Eversince Baby Rorie was born, I saw in her something that really makes me proud. She has this spunk, and brainy-ness that all parents would want to see from their children. And my Baby Rorie Kyne is simply exceptional.

Rorie Kyne is almost 2 years old now yet unlike other children her age, she can enunciate and pronounce the alphabet quite clearly. Her favorite every morning will be to watch her Kiddie Songs DVD complete with the Alphabet song and other songs which she would gleefully do a sing-and-dance rendition. Even the TV commercials that feature kid actors are no exception. She would also sing-along to the tunes of these erstwhile common melodies. These, she does at the early age of 2.

Out of playful boredom, my wife snapped some pictures of Rorie lazing away in our family computing area. And what did my wife get? Look below. Even I was amazed at the pictures! It’s as if she’s reading the book and really understanding what’s inside! It really made me laugh when I first saw the pictures and quite proud to see that at an early age, my baby’s getting tech savvy.

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Do you happen to experience the following scenario?

1. A relative comes over from some home town of which you obviously are not familiar about. This relative is only known to either your father or your mother and the last time they’ve seen that relative was on their wedding day.

2. This relative did not bring any personal hygiene implements (toothbrush and stuff..) and expects to borrow something from you or from your siblings.

3. This relative is so eager about anything that he/she sees on TV. With the relative around, he/she would end up hogging the TV because he/she is watching his/her favorite show and you cannot switch to your favorite channel to watch your favorite show because your parents are giving you the “eye contact” that somehow tell you not to do anything lest you disappoint the visitor.

4. This relative would, early in the morning, use the bathroom ahead of you, use your soap and bathe for almost an hour while you have to wait till he/she finishes and looking at the clock, you estimate that by the time you finish bathing and having breakfast, you’ll be late.

5. After the relative has taken a bath and you get your turn, you discover that the relative used the toilet and did not bother to flush it. The relative also left an almost flooded bathroom floor because he/she plugged the floor drain. You also discover his/her personal undies and clothing scattered all over the bathroom and your extra towel that you normally use for drying your hair was used by the relative to wipe his feet before getting out of the bathroom.

6. The relative loves to sit beside you at the dinner table and would talk about all sorts of things while his mouth is full and will beat you at snatching that last piece of hotdog or fried fish with a fork.

7. You had to share your room with the relative because your guest room was not cleaned and is full of stuff stashed away and you have to endure an entire night of sleeplessness because the relative snores like an Semi trailer truck.

How I will deal with this difficult relative

1. I will welcome the relative. Though I do not know that relative, I will welcome him still and try my best to start a conversation.

2. I will let him borrow clothing only. And I will only let him use my clothes that I rarely use and are also comfortable. I will definitely not let him borrow my toothbrush, deodorant, hair brush, or anything _deeply_ personal.

3. If I want to switch to another channel while the relative is eagerly watching his favorite show, I will perform a distraction technique. While the show is on, I will engage in a conversation with him about the show he is watching. And since I am not an avid viewer of the show, I will ask him to tell me the background story. That will engage him into story-telling mode and he will not be able to concentrate on his watching. Then when the TV is on commercial/advertisement, I will ask him to transfer to my favorite channel _just to check_ what show is on. As soon as the switch is made and my favorite show is already on, I will engage in a story-telling mode about MY favorite show. I will then talk about some of the characters in the show and explain what is happening, building his interest. This will make the relative curious and will follow the show through along with me.

4. I will talk about my daily routines and schedule. And I will also talk about my current work and responsibilities just to give the relative an idea of what I do everyday. I will also talk about my boss and what I am subjected to while at work. I will then steer the conversation so that I can give the relative the idea that I will need to go first in using the bathroom in the morning.

5. Before I retire for the day, I will make sure that I have given the relative a tour of the house. And most importantly, I will show him our spiffy bathroom and talk to him about the features and so on. I will also show him how the washing machine works and where we will be putting our laundry. I will also tell him of the extra basket we use for our laundry and he can use it for his own. That will give him the impression that he has to use the laundry basket too. I will also inform him that the towels that we have in the bathroom are all body towels and not foot towels. I will also show him the bathroom drain giving him a trivia about how it works and why it is there and how we clean it up.

6. I will get hotdogs or fried fish first then urge him to get his share of hotdogs and fish. At least I already got all my share. I will then also tell a story about a friend (fictitious) who was eating at a school cafeteria and was talking to friends when she choked and had to be taken to the hospital. That will take care of him talking while the mouth is full.

7. I will inform the relative that I will be needing a longer sleep time because I will be very early for work the next day. I will also talk about some friends (fictitious) who were having some problems with snoring. I will then ask the relative if he has the same snoring problem then share with him the snoring solutions that my friends told me. This will make the relative to be considerate and will offer to sleep on the couch in the living room to let me sleep in relative peace and quiet.

To summarize…

It is never a good idea to snub a relative or somebody who’s visiting your house. In whatever you do, even if you dislike that relative, it is still a big mistake to be doing a hostile confrontation simply because he’s doing what you think are stupid things. Who knows, perhaps thats how they do things in their town. Instead of having a confrontation, it is best to approach the relative in a calm, polite and respectful manner. It will also be better if you impose what you want to the the relative through fictional stories and some thought-provoking stories then hope that the relative gets the idea.

I know how hard it is to deal with difficult relatives. However, chances are they are just accustomed to it at home and that’s how they do things. Regardless of how despicable a relative is, they still deserve respect and approach them about anything in a respectable manner.

Respect is easily given to someone who knows how to.

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I haven’t found enough time recently to update this blog. For one, my father died last August 25 due to Pneumonia caused by Streptococcus Pneumoniae (Pneumococcal Pneumonia). This bacteria is somewhat resistant to antibiotics. Add to that, my father has survived 2 mild strokes, and high blood sugar content (but not diabetec before the onset of pneumonia). Actually, his health deteriorated rapidly after his second stroke. Despite his dieting, his blood sugar is still high regardless of the medicines he took. As a final blow, streptococcus pneumoniae, which is a bacteria that is present in all humans on the upper respiratory areas (nostrils, trachea, etc..) somehow managed to infect the lower lung areas. This complicated things, along with that, he contracted full blown diabetes, dunno which type. Doctors did their best, however, at 11:30PM August 25, barely a day on his being admitted to the hospital (he was admitted 12am August 25), he died. The family’s still trying to recuperate from the loss of my father, although we are already back at work…

As for our project in General Santos, the proof-of-concept is already done. The client is looking to purchasing some licenses, and everything is good.

Regarding this blog, I’m transferring over to a new space, hosted by ifastnet.com. They have 2.5 Gb space, 30 Gb bandwidth, plus lots of scripts and tools via Zantastico. I get to have my own hosted blog with total control (wordpress), cms (joomla/mambo/xoops/etc..), and some domain and mail tools via cpanel. Comparing this blog to that service, it’s way very flexible than Blogsome. However, I’ll try to port any article I can from here to there and hope the porting will be seamless.

I won’t be taking this place down. As long as Blogsome will continue to host this, Baudizm will still be here. However, most updates will go to my new site. You can see it at http://bit.ifastnet.com/

See you there!

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