Yarnplosion!

(Late post is soooo late.)

I admit it - I have next to none self-control when yarns are up for grabs. =_= I also go on zombie buying spree, wherein I buy yarns and forget about them. How is that possible, you ask.

Try having only three working brain cells.

Anyway! On to the point of this post.

Last year, I ordered a bunch of Caron yarns from Yarnspirations (also weak to online discounts). After half a year of waiting, they finally arrived! (Why so long? It involves me being a cheap ass about shipping and putting my friend's relatives up to a great deal of hassle. I'm in their debt, yo.) My friend V brought it to the office in a sack, that was how bulky they were.

Caron Yarns

 The same week, I ordered from Crocheted by Carisse (the yarns I used for Crochet or Die! 2). I haven't tried their yarns before so I decided it was time. About the same time, Ashley's Crochet also opened their monthly yarn sale; I was eyeing a particular yarn gradient for Baba's set so even though I was supposed to be on yarn ban, I went ahead and played the mine game. In excess.

Yarns by Crocheted by Carisse

A few days after I received my yarns from Crocheted by Carisse, Ashley's Crochet notified me that my package has been shipped. So when I got home and they said I had a package, I excitedly opened it and was immediately bewildered when they weren't the yarns I was expecting.

Sugar Free Yarns

Whose yarns were those? Were they mistakenly sent to me? Did I perhaps win a yarn raffle without entering one? (LOL).

Once I was past my initial waaahwaaahwaaah stage, it was time for logic! Those were Sugar Free yarns. Huh. I checked Sugar Free's group and the last yarns I remembered ordering were not those. I set the mystery aside and ate.

As I was checking my email connected to my bank account, I noticed that I paid Sugar Free a few days earlier. And theeeen it hit me that I did order from before I ordered from Carisse.

Crochet or Die: A Challenge

What, you ask, is Crochet or Die?

It's a challenge I created to, well, challenge myself outside of my comfort crochet zone and force myself to try out something new. There are no hard and fast rules, just that the project should be challenging.

My second Crochet or Die challenge! But where is the first one? It's Pumpkin-pats' graduation dress, which I shelved for now.


I'll talk about the graduation dress on another post, but its challenges have to do with creating a dress without a pattern/designing a custom dress, using Irish crochet technique.

For this project, I'll be using a pattern from Keito Dama 137, the dress on page 9. The challenges entail:

1. Interpreting a Japanese pattern - from what I've seen around, Japanese patterns are dependent on diagrams/charts (yay!) using international standard for the symbols (double yay! Unlike Russian charts T_T); so it's not so much as learning a new technique or a new stitch as working blind on measurements, haha.

2. Get the entire thing done within 10 days. This is, in Ms Venus Raj's infamous words, the major, major problem. I figured out the guide to the gauge, and some of the Japanese characters but I am  limited

• with the dress having to be a particular color (yellow - thank goodness I decided to try out a new-to-me yarn shop and ordered a set in this color just before learning that I need a dress in that color)
• being stuck with using only that yarn
• by not having hooks smaller than 2.5 mm

Instead of getting gauge, I have to get the right size by adding or subtracting pattern repeats. Not really a bad thing unless you gotta finish it in 10 days. I don't have the luxury of repeating from the start if it turns out I fudged the number of repeats so I only have one shot at this.

Guys, I am on day three and I still don't have the top finished! I am the world's slowest crocheter. T_T

FDA Philippines' eLTO Application: A Tutorial

Sooo. I was tasked to apply for LTO for the pharmacy we are opening (crossing my fingers!). Let me tell you right now, it was a stressful process (still is, actually), and I blame it on FDA's super outdated web site.

I am here to be your savior, and tell you the hows of the process, and save you most of the frustration of applying for a license to operate (LTO) a drugstore (and others, too) since the information isn't readily available.

First of all, a rant. I raise my middle finger to the people who are in charge of maintaining the site. They seem to have overlooked the pages for the new process of LTO application, which has been implemented back in 2016 (it's mid-2017, now, guys, please get your act together).

Second, I'm still not done with it, so this post is still a work in progress and will be updated accordingly.

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If you go search for LTO process in FDA's site, you will be directed to http://www.fda.gov.ph/industry-corner/downloadables/237-integrated-application-form-and-process.

WARNING: Do not follow this. Do not download the form.

Here's the actual process:

You will need to request for an account to access the FDA portal.

Prepare an authorization letter, have it notarized, scan (or take a really good picture of) it and convert it to PDF file, then attach it to the email you will be sending to pair@fda.gov.ph.

EMAIL SUBJECT: Request for eLTO User Account
BODY:
a. E-mail address (preferably company e-mail address) - I took this to mean as the e-mail being name@companyname.com but if your company doesn't have that, it's fine. I used the e-mail we made for our pharmacy in Gmail.
b. Name of the authorized company representative (preferably permanently employed and not merely a consultant) - it makes sense from a security standpoint
c. Position in the company
d. Contact Number
e. Company Name

The entire thing can be found here (just click the continue reading button), with a sample authorization letter you can use as a guide.

It says that turnaround time is within two days, and requests sent after 5 pm will be processed the next day. I sent mine past 5pm, and received the user details through e-mail before 9 am the next day. Fast!

Both username and password will be provided. The password will suck balls since it's a generated string of letters and numbers; I have not yet found out how to change it, if it can even be changed.

Next, go to https://www.fda.gov.ph and log in with the provided user name and password. Do it as soon as you receive it! I think it will expire after 24 hours. I did not risk knowing if this is true or not, haha, I logged in as soon as I got the email.

To start your application, click New Case, then License to Operate, which will activate Start Case button.

Voila! You can now start your application!

I'm sorry I don't have screenshots of all the steps after, but they're pretty self explanatory. If you're lacking in info, or do not have the necessary documents, just pause your case and continue the next day (or just logout if you don't want to pause, lol).

Be prepared with these documents for a drugstore, in PDF format, not exceeding 2 MB each (to be safe, I made sure the total for all my files were less than 2 MB):

- for single proprietorship, I think you'll need a scan of DTI license; for companies, your SEC registration

- AO 34 certificate of your pharmacist (since I don't have it, I used the e-mail sent by FDA Academy telling me I'm wait-listed for the seminar; I'm hoping that they'll accept it)

- pharmacist's PRC license

Upload your requirements and you're finished. You'll need to print the Order of Payment file. If, like me, you did not print it right away, you can still get it after. Just click on Participated link on the side, double-click on your case, then click Information, choose Generated Documents. Click the box beside Order of Payment, then you can download the PDF file.

They say you can pay online via BancNet. I couldn't find out how, and my bank wasn't on the list that can be enrolled there, so I paid through Landbank.

I don't know if it's the same for all Landbank branches, but here's how mine went:

The guard outside will give you 3 or 4 copies of the payment form, which you will fill out one by one (none of those carbon copy forms huhu). The account number for FDA drugs was provided there on the tables where you fill out the forms. If in doubt, ask the guards there, haha. You will need the account code provided on the Order of Payment file, and your company name as reference.

Submit the payment form together with the Order of Payment copy and pay the amount stated there PLUS Php 40.00.

Just think, you can actually get everything done in one day, from filling out the online application to payment!

Two weeks after payment, I got an email notice that payment has been verified and that my application is now for evaluation. I checked online, and the task has been updated from Payment to LTO Evaluation.