything else if I’m anxious about something to finish haha.

Oh wait it’s done. All good! Now let’s work…

I just really came to the office to print stuff haha our manager said she’ll be lax with our RTO compliance until August because it’s pretty full in the office most days and Mondays and Fridays are the only days where we can PROBABLY get seats.

I prefer coming to work on Mondays because there’s less traffic and less people in the office so there’s a high chance I can park in the building. But lately, some Mondays have been blocked off by other teams, meaning they somehow flood the office, take all the seats, and tell us to fuck off. No, I mean our managers will talk and then we’ll get bullied us into coming some other day. No sorry that’s not what’s happening haha I’m just being dramatic.

And that sucks. At least for me, because I like Mondays. And I also don’t like compromising that way. They’re messing up our RTO compliance. Which I don’t really care about but hey coming to the office gets me paid more hehe. But really, it’s because we can’t assert our asses on our seats that gets me mad.

Anyway, we’ll see in August.

Relief

It’s been a little over two weeks since my scar tissue was removed. My surgeon says he was able to extract a lot of fibrosis so I should be able to progress better now.

Unfortunately my staples got infected so it was very painful to bend it because the knee around the staples gets stretched. Even putting pressure on my foot makes it sting so it was impossible for me to endure aggressive PT.

I told this to my doctor and also showed pics of my infected staples. He was on vacation but as soon as he got back we scheduled an appointment so he could remove the suture and check my wound.

And that was yesterday.

So far it’s been a relief. I’m back to taking antibiotics and pain relievers. And hopefuly by the time I get back to rehab on Thursday, my staple wounds have closed and healed so I can stretch them properly.

To be honest it’s been largely depressing for me, not being able to bend past 100deg actively without pain. There are so many things I couldn’t do due to that lack of flexion. I couldn’t Indian sit, couldn’t do frog kicks in the pool, couldn’t do child’s pose, and I also have a hard time getting and out of the car.

I’ve had countless dreams where my knees are working properly and every time I wake up from them a part of me dies. I get more and more hopeless about my case. Sometimes I wonder if I just need to accept this limitation. But I also know that a lot of people are able to get their lives back after ACL repair, so I don’t know what gives.

What I do know is that I need to move to a different rehab facility. My doctor says the PT at Healthway Shang may not be that aggressive so I should try other clinics. I’ve inquired at St. Lukes Global City and have set an appointment with one of their rehab doctors. I thought it would be easy moving to a hospital but I had to schedule that a month in advance because all the slots are full. Wow. Good thing I still have a bunch of sessions left with Healthway so I could be active in the meantime.

Oh well.

Life Lately

Last week was so incredibly busy next thing we know it’s already Sunday and the weekend is over! Aaaah!

Monday – grocery run, tried the newly opened Thai restaurant at Estancia, it was okay. Then went to the bank to hopefully sign some docs, but the papers aren’t available yet so we just went home.

Tuesday – I went to rehab so as usual got home really tired. I realized I’ve been doing a lot of things before work starts so by the time I clock in I’m all out of energy to do work I’m being paid to do lol. Anyway, Jeckie went to the office today so I cooked pasta for myself. Also made hummus and tuna spread. I swear working the kitchen is exhausting but also fulfilling hehe. Koomi was mostly hekking, meaning waiting by the door for dad to come home, in short behaved!

Wednesday – Oh man. It was raining hard and I had to drop Koomi at daycare so he could play and get washed. Thankfully the staff at Hachi Kamp fetched him from the car so I didn’t have to go out. Then I went to the gym, dreadfully but no regrets, went home, then went out again to go to the bank. Our docs are ready for signing so we did that in 30 minutes and headed home, just in time for Jeckie’s interview hehe.

Thursday – It’s ortho consult + rehab day. Which means I woke up extra early, like 10am. I finally scheduled a procedure with my surgeon to remove the scar tissue in my knee because from my last rehab consult, it seems like I’ve already taken a lot of sessions (it’s been 9 months of regular PT) and I’m not back to normal yet. Thankfully he was able to squeeze me in for June 1st! He requested for a bunch of labs: X-ray, ECG, and CBC which I completed that day. Then I went to my PT session, bought myself Korean snacks that were too oily, got Jeckie a croissant sandwich, and went home DEAD TIRED. Urgh. I don’t recall being able to work productively at all. I was so so tired from lack of sleep and PT. Requested for LOA online for my procedure on Saturday, and was able to get it in a couple of minutes.

Friday – I went to the office. Had milk tea and Chowking for dinner. And finally finally was able to focus on working. Everything I procrastinated on doing for two weeks I finished today and I was so proud of myself. I also finally figured out how to use our new printer lol turns out there was a memo on the new procedure 7 months ago and of course I didn’t read it haha. Printed my LOA , clocked out, and drove home!

Saturday – OKAY THIS WAS A VERY VERY LONG DAY. I was supposed to wake up before 10am so I could eat because I’m supposed to be on fast 8hrs before my procedure. But heck I woke up past 11am so the window is gone. My last meal was at 3am so I’m just gonna have to endure the hunger until the operation is over.

I’m scheduled at 6pm so we have enough time to bring Koomi to Hachi Kamp, get my labs from Healthway, and drive to The Medical City early enough for my procedure. I kinda rushed Jeckie into starting the day early because I didn’t want to wait too long at Healthway and face Saturday traffic. Turns out I was in an out of Healthway pretty fast and traffic wasn’t so bad haha. And so we got to the hospital 2 hours before my procedure haha. So early!

Jeckie left me for a while so he could eat, and I just waited in the OR suite because I couldn’t be tempted to eat anything. My headache is growing and my surgeon arrived late. I over fasted and my blood pressure has dipped to 108/51 which was crazy but not surprising.

They wheeled me to the operating room around 7pm and when they injected the general anesthesia I made it a point to count down from 100 to see how fast it took effect! The last number I remember was 93! But I also remember counting this way: 100, 99, 98, 97, 93, zzzz so I’m not sure how fast I passed out lol. Either 4 or 7 seconds haha for sure though I didn’t need to start at 100 haha I was out in less than 10 seconds!

Two hours later I woke up in the recovery room, my food wilting and waiting for me haha. The sundae on my float has melted, my fries has soggied, and my chicken sandwich cold and tough. It was past 10pm and we had to fetch Koomi from daycare, but I couldn’t be discharged yet because there are still issues with my Intellicare LOA.

Oh here we go…

So Jeckie went ahead to fetch Koomi. The plan was for them to wait at home until I’m ready to be discharged. Turns out the house keys are with me and he couldn’t come back up because Koomi will be left alone in the car in the heat of the parking lot. So he just drove to my in-laws haha.

Back to my Intellicare issue. The online eRCS that was approved for me only cited 50k as initial limit, and it was a pain to have it adjusted off hours. Then I learned the anesthesiologist who worked on me isn’t accredited so they wouldn’t cover her professional fee, which is around 23k. The running bill is already at 87k and Intellicare was being so difficult! They said the machine that was used on me cannot be covered, as well as the paracetamol they administered because I was an out-patient. Juvelle, the receptionist at the surgery suite was the one arguing over the line with the Intellicare rep because it all sounded so ridiculous. They have never experienced this kind of stinginess when it comes to coverage. Considering I have a 500k limit. How could the machine be opted out all of a sudden? They wanted the machine fee to part of the doctor’s PF which was weird because they’re different line items from the SOA. How could the paracetamol be not covered when it was a vial and was administered onsite? I can feel how infuriated Juvelle is. It’s also relieving to see them making an effort in sorting the issue out. But still, the thought of paying over 50k in excess just brought me to tears. And the adjustment, according to Intellicare, could take the morning because they had to wait for the doctor to verify the items in the list. They wouldn’t give us a timeline but it’s definitely gonna take the entire day. It was past 12 midnight at this point! I wasn’t admitted for this procedure so I had to wait in the recovery room the whole time. I was getting hungry but thankfully the staff were so nice, Juvelle and her boss gave me coffee and snacks and they stayed with me the whole time. They also called their liaison officer, woke him up from sleep, to help sort things out. Maybe he could talk to the head office insted. Turns out it wouldn’t be this difficult had I applied my LOA onsite instead of online. He would’ve approved everything and set a high limit because he knew how things cost around here. But what do I know? I thought it was convenient to do things online, heck it was serviced they offered, turns out it’s a pain for out-patient procedures like this! But yeah, lesson learned!

Thankfully, I remembered I have a Maxicare card with me c/o my husband so I checked online if my surgeon and anes are accredited and THEY WERE!!! So I called Maxicare and asked them if I could still request for a LOA even though the procedure is over already. At first I was denied, they said they don’t normally issue LOAs after the procedure as it has to be secured beforehand. I let Juvelle talk to them and she explained that the patient is still here and cannot be discharged because Intellicare won’t cover this and that… eventually they processed the approval and after waiting on hold for over an hour, they issued my LOA and EVERYTHING WAS COVERED AND I DIDN’T HAVE TO PAY A SINGLE PENNY!! Thank God!

Oh you have no idea how relieved I felt that day. We went home around 3:30am, while Koomi stayed the night at my in-laws. Needless to say we had a restful sleep that day. My knee was swollen but I could walk alright.

Sunday – Slept well and dressed my wound! Saw my stapled knee for the first time haha. It looks very swollen but hopefully with a lot of scar tissue removed it will be easier to regain my ROM once the swelling subsides. Went to Gateway to eat (A Mano) then to my in-laws to get Koomi and also eat again and tambay haha. It was a good day. Hopefully I get to be back to normal.

Do you remember life before the internet?

 Daily writing prompt

Do you remember life before the internet?

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I spent some of my childhood years without the internet. On weekdays after school, when I’m done with homework, my sister and I usually camp at the living room to wait for our favorite animes. I remember watching Fushigi Yuugi, Gatekeepers, Boys Be, Eto Rangers, and Samurai X. My favorite channel then was AXN because of the anime line up. Before steaming media, we had cabled TV.

Other times I’d play with my brick game. When daddy is free he teaches me chess. I also collect teks (text? tex?) which are small cards with anime characters on it that I buy in the marketplace for like 5 pesos per set. A set has 4 of 5 cards in it. I never play with them, instead I use them as reference because I also loved to draw. Most of the teks I collect are from Ghost Fighter (Yu Yu Hakusho) and I had hundreds of them stored in a box. There was a time my mom got alarmed that the cards I collect have images of demons and ugly creatures on them that she threw everything away. She’s super religious and thinks it would attract Satan or what lol. I threw a tantrum when I found out, went full-on demon, and felt really bad about it (about my cards being thrown away, not acting possessed). A few days later daddy called me to come look at the drawer in the closet, there I found an entire set of new cards! He told me to keep it a secret from my mom. I love my dad! A true minion!

There was an old keyboard at home I used to play with. It isn’t hooked to anything, but I just loved typing on it because of the sound haha. I remember getting so devastated when my mom gave it away to give to one of my cousins.

Most weekend mornings my parents would take us to QC Circle and my sister and I would rent bikes while my parents walk around and soak in the sun. After an hour or so we would converge in the parking lot and walk to the food stalls to eat lugaw, ice cream, buko juice, and whatever snacks they have. Most of the time my mom packs food for us but we always opt to buy from the stalls cos there are more options hehe. Other weekends we go to Eco Park instead which is nearer. La Mesa Eco Park is where La Mesa dam is, a part of a system that supplies water to most of Metro Manila. There aren’t a lot of things happening there, but it’s a conserved area with lots of trees and trails you can walk or bike at. It’s very refreshing just hanging around there. They have a vast picnic area, swimming pools, and gardens. There’s a flight of stairs that has over 100 steps that gives you an amazing view of the dam up top, and a beautiful perspective of the flower garden when you look back.

So yeah, that’s my life before the internet. I was a kid, I enjoyed it a lot.

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Oh wow, didn’t expect to write this much about this prompt. What a trip down memory lane!

I was just supposed to give a brief answer and go on rant about how unproductive my day is and how much I have to do. Guess I’ll do that right now…?

Okay so I’ve been putting off testing this one project that I’m actively working on and today is that day I decided to really work on it. But alas! I only have 30 minutes left for the day and I haven’t done a single thing. I promised to get this automation deployed by June, which means I need to have it tested this week.

Work’s been piling up. Which is good because I thought I’d be out of things to do and next thing I know I’m fired. But well, I like that they’re piling and that I feel more confident to work on them somehow becuase I’m slowly getting more and more familiar with how things work around here. Who to ask for access issues, who to call for database stuff, who to consult for architectural stuff, etc. I love that I’m able to think more proactively now about the tasks being thrown at me and I’m not that scared to attend requirement gathering meetings anymore. Oh well. All that “growth” and I’m still not getting anything done.

Actually, I’ve been preoccupied lately. Jeckie and I are working on acquiring something in the coming weeks that’s pretty major for both of us. You’ll hear about it soon, but that’s all for now! 😀

I feel so lazy

Some happy things recently

✱ I bought a new mouse, since my current one’s scroll wheel has gone bonkers no amount of blowing off dust would fix. Happy to find something below 200 that works just as well as my 500 pesos Logitech mouse.

✱ I bought a new silicone strap for my smart watch. The original one gave me rashes which was weird so I had to replace it. I first got a leather looking strap but it stinks over time specially when I work out. This new one that I got is only 74 pesos and it hasn’t given me rashes yet! Yeyy!

I really don’t know how to motivate myself with work. I’m only working on one project. Lots of things lined up but I don’t know where to start. Argh.

Alright, alright let’s get moving.

Baguio 2024! All the pet-friendly places we went to + how much we spent for 5 days!

Two weeks ago we went to Baguio for a quick getaway (5 nights, I knowww, bitin! haha) and man did we miss it! Especially that Manila heat is proving to be unbearable for weeks now! Since we got Koomi we haven’t been able to go on staycations as much because it’s more expensive to bring a pet with us plus there’s not much options for pet-friendly hotels around. But most importantly, we just couldn’t find the budget anymore lol.

This trip was special for a lot of reasons, the most important one being it’s our first time to bring a car (at least for me this was a milestone). It was my longest drive ever at 264kms! I only drove on the way to Baguio and my husband drove around the area and back to Manila. We have always commuted by bus going up but since we have a dog it’s difficult to use public transpo and get around on taxis.

We were hesitant to bring our 8-year Toyota Vios because we think it’s too old. It’s a matic car with a decent 1.3L engine with manual modes so the only issue really is with the driver (me) lol. But after asking a car group about tips on driving up to baguio with the car that we have, I gained confidence and became pretty excited about the trip!

Turns out it was a great ride. 3hrs out of the 4.5hrs we were on the road were spent on the expressway which was mostly smooth. After exiting TPLEX, we gassed (??) up and stretched a bit at Shell TPLEX Rosario before starting the ascent. Our full-tank was halved by the time we had to climb.

We checked-in at an Airbnb at Bristle Ridge Condo. It’s a DMCI property and it’s pet-friendly! It’s almost like we didn’t leave home cos the amenities look the same except it’s 10deg cooler lol. We were fantasizing about this before, teleporting our unit to different places so we didn’t have to travel and nest haha. How I’d love for that to be a reality lol.

Anyway, I’ll start making lists now hehe

The route

Pretty straightforward coming from Metro Manila.

ESDA -> NLEX -> SCTEX -> TPLEX -> Marcos Highway -> Baguio!

Between Marcos Highway and Kennon Road, the former is what everyone suggested we take because Kennon is usually closed and open only to locals, and when it rains it’s more dangerous.

They say Marcos Highway has wider roads because it’s what trucks and buses use. You’ll be sharing the road with them so there could be a slow down in some parts. But I realized after driving up that trucks are usually very kind to private vehicles, they would give way and give you a hand signal when it’s safe to pass them. The buses are more aggressive so be careful around them!

We left home 9:30AM and arrive 2:30PM. So that’s 5hrs with one stop, following the speed limit ah!

Gas | ~₱4,500

Initial full tank – ~₱2,000

Consumed half a tank traversing the expressways.

Top-up at Shell Rosario TPLEX – ~₱1,200 (half-tank)

Consumed another half-tank going around Baguio

Top-up heading back to Manila at Shell Rosario TPLEX – ~₱1,300 (half-tank)

When we got home we still have around half-tank left so our actual consumption is really just 1.5 full tanks for the whole trip.

Toll fees | ~₱1,200

To be safe, load up your Easytrip (for NLEX and SCTEX) with ₱700 and your Autosweep (for TPLEX) with ₱500. That 1,200 is enough for going back and forth Metro Manila.

Airbnb | ~₱17,500

We stayed here for 5 nights and it was great ♥

We’re a party of 2 adults plus Koomi our dog and we paid around 3.5k/night.

Koomi loved running around the roof deck ♥.

All the pet-friendly places and restaurants we visited

• Lime and Basil Thai Restaurant
• Located at Outlook Ridge Condo (another DMCI property hehe
• Spent ~₱2,000 here

• SM Baguio
• You can hang-out by the stairs at the sunset terrace
• Most restaurants have outdoor seats where pets are allowed
• Buffalo Wings and Things – spent ₱500 for merienda
• Chaya Japanese Restaurant – spent ~₱3,300 for dinner

• Lemon and Olives Greek Taverna
• Love the view here! And the laaamb dishes ♥
• Spent around ~₱2,800 for lunch

• Mines View Park for souvenirs
• Entrance is ₱10/adult, dogs are free
• Careful of one of the St. Bernards cos one is agressive towards dogs. Honestly though, nakaka-awa sila tingnan. They’re not fun to pet. And we feel like the “agressive” one was actually barking at other dogs for help huhu.
• Spent around ₱4,300 for pasalubong (strawberries, ube jam, shirts, and music boxes) because everything is overpriced here haha.
• Strawberries are small during this season, according to the ates they’re normally big during December to March. Still sweet though!
• Good Shepherd Ube Jams are sold out easily in the morning because the vendors hoard them and sell them with a huge margin sa baba. Unfortunately we’re not morning people so 450/jar na yung nabili namin nung hapon. Original price is 350/jar.

• Choco-Late de Batirol
• Had a lovely lunch here!
• Spent ~₱1,300

• Camp John Hay Picnic Area
• Loved walking around here! Lots of dogs too! Most people bring picnic stuff cos the tables in the park are not free and you’re not allowed to sit on the stumps. There are some wooden benches though. 🙂
• Parking is available but they’re mostly parallel slots

• Mangiamo Ristorante Baguio
• One of our favorite Italian restaurants!
• It’s at Giraffe Boutique Hotel which is also pet-friendly
• Spent ~₱2,000 for dinner

• Lola Joe’s Bulalohan and Kambingan
• It’s one of the restaurants at Mine’s View na may Kambingan so we ate here!
• The adobong kambing was so good!
• Spend ~₱680 for lunch
  

Grand total – ~₱43,000 for 5 nights

I think it’s not bad for 5 nights considering we ate out a lot?! I already included the grocery items I bought in preparation for this trip. You know… chips, eggs, bread, some canned goods, snacks, rice, coffee, etc hehe. That’s maybe around ₱2,000.

Hopefully we could stay longer the next time around cos I swear sobrang bitin pa kami ang init sa Manilaaaaa!!!! I wanna go to other parks and Baguio market too!