General

No Net

By on Monday, December 13, 2010

I walked into the office this morning to find the new cubicles and partitions finally in place. It’s something overdue for about a month already. But a closer look and I saw that the cabling was not yet done, there were no plugs at the ends of the cables which were stuffed haphazardly within the cubicle panels. There was also a pile of discarded old cables on the floor. But worst of all, there were no network guys to be seen! This was at past 9AM already.

So we had to make a call to the help desk. Not straightforward as the phones rely on the same cabling so there were no working phones in the immediate area. When someone finally arrived, he went about  laying out temporary cables picked up from the pile of cables on the floor. He didn’t even check if each user has a working connection. In the end, I had to finish up my network connections myself.

I’ve worked with smaller teams with less budget and they were more proactive and could do a far better job. Sheesh!

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General

Hostage

By on Sunday, December 12, 2010

The Aquino government stayed away from the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a Chinese democracy activist because the lives of six Filipinos in death row are at stake. They don’t give in to the demands of terrorists (or a bus hijacker) but they kowtow to a known oppressive state. Talk about lack of integrity. Next thing you know they’re gonna give up our claim to the Spratly Islands.

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General

Malling With Jeanne

By on Sunday, December 5, 2010

Michelle was attending her company Christmas party (Bah, humbug!) so I was going to be left to babysit Jeanne. Since staying at home where she has a predisposition to mommy would likely have been difficult, we decided I should go to a mall where she has a predisposition to daddy.

So equipped with the stroller, the baby bag, and a stuffed toy (Violet, James’ birthday gift), we dropped off mommy at the party venue then proceeded to the mall. After several minutes of strolling around, I decided to have dinner at Italianni’s since Jeanne didn’t have the appetite for rice since she got sick. The staff were nice, giving Jeanne a nice wooden high chair, a drawing board, and a pen. As she proceeded drawing random lines on the board, I ordered lasagna and pizza.

After dinner, we again strolled around the mall. At one point, Jeanne played with bubbles some kids blew her way with their bubble generators. She also pushed the stroller around with me supporting her. Finally, we decided mommy had enough fun and went to pick her up. Jeanne was already crying.

When we got to the party venue, I opened the car window hoping she will be distracted by the lighted Christmas decor. Instead, she peered out the windows and cried her lungs out for mommy as people leaving the party passed by. After what seemed like an eternity, Michelle finally arrived and Jeanne stopped crying. Whew! I think we’ll set a curfew for mommy, right Jeanne?

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General

Apple iPhone 4

By on Saturday, December 4, 2010

I put in a reservation for an Apple iPhone 4 a few weeks ago but but never got a call. I learned that some of my friends actually received calls about their reservations. Unwilling to wait anymore, I went back to the Globe business center.

As usual, Globe customer service was thorough (read: slow) unless of course if you’re a Platinum subscriber in which case they would gladly turn back any other customer they’re about to talk to and even give you the last stock of a phone another customer is about to get.

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