On the 21st of June, most countries, including the Philippines, will celebrate Father's day-- the day for the best dads. I'm pondering on the possible gift I can give to my father. Fortunately, pcmag.com's newsletter came at the right time. They did not only give me gift ideas but they also left me wondering how to get hold of the products they presented, considering my tight budget.



First gift idea for father's day they suggested: Toshiba 22AV500U LCD TV

Pros:
-Full-featured HDTV for small space.
- Can be used as computer monitor.
- Toshiba is a trusted brand.

Cons:
- Expensive

Price: PHP 20,000+ ($425+)




The next product they recommended: 120GB Microsoft Zune MP3 player

Pros:
-Friendly interface.
-Audio/Video podcast support.
-Built-in composite-video output.

Cons:
-Expensive.

Price: PHP10,000 ($212+)

Nowadays, it's hard to trust product reviews written and published on the Internet. Some of them are compensation-based; others are unbiased reviews.

Yesterday, I was searching for unbiased reviews about a certain product. Unfortunately, 8 out of 10 sites I visited were affiliated reviews or biased reviews. Although they've written their pros and cons, it is still obvious they are luring potential buyers to click on the link.

So, how did I know that the product review I was reading was a compensation-based review? Simple. By hovering over the link, I saw a long string of codes at the status bar.

Biased Review: www.justanexample.com/b=affiliatelinkid=3825
Unbiased Review: www.justanexample.com/index.php


Simply put, an affiliate link will always have an "id" included in the string of codes.

Or I can go to sites like amazon.com and read submitted reviews by the actual users (some customer ratings are harsh and sarcastic).

FYI: From now on, no more sponsored posts on this site. :)

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Prague

Davao City, Philippines-- For my father's hospital stay, we chose Brokenshire Hospital because it has its own dialysis center, unlike Davao Medical School Foundation (DMSFH) where we needed to book for dialysis session outside DMSFH. However, Brokenshire doesn’t have medical/surgical instruments for TURP (Trans-Urethral Resection of the Prostate). The said instruments are only available at DMSFH, Davao Doctors Hospital (DDH) and San Pedro Hospital (SPH). Hence, my father's urologist had to borrow TURP instruments from a certain hospital.

Why didn’t we choose DDH or SPH?

First of all DDH is very expensive. After all, it's the leading hospital here in Davao and has state-of-the-art technology. My father stayed there two years ago and we had a hard time while staying there because "every move that we made was placed into our bill," if you know what I mean.

SPH, on the other hand, has "overcharging issue," according to my sister's friends.

How about DMC?

Nah. It's cheaper but…

Brokenshire Vs DMSFH

I didn’t join the entourage during my father's first day of admission. But when I visited him, I prefer DMSFH than Brokenshire.

Private Room:

Brokenshire doesn’t have fridge and water dispenser inside the room. The bathroom was not to my liking but bearable. The second room was okay because it has "watcher's bed."

In the Philippines, almost all patients have a "watcher" during their stay in the hospital. Watcher's duty is to take care of the patient's needs, like assist him or her when he or she wants to go to the bathroom, help him or her while eating, et cetera. Unlike in the U.S. where nurse-to-patient ratio is 1:1, most of the pearl of the orient's hospitals (Philippine hospitals) failed to provide adequate number of nurses on duty, so they have 1:5-10 ratio.

In general, DMSF's room is cleaner (but without watcher's bed) than Brokenshire.

Nurses on Duty:

They both have friendly and competent nurses. That's why Filipino nurses are in-demand abroad.

Free WiFi:

DMSFH has rooms with free WiFi (only those located at the ground floor). Brokenshire doesn’t have any.

Coffee Corner:

Brokenshire has its own coffee shop, while DMSFH has Coffee Dream (open until 5pm). Both of them are expensive (lol).

Accessibility and Parking Space:

They are both accessible but DMSFH has better parking space.

Whew! It seems like DMSFH is winning the battle, huh? But no…

Hospital Bill:

With the same or almost the same number of days, Brokenshire is cheaper. For instance, we paid PHP xx,xxx at Brokenshire while DMSFH has additional x in it. Go figure.

Davao City, Philippines-- I saw him going inside, running outside, and outsmarting everyone, including his mother, whom he thought she died of a certain illness. I expected a happy ending but I never thought it would end up that way of the last and final season of Prison Break.

I enjoyed every episode of Prison Break. It's not about Michael Scofield but it's all about Wentworth Miller. Although some scenes were unbelievable, that he can always outwit everyone, but Prison Break per se never failed to impress me.

Scylla
Generally, the last and final season of Prison Break focused on the thing called Scylla. What is Scylla? In Greek mythology, she's the princess of Migara, according to Wikipedia. But Scylla in Prison Break is an electronic device which contains pertinent information about The Company's way of retrieving the Sun Energy for whatever purpose it might bring. It would make The Company (the company who brought Lincoln Burrows to prison or generally, the same company who made Prison Break interesting and intriguing) as the most powerful group who can control the entire world.

The last and final few episodes of Prison Break were absorbing and thought-provoking that it made me want to stop doing certain responsibilities, so I could continue watching Prison Break up to the last episode.

Some Twists
The appearance of Michael's mom, Christina Scofield, added more spice to the already delicious and well-cooked TV show (except for some faulty editing). Plus, the other characters made a comeback, not to add another burden to Michael but to redeem their shortcomings, such as Paul Kellerman and C-Note. And then of course, the pregnant Sara Tancredi (who looks like Bianca Araneta, don't you think?). In addition to the exciting news about Sara's pregnancy, the revelation about the two brothers created more buzz to my ears. Why do you think Michael has green eyes while Lincoln has blue eyes? How about their IQs? Their different temperaments? These are just among the other things you should look forward to on the last and final episodes of Prison Break.

Advantages and Disadvantages
Undoubtedly, this TV show produced a different genre to the followers. However, there can be a lot of disadvantages while watching Prison Break. Apart from the moral lessons it brought to its audience, you'd surely be hooked on it and never want to take your eyes off Michael Scofield/Wentworth Miller.


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