Yep, I've been busy the last few weeks and, as I said in my last post, time just flew by so swiftly. I didn't even realize that Christmas is just a few hours from now.
I just got a breather now until tomorrow then it's back to the grind again. I'll try my best to update my posts as soon as I can.
Anyway, from all of us here in our flat in Singapore, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Monday, December 24, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
And the week flies by
I've been so busy , I didn't realize it's been almost a week since I last blogged here. I guess time flies when you're having fun but time flies much faster when you're working hard and under pressure.
Geez, and just like that, the half of the day is over and I'm still knee-deep with undone tasks. Oh well, better get back to work.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Friday Nightout!
After a busy week for both us, Che and I went to Orchard Road just to walk, relax, and give our new digicam a workout! :))
Here are some of the pictures we've taken while strolling down the ever-famous Orchard Road
The light arch along Orchard Road taken while crossing the street.
Taken along the Orchard Road sidewalk...
Dangling Christmas lights from the humongous trees
The Forum mall. Nice entrance!
Standing in front of the Hilton Hotel... Is someone behind me???
Che in front of a Merry Go Round contraption of some sort... :)
Hey! What's that across the street??? It's M&M!!!
Me and the Red M&M
Che and the Red M&M
That's it for this part of the nightout. Check the next post for our dinner! :)
Here are some of the pictures we've taken while strolling down the ever-famous Orchard Road
The light arch along Orchard Road taken while crossing the street.
Taken along the Orchard Road sidewalk...
Dangling Christmas lights from the humongous trees
The Forum mall. Nice entrance!
Standing in front of the Hilton Hotel... Is someone behind me???
Che in front of a Merry Go Round contraption of some sort... :)
Hey! What's that across the street??? It's M&M!!!
Me and the Red M&M
Che and the Red M&M
That's it for this part of the nightout. Check the next post for our dinner! :)
Dinner at NYdC Wheelock
Our Friday nightout would not be complete without dinner! We went to Wheelock, one of the malls here and whoa, did we have a feast! We ate at the NYDC and had one of the best tasting pizzas!
Here's what we had:
Iced Manhattan Mocha - (My drink) Smooth NYdC mahattan Mocha Coffee served chilled with a scoop of Double Chocolate Chip ice cream and whipped cream.
King Tut's Fav - (Che's drink) Classic NYdC cappuccino served chilled with a scoop of Macadamia Nut ice cream, hazelnut syrup and whipped cream.
Bratwurst Jamboree Pizza - Slices of premium German bratwurst sausage with garlic sauce, mushrooms, onions, and mozzarella.
Roasted Chicken Spaghetti - Slices of roasted chicken in spaghetti served with tomato sauce
You've got to try the Bratwurst Jamboree!!! We can't get anough of it! If only it was a lot cheaper, I would have bought another one to bring home! :)
That's me concentrating on the task at hand. Nothing else mattered. It's only me and the plate! hehehe
BTW, the ambiance is nice. It has that typical pizza parlour feel. The staff are nice and very attentive to us, despite the fact that the resto was fully loaded and there are tons more of people lined up outside. (If we had waited five minutes later, we would have been stuck on the line with those other guys!)
It's a must-try.
In case you're interested, here's the contact info:
NYdC Cafe Wheelock
#02-19, 501 Orchard Road
Tel: +65 6736 3253
Here's what we had:
Iced Manhattan Mocha - (My drink) Smooth NYdC mahattan Mocha Coffee served chilled with a scoop of Double Chocolate Chip ice cream and whipped cream.
King Tut's Fav - (Che's drink) Classic NYdC cappuccino served chilled with a scoop of Macadamia Nut ice cream, hazelnut syrup and whipped cream.
Bratwurst Jamboree Pizza - Slices of premium German bratwurst sausage with garlic sauce, mushrooms, onions, and mozzarella.
Roasted Chicken Spaghetti - Slices of roasted chicken in spaghetti served with tomato sauce
You've got to try the Bratwurst Jamboree!!! We can't get anough of it! If only it was a lot cheaper, I would have bought another one to bring home! :)
That's me concentrating on the task at hand. Nothing else mattered. It's only me and the plate! hehehe
BTW, the ambiance is nice. It has that typical pizza parlour feel. The staff are nice and very attentive to us, despite the fact that the resto was fully loaded and there are tons more of people lined up outside. (If we had waited five minutes later, we would have been stuck on the line with those other guys!)
It's a must-try.
In case you're interested, here's the contact info:
NYdC Cafe Wheelock
#02-19, 501 Orchard Road
Tel: +65 6736 3253
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Blog link updates
I just updated some of the links here in my blog. I added Photrade, del.icio.us, and a couple of Adsense. For some reason, our proxy server here is blocking Technorati. :(
I guess that's one other thing that I have to do when I get home. Aside from getting home as dry as possible (hard downpour as of this writing).
I guess that's one other thing that I have to do when I get home. Aside from getting home as dry as possible (hard downpour as of this writing).
Calm before the storm
Just found out that the reason I haven't received any network tasks since yesterday was because of the fact that the task "assigner" IS on leave since yesterday. He'll be back tomorrow, Thursday. So just how many tasks have been left hanging since Tuesday???
In addition, the big boss sent an email advising to "avoid and hold back any network configuration changes with immediate effect till Friday morning."
So let's see... One bloody network task on Monday, none for Tuesday until Thursday. That means whatever tasks have piled up between Tuesday and Thursday, I'll have to do on Friday!
Ah geez.. Looks like I'll be working hard for my money this Friday...
In addition, the big boss sent an email advising to "avoid and hold back any network configuration changes with immediate effect till Friday morning."
So let's see... One bloody network task on Monday, none for Tuesday until Thursday. That means whatever tasks have piled up between Tuesday and Thursday, I'll have to do on Friday!
Ah geez.. Looks like I'll be working hard for my money this Friday...
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
The Sitex Aftermath
We went to the Singapore Expo last Saturday and Sunday, going around checking for bargains and stuff at both the Sitex Expo and the John Little Sale Expo. We combed through both expos on both days, so you can imagine the pain I have on my two flat feet. :)
So let's see: Che and I have bought a turquoise Cybershot T2, and an HP Pavilion DV6500 Notebook.
We always wanted a digicam since we came here a few months back so I'm happy to see that she's enjoying taking pictures with the new digicam! :) We've been taking pictures of ourselves, our friends, different places in our neighborhood, even the big fat cats roaming around! (Literally, big cats almost twice as fat as the cats around our home in Sucat.) It's a given then that you can expect more pictures from our blogs.
If only we have more time to work on these pictures: I'm the network engineer on duty and Che will be deployed this month to the client site. It'll be challenging but we'll post as much pics as we can. :)
Now on call
Starting yesterday and for the rest of December, I'll be the duty network engineer, which means I'll take charge of all network-related problems and requested changes ( which for the most part, this involves opening of certain ports between VLANs). The emergency hotline was even forwarded to my cellphone.
Too bad for me, my first service request involves a very large project which requires configuration of several different switches. I just finished it today, sometime before lunch. It's currently being checked by the requester. I hope no further problems are encountered so I can close this one out.
Ah well... Here's to hoping for a month of lesser problems! Advanced Merry Christmas!
Friday, November 30, 2007
Nailed two tasks!
I've been busy for most of the week, having two emergency tasks hounding me for the last two days. Both are network down issues which rendered one classroom (yeah, some classrooms require networked PCs) and one notebook (NB) support center useless.
The classroom issue, after checking the Cat6500 switch module, was determined to be a hardware issue. It's actually easy, since I can't do much of anything here unless the replacement arrived - bad thing is, my team lead kept the pressure on, which is understandable, since all classes in that room for that day -- there were about 8 in all -- had to be rescheduled or lined up on the other working classrooms.
The NB support center issue was more troublesome for several reasons; perhaps the most significant being that these devices can only be accessed via console. No remote access, so I had to go down one floor, move around the tables to open the backside (lol!) of the wiring cabinet, attach the console cable. Someone apparently has messed up the configs since none of the supposed username/passwords worked.
By the afternoon, things started to swing in my favor again; I managed to recover the password and fix the config (by copying over the config of the twin device, which I had to recover the password manually as well). Shortly after that, the replacement module for the classroom issue arrived as well. After about 30 minutes waiting for the vendor technician to remove and replace the module and all the attached ports, problem solved!
Although I still have two outstanding tasks, it's a good feeling, having accomplished something after a stessful week. It's been a while since I last had this great sense of achievement since my last job. I just hope I fare much much better once I'm the duty Network Engineer this Monday. Ach!
The classroom issue, after checking the Cat6500 switch module, was determined to be a hardware issue. It's actually easy, since I can't do much of anything here unless the replacement arrived - bad thing is, my team lead kept the pressure on, which is understandable, since all classes in that room for that day -- there were about 8 in all -- had to be rescheduled or lined up on the other working classrooms.
The NB support center issue was more troublesome for several reasons; perhaps the most significant being that these devices can only be accessed via console. No remote access, so I had to go down one floor, move around the tables to open the backside (lol!) of the wiring cabinet, attach the console cable. Someone apparently has messed up the configs since none of the supposed username/passwords worked.
By the afternoon, things started to swing in my favor again; I managed to recover the password and fix the config (by copying over the config of the twin device, which I had to recover the password manually as well). Shortly after that, the replacement module for the classroom issue arrived as well. After about 30 minutes waiting for the vendor technician to remove and replace the module and all the attached ports, problem solved!
Although I still have two outstanding tasks, it's a good feeling, having accomplished something after a stessful week. It's been a while since I last had this great sense of achievement since my last job. I just hope I fare much much better once I'm the duty Network Engineer this Monday. Ach!
Friday, November 23, 2007
Nostalgic about Manila
Just combing through net (and the links from my wife's blog) when I came across this blog about the way Manila used to be in the 80s and 70s.
Nice posts! Makes me miss the good ol' days in Manila! :) Can't wait to get back home hopefully this February... (Still a long way to go, but, well, not much choice in the matter...)
Nice posts! Makes me miss the good ol' days in Manila! :) Can't wait to get back home hopefully this February... (Still a long way to go, but, well, not much choice in the matter...)
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Ready for the EXPO!
Citibank has approved my very first credit card! Well, actually, my first credit cardSSSS. :) Citibank -- at least here in Singapore -- offers a bundle of any three Citibank credit cards. You need to stick to just one or two, you have to manually cancel the others that you don't want to retain.
I just applied for it yesterday around 6:00 PM. Today at around 4:15PM, I got a call that my application has been approved. I'm really new to this so I'm not sure if this quick approval is the norm or they are just really that fast. I'm not really keen on having credit cards as I may be tempted to swipe and shop away! :) Aside from the obvious convenience, I'm looking forward to..... (drum roll please...)
SITEX 2007!!!
29 Nov - 2 Dec 2007
11AM to 9PM
FREE ADMISSION
I'm looking forward to get the best deals on laptops, gadgets, cameras, or whatever else I can find there! :)
Check out their official site here.
In case you're here in Singapore during that time, see you there! :)
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Changing UNIX host IP address
Recently, our DHCP server had an issue which prevented several computers on 3 computer laboratories from getting any ip address. The lab head, deeming that it is more important to have the hosts access the network now (it was for an exam) instead of troubleshooting further, decided to configure static IP addresses to each of the 40+ PCs across 3 computer labs.
Bad thing is that these are Linux boxes, which I'm not familiar with (hey, I'm used to ipconfig not ifconfig lol). Just for better retention on my part, here are the commands for manipulating network configuration of Linux boxes:
ifconfig eth0 10.10.10.75
route add default gw 10.10.10.1 dev eth0
route del -net 10.10.0.0 gw 0.0.0.0 netmask 255.255.0.0 dev eth0
I just hope I remember these commands by heart by now :))
Bad thing is that these are Linux boxes, which I'm not familiar with (hey, I'm used to ipconfig not ifconfig lol). Just for better retention on my part, here are the commands for manipulating network configuration of Linux boxes:
ifconfig eth0 10.10.10.75
route add default gw 10.10.10.1 dev eth0
route del -net 10.10.0.0 gw 0.0.0.0 netmask 255.255.0.0 dev eth0
I just hope I remember these commands by heart by now :))
About SecureCRT...
I've been working as tech support engineer for almost five years and I've used many Telnet/SSH client applications. So far, the best that I've used is the SecureCRT by VanDyke Software.
You can get more information on this software from the VanDyke Software page.
One of its features that I really like, in particular, is the option to log your session to a text file (similar to the Capture Text option in Hyperterminal, bundled in most Microsoft Windows applications). As tech support/network engineer, it is imperative that you log all sessions for future reference and proper documentation. This seems to be a basic requirement but unfortunately not all client applications are able to do this. Or at least not with the same ease that SecureCRT provides.
Plus, with all the rage about tabbed browsing ("rage", yeah right! lol), SecureCRT provides tabbed sessions. For network engineers in particular, if the issue is involves two devices (such asconfiguring a Site-to-Site VPN tunnel), it is almost always necessary to access both devices.
Just a note: the above features are not necessary; you don't need them to do your work, but it just makes your job a lot easier and simpler. No further need to click and drag to capture the text. No more need to Alt-TAB between multiple applications already running on your desktop.
Those are the good sides. Now the bad side: it's not free. :( You have to pay for it. In my previous company, we have this installed. In my new company, however, we're stuck with the basic Putty. It's not an easy job and not having SecureCRT just made it worse. I just hope my new company gets this software soon.
You can get more information on this software from the VanDyke Software page.
One of its features that I really like, in particular, is the option to log your session to a text file (similar to the Capture Text option in Hyperterminal, bundled in most Microsoft Windows applications). As tech support/network engineer, it is imperative that you log all sessions for future reference and proper documentation. This seems to be a basic requirement but unfortunately not all client applications are able to do this. Or at least not with the same ease that SecureCRT provides.
Plus, with all the rage about tabbed browsing ("rage", yeah right! lol), SecureCRT provides tabbed sessions. For network engineers in particular, if the issue is involves two devices (such asconfiguring a Site-to-Site VPN tunnel), it is almost always necessary to access both devices.
Just a note: the above features are not necessary; you don't need them to do your work, but it just makes your job a lot easier and simpler. No further need to click and drag to capture the text. No more need to Alt-TAB between multiple applications already running on your desktop.
Those are the good sides. Now the bad side: it's not free. :( You have to pay for it. In my previous company, we have this installed. In my new company, however, we're stuck with the basic Putty. It's not an easy job and not having SecureCRT just made it worse. I just hope my new company gets this software soon.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Che's got work!
Before I forget, congratulations to my wife, Che, for landing a great job! Great pay, near our place (one station away + one bus ride), travel opportunities! Here's to hoping for more opportunities and good fortune!
Cheers!
Cheers!
Anniversary Dinner at Marché
Yesterday, November 19th, is our First Wedding Anniversary! We still couldn't believe that it was already a year since then. Oh well, time flies. Anyway, since I could not take my leave yet since I'm barely a month in my work, we had to settle for "after-office-hours" activities. So that, of course, includes dinner!
We went to VivoCity (via the HarbourFront MRT station) and had dinner at Marché. (Just go to the link for more details.) Their 200lb sirloin steak was great! I haven't tasted one for... hmm.. come to think of it, it has been years since I tasted one. Hehe!.. Anyway, moving on...
In Marché, they use the so-called "front cooking" concept - your given a "market-credit card", you go around the "marketplace", look around the different "stalls" (i.e., Salad, Bakery, Pasta, Grill, Steak, Vegetables, etc.), then get whatever food you like. Every time you do so, you will be charged on your "market-credit card" -- this card records all your purchases in the "marketplace", which you will pay up at the counter in the exit.
Like I said, the steak was great! And so was the price! :) 200lbs of pure sirloin meat.. yum! One of the best sellers also are the (pork or chicken) franks, since almost every other table has one. We didn't order one, though, so we don't know exactly how it tastes. We also like the calamari! One of the best calamari I've tasted, you can even eat it without the mayo (or at least I thought it was mayo). The paella looks tasty too, but we already had our fill, so we haven't actually tasted it yet. We also tried the herbed chicken pasta with cream sauce - a little bit sweet and spicy. Yum!
The cream of mushroom was a bit different from the cream of mushrooms that we're used to. Not sure if it's the mushroom itself or whatever. It's not really that bad, it just tasted different.
Unfortunately, there were downsides as well... Be careful with the garlic breads there... they're a bit tough to bite through - we hurt our jaws trying to eat one. The banana crêpe was also a downer -- perhaps the pan had too much heat or maybe just a lousy rotten luck, the crêpe itself was too thick, almost like a pancake, and had that "chewable" quality of a bubble gum. We ended up eating just the banana and the almonds and choco bits on the side.
Well, aside from those, it is a great dining experience. We probably won't try their garlic bread or crêpes anytime soon but the dishes we tried are great and the others look promising as well. Maybe next time, we'll try the seafood paella. :)
In case you're interested:
We went to VivoCity (via the HarbourFront MRT station) and had dinner at Marché. (Just go to the link for more details.) Their 200lb sirloin steak was great! I haven't tasted one for... hmm.. come to think of it, it has been years since I tasted one. Hehe!.. Anyway, moving on...
In Marché, they use the so-called "front cooking" concept - your given a "market-credit card", you go around the "marketplace", look around the different "stalls" (i.e., Salad, Bakery, Pasta, Grill, Steak, Vegetables, etc.), then get whatever food you like. Every time you do so, you will be charged on your "market-credit card" -- this card records all your purchases in the "marketplace", which you will pay up at the counter in the exit.
Like I said, the steak was great! And so was the price! :) 200lbs of pure sirloin meat.. yum! One of the best sellers also are the (pork or chicken) franks, since almost every other table has one. We didn't order one, though, so we don't know exactly how it tastes. We also like the calamari! One of the best calamari I've tasted, you can even eat it without the mayo (or at least I thought it was mayo). The paella looks tasty too, but we already had our fill, so we haven't actually tasted it yet. We also tried the herbed chicken pasta with cream sauce - a little bit sweet and spicy. Yum!
The cream of mushroom was a bit different from the cream of mushrooms that we're used to. Not sure if it's the mushroom itself or whatever. It's not really that bad, it just tasted different.
Unfortunately, there were downsides as well... Be careful with the garlic breads there... they're a bit tough to bite through - we hurt our jaws trying to eat one. The banana crêpe was also a downer -- perhaps the pan had too much heat or maybe just a lousy rotten luck, the crêpe itself was too thick, almost like a pancake, and had that "chewable" quality of a bubble gum. We ended up eating just the banana and the almonds and choco bits on the side.
Well, aside from those, it is a great dining experience. We probably won't try their garlic bread or crêpes anytime soon but the dishes we tried are great and the others look promising as well. Maybe next time, we'll try the seafood paella. :)
In case you're interested:
Marché VivoCity
#03-14 VivoCity
1 HarbourFront Walk
Singapore 098585
Tel: (+65) 6376 8226
More of our mis-adventures during our first anniversary here.
#03-14 VivoCity
1 HarbourFront Walk
Singapore 098585
Tel: (+65) 6376 8226
More of our mis-adventures during our first anniversary here.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Astonishing X-Men 23: Bravo!
Before we continue, SPOILER WARNING! (I won't actually tell you how it went down, but just as well, since I've included the last scene of the issue, if you don't wanna see it yet, stop reading now.)
Just read the latest Astonishing X-Men issue, #23! And it's a "wow" issue, although I was left hanging and I can't wait for the next issue!
Finally, Cyclops is given the spotlight that he deserves. Move over Logan, it's Cyke's time to shine! Hehehe... Having apparentlylost his mutant power, this issue highlights the tactics and foresight of Cyclops -- which, in the words of Wolverine himself, reminds us why he's "been leader of the X-Men for so long" (Astonishing X-Men vol 3 #8).
Basically, he plays the "gambit" (no pun intended), setting the stage to sacrifice himself and to be captured by his enemies. Then just as he appears to be helpless, he blasts the living daylights out of them. Looks like Cyclops no longer needs those visors to control his optic blasts.
Here's the last scene from this issue:
Nuff said!
Sandigan Bayan: Bombs Away... Again
This time, we know that this is not caused by a lame-ass gas leak!
Barely a month after the Glorietta 2 incident, this second blast kills at least four people, including the Basilan rep, Wahab Akbar, who as it turns out, was a former Abu Sayyaf member and was getting lots of death threats -- looks like they finally got him this time.
Here's PNP sketch of the scene. This was sent to me earlier:
So far, there are speculations that this is either a terrorist attack (intended to maximize the fatalities) or an assassination (with Akbar as a likely target). Whatever the case, it just shows how lax the security was in Sandigan Bayan.
Geez, I wish all the explosions would stop. I don't think anybody's in the mood for any Christmas shopping in light of the recent incidents the last two months. Oh well...
Careful guys...
Saturday, November 10, 2007
This Week's tidbits...
It's been a while since my last post.. It's 5:46 AM Saturday in Singapore and I haven't slept yet. I know I'm tired but somehow I can't sleep.
Since I'm still awake, I might as blog away about the past week...
Monday: First day of the second week of my job. Still haven't accomplished anything yet, nor was I trying! I'm still immersing myself in the environment and the people. I still get amazed with the technology here. [Example: Coke vending machines have site-to-site VPN!]
Tuesday: Borrowed some cash from Weng to open a new account for my salary. Thanks Weng! :) Since she's night shift and gets off at 7:00 AM, I had to drag myself up very early in the morning then go straight to the office. I opened the account early evening; thank goodness for the banks which are open until 7:00 PM! :) Opening the bank account took a while; the queue was long and the clerk had to fill up tons of forms to activate my account. It was worth the wait, though, since I immediately got my passbook and ATM card, which I can use right away. After that, Che and I had dinner at MOS Burger! Try the Terriyaki Chicken Burger!!! :)
Thursday: Deepavali is a legal/public holiday in Singapore, so no office!!! I have very little idea how the festivities look like; I woke up 1:00 PM! Hehehe :)) We also watched House Season 4 Episode 6 [Whatever it Takes] from sidereel.
...
...
...
Done.
Finished with the pictures. And it's now 6:43 AM. I better publish this now. :)
Since I'm still awake, I might as blog away about the past week...
Monday: First day of the second week of my job. Still haven't accomplished anything yet, nor was I trying! I'm still immersing myself in the environment and the people. I still get amazed with the technology here. [Example: Coke vending machines have site-to-site VPN!]
Tuesday: Borrowed some cash from Weng to open a new account for my salary. Thanks Weng! :) Since she's night shift and gets off at 7:00 AM, I had to drag myself up very early in the morning then go straight to the office. I opened the account early evening; thank goodness for the banks which are open until 7:00 PM! :) Opening the bank account took a while; the queue was long and the clerk had to fill up tons of forms to activate my account. It was worth the wait, though, since I immediately got my passbook and ATM card, which I can use right away. After that, Che and I had dinner at MOS Burger! Try the Terriyaki Chicken Burger!!! :)
Wednesday: Pretty much the same stuff. Get up, go to office, login before 8:00 AM, work (finally finished 1/6 of my first of 2 tasks), logoff at 5:31 PM; (yep, well I have, and always been, a 5:31r, 5:01r, or 4:31r, whatever is applicable). Oh yeah, I had to cover for the second half of our colleague as the Duty Network Engineer. He's Indian and he had taken a halfday leave for the Deepavali festival the following day. I also got to read the transcripts of House fom here.
Thursday: Deepavali is a legal/public holiday in Singapore, so no office!!! I have very little idea how the festivities look like; I woke up 1:00 PM! Hehehe :)) We also watched House Season 4 Episode 6 [Whatever it Takes] from sidereel.
Friday: Back to work. The only thing that sucks here is that this work day is sandwiched between two non-working days. Other than that, pretty much ok. I also got my first salary! It's just for three days but that should be enough to get us by for the next week at least. :) The soft token device for my bank account arrived today and I've just activated it. Niiiice... :) And I'm still awake. Just read about Spider-Man and New Avengers: Illuminati spoilers, verified that demonoid is down (perhaps for good), and I had found out that I have no entry for this blog for over a week. So here we are.
It's now 6:17 AM. Let me just upload the pictures...
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...
...
Done.
Finished with the pictures. And it's now 6:43 AM. I better publish this now. :)
Thursday, November 01, 2007
X-Men storylines update
I've been reading through the wikipedia and newsarama to see what's up with the Marvel Universe. The past few years have been centered more on the Avengers heroes -- the likes of Captain America (who died by the way), Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Wolverine -- well, Wolverine is a special case; he's soooo famous, he is part of Astonishing X-Men (Cyclops' team) and New Avengers, and appearing on numerous comics (New Avengers, Astonishing X-Men, Wolverine, and Wolverine Origins, plus tons of guest appearances in other comic series).
Minor spins to major plots
The point is, X-Men have been sidelined for a long time ever since M-Day -- the day most of the mutants on Earth lost their mutant powers. As stated earlier, major story arcs in the Marvel Universe involves mostly the non-mutant heroes - case in point, Civil War and World War Hulk. Except for a few characters -- Wolverine (member of New Avengers) and Storm (temporary member of Fantastic Four), they play very little, insignificant roles in the Marvel Universe.
Although the X-Men have their own series in the above story arcs, they are very limited and you can do without reading them. We have the four-part "X-Men: Civil War" and the three-part "X-Men: World War Hulk", both of which, in my opinion is poorly written and has very little impact on the main MU story arc.
"Endangered" Endangered Species
Serving as a prelude to the main arc is this minor storyline. I was really looking forward to this storyline due to the hype it got a few months ago.
Centered on Hank McCoy, the Beast, we get a glimpse of how one of the most intellectual beings in MU suffer as he hopelessly and desperately finds a "cure" and restore the mutant race. I've always liked the Beast, so I guess this is the good part.
The bad part is the way each chapter "or episode" becomes too... for lack of a better term, "template-ish". For the most part, each chapter features Beast and a "guest" character. The likes of High Evolutionary, Bishop, Dr. Kavita Rao, etc. I dunno, I guess it became predictable and simplistic. It could have been better.
Anyway, it was never intended to have a great significance in MU. It's just a springboard for the next storyline...
Return to the mainstream
With the conclusion of the Endangered Species storyline comes the highly anticipated Messiah Complex. The hype about this one is really building and I can't wait to read the entire saga.
Just read about it here.
The part I like is about the idea that "Cyclops will also unify the X-Men in a way they haven’t been for years." Well, this one I really want to see. Cyclops is regarded by many as a minor character, thanks to the three X-Men movies, where he is practically a supporting character for Wolverine. He is more than just a supporting character. He's not leading the X-Men for nothing. Hopefully, he gets the spotlight that he deserves one -- one that is long overdue.
Minor spins to major plots
The point is, X-Men have been sidelined for a long time ever since M-Day -- the day most of the mutants on Earth lost their mutant powers. As stated earlier, major story arcs in the Marvel Universe involves mostly the non-mutant heroes - case in point, Civil War and World War Hulk. Except for a few characters -- Wolverine (member of New Avengers) and Storm (temporary member of Fantastic Four), they play very little, insignificant roles in the Marvel Universe.
Although the X-Men have their own series in the above story arcs, they are very limited and you can do without reading them. We have the four-part "X-Men: Civil War" and the three-part "X-Men: World War Hulk", both of which, in my opinion is poorly written and has very little impact on the main MU story arc.
"Endangered" Endangered Species
Serving as a prelude to the main arc is this minor storyline. I was really looking forward to this storyline due to the hype it got a few months ago.
Centered on Hank McCoy, the Beast, we get a glimpse of how one of the most intellectual beings in MU suffer as he hopelessly and desperately finds a "cure" and restore the mutant race. I've always liked the Beast, so I guess this is the good part.
The bad part is the way each chapter "or episode" becomes too... for lack of a better term, "template-ish". For the most part, each chapter features Beast and a "guest" character. The likes of High Evolutionary, Bishop, Dr. Kavita Rao, etc. I dunno, I guess it became predictable and simplistic. It could have been better.
Anyway, it was never intended to have a great significance in MU. It's just a springboard for the next storyline...
Return to the mainstream
With the conclusion of the Endangered Species storyline comes the highly anticipated Messiah Complex. The hype about this one is really building and I can't wait to read the entire saga.
Just read about it here.
The part I like is about the idea that "Cyclops will also unify the X-Men in a way they haven’t been for years." Well, this one I really want to see. Cyclops is regarded by many as a minor character, thanks to the three X-Men movies, where he is practically a supporting character for Wolverine. He is more than just a supporting character. He's not leading the X-Men for nothing. Hopefully, he gets the spotlight that he deserves one -- one that is long overdue.
Broken Redline! (Singapore's NS Line)
For some reason, the red line MRT here in Singapore was delayed. I was in Raffles Place Interchange intending to go to Orchard to meet Che. However, the station was jam-packed -- the crowd taking the redline are all stuck there waiting for the train to come. The passengers had to wait on the stairs as there is very little space left to squeeze into.
Later, there was an announcement informing that because of track errors going to Marina Bay, the trains will be delayed for one hour. The hell! Too bad, I really wanted to meet up with Che in Orchard. But, as we discussed when she called me shortly, I just went home (thankfully, the problem has minimal effect on the Green line.)
Just in case you are still in the office and you are on the red line, better make some changes in your travel plans! Good luck!
Later, there was an announcement informing that because of track errors going to Marina Bay, the trains will be delayed for one hour. The hell! Too bad, I really wanted to meet up with Che in Orchard. But, as we discussed when she called me shortly, I just went home (thankfully, the problem has minimal effect on the Green line.)
Just in case you are still in the office and you are on the red line, better make some changes in your travel plans! Good luck!
First November first away from home
Well, there's a lot of firsts here for us this November. And this one tops the list.
This is our first All Saint's Day away from the Philippines. It's a bit strange not being able to visit my Mom. Sure, we visited here shortly before we left last month, but I still get that "longing" feeling. I guess my body "remembers" that I should be walking the stretch of Sucat Road from Goodwill II to Manila Memorial Park. My body "remembers" pushing and being pushed during the long procession to the cemeteries. My body remembers how painful my feet feels after that and how I love sitting down and chatting with our entire clan there -- by "clan" I mean, my Dad and the families of my two siblings. :) I remember how calm it feels when I'm there sitting at my mother's grave...
Strangely enough, I also remember and actually miss the thriving businesses that we normally see these days. Of course, the flower stalls are there (taking advantage of the season, tripling their normal prices) and of course the different food stalls. (Takaw talaga ng Pinoy!) Hehehe... Years ago, you only find the small food businesses. Nowadays, food business giants are taking advantage of that as well. Picture it: a Pizza Hut, Shakey's and Yellow Cab stalls standing side-by-side with makeshift sari-sari stores and hotdog/barbeque stands. Oh yeah... :))
Oh well, no choice but to deal with it. This is one of the consequences I know that we will be facing when we go abroad. Not that it bothers me alot. Just missing a little taste of home.
This is our first All Saint's Day away from the Philippines. It's a bit strange not being able to visit my Mom. Sure, we visited here shortly before we left last month, but I still get that "longing" feeling. I guess my body "remembers" that I should be walking the stretch of Sucat Road from Goodwill II to Manila Memorial Park. My body "remembers" pushing and being pushed during the long procession to the cemeteries. My body remembers how painful my feet feels after that and how I love sitting down and chatting with our entire clan there -- by "clan" I mean, my Dad and the families of my two siblings. :) I remember how calm it feels when I'm there sitting at my mother's grave...
Strangely enough, I also remember and actually miss the thriving businesses that we normally see these days. Of course, the flower stalls are there (taking advantage of the season, tripling their normal prices) and of course the different food stalls. (Takaw talaga ng Pinoy!) Hehehe... Years ago, you only find the small food businesses. Nowadays, food business giants are taking advantage of that as well. Picture it: a Pizza Hut, Shakey's and Yellow Cab stalls standing side-by-side with makeshift sari-sari stores and hotdog/barbeque stands. Oh yeah... :))
Oh well, no choice but to deal with it. This is one of the consequences I know that we will be facing when we go abroad. Not that it bothers me alot. Just missing a little taste of home.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Gloomy first day at work
While the Philippines is having the Baranggay Elections, I had my first day at work. It's a very large campus consisting of around 25+ buildings, 5 foodcourts, library -- everything. It's like UP Diliman, only much bigger and and a rougher (mountainous) terrain; Level1 on one side of a building is like Basement1 or Level 2 on its other side (depends on which building you are looking at). So it gets tough when you need to run and work on some issues on the far-end of the campus -- like what we just did!
The rain did not help make it any easier, either. Hehe
Well, back to work. While the rest of the Philippines will be having lots of holidays this week, I'll be spending most of my time here at my desk, sifting through the files and other tasks that I have to do. :)
The rain did not help make it any easier, either. Hehe
Well, back to work. While the rest of the Philippines will be having lots of holidays this week, I'll be spending most of my time here at my desk, sifting through the files and other tasks that I have to do. :)
Friday, October 26, 2007
Spider-Man One More Day teaser...
Just saw this from Newsarama. One More Day is the latest story arc of Spider-Man comics: Amazing Spider-Man, Sensational Spider-Man vol2, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
This also marks the last issues for Sensational Spider-Man (issue 41) and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (issue 24). After that Amazing Spider-Man will be published three times a month. :-)
Comics list:
- Amazing Spider-Man #544
- Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #24
- The Sensational Spider-Man (vol. 2) #41
- Amazing Spider-Man #545
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Glorietta 2 Blast - A crappy development
NICE COVER! A conspiracy theorist says.
"In order to prevent further panic, make a simple cover-up: invent a fictional blast-prone situation then boom! Use that." Apparently, this conspiracy theorist is not happy with the way that things turn out in the media regarding the G2 blast last week. He almost wants it to be a terrorist blast instead of an accident! [These conspiracy theorists. Go figure.. :)]
Well, I don't have the expertise regarding this. I just say out what most of you out there feel as well as what I read. You might as well check out this blog by Carlos Celdran and Washington Post. In addition, take a look at this editorial piece in Inquirer.
Now, if the explosion was caused by a gas leak, then Ayala screwed up big time AND are responsible for the 11 casualties and the hundreds injured. Expect some legal settlements, prosecutions, in the following weeks. Whatever the case, Ayala will have their hands full, now that the cause is not a terrorist but rather a corporation that people/victims can target in the "blame game" that is sure to follow. [You know, "kasalanan nyo lahat kung bakit namatay ang anak ko!" or something similar.]
Let me entertain the thought of a conspiracy theorist here; well, I've got nothing else to do anyway, so here goes... Let's say, it there is a terrorist plot and the methane gas screw up is a cover up, what would be the next likely scenarios?
Since the blame game now targets Ayala, this will not fit with Gloria's "scheme" to declare a military/police state to extend here term indefinitely. Well, there goes that conspiracy theory.
A delaying and/or diversionary tactic perhaps? A small diversion to prevent further panic while, behind the media, whatever plan the "conspirators" have plotted is now underway, undisturbed, and away from the peering eyes of the public. Now that attention is now focused on Ayala, they are now free to maneuver and do whatever they want. The question now is, who are the freakin' conspirators? The government? Some guys within Ayala? Terrorists? Well, this is something that I would leave to the conspiracy theorists out there. I've had enough! Hehehe :))
Let's just not forget about the 11 victims of the blasts. Like it or not, someone will get the blame. Not sure where that fits exactly with the five stages of dealing with death, but... well... you know how things work there. Someone gets the ax, the fallguy, the sacrificial lamb, or whatever you want to call it. People need someone to blame. And, in my opinion, rightfully so. Someone needs to be held responsible for this. If not the terrorists, it's Ayala.
Condolences to all who relatives who have lost a loved one there.
"In order to prevent further panic, make a simple cover-up: invent a fictional blast-prone situation then boom! Use that." Apparently, this conspiracy theorist is not happy with the way that things turn out in the media regarding the G2 blast last week. He almost wants it to be a terrorist blast instead of an accident! [These conspiracy theorists. Go figure.. :)]
Well, I don't have the expertise regarding this. I just say out what most of you out there feel as well as what I read. You might as well check out this blog by Carlos Celdran and Washington Post. In addition, take a look at this editorial piece in Inquirer.
Now, if the explosion was caused by a gas leak, then Ayala screwed up big time AND are responsible for the 11 casualties and the hundreds injured. Expect some legal settlements, prosecutions, in the following weeks. Whatever the case, Ayala will have their hands full, now that the cause is not a terrorist but rather a corporation that people/victims can target in the "blame game" that is sure to follow. [You know, "kasalanan nyo lahat kung bakit namatay ang anak ko!" or something similar.]
Let me entertain the thought of a conspiracy theorist here; well, I've got nothing else to do anyway, so here goes... Let's say, it there is a terrorist plot and the methane gas screw up is a cover up, what would be the next likely scenarios?
Since the blame game now targets Ayala, this will not fit with Gloria's "scheme" to declare a military/police state to extend here term indefinitely. Well, there goes that conspiracy theory.
A delaying and/or diversionary tactic perhaps? A small diversion to prevent further panic while, behind the media, whatever plan the "conspirators" have plotted is now underway, undisturbed, and away from the peering eyes of the public. Now that attention is now focused on Ayala, they are now free to maneuver and do whatever they want. The question now is, who are the freakin' conspirators? The government? Some guys within Ayala? Terrorists? Well, this is something that I would leave to the conspiracy theorists out there. I've had enough! Hehehe :))
Let's just not forget about the 11 victims of the blasts. Like it or not, someone will get the blame. Not sure where that fits exactly with the five stages of dealing with death, but... well... you know how things work there. Someone gets the ax, the fallguy, the sacrificial lamb, or whatever you want to call it. People need someone to blame. And, in my opinion, rightfully so. Someone needs to be held responsible for this. If not the terrorists, it's Ayala.
Condolences to all who relatives who have lost a loved one there.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Glorietta Makati Blast
Here are some photos sent to me by my brother earlier today. These were supposedly taken using cam-phone.
More news and blogs from the following links:
Inquirer Site article 1
Inquirer Site article 2
Video Coverage:
More pictures on DisneyCute's Multiply here.
More news and blogs from the following links:
Inquirer Site article 1
Inquirer Site article 2
Video Coverage:
More pictures on DisneyCute's Multiply here.
Joined Shelfari (BETA)
Just joined Shelfari about half an hour ago. Here's the "invite" in case you want to be join as well:
Since I'm at it, I also added the Shelfari widget here as well.
Come see the books I love and see if we have any in common. Then pick my next book so I can keep on reading.I just realized that almost all of the books I've read are Dragonlance. :)
http://www.shelfari.com/invite/yaxf4clOW9nZZN0Mw3wKVQ
Since I'm at it, I also added the Shelfari widget here as well.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Finally landed a job...
After a week of interviews, long trips, and painful phone calls, I finally accepted a job. I will be joining the IT team of an educational institution here in Singapore. I went to the hospital the other day for the required physical checkup/exam. I can get them by Friday and, after submitting them to my agent, I can start working this Monday.
I hope Che gets a job soon, too. Time flies fast here and it gets a little too boring if you just stay home.
I hope Che gets a job soon, too. Time flies fast here and it gets a little too boring if you just stay home.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Landfills kill the land around Metro Manila
I guess Saturday mornings with heavy rain is conducive for reading news online. Here's another news article about the new landfill in Rizal.
I've never been a fan of landfills. It's never a good, long-term solution to garbage. I mean, you are not actually "disposing" the garbage; you're simply "collecting" them in one humongous pit, land which could have otherwise been used more effectively -- housing, farmland, even malls, whatever. Landfills are practically worthless and it also lowers the land value of all the lands around it as well. Not a very wise decision, if you ask me.
I've played SimCity 3000 (yes the old "3000" version one) since it came out years ago. One of the main goals I target there is to have incinerators in the city for two reasons (1) it eliminates garbage problem of my city in no time, and (2) it generates tons of money (neighboring cities send their garbage for a price to my city to dispose of it). The problem, of course, is air pollution. So, I configured the city to develop "environment-friendly technologies". It takes some time, though, and the air pollution is not totally eliminated. Well, I had to chose between air pollution (money-generating incinerators) and garbage/land pollution (land-value-lowering landfills). I always go for the air pollution. :-)
Not sure if it's applicable in the real-world scenario though. What do you think? :-)
I've never been a fan of landfills. It's never a good, long-term solution to garbage. I mean, you are not actually "disposing" the garbage; you're simply "collecting" them in one humongous pit, land which could have otherwise been used more effectively -- housing, farmland, even malls, whatever. Landfills are practically worthless and it also lowers the land value of all the lands around it as well. Not a very wise decision, if you ask me.
I've played SimCity 3000 (yes the old "3000" version one) since it came out years ago. One of the main goals I target there is to have incinerators in the city for two reasons (1) it eliminates garbage problem of my city in no time, and (2) it generates tons of money (neighboring cities send their garbage for a price to my city to dispose of it). The problem, of course, is air pollution. So, I configured the city to develop "environment-friendly technologies". It takes some time, though, and the air pollution is not totally eliminated. Well, I had to chose between air pollution (money-generating incinerators) and garbage/land pollution (land-value-lowering landfills). I always go for the air pollution. :-)
Not sure if it's applicable in the real-world scenario though. What do you think? :-)
AngryBlueSock on Desperate Housewives
In light of the Desperate Housewives controversy the past few weeks, I've been going through YouTube about the said scene and I stumbled into this editorial video by the AngryBlueSock.
Got to agree on something with what he said:
(1) Desperate Housewives should have been a bit more sensitive about this; and
(2) This is blown way out of proportion.
Like what my colleagues in my old job said, "It's a culture thing." Some Americans treat it as just a very simple comment, an opinion of a specific character on the show, maybe intended as a joke. (Hey, this is the country that is always making fun of their own president, but the president is not lashing out at this.) Filipinos, on the other hand, is race of a proud people and would do anything to protect the pride of the nation.
I understand that the Filipino community is only protecting the pride of the hard-working Filipino workers, especially the Filipino professionals who worked so hard to get where they are now. I am not saying that we, as a people, should not react to it, since this is our national pride we're talking about. However, we should take care about how we handle this situation.
It's not really about "why" we should react but "how" we should react. To Americans who make fun of their president all the time, a whole race reacting to a simple comment makes us look petty -- a person acting on petty things always appears to be weak and loses respect. Check the 48 Laws of Power (by Robert Greene) and you'll see what I mean.
So what am I saying? Simple. If you have to react but don't overdo it. We don't want another war just because of this.
Anyway, here's the video of AngryBlueSock:
Got to agree on something with what he said:
(1) Desperate Housewives should have been a bit more sensitive about this; and
(2) This is blown way out of proportion.
Like what my colleagues in my old job said, "It's a culture thing." Some Americans treat it as just a very simple comment, an opinion of a specific character on the show, maybe intended as a joke. (Hey, this is the country that is always making fun of their own president, but the president is not lashing out at this.) Filipinos, on the other hand, is race of a proud people and would do anything to protect the pride of the nation.
I understand that the Filipino community is only protecting the pride of the hard-working Filipino workers, especially the Filipino professionals who worked so hard to get where they are now. I am not saying that we, as a people, should not react to it, since this is our national pride we're talking about. However, we should take care about how we handle this situation.
It's not really about "why" we should react but "how" we should react. To Americans who make fun of their president all the time, a whole race reacting to a simple comment makes us look petty -- a person acting on petty things always appears to be weak and loses respect. Check the 48 Laws of Power (by Robert Greene) and you'll see what I mean.
So what am I saying? Simple. If you have to react but don't overdo it. We don't want another war just because of this.
Anyway, here's the video of AngryBlueSock:
EPEC application boo-boos
After a busy week of interviews and applications, I still woke up early morning (around 7AM+) and finally got to finish the EPEC application -- the "uploading of the requested supporting documents" part.
I had a mental note already that I'm supposed to crop the scanned images of the required documents, but I guess with so many things going on back then, I simply forgot. Good thing I was able to copy it on my hard drive.
Just a reminder to those applying or are planning to apply for the EPEC, prepare the following:
- passport-size photo (JPG format, MAX 64KB)
- passport particulars page (JPG format, MAX 100KB)
- qualification requirements (e.g. diploma) (JPG format, MAX 100KB)
I should have done that earlier; would have saved me about 30 minutes of my time. :-)
I had a mental note already that I'm supposed to crop the scanned images of the required documents, but I guess with so many things going on back then, I simply forgot. Good thing I was able to copy it on my hard drive.
Just a reminder to those applying or are planning to apply for the EPEC, prepare the following:
- passport-size photo (JPG format, MAX 64KB)
- passport particulars page (JPG format, MAX 100KB)
- qualification requirements (e.g. diploma) (JPG format, MAX 100KB)
I should have done that earlier; would have saved me about 30 minutes of my time. :-)
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
From the Golden Baul: My Transformers figures
While sorting through my good ol' reliable portable harddrive, I came across this several months old pictures of some of my Transformers figures, brought by Che from Hong Kong.
Note: the pics are low res, so please don't flame about them not being too darn clear, okay? :)
Note: the pics are low res, so please don't flame about them not being too darn clear, okay? :)
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Walking interviews...
After a week of fun, laughter, and tons of sight-seeing, we finally had our first interview since we got here. It's been a long while since I had my last interview so I guess that explains the jitters I got when I got my first phone interview last Monday. Geez.. I almost hated doing it, but what choice do I have? It's cool to be bum in SG, but I can't be a bum forever. Haaay.. Sayang noh? Pwede sana yun...
Anyway, so far, I've only got HR interviews. I never imagined that we would be bombarded with tons of interviews in one afternoon. We had a meeting with one of the agents here in their office near Bugis station. (By "near" I mean about 5 city blocks away, about half a kilometer. :)) ) After lunch, that's when we get tons of phone calls from several other agents. This was happening during our trip to the Carrefour hypermarket. So while walking and during the bus ride, we were taking turns on the phone most of the time talking to the agent. (Apparently, the agents wanted to get a hold of the both us and try to take us under their wing.) Ha! It was strange experience for me... Walking while interviewing... But I think we did just fine.
Well, here's to hoping that I get a good-paying job asap!
Anyway, so far, I've only got HR interviews. I never imagined that we would be bombarded with tons of interviews in one afternoon. We had a meeting with one of the agents here in their office near Bugis station. (By "near" I mean about 5 city blocks away, about half a kilometer. :)) ) After lunch, that's when we get tons of phone calls from several other agents. This was happening during our trip to the Carrefour hypermarket. So while walking and during the bus ride, we were taking turns on the phone most of the time talking to the agent. (Apparently, the agents wanted to get a hold of the both us and try to take us under their wing.) Ha! It was strange experience for me... Walking while interviewing... But I think we did just fine.
Well, here's to hoping that I get a good-paying job asap!
Saturday, October 06, 2007
House M.D. quotes
I'm a big fan of House. In case you haven't been watching much TV, you can find more info about this TV show here.
Here are some quotes from the show, taken from this link. (Some quotes here are, I guess, somewhat applicable to my line of work. Same line of thinking, just different fields):
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: Everybody lies.
Dr. Cameron: Dr. House doesn't like dealing with patients.
Dr. Foreman: Isn't treating patients why we became doctors?
Dr. House: No, treating illnesses is why we became doctors. Treating patients is what makes most doctors miserable. _______________________________________________
Dr. House: Patients always want proof. We're not making cars here, we don't give guarantees.
____________________________________________________
[House arguing with Cameron]
Dr. House: But you didn't have to. People choose the paths that grant them the greatest rewards for the least amount of effort. That's the law of nature, and you defied it. That's why I hired you. You could have married rich, could have been a model, you could have just shown up and people would have given you stuff. Lots of stuff, but you didn't, you worked your stunning little ass off.
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: I take risks; sometimes patients die. But not taking risks causes more patients to die, so I guess my biggest problem is I've been cursed with the ability to do the math.
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: We're a bit of a specialized hospital. We generally only deal with patients when they're actually sick.
_______________________________________________
Dr. Foreman: You have no evidence to support a poisoning diagnosis.
Dr. House: Which is why it's gonna be so cool when I turn out to be right.
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: Just 'cause he says I hit him doesn't make it true. Watch. [Shouts to the heavens] I am surrounded by naked cheerleaders! [Nothing happens] See?
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: He thought he was dying. Dying people lie, too. Wish they'd worked less, they'd been nicer, they'd opened orphanages for kittens. If you really want to do something, you do it, you don't save it for sound byte.
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: Work smart, not hard. That's my philosophy, boss.
_______________________________________________
[Dr. Wilson is examining Dr. House's leg with the MRI]
Dr. Wilson: [gruff disguised voice] House, this is God.
Dr. House: [in MRI chamber] Look, I'm a little busy right now. Not supposed to talk during these things. Got time Thursday?
Dr. Wilson: Let me check. Oh! I got a plague. What about Friday?
Dr. House: You'll have to check with Cameron.
Dr. Wilson: Oh! Damn it! She always wants to know why bad things happen. Like I'm gonna come up with a new answer this time.
[Cuddy bursts in]
Dr. Cuddy: House...
Dr. House: Quick, God, smite the evil witch! [Wilson wisely says nothing]
Dr. Cuddy: Are you sitting on evidence that your patient was sexually abused by her father?
Dr. House: God, why have you forsaken me?
_______________________________________________
Dr. Cuddy: These are your big ideas? Somebody's lying?
Dr. House: Hasn't let me down yet.
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: Isn't it interesting... religious behaviour is so close to being crazy that we can't tell them apart.
_______________________________________________
[House makes ghost-like sounds to amuse a child patient]
Little Girl Patient: You're a goof.
Dr. House: Takes one to know one, loser. [Patient's mother looks at House in shock] Wait, that means I'm a loser. Scratch that.
_______________________________________________
Dr. Cameron: I can handle a simple consent form.
Dr. House: Okay, I'll be Crandall. Dr. Cameron—
Dr. Foreman: House, from what you say this guy will trust you—
Dr. House: Are you in this scene? Go.
Dr. Cameron: I need to talk to you about a procedure we'd like to do on Leona.
Dr. House: Like to do? Is this fun for you?
Dr. Cameron: He's not you; he's not going to mock me.
Dr. House: Stay in character. I'm so scared; hold me.
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: Can you believe what Cuddy tried to pull?
Dr. Wilson: What now?
Dr. House: She lied to me. She cured my patient with my diagnosis, then lied to me about it.
Dr. Wilson: That doesn't sound like her.
Dr. House: You're right. Does sound like you, though.
Dr. Wilson: What exactly did Cuddy tell you?
Dr. House: Nothing that your body language isn't telling me right now. So what was the plan? I'd feel so horrible by missing a case that I'd re-evaluate my entire life, question the nature of truth and goodness and become Cameron?
Dr. Wilson: Something like that. More that if we'd told you the truth, that you'd solved it based on absolutely no medical proof, you'd think you were God, and I was worried your wings would melt.
Dr. House: God doesn't limp.
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: Infectious or environmental...all we have to do is check out parasites, viruses, bacteria, fungi, prions, radiation, toxins, chemicals, or it's Internet porn related. I'll check the Internet, you guys get the rest of the stuff.
_______________________________________________
Dr. Wilson: Well, I've seen House be rude to you a thousand times, but I've never seen it get to you.
Dr. Cuddy: People think House has no inner censor. But the fact is he holds himself back, because when he wants to hurt, he knows just whereto poke a sharp stick. I have been trying to get pregnant, and House knew. He told me I would fail as a mother.
Dr. Wilson: And you're this upset because you think he's right?
Dr. Cuddy: I've had three separate implantations. The first two never took. The last one I lost.
Dr. Wilson: I'm sorry. You didn't fail. Those where physical events.
Dr. Cuddy: A little girl is... scared and in pain. I was awkward, terrified of doing the wrong thing.
Dr. Wilson: That's normal. That's —
Dr. Cuddy: [crying] I didn't hug her. I didn't even reach out and hold her hand. I told her it was gonna be okay.
Dr. Wilson: She needed reassurance.
Dr. Cuddy: I told her her folks might get back together. When I see people with their kids, it's so natural. It's like they have an instruction book imprinted on their genes. Maybe I just didn't get a copy. Maybe my wanting to be a mother is like a tone-deaf person wanting to sing opera or a paraplegic who wants to —
Dr. Wilson: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Well, I see what you mean about House poking in the right spot.
[Cuddy chuckles wryly]
________________________________________________
Dr. House: RIGHT! She's SIX! She's CUTE! She CAN'T have flesh-eating bacteria! It's just WRONG! Let's cure her with sunshine and puppies! Cute kids die to terrible illnesses! Innocent doctors go to jail! It's because COWARDS like you won't stand up and do what's required! You can sit around and moan about who's the bigger weakling, and I'm gonna' do my job.
________________________________________________
Dr. House: You see, that's what's called a faulty syllogism; just because you call Bill a dog doesn't mean that he is... a dog.
________________________________________________
Dr. Foreman: [to Cameron] People who avoid commitment are people who know what a big thing it is.
________________________________________________
Dr. House: You want third-world treatment? [Turns up the thermostat] You got it. Boy, is it hot here in Jani!
Dr. Cameron: What are you doing?
Dr. House: What am I doing? [He knocks Sebastian's things onto the floor] Putting everything on the floor of the hut. Uh oh, wicked magic box with the moving pictures!
Dr. Cameron: You think he's a hypocrite?
Dr. House: [Unplugging the TV] Hypocrite? No, everyone in Africa's got cell phones or running water. [He has dropped Sebastian's cell phone in the toilet] This thing just will not flush.
Sebastian: Do you really think that if you come in here and make it a little hot, make it smell a little, that I'm just going to fold and abandon everything that matters to me?
Dr. House: [Wiping his cane on Sebastian's blanket] Lousy sanitation over there, too. You are not the same as them; your life is not the same. And you are cheapening everything they're going through by pretending you are.
_______________________________________________
Whoa! I think I got into this thing just a bit too much. It's 4AM already. Hehe..
See you! :-)
Here are some quotes from the show, taken from this link. (Some quotes here are, I guess, somewhat applicable to my line of work. Same line of thinking, just different fields):
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: Everybody lies.
Dr. Cameron: Dr. House doesn't like dealing with patients.
Dr. Foreman: Isn't treating patients why we became doctors?
Dr. House: No, treating illnesses is why we became doctors. Treating patients is what makes most doctors miserable. _______________________________________________
Dr. House: Patients always want proof. We're not making cars here, we don't give guarantees.
____________________________________________________
[House arguing with Cameron]
Dr. House: But you didn't have to. People choose the paths that grant them the greatest rewards for the least amount of effort. That's the law of nature, and you defied it. That's why I hired you. You could have married rich, could have been a model, you could have just shown up and people would have given you stuff. Lots of stuff, but you didn't, you worked your stunning little ass off.
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: I take risks; sometimes patients die. But not taking risks causes more patients to die, so I guess my biggest problem is I've been cursed with the ability to do the math.
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: We're a bit of a specialized hospital. We generally only deal with patients when they're actually sick.
_______________________________________________
Dr. Foreman: You have no evidence to support a poisoning diagnosis.
Dr. House: Which is why it's gonna be so cool when I turn out to be right.
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: Just 'cause he says I hit him doesn't make it true. Watch. [Shouts to the heavens] I am surrounded by naked cheerleaders! [Nothing happens] See?
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: He thought he was dying. Dying people lie, too. Wish they'd worked less, they'd been nicer, they'd opened orphanages for kittens. If you really want to do something, you do it, you don't save it for sound byte.
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: Work smart, not hard. That's my philosophy, boss.
_______________________________________________
[Dr. Wilson is examining Dr. House's leg with the MRI]
Dr. Wilson: [gruff disguised voice] House, this is God.
Dr. House: [in MRI chamber] Look, I'm a little busy right now. Not supposed to talk during these things. Got time Thursday?
Dr. Wilson: Let me check. Oh! I got a plague. What about Friday?
Dr. House: You'll have to check with Cameron.
Dr. Wilson: Oh! Damn it! She always wants to know why bad things happen. Like I'm gonna come up with a new answer this time.
[Cuddy bursts in]
Dr. Cuddy: House...
Dr. House: Quick, God, smite the evil witch! [Wilson wisely says nothing]
Dr. Cuddy: Are you sitting on evidence that your patient was sexually abused by her father?
Dr. House: God, why have you forsaken me?
_______________________________________________
Dr. Cuddy: These are your big ideas? Somebody's lying?
Dr. House: Hasn't let me down yet.
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: Isn't it interesting... religious behaviour is so close to being crazy that we can't tell them apart.
_______________________________________________
[House makes ghost-like sounds to amuse a child patient]
Little Girl Patient: You're a goof.
Dr. House: Takes one to know one, loser. [Patient's mother looks at House in shock] Wait, that means I'm a loser. Scratch that.
_______________________________________________
Dr. Cameron: I can handle a simple consent form.
Dr. House: Okay, I'll be Crandall. Dr. Cameron—
Dr. Foreman: House, from what you say this guy will trust you—
Dr. House: Are you in this scene? Go.
Dr. Cameron: I need to talk to you about a procedure we'd like to do on Leona.
Dr. House: Like to do? Is this fun for you?
Dr. Cameron: He's not you; he's not going to mock me.
Dr. House: Stay in character. I'm so scared; hold me.
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: Can you believe what Cuddy tried to pull?
Dr. Wilson: What now?
Dr. House: She lied to me. She cured my patient with my diagnosis, then lied to me about it.
Dr. Wilson: That doesn't sound like her.
Dr. House: You're right. Does sound like you, though.
Dr. Wilson: What exactly did Cuddy tell you?
Dr. House: Nothing that your body language isn't telling me right now. So what was the plan? I'd feel so horrible by missing a case that I'd re-evaluate my entire life, question the nature of truth and goodness and become Cameron?
Dr. Wilson: Something like that. More that if we'd told you the truth, that you'd solved it based on absolutely no medical proof, you'd think you were God, and I was worried your wings would melt.
Dr. House: God doesn't limp.
_______________________________________________
Dr. House: Infectious or environmental...all we have to do is check out parasites, viruses, bacteria, fungi, prions, radiation, toxins, chemicals, or it's Internet porn related. I'll check the Internet, you guys get the rest of the stuff.
_______________________________________________
Dr. Wilson: Well, I've seen House be rude to you a thousand times, but I've never seen it get to you.
Dr. Cuddy: People think House has no inner censor. But the fact is he holds himself back, because when he wants to hurt, he knows just whereto poke a sharp stick. I have been trying to get pregnant, and House knew. He told me I would fail as a mother.
Dr. Wilson: And you're this upset because you think he's right?
Dr. Cuddy: I've had three separate implantations. The first two never took. The last one I lost.
Dr. Wilson: I'm sorry. You didn't fail. Those where physical events.
Dr. Cuddy: A little girl is... scared and in pain. I was awkward, terrified of doing the wrong thing.
Dr. Wilson: That's normal. That's —
Dr. Cuddy: [crying] I didn't hug her. I didn't even reach out and hold her hand. I told her it was gonna be okay.
Dr. Wilson: She needed reassurance.
Dr. Cuddy: I told her her folks might get back together. When I see people with their kids, it's so natural. It's like they have an instruction book imprinted on their genes. Maybe I just didn't get a copy. Maybe my wanting to be a mother is like a tone-deaf person wanting to sing opera or a paraplegic who wants to —
Dr. Wilson: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Well, I see what you mean about House poking in the right spot.
[Cuddy chuckles wryly]
________________________________________________
Dr. House: RIGHT! She's SIX! She's CUTE! She CAN'T have flesh-eating bacteria! It's just WRONG! Let's cure her with sunshine and puppies! Cute kids die to terrible illnesses! Innocent doctors go to jail! It's because COWARDS like you won't stand up and do what's required! You can sit around and moan about who's the bigger weakling, and I'm gonna' do my job.
________________________________________________
Dr. House: You see, that's what's called a faulty syllogism; just because you call Bill a dog doesn't mean that he is... a dog.
________________________________________________
Dr. Foreman: [to Cameron] People who avoid commitment are people who know what a big thing it is.
________________________________________________
Dr. House: You want third-world treatment? [Turns up the thermostat] You got it. Boy, is it hot here in Jani!
Dr. Cameron: What are you doing?
Dr. House: What am I doing? [He knocks Sebastian's things onto the floor] Putting everything on the floor of the hut. Uh oh, wicked magic box with the moving pictures!
Dr. Cameron: You think he's a hypocrite?
Dr. House: [Unplugging the TV] Hypocrite? No, everyone in Africa's got cell phones or running water. [He has dropped Sebastian's cell phone in the toilet] This thing just will not flush.
Sebastian: Do you really think that if you come in here and make it a little hot, make it smell a little, that I'm just going to fold and abandon everything that matters to me?
Dr. House: [Wiping his cane on Sebastian's blanket] Lousy sanitation over there, too. You are not the same as them; your life is not the same. And you are cheapening everything they're going through by pretending you are.
_______________________________________________
Whoa! I think I got into this thing just a bit too much. It's 4AM already. Hehe..
See you! :-)
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Things I left behind for SG...
After four and a half long, long, loooong years in Sykes supporting the problems of other people, I have finally resigned.
Big step for me; definitely big changes up ahead... Not the easiest decision for me to make, but one that I know I have to make. My life's not just for me anymore.. All of my future decisions will take into account my wife and family.
So now, let's see.. What exactly did I leave behind....
My family of course... After 26 years, this is the first time that I'll be leaving them for a very long time. You can tell the tension when I broke the news to them. My siblings, being a little bit old-fashioned as they were -- they are 11 and 9 years older than me -- thought that it's a big mistake to suddenly resign and look for opportunities somewhere else. To them (or at least the less open-minded sibling of mine) said that I would have wasted all of my four and a half years here if I go somewhere else -- note that they are both currently employed in their first jobs -- she's there for almost 15 years, the other one almost 12 years.
In the end, though, perhaps realizing that we have already made up our mind, they were all supportive, even giving us a despedida lunchout last Saturday.
I'll also be leaving tons of material things here, since we are only limited to 20KG luggage and 7KG handcarry. Our house, thankfuly, is going to be manned by one of our most trusted friends here. For security reasons, I will not post his/her/its name here. :-)
Also, Grae, our '91 Toyota Corolla was sold off. It's old enough to be a 3rd year high school student (15 years) and experience tons of crashes, scratches, bumps, and other stuff at my hands. Hehehe... My practice car as it were, I learned to drive in Pasay -- perhaps one of the best, uhmm, "training grounds" -- using this car and that is where I got most of my driving experience. You may want to practice driving in Pasay.. Hey, if you can get through a two-lan two-way side street with cars parked on one side, you can drive anywhere! :-)
Anyway, Grae is already showing signs of his age -- frequent monthly problems, excessive "kalampag", etc -- so it is best that we sold him off. The new owner should be able to take care of it much better than I did.
Of course, I'll be leaving behind my second home, my job. Unlike most of my other batchmates there, I really like my job. Sure, there are several times when I said I no longer want to work there, but that is only a stage/phase... Stress is high, so it really does get to you after a while... After getting the stress of my system, everything's back to normal. I learn more with dealing with people (which is one of the few things that I least miss, but otherwise thankful for) as well as more techie stuff. Also, got more practice on time management -- going back n forth between managing your cases and reviewing the cases of others. Ah yeah... Those times were great.. Rendering OTYs, getting nothing but shit from customers, client and/or client representatives not making life easy for you.. Things like that.
Sure, there are a lot of politics involved (although I must say it is significantly reduced now than way back then, around 2 years ago), but that's office life.. Actually, that's life.. As long as there is a group of people, some form of politics will be involved. I really don't miss this part much, but I did learn a lot about people because of it. How people act, react, and manipulate the people around them. The backstabbing. The hypocrisies. Everything and anything you can think of. It's the ugly part of any business and something that everyone must deal with.
The good, the bad, and the ugly.. The office politics there in the "Timberlake" account is a real eye-opener. I saw first hand what my Dad said about the office: know how to deal with your peers (same level as you are), with your subordinates (under you) , and your bosses (above you). Dealing with each one is important as well as keeping the balance among them...
In spite of the politics there, though, I believe what I'll miss most are the people of the SEC team. The team has seen the best and the worst. Getting the most number of cases (and in turn, generates the most revenue for the account/company), each engineer is doing the task of three, perhaps more. And yet, we see each of them -- although complaining whichis understandable -- doing everything they can to do their work, being the best in what we do.
And yet at the end of the day, the team manages to have fun. It's a great team, one that I hope the management would recognize. I really do hope everything is done to make the lives of these selfless engineers a lot easier.
That's all for now... :-)
Big step for me; definitely big changes up ahead... Not the easiest decision for me to make, but one that I know I have to make. My life's not just for me anymore.. All of my future decisions will take into account my wife and family.
So now, let's see.. What exactly did I leave behind....
My family of course... After 26 years, this is the first time that I'll be leaving them for a very long time. You can tell the tension when I broke the news to them. My siblings, being a little bit old-fashioned as they were -- they are 11 and 9 years older than me -- thought that it's a big mistake to suddenly resign and look for opportunities somewhere else. To them (or at least the less open-minded sibling of mine) said that I would have wasted all of my four and a half years here if I go somewhere else -- note that they are both currently employed in their first jobs -- she's there for almost 15 years, the other one almost 12 years.
In the end, though, perhaps realizing that we have already made up our mind, they were all supportive, even giving us a despedida lunchout last Saturday.
I'll also be leaving tons of material things here, since we are only limited to 20KG luggage and 7KG handcarry. Our house, thankfuly, is going to be manned by one of our most trusted friends here. For security reasons, I will not post his/her/its name here. :-)
Also, Grae, our '91 Toyota Corolla was sold off. It's old enough to be a 3rd year high school student (15 years) and experience tons of crashes, scratches, bumps, and other stuff at my hands. Hehehe... My practice car as it were, I learned to drive in Pasay -- perhaps one of the best, uhmm, "training grounds" -- using this car and that is where I got most of my driving experience. You may want to practice driving in Pasay.. Hey, if you can get through a two-lan two-way side street with cars parked on one side, you can drive anywhere! :-)
Anyway, Grae is already showing signs of his age -- frequent monthly problems, excessive "kalampag", etc -- so it is best that we sold him off. The new owner should be able to take care of it much better than I did.
Of course, I'll be leaving behind my second home, my job. Unlike most of my other batchmates there, I really like my job. Sure, there are several times when I said I no longer want to work there, but that is only a stage/phase... Stress is high, so it really does get to you after a while... After getting the stress of my system, everything's back to normal. I learn more with dealing with people (which is one of the few things that I least miss, but otherwise thankful for) as well as more techie stuff. Also, got more practice on time management -- going back n forth between managing your cases and reviewing the cases of others. Ah yeah... Those times were great.. Rendering OTYs, getting nothing but shit from customers, client and/or client representatives not making life easy for you.. Things like that.
Sure, there are a lot of politics involved (although I must say it is significantly reduced now than way back then, around 2 years ago), but that's office life.. Actually, that's life.. As long as there is a group of people, some form of politics will be involved. I really don't miss this part much, but I did learn a lot about people because of it. How people act, react, and manipulate the people around them. The backstabbing. The hypocrisies. Everything and anything you can think of. It's the ugly part of any business and something that everyone must deal with.
The good, the bad, and the ugly.. The office politics there in the "Timberlake" account is a real eye-opener. I saw first hand what my Dad said about the office: know how to deal with your peers (same level as you are), with your subordinates (under you) , and your bosses (above you). Dealing with each one is important as well as keeping the balance among them...
In spite of the politics there, though, I believe what I'll miss most are the people of the SEC team. The team has seen the best and the worst. Getting the most number of cases (and in turn, generates the most revenue for the account/company), each engineer is doing the task of three, perhaps more. And yet, we see each of them -- although complaining whichis understandable -- doing everything they can to do their work, being the best in what we do.
And yet at the end of the day, the team manages to have fun. It's a great team, one that I hope the management would recognize. I really do hope everything is done to make the lives of these selfless engineers a lot easier.
That's all for now... :-)
Monday, August 27, 2007
My Hell Days
My Hell Days: Day 1 - Drowned Makati
I had the worst luck mid August.
The floods came and drowned Makati city like there was no tomorrow, last August 15, Wednesday. After office, I went on my usual route to fetch Che from her office in Manila. The route usually goes from Pasong Tamo, then to Buendia, Yakal Street, Buendia again, then Roxas Blvd. As I was making my way to Yakal Street, the yellow police (i.e. Makati Police who wore yellow uniforms) stopped all vehicles from entering Yakal street, because the end of street was flooded waist high. So, I had to push forward on along Pasong Tamo and then turned to Kamagong Street. Traffic was terrible but that was the only other route that I know (besides going back to Buendia Avenue itself, although earlier, when I crossed, all the vehicles are stuck. I intended to go from Kamagong Street all the way to the end, crossing the Zobel-Roxas, then from there, to Osmeña Hi-Way.
It was only then, through the radio, that I learned that the most flooded area WAS the Kamagong-Zobel-Roxas area approaching Osmeña hiway. I can't turn back because the cars have already piled up. That one-way street already became a two-way street -- cars who reached the flooded area turned back the same way -- much to the chagrin of everyone, now stuck there.
The flooded Zobel-Roxas area is only a very short one -- not even a 100 meters. People there used this "opportunity" to make up some cash; one of them approached me with a proposal: while the engine is off, they will push the car until I reach the high ground, just before the stop light for some cash. Not wanting to go back and waste more gas, I went for it. While sitting idly and comfortably on my seat, a group of 6 guys pushed the car all the way through. I thought I saw from my rear-view mirror that one of them slipped and plunged head first to the flood. Eww! That's when I remembered about leprospyrosis.
Anyway, I was glad enough to give them a hundred pesos. It's better than going back the entire length of the Kamagong Street, which was now in a freakin' deadlock.
Ah well... Come to think of it, this is not really that bad compared to what happened the next day. Being pushed through the flood is not half bad anyway.
My Hell Days: Day 2 part 1- Bus Crash
I wasn't really feeling well this day, Augusut 16, Thursday. Too bad, I got involved in this...
After taking my wife to her office, I then went my usual route going home and rest. I was along Casino Street in Makati and intended to turn right to the outermost lane of the Osmeña hiway. The highway was clear and I wasn't really in that kind of a hurry so I was driving really slow. As rotten luck would have it, as I was entering Osmena highway from Casino Street, a speeding bus hit my the car, destroying the the left-fender, left headlight, left signal light, and front bumper. The bus was driving so fast that one of his passengers almost went through the righthand-side of the windshield.
Based from the sketch of the inspector later on, one would automatically assume that I was at fault, the bus having the right of way and such. My dad and sister thinks so. Maybe I was, I don't know. I never imagined that entering a street at a very slow speed would get me into this much trouble. Made me wonder... Does that mean that any speeding vehicle may never be at fault as long as he got the onto right position after the impact??? One of the police officers in that area (Makati Police Station 5 happens to be in Casino Street corner Osmena Highway) told me that it's not my fault and that the bus was was too fast considering that he is approaching an intersection -- whatever your name is, sir, thank you very much for taking my side! He's the only person who believed that it was not fault. Anyway, he advised me that I should be sticking to the inspector kissing his ass or something just like what the bus driver is doing; otherwise, I might get turned and put the blame on me.
Anyway, much later after going to the Makati Police Traffic Office (near Makati City Hall), thanks to the comprehensive insurance that I fully paid last month, we (myself with my dad and sister to the rescue!) went to Citimotors Makati to file a claim, and have the car assessed and fixed. I submitted the police report about a week later -- hah! The police report says I'm not at fault! It didn't say that it was the bus driver's fault, but at this point I don't care about him -- as long as I'm out of the woods and that I'm not at fault, that's fine with me.
Wasted a lot of time, without getting anything done. That's my biggest regret here.
I had the worst luck mid August.
The floods came and drowned Makati city like there was no tomorrow, last August 15, Wednesday. After office, I went on my usual route to fetch Che from her office in Manila. The route usually goes from Pasong Tamo, then to Buendia, Yakal Street, Buendia again, then Roxas Blvd. As I was making my way to Yakal Street, the yellow police (i.e. Makati Police who wore yellow uniforms) stopped all vehicles from entering Yakal street, because the end of street was flooded waist high. So, I had to push forward on along Pasong Tamo and then turned to Kamagong Street. Traffic was terrible but that was the only other route that I know (besides going back to Buendia Avenue itself, although earlier, when I crossed, all the vehicles are stuck. I intended to go from Kamagong Street all the way to the end, crossing the Zobel-Roxas, then from there, to Osmeña Hi-Way.
It was only then, through the radio, that I learned that the most flooded area WAS the Kamagong-Zobel-Roxas area approaching Osmeña hiway. I can't turn back because the cars have already piled up. That one-way street already became a two-way street -- cars who reached the flooded area turned back the same way -- much to the chagrin of everyone, now stuck there.
The flooded Zobel-Roxas area is only a very short one -- not even a 100 meters. People there used this "opportunity" to make up some cash; one of them approached me with a proposal: while the engine is off, they will push the car until I reach the high ground, just before the stop light for some cash. Not wanting to go back and waste more gas, I went for it. While sitting idly and comfortably on my seat, a group of 6 guys pushed the car all the way through. I thought I saw from my rear-view mirror that one of them slipped and plunged head first to the flood. Eww! That's when I remembered about leprospyrosis.
Anyway, I was glad enough to give them a hundred pesos. It's better than going back the entire length of the Kamagong Street, which was now in a freakin' deadlock.
Ah well... Come to think of it, this is not really that bad compared to what happened the next day. Being pushed through the flood is not half bad anyway.
My Hell Days: Day 2 part 1- Bus Crash
I wasn't really feeling well this day, Augusut 16, Thursday. Too bad, I got involved in this...
After taking my wife to her office, I then went my usual route going home and rest. I was along Casino Street in Makati and intended to turn right to the outermost lane of the Osmeña hiway. The highway was clear and I wasn't really in that kind of a hurry so I was driving really slow. As rotten luck would have it, as I was entering Osmena highway from Casino Street, a speeding bus hit my the car, destroying the the left-fender, left headlight, left signal light, and front bumper. The bus was driving so fast that one of his passengers almost went through the righthand-side of the windshield.
Based from the sketch of the inspector later on, one would automatically assume that I was at fault, the bus having the right of way and such. My dad and sister thinks so. Maybe I was, I don't know. I never imagined that entering a street at a very slow speed would get me into this much trouble. Made me wonder... Does that mean that any speeding vehicle may never be at fault as long as he got the onto right position after the impact??? One of the police officers in that area (Makati Police Station 5 happens to be in Casino Street corner Osmena Highway) told me that it's not my fault and that the bus was was too fast considering that he is approaching an intersection -- whatever your name is, sir, thank you very much for taking my side! He's the only person who believed that it was not fault. Anyway, he advised me that I should be sticking to the inspector kissing his ass or something just like what the bus driver is doing; otherwise, I might get turned and put the blame on me.
Anyway, much later after going to the Makati Police Traffic Office (near Makati City Hall), thanks to the comprehensive insurance that I fully paid last month, we (myself with my dad and sister to the rescue!) went to Citimotors Makati to file a claim, and have the car assessed and fixed. I submitted the police report about a week later -- hah! The police report says I'm not at fault! It didn't say that it was the bus driver's fault, but at this point I don't care about him -- as long as I'm out of the woods and that I'm not at fault, that's fine with me.
Wasted a lot of time, without getting anything done. That's my biggest regret here.
My Hell Days: Day 2 part 2 - Jessie's Babies No More
That same bus crash day, I later found out that Jessie miscarriaged. See Che's blog http://moncheri28.blogspot.com for more on this...
You can see that she's very, very sad and depressed -- she won't let anyone touch or even look at her babies. Too bad.
Anyway, good thing is, after about a week or so, she's back to being Jessie the Jumpin' Dog! She's back to her old jumping antics and she also has her huge -- and I am HUUUUGE -- appetite.
That same bus crash day, I later found out that Jessie miscarriaged. See Che's blog http://moncheri28.blogspot.com for more on this...
You can see that she's very, very sad and depressed -- she won't let anyone touch or even look at her babies. Too bad.
Anyway, good thing is, after about a week or so, she's back to being Jessie the Jumpin' Dog! She's back to her old jumping antics and she also has her huge -- and I am HUUUUGE -- appetite.
My Hell Days: Day 3 - Tasks and floods
This day, August 17, Friday, I had a lot of tasks to do, which is not bad at all --- if only it didn't rain that hard again!
Mid-morning, after taking Che to the office, I went straight to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to have my passport renewed. Had a hard time finding a parking slot -- found one in Cuneta Astrodome, about a block away. As if the rain wasn't enough, I had to deal with this guy who pulled me just before I got to the entrance. He's one of those fixers out there who forcibly took me to one of the stalls outside of the DFA to give me my application form, take my picture, etc. I got interested with the fact that many people are there, so I went along with it. In one of the stalls, someone gave me an application form which is free (fine). Then the photographer on that stall said that they will take two pictures of me: one with a blue background, the other with a white background. When someone would that they already have pictures with white background, they would argue that in the new process, they needed two sets of pictures -- one with blue, the other white background. Then after that, they asked to pay up around php200. By this time, I had turned and ran to the DFA gate. no way I'm giving them money for something that I don't need!
I can't help but smirk at the, uhm, how do I say this? I can't help but smirk at this lucrative business, this con and it's happening at the outside walls of the DFA compound! Geez!
Anyway, just to remind everyone, there are several things that needs to be pointed out:
- fill up the application form before you go to DFA; it's free and can be downloaded
- bring three passport-sized pictures with WHITE background
- read the requirements in the application form; bring whatever is stated there (photocopy of some pages of the old passport is always required for renewals)
- you only need to pay either php500 (6-day processing) or php750 (2-day processing); no more, no less
Unless the requirements have been changed, you should only bring the above and end up paying only 500 or 750. That's it. If you already have all of the above handy, it should not take more than 1 hour. I finished the above in about 30 minutes :)
After DFA, I had to go to Makati Police Traffic to get the Police Report. Since it was Friday, getting there was a pain. When I got there, I found out that the inspector could not get on the PC because they had no electricity (huh?). He said I should come back later that day around 1:30 PM. Argh, now that's a waste of gas!
Then, I got a call from Che, saying that I should have Jessie x-rayed to make sure that if there are still puppies (possibly dead ones) inside her or not. So I went straight home, took Jessie to the only veterinary clinic I know along Sucat Road, Carlos Veterinary Clinic, and had her examined.. Too bad there were no more puppies left.
Anyway, after the examination, that's when it really, really, REALLY rained hard. How hard? Well, Sucat Road in the Fourth Estate area was totally submerged... The good thing is that Manila Memorial Park opened up their backgate which opened up on the other side of the flooded area. So there I went my way home, but -- since parts of Metro Manila were submerged -- I saw that the road leading up to our house was also, uhm, drowning. Hehe. I had to drop by my dad's house and leave Jessie there.
After that I decided to cancel all my other tasks and just fetch Che from the office. It was past 2:00 PM anyway and with the traffic, I won't get around much. At first I thought of going back for the Police Report but, knowing that it's a Friday, I decided to stay away from Makati. I later learned that all government personnel were told to go home because of the floods, so I guess that would include the police personnel doing deskjobs, so it's a good move not to go there.
By the time I got to Che's office, it was past 3:00 PM -- by this time, it was announced that everyone could go home. But not Che. No no no no... Hehehe. Just kidding. She was asked to stay and she had a long talk with her boss. I can't say what they talked about and I'm not taking it against her -- it's business-related talk so I know that it had to be done and that it had to be done soon. They talked for hours.
By 4PM, I then remembered that I still haven't eaten anything yet for that day. I just dropped by to the nearest 7-11 and Mercury Drug (both along Padre Faura street in Manila) and ate Nova and dried mangoes, forgot the brand -- hey, it's been a while since I've eaten dried mangoes, okay? So, anyway. Yup, that's all I ate. No rice for that day so far! :-)
I can't use my phone's radio because it's low bat (hehe you know, WAN BARS LEP NA LANG AKO EH, hehehe). So I had no form of entertainment except eating Nova and the dried mangoes. Ugh! Well, I did try to walk back and forth between Mercury Drug and 7-11, but that could "entertain" me for only so long. Not sure what I did that, though. I think I must have dozed off in the car.
Anyway, Che was finally done by around 6PM. It took us another couple of hours before finally getting home. Well, I can't remember much what happened that day. I guess everything's a blur when you're wasted. hehe.
This day, August 17, Friday, I had a lot of tasks to do, which is not bad at all --- if only it didn't rain that hard again!
Mid-morning, after taking Che to the office, I went straight to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to have my passport renewed. Had a hard time finding a parking slot -- found one in Cuneta Astrodome, about a block away. As if the rain wasn't enough, I had to deal with this guy who pulled me just before I got to the entrance. He's one of those fixers out there who forcibly took me to one of the stalls outside of the DFA to give me my application form, take my picture, etc. I got interested with the fact that many people are there, so I went along with it. In one of the stalls, someone gave me an application form which is free (fine). Then the photographer on that stall said that they will take two pictures of me: one with a blue background, the other with a white background. When someone would that they already have pictures with white background, they would argue that in the new process, they needed two sets of pictures -- one with blue, the other white background. Then after that, they asked to pay up around php200. By this time, I had turned and ran to the DFA gate. no way I'm giving them money for something that I don't need!
I can't help but smirk at the, uhm, how do I say this? I can't help but smirk at this lucrative business, this con and it's happening at the outside walls of the DFA compound! Geez!
Anyway, just to remind everyone, there are several things that needs to be pointed out:
- fill up the application form before you go to DFA; it's free and can be downloaded
- bring three passport-sized pictures with WHITE background
- read the requirements in the application form; bring whatever is stated there (photocopy of some pages of the old passport is always required for renewals)
- you only need to pay either php500 (6-day processing) or php750 (2-day processing); no more, no less
Unless the requirements have been changed, you should only bring the above and end up paying only 500 or 750. That's it. If you already have all of the above handy, it should not take more than 1 hour. I finished the above in about 30 minutes :)
After DFA, I had to go to Makati Police Traffic to get the Police Report. Since it was Friday, getting there was a pain. When I got there, I found out that the inspector could not get on the PC because they had no electricity (huh?). He said I should come back later that day around 1:30 PM. Argh, now that's a waste of gas!
Then, I got a call from Che, saying that I should have Jessie x-rayed to make sure that if there are still puppies (possibly dead ones) inside her or not. So I went straight home, took Jessie to the only veterinary clinic I know along Sucat Road, Carlos Veterinary Clinic, and had her examined.. Too bad there were no more puppies left.
Anyway, after the examination, that's when it really, really, REALLY rained hard. How hard? Well, Sucat Road in the Fourth Estate area was totally submerged... The good thing is that Manila Memorial Park opened up their backgate which opened up on the other side of the flooded area. So there I went my way home, but -- since parts of Metro Manila were submerged -- I saw that the road leading up to our house was also, uhm, drowning. Hehe. I had to drop by my dad's house and leave Jessie there.
After that I decided to cancel all my other tasks and just fetch Che from the office. It was past 2:00 PM anyway and with the traffic, I won't get around much. At first I thought of going back for the Police Report but, knowing that it's a Friday, I decided to stay away from Makati. I later learned that all government personnel were told to go home because of the floods, so I guess that would include the police personnel doing deskjobs, so it's a good move not to go there.
By the time I got to Che's office, it was past 3:00 PM -- by this time, it was announced that everyone could go home. But not Che. No no no no... Hehehe. Just kidding. She was asked to stay and she had a long talk with her boss. I can't say what they talked about and I'm not taking it against her -- it's business-related talk so I know that it had to be done and that it had to be done soon. They talked for hours.
By 4PM, I then remembered that I still haven't eaten anything yet for that day. I just dropped by to the nearest 7-11 and Mercury Drug (both along Padre Faura street in Manila) and ate Nova and dried mangoes, forgot the brand -- hey, it's been a while since I've eaten dried mangoes, okay? So, anyway. Yup, that's all I ate. No rice for that day so far! :-)
I can't use my phone's radio because it's low bat (hehe you know, WAN BARS LEP NA LANG AKO EH, hehehe). So I had no form of entertainment except eating Nova and the dried mangoes. Ugh! Well, I did try to walk back and forth between Mercury Drug and 7-11, but that could "entertain" me for only so long. Not sure what I did that, though. I think I must have dozed off in the car.
Anyway, Che was finally done by around 6PM. It took us another couple of hours before finally getting home. Well, I can't remember much what happened that day. I guess everything's a blur when you're wasted. hehe.
Hmmmm... Come to think of it, these days really weren't that bad --- except the bus crash day, of course. Things could have gotten worse in many ways, but it didn't. Many events could have gotten worse and I've learned a lot.
So there.
The ever-optimistic me trying to rationalize the events and looking at the brighter side of things. Looking not at how bad it was but at how it did not get worse. Looking at what I've learned and experienced rather than what I've lost. Perception is reality. I choose this way of looking at things. Hmm... the world ain't that bad at all!
So there.
The ever-optimistic me trying to rationalize the events and looking at the brighter side of things. Looking not at how bad it was but at how it did not get worse. Looking at what I've learned and experienced rather than what I've lost. Perception is reality. I choose this way of looking at things. Hmm... the world ain't that bad at all!
Monday, August 20, 2007
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Just updating my civil status now!
Well, well well, my procrastination finally bit me in the @$$.
I've been married for several months now and I'm just starting to work on updating my documents. Hah! Oh well, let's see...
The rest of the stuff, I still have to work on. Ha ha!
I already submitted to our HR the documents to update my BIR, PhilHealth and Medicard (basically the same things; photocopies of the Marriage Contract). What I lack is the E4 form for the SSS. I guess I'll just have to work on that one of the coming days. For now, I think I should work on my passport... You'll never know when you might need to get on a plane to somewhere. Yeah!
I've been married for several months now and I'm just starting to work on updating my documents. Hah! Oh well, let's see...
- BIR/TIN [done]
- SSS
- PhilHealth
- Medicard
- Passport
The rest of the stuff, I still have to work on. Ha ha!
I already submitted to our HR the documents to update my BIR, PhilHealth and Medicard (basically the same things; photocopies of the Marriage Contract). What I lack is the E4 form for the SSS. I guess I'll just have to work on that one of the coming days. For now, I think I should work on my passport... You'll never know when you might need to get on a plane to somewhere. Yeah!
No OTYs!
After a few months, I just realized that I haven't stayed for OTY (for the unfamiliar, that's Over-Time Thank You i.e., no pay) in the office since June this year! I guess the fact that I'm in the most challenging and stressful team in MANILA TAC does not prevent me from becoming a 4:31er just like the good old NMS days.
No trainings, no backlogs pending on me, no pending reviews... Well, actually there are cases that are pending on me but once it hits 4:30 PM, I stop. I simply stop working. I'm not paid, so why bother, right?
It's not that I'm not enjoying my job or that I'm very lazy or that I'm not enthusiastic about my job. I guess I'm just better at maximizing my time nowadays. Here are some things that I think helps in my job:
- update all of my pending jobs and tasks every 2 days (never let a job reach 3 days or more without any updates)
- do the easy tasks first; I guess it has something to do with a sense of achievement; everytime I update a simple task (a short phone or email update), I achieve something. Sure it's a small thing, but say I do that for all of my 15 tasks, hey, not bad. Before the middle of my shift, I would have finished all 15, giving me more time to work on the other tasks at hand such as the new cases I have just accepted or reviewing the cases of my juniors.
Ah well.. I better enjoy this while it lasts.
No trainings, no backlogs pending on me, no pending reviews... Well, actually there are cases that are pending on me but once it hits 4:30 PM, I stop. I simply stop working. I'm not paid, so why bother, right?
It's not that I'm not enjoying my job or that I'm very lazy or that I'm not enthusiastic about my job. I guess I'm just better at maximizing my time nowadays. Here are some things that I think helps in my job:
- update all of my pending jobs and tasks every 2 days (never let a job reach 3 days or more without any updates)
- do the easy tasks first; I guess it has something to do with a sense of achievement; everytime I update a simple task (a short phone or email update), I achieve something. Sure it's a small thing, but say I do that for all of my 15 tasks, hey, not bad. Before the middle of my shift, I would have finished all 15, giving me more time to work on the other tasks at hand such as the new cases I have just accepted or reviewing the cases of my juniors.
Ah well.. I better enjoy this while it lasts.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Last Song Syndrome...
Geez... Someone started singing this in the office and it was stuck in my head the whole day! Gardamit!
Okay everybody, sing with me....
Makulay / ang buhay /
Makulay/ ang buhay/
Sa sinabawang / gulay!
Entertaining and annoying at the same time!
Okay everybody, sing with me....
Makulay / ang buhay /
Makulay/ ang buhay/
Sa sinabawang / gulay!
Entertaining and annoying at the same time!
WWH and Endangered Species Checklist
So far, I've been reading up on two current crossover events in the Marvel Universe: the World War Hulk and the Endangered Species.
The World War Hulk series includes 35 issues, the first 10 of which are already out. Here's the WWH comics checklist. Those with 'x' are the ones I either own or already read.
[x] 00 World War Hulk Prologue: World Breaker #1
[x] 01 Incredible Hulk 106
[x] 02 World War Hulk 1
[x] 03 Incredible Hulk 107
[x] 04 Invincible Iron Man 19
[x] 05 Ghost Rider 12
[x] 06 Heroes for Hire 11
[x] 07 World War Hulk: X-Men 1
[x] 08 World War Hulk: Front Line 1
[ ] 09 Avengers: The Initiative 4
[x] 10 Irredeemable Ant-Man 10
[x] 11 World War Hulk: Gamma Corps 1
[ ] 12 World War Hulk 2
[ ] 13 Ghost Rider 13
[ ] 14 World War Hulk: Front Line 2
[ ] 15 Invincible Iron Man 20
[ ] 16 Heroes for Hire 12
[ ] 17 World War Hulk: Gamma Corps 2
[ ] 18 World War Hulk 3
[ ] 19 World War Hulk: X-Men 2
[ ] 20 World War Hulk: Front Line 3
[ ] 21 Incredible Hulk 108
[ ] 22 Avengers: The Initiative 5
[ ] 23 Incredible Hulk 109
[ ] 24 World War Hulk: Young Avengers 1
[ ] 25 World War Hulk: Gamma Corps 3
[ ] 26 World War Hulk: Front Line 4
[ ] 27 World War Hulk 4
[ ] 28 World War Hulk: X-Men 3
[ ] 29 Heroes for Hire 13
[ ] 30 World War Hulk: Front Line 5
[ ] 31 World War Hulk: Gamma Corps 4
[ ] 32 World War Hulk 5
[ ] 33 Heroes for Hire 14
[ ] 34 Incredible Hulk 110
[ ] 35 World War Hulk: Front Line 6
The smaller crossover event, X-Men: Endangered Species, consists of 17 issues, each of which is embedded in the X-Factor, X-Men, and Uncanny X-Men comics series (similar to the format used in Civil War - Front Line). That is -- at least in the first comics indicated below -- you actually get two read two stories; the current storyline for that comic series, plus the Endangered Species storyline.
[x] Prologue - X-Men: Endangered Species One-shot
[x] 01 - X-Men 200
[x] 02 - Uncanny X-Men 488
[x] 03 - X-Factor 21
[ ] 04 - New X-Men 40
[ ] 05 - X-Men 201
[ ] 06 - Uncanny X-Men 489
[ ] 07 - X-Factor 22
[ ] 08 - New X-Men 41
[ ] 09 - X-Men 202
[ ] 10 - Uncanny X-Men 490
[ ] 11 - X-Factor 23
[ ] 12 - New X-Men 42
[ ] 13 - X-Men 203
[ ] 14 - Uncanny X-Men 491
[ ] 15 - X-Factor 23
[ ] 16 - New X-Men 43
[ ] 17 - X-Men 204
The World War Hulk series includes 35 issues, the first 10 of which are already out. Here's the WWH comics checklist. Those with 'x' are the ones I either own or already read.[x] 00 World War Hulk Prologue: World Breaker #1
[x] 01 Incredible Hulk 106
[x] 02 World War Hulk 1
[x] 03 Incredible Hulk 107
[x] 04 Invincible Iron Man 19
[x] 05 Ghost Rider 12
[x] 06 Heroes for Hire 11
[x] 07 World War Hulk: X-Men 1
[x] 08 World War Hulk: Front Line 1
[ ] 09 Avengers: The Initiative 4
[x] 10 Irredeemable Ant-Man 10
[x] 11 World War Hulk: Gamma Corps 1
[ ] 12 World War Hulk 2
[ ] 13 Ghost Rider 13
[ ] 14 World War Hulk: Front Line 2
[ ] 15 Invincible Iron Man 20
[ ] 16 Heroes for Hire 12
[ ] 17 World War Hulk: Gamma Corps 2
[ ] 18 World War Hulk 3
[ ] 19 World War Hulk: X-Men 2
[ ] 20 World War Hulk: Front Line 3
[ ] 21 Incredible Hulk 108
[ ] 22 Avengers: The Initiative 5
[ ] 23 Incredible Hulk 109
[ ] 24 World War Hulk: Young Avengers 1
[ ] 25 World War Hulk: Gamma Corps 3
[ ] 26 World War Hulk: Front Line 4
[ ] 27 World War Hulk 4
[ ] 28 World War Hulk: X-Men 3
[ ] 29 Heroes for Hire 13
[ ] 30 World War Hulk: Front Line 5
[ ] 31 World War Hulk: Gamma Corps 4
[ ] 32 World War Hulk 5
[ ] 33 Heroes for Hire 14
[ ] 34 Incredible Hulk 110
[ ] 35 World War Hulk: Front Line 6
The smaller crossover event, X-Men: Endangered Species, consists of 17 issues, each of which is embedded in the X-Factor, X-Men, and Uncanny X-Men comics series (similar to the format used in Civil War - Front Line). That is -- at least in the first comics indicated below -- you actually get two read two stories; the current storyline for that comic series, plus the Endangered Species storyline.[x] Prologue - X-Men: Endangered Species One-shot
[x] 01 - X-Men 200
[x] 02 - Uncanny X-Men 488
[x] 03 - X-Factor 21
[ ] 04 - New X-Men 40
[ ] 05 - X-Men 201
[ ] 06 - Uncanny X-Men 489
[ ] 07 - X-Factor 22
[ ] 08 - New X-Men 41
[ ] 09 - X-Men 202
[ ] 10 - Uncanny X-Men 490
[ ] 11 - X-Factor 23
[ ] 12 - New X-Men 42
[ ] 13 - X-Men 203
[ ] 14 - Uncanny X-Men 491
[ ] 15 - X-Factor 23
[ ] 16 - New X-Men 43
[ ] 17 - X-Men 204
Human Security Act: Anti-Terror Law or Martial Law?
The Human Security Act of 2007 (Republic Act No. 9372) has been in effect since this last Sunday, July 15, 2007. Basically, this new law is designed to protect against acts of terrorism. The entire text of RA 9372 is posted in this blog.
As expected, this has been met with tons of criticism and controversy, especially from the opposition, the leftists, the activists, and the like.
Perhaps the most notable provisions of the new act includes (but is not limited to) the following:
SEC. 7. Surveillance of Suspects and Interception and Recording of Communications. (e.g. wiretapping)
SEC. 18. Period of Detention Without Judicial Warrant of Arrest. (aka. warrantless arrest)
EC. 27. Judicial Authorization Required to Examine Bank Deposits, Accounts, and Records.
So as of this moment, if you are already a suspected terrorist (take note, suspected, not confirmed yet), you can be wiretapped, arrested, and they can have a magnifying glass on all of your bank accounts.
Although we do need laws to protect us from terrorism, we may never know for certain if this is just a sweeter, a more pleasing-to-the-ears way of saying martial law.
The intention is good. However, you can't help but wonder if (or should I say when) this law can be abused. For one thing, who decides who the terrorists are? Who will "police" the "police"? (Hmm.. I see a similarity with the plot of the recently concluded "Civil War" in Marvel Comics -- you know, the one where Captain America died.)
The proponents included a provision stating that anyone falsely accused of being a terrorist will be given php500,000 per day of imprisonment. They say that this is supposed to prevent the abuse of this law. Got to ask: if the falsely accused person disappears, do they still have to pay php500,000 per day of imprisonment? :-)
I could go on and on about this, but I'd rather not; I don't want to cause any widespread and extraordinary fear and panic. :-)
The president approves swiftly laws that will promote her power. (She must have read the 48 Laws of Power!) Ah well. I told you to read that book!
Here's to hoping for the best. For progress. And, most especially, for peace.
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