To Sentosa we will go...

My sister reminded us that there's one place we haven't been to yet... Well, actually, we haven't been to the many go-to places in Singapore yet, but that's not the point. :) Anyway, read my previous post about this here.

After six months, we finally needed to take a very good breather and so we went to Sentosa! I guess carefully laid-out plans don't always push through. We've always been planning to go there only to end up too lazy to push through. Drawing, drawing, drawing... This trip was simply made out of the blue; someone suggested it, everyone agreed to it, so awaaaaaaaaay we go!


While going down the beach, we spotted what appears to be an out-of-place Siberian Husky in the middle of the tropics...




Us with the rest of the gang!




This one was taken on one end of the beach....

Shot on another part of the beach are the bridge and the viewing platforms on the inlet, which is dubbed the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia.




The two of us on the bridge to the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia.




On the platform that links the "two towers" i.e. the viewing platforms.




The rock says:

"The inlet that you are standing on now is 135 KM north of the Equator and is described as the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia.

This inlet is linked to Asia via a suspension bridge which is linked to mainland Singapore by a 710 meter long causeway bridge. Singapore is further linked to Peninsular Malaysia and Asia by the Singapore-Johore Causeway."



Note: It's a bit tedious writing the "Southernmost Point of Continental Asia." This is like the fourth time it was written within this one post...


The two of us on the iconic rocks that spell "Sentosa".



See also Che's post on this one here.

My sister's family's one-stop visit

As per my last post, my sister visited us here in Singapore before they would go on their amazing race.



BTW, they're Sheila, Peter and Konrad, my sister, her husband, and their son. And of course us. :)

Tiny trivia: for the last six months, we haven't set foot in Sentosa yet. Sheila, staying in SG for only one day, got there first before us. Hmmm... I guess that means...... to be continued.... :)

My Bangkok Getaway!

As per my last post, April was bad for me.

I was sooooooo sick of my work, that all it took was one SMS from Che and I booked a flight to Bangkok!

Che was also having a hard time at the customer's site in Bangkok that she kept texting me to book a flight and go there -- as always, since she the first time she was sent there. She never expected me to actually book a flight and go there. She just wanted a little bit of comfort since her work there is also *ahem* a "winner"! Imagine her surprise when I said that okay, I would go there. The next couple of messages were my flight booking notifications I forwarded to her.

I know, I know... This is no different from impulsive buying... But at least now, I understand possibly one of the factors why people become impulsive buyers in the first place. At that time I didn't care. I just wanted to get out.

BTW, it's not just any airline. I booked a Singapore Airlines seat. I figured this is the only opportunity I had to fly on a more decent flight. [I've always flown cheaper ones like Cebu Pacific and Jetstar.] Well, the flight did not disappoint. Seats are larger and much more comfortable. I opted for the movie National Treasure 2 as my entertainment me during the flight. The served lunch was also great. The aircrew were nice and very accomodating.

It turns out that Thailand would be celebrating the Thai New Year, a three-day holiday starting the following Monday. Too bad I had to leave on the preceding Sunday, but that's okay. I enjoyed every minute of my stay there! :)

Since there was no actual plan here, we didn't see any of the tourist destinations there, except for one - the Chatuchak (or Jatujak) Market.



Bunch of clothes, trinkets, and pets for sale. We spent several hours there but managed to go around only the south-eastern section of the market. The place was just too damn large! I'm glad Che had a blast buying stuff for home. Me, well aside from my aching feet, I had fun as well. :)

Aside from that, we decided to go to Siam Paragon, one of the got-to-see malls in Bangkok. To get there, we had to take the MRT from the hotel. Not much to do there, just our typical day in the mall. Just different places, different brands, different food, and people talk to us in their local dialect -- to which we reply mai ko jai -- not sure exactly how it's written but that's what it sounded like. It means "I don't understand". Hehehe :)

BTW, while Bangkok is similar to Manila in so many ways, what separates Bangkok from Manila is the train system. Bangkok's MRT, while may not be as efficient as that of Singapore, is simply much better than the MRT systems in Manila. The Bangkok MRT system is clean, well-maintained, and although there is certainly room for improvement, it is nevertheless effecient.
So anyway, moving on...

By Sunday afernoon, we were back in Singapore. We rode on two separate flights -- hers was a Singapore Airline flight at 1PM, while mine was a JetStar flight at 9AM. Reason for different flights? Her company reserved her for that flight. I, on the otherhand, just booked on impulse (as I explained earlier). That was the only available flight available to me for that day.

By the time I returned to Singapore, I learned that my sister was also here with her family. They were planning their own "Amazing Race", arriving in Singapore that Sunday, then leaving for KL (Kuala Lumpur), Malaysia the next day via train. After doing some business in KL, they'd go to Thailand after which they would fly back to Manila. Go figure. :)

Anyway, we met them on Sunday evening and treated them to dinner in Marche (again) in VivoCity. But I guess, that's another post for another time.... :)

Thanks for reading...

Phew! Surviving April...

Finally! After an extended hiatus from blogging, I'm back!! Well, sort of...

While many Filipino students had or were preparing for graduation day, Singaporean kids are preparing for the start of the school year. Hence, after a couple months of minimal activity, the campus network would be getting a real workout.

Much has happened this April at work, that -- I guess -- pushed me to the limit. :(

We had at least two big network downtimes at least two more which affected computer laboratories. On top of these, the big boss gave me a a lot of trivial things to check such as Yahoo! Messenger not having transparent proxy, or a particular person not being able to VPN into the network from home.

Then of course there's the big network server migration coming this June. I had to map each of the hundred plus servers to the corresponding switch ports -- manually! If the lack of documentation was not enough, I had no consistent information about the server hostnames and IP addresses (they change these too often), ARP tables of most switches are imcompleteso I had to rely on MAC addresses, which means I have to ask the server owners to provide that information since I don't have access to any of these servers.

Then there's me getting "lectured" for not updating in a timely manner all of the big boss's trivial follow-ups and what-not.

My colleague said that I should not take my job seriously. If I let everything in my work affect me, there's no way you I can survive another six months.

[Oh yeah, end of April marks my sixth month in this job! Yipee! Six more to go!]

Anyway, the thing is, my work already has affected me. In my last job, it was easier to "change hats". When I'm in the office, I work hard. When work's done for the day, I leave everything behind in the office. After I leave the office, I'm a husband, a friend, or whatever -- just not a stressed office worker. I leave the work and the stress behind. I don't even think of work when I'm with my friends, with Che, or with the rest of our family.

But now, I can't help but think of work. I had to bring home the laptop they provided me so I can work from home. I brought home the stress. I get full six hourse of sleep (longer than what I used to back in Philippines) but still restless when I wake up.

Point is, my colleague's right. This is exactly what I told Che a few years ago when she was stressed with her job. Don't soak everything that's thrown your way -- let it slide off your back. So what if you can't meet the SLA? So what if you can't meet the deadline? What'd they do? Fire me? They'd be doing me a favor! At least I wouldn't have to pay the bond AND I get my freedome back! :)

So many lessons learned. The support structure and processes suck and that's the reason people leave this job whenever they can. Work attitude here is very different from what I'm used to. No choice but to adapt. Bossses want their money's worth. Technically-challenged users shout because they are too stupid to do know anything else. Blame game is the common work attitude -- someone's gotta fall and take all the hits for whatever problems encountered. I'm still thinking of ways how I can curb this away from me when I'm the duty engineer as well as how I can use this to my advantage. Hehehe... Plans, motives, conspiracy... the plot thickens.. hahaha :)

Blogging has been therapeutic for me. I want to post more regardless of the heavy workload. And I want to post less work and more life outside work. Enough about work. It's a new month, and it's my month, I might add. A new beginning of sorts for me. :)

That's it for this post. New goal: post something other than work. Hehehehe :))

Beat It!

Almost another week has passed without any posts! Hehehe, it's been very busy the last few days. :)

Somehow, the song was very appropriate for my mood about work. Hehehe.. A very angry angry angry song! Hahaha! :)



Fall Out Boy feat John Mayer - Beat It

They told him don't you ever come around here
Don't wanna see your face, you better disappear
The fire's in their eyes and their words are really clear
So beat it, just beat it

You better run, you better do what you can
Don't wanna see no blood, don't be a macho man
You wanna be tough, better do what you can
So beat it, but you wanna be bad

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right
Just beat it, beat it
Just beat it, beat it

Just beat it, beat it
Just beat it, beat it

They're out to get you, better leave while you can
Don't wanna be a boy, you wanna be a man
You wanna stay alive, better do what you can
So beat it, just beat it

You have to show them that you're really not scared
You're playin' with your life, this ain't no truth or dare
They'll kick you, then they beat you,
Then they'll tell you it's fair
So beat it, but you wanna be bad

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right
Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it

Beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or who's right

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right
Just beat it, beat it
Beat it, beat it, beat it

The April Fool!

How fitting is it, that today is April Fool's Day and I feel that I've just been made a fool of?

It's him! The pasa-loader once again! It's not enough that he's not here to take responsibility for a task he screwed up, now I have to pick up the pieces and I have to fix everything while being under a microscope...

The pasa-loader's task (another SSL certificate installation) was submitted about three weeks ago, and the servers needing that certificate need it by tomorrow for testing. So NATURALLY, the server admin only complained today, the day before the testing day. This server admin, complaining that task was submitted weeks before, escalated the issue to his boss. Now his boss is "making noise" (as what they call it) to our boss (i.e., boss of pasa-loader and me).


Now, since pasa-loader is on sick leave for two weeks now (some form of measles or something), guess who takes the heat? Come on, three guesses only, don't be shy. Take a guess... Yep, yours truly. Soooooo...................................

Here I come to save the day!
(mighty mouse and friends, are on their way... hehehe)

So that's what I've been doing since this morning until just about half an hour ago... I didn't even have time to eat breakfast. Oh well... I resolved it eventually but it was extremely stressful... It's cold in the office (aircon was set to 22 degrees C), but I didn't feel it at all. Actually, I felt sweat beading on my forehead and on my back. I had a monster headache while trying to figure out this damn thing.


Now that I've had some time to sit down and ponder on the events this morning, here are a few things that have been bugging me:

(1) Why is it that every time pasa-loader takes a vacation or sick leave, we get in trouble? It's like he always has a surprise for us whenever he's not around; unfinished and long overdue tasks, irate clients, admins and/or bosses, things like that...


(2) Since the afformentioned task is three-weeks old, why did no one (the pasa-loader or the server admin) test it then? Why wait until the DAY BEFORE the deadline to do the test? It's THEIR responsibility to test it. Now this friggin' service admin has the gall to complain?

Damn bastard!

Whoops sorry... Slipped out... I'm not angry... *chanting while jumping* I'm in a happy place... I'm in a happy place... I'm in a happy place... I'm in a happy place.......


(3) Is it coincidence that today is April Fools Day? I mean really... Why do I feel duped? It's as if this was a big setup? Like they planned this big friggin' problem and dump this on me on this very specific day?

Well whatever... It's fixed. It's done.

Dragonlance Bargain Books

In baragin book sales, I almost always end up empty-handed. I guess the books that I'm looking for are either very rare, or not usually listed under the "bargain" (i.e., not easily sold) category.

About a week ago, we went home, with me happily nursing my sore arms -- they're sore because of the tons of books that we bought from Carrefour. :)

Two of those books are from the Dragonlance series. Dragonlance, as Mister Wiki explains, is a large series of fantasy novels consisting of around 190 novels. I've no plans of buying the entire lot; just the mainstream or the "core" novels, although I do buy some of the side novels every now and then; so far, I have the Chronicles trilogy (Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Winter Night, Spring Dawning), Legends trilogy (Time of Twins, War of Twins, and Test of Twins) and the Dragons of Summer Flame.

A few years back, I somehow lost interest after reading the Summer Flame book; besides the fact that college time was a busy time, I'm not really a big fan of how some of the heroes ended up dying the way they did and all that. Although I do like the part about the Knights of Takhisis (basically, a group of Knights worshipping the evil goddess Takhisis) and their code. It goes something like: "respect your enemy...so that you will not underestimate him" or something (sorry, I can't remember fully the exact words nor the exact page where I read this). Not a bad idea, if you ask me. :)

Well, enough about that...

So anyway, going back, I bought two books from the next "trilogy", War of Souls; I got Dragons of a Fallen Sun (book 1) and Dragons of a Vanished Moon (book 3). Too bad there were no Dragons of a Lost Star (book 2) anywhere that time. Still, I'm bappy with what I got.

Since it's a Carrefour book sale, each of the books (all of them are brand new, btw) costs only S$5! That is regardless of the size, edition, whatever. As long as it's a book, it's S$5! The Fallen Sun book sold is the paperback edition. The Vanished Moon book is the big hardcover edition -- this happens to be my first hardbound Dragonlance book! So that's S$10, which is not a bad bargain if you ask me; a few years back in Manila, I remember each book (paperback edition) costs between php250 and php350 -- that's around S$8 to S$12 each.

Well, I hope I like this one. I'll look for the other book just to complete the set.

An engineer's struggle with lupus...

The person here, Leslie, is actually one of my former colleagues in my previous job in the Philippines. I think it was about a month after I left for Singapore when I learned that she left that company as well. Before that, though, she was already out on sick leave for a few months. Sadly, it was lupus. :(

She's one of two people who got lupus from that same company. Don't know about you but there's something definitely wrong in this company... Could be the environment, could be the other people, could be the actual work itself. Whatever the case, no one's happy with illnesses that are (most likely) triggered by work stress...

Good luck to you....

http://lupus.ph/stories/pubview.php?id=145

Busy Thursday

I've never been busy like this since I was the duty network engineer for the entire December '07. I've been away my desk for most of the time, much even less time to do the usual blogging and Internet surfing... Oh well, it's one of those days... Or rather, one of those weeks...

Well, it's not like I had a good time during Holy Week last time I was in the Philippines. Holiday or not, as long as it is a day between a Monday and Friday, we go. Here at least, we don't have to go this Good Friday. :)

Particularly busy was this Maundy Thursday. With this being the last day before the upcoming event this Monday -- the campus will be holding a laptop configuration event thingy for all the students; lucky kids! -- everyone was scrambling to get all things ready.

Sadly, though, someone has messed up the configs of some switches (someone deleted the damn VLANs) causing all the test laptops connected to it to be disconnected. Well, at least that was easily resolved once the "damage" was seen from the switch-side. I had to go to the switch, though, which was holed up in a a very small, cramped, and somewhat smelly room.

I wanted to find out what the hell happened that the switches got messed up! Oh well... Too tired to track down the who, the how, or the why of it all.

Earlier...
So let's see... I had to carry a switch from my place to the event site which was about five buildings away. I had to get the keys from the other support center which was another two buildings away. The switch is not that heavy -- just a small 48-port switch... I think it was a Cat3750... Well, doesn't matter.

When we're done with the event, I'll play around with the switch for a little while... Better to experiment and do tests on spare switches than the ones in production.

There were also these three switches in computer laboratory which cannot be accessed remotely via CiscoWorks servers, telnet, or SSH... Well, okay SSH will not work for two of those which are the old Cisco Catalyst 3500XL switches. Still, it's getting in the way of me getting rid of my three-month-old task of upgrading the IOS images of all the hundreds of devices in the network -- did I mention they have hundreds of devices? Hehe...

Hmm, I actually learned a great deal about that... Maybe I'll post it on my other blog.

Blog controversy!

Wow! I guess I've not been around for a long while that I missed this big blog controversy here, involving an Aussie guy and an alleged Pinoy scammer.

The gist: the Australian Brian Gorrell is accusing Pinoy Delfin Justiniano "DJ" Montano of swindling him of AUD70,000! And Mr. Gorrell wants it back!

Filipinos are no stranger to high-profile controversies. But verbal battles over the radio and/or the TV is one thing. Going online is taking it to another level! With the Australian "attacking" several other well-known personalities associated with Mr. DJ., you can expect hell breaking lose sooner than later.

Don't want to dwell on this topic too much. It's too frustrating. It's sad when the Philippines becomes involved with international disputes like this. If the high-profile Pinoys involved are really guilty, nakakahiya!

It's news like these that make you think, "Do I really want to go back to the Philippines?" Whether this is true or not, Pinoys all around the world are reminded of how corrupt the Philippines truly is. And it is these corrupt Pinoys who have money and power who perpetuate this cycle of corruption. Whether this particular accused is included, there really ARE Pinoys who can and will use their influence to get what they want, when they want. Government officials and their lackeys, the media, the "elite" groups, people who flash their DILG ID in their cars, police seargeants and colonels who feel that they own the roads and nobody gets to speed there but them... They're there.. So, are you still as enthusiastic about answering the question "do you really want to go back to the Philippines"? Is this what's waiting for you when you get home?

If the accusations are not true (which, personally, I sincerely doubt), let's hope this blows over and hope Pinoys around the world are not frowned at. If the accusations are true, then let them have it! It's about time that somebody stood up against the "elite" crackheads and are made an example of -- and hope that Pinoys around the world are not frowned at as well.

BTW, some links below:

http://delfindjmontano.blogspot.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gucci_Gang_controversy - possibly removed within a few days
http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/entertainment/entertainment/view/20080317-125117/Brian-steps-out-of-his-blog-