“There are only 10 kinds of people. Those who can read binary, and those who can not.”

Unlike most employees, I was quite satisfied with my work. The benefits are good enough, especially for married ones. And I can spend more time with my daughter rather than wasting time travelling to and from the office. But when it comes to “enjoy what you do” aspect, this could change my mind.

While I was tinkering with our DSLR and trying to figure out the lens we would purchase, I realized I MIGHT want another career change. I missed working with embedded systems. And wouldn’t it be nice to work with something that has to do with your hobby?

When I got married, I DECIDED I’m through with development work. But who am I kidding? There must be something in me that made me answer “Computer Engineer” to that slumbook question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” way back when I was just in 4th grade. Same reason I convinced my mother to enrol me to a technology institute instead of going to the national university just because I prefer the “engineering” over the “science” course. (No need to convince my father, he doesn’t want me to enrol to the national university. He believes anyone who graduates from there comes out as an activist.)

The reason I was so stubborn to take as my FIRST job a low-paying job in a Japanese company over high-paying one in an American company just so that I’d use the course that I finished on whatever work I’ll be doing. (Probably the same reason I prefer wash-and-wear hairstyle, clothes and shoes. But that’s another story.)

It’s like a little fire I thought I have long put out.

But like I said, I’ve decided I’m through with dev work. My current job in a multinational company meets the work-life (careerwoman-wife/mother) balance criteria.

It’s different now. Yeah, let me repeat those words till I can finally convince myself.

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Last night, I had a weird dream. No, it’s not about running away from debt collection agencies. Hehehe. But I am quite sure it means something. Something to do with my work, and probably about the global recession.

First, I dreamt I was in a van with my team mates going on an out-of-town trip. The van is driven by our manager. All my teammates were sleeping while I watched my manager drove through the zigzag road. I know that if he missed, the van would fall into a very deep body of water. Then it happened, he missed a turn and we dived into the vast body of water. Since I do not know how to swim, it was quite odd that I was confident I won’t die, I was quite sure I’d float and be rescued somehow. Still, I was waiting for us to hit the water. There I was, just waiting, but we haven’t hit anything nor did I feel like falling at all.

Then in this same dream I woke up. (Yes, I was still dreaming. A dream within a dream) I realized that it was just a dream. But again, I was so sure that it was a premonition, that it would happen in a matter of hours. I was recounting that dream to my hubby’s aunt and cousin. In my dream, we were at a mansion somewhere in Vigan. There’s a bridge-like passage on the second level where I saw (while taking pictures) an elephant trying to take a peek on the ground floor. Again, I was so sure it would fall. I ran to the door because I was so sure that the elephant would run wild once he falls. Then the elephant fell, just as I opened the door, the elephant ran inside so I shut it closed instead.

ETA: No need to interpret the first one ‘coz I can figure that one out easily. The second one I had to google. I found out that an elephant in a dream would mean good omen, no matter if he was kind or attacking you. What’s puzzling was the part that the elephant fell and I had to shut the door closed so that he won’t get out again.

We did some last minute shopping today. But hubby and I are still not finished crossing off names from our list. So we’d be continuing tomorrow. I’m blogging about this because people might wonder why there were so little updates from me.

One, because I no longer have work. So I have the freedom AWAY from a computer/laptop. Two, I could probably be sleeping, trying to catch some zzzz’s, or else it wouldn’t be a vacation if I don’t. Three, busy shopping, and partying.

What is your ideal vacation? Ours would be a trip where the three of us would enjoy all the attractions. First, we’d like a great hotel accommodation. Second, itinerary includes going to the theme parks where hubby and daughter would ride all they can. And for me, taking pictures of attractions, perhaps a trip to the museum and/or caves will be on my agenda. Of course, shopping tops my list.

Then I learned about Branson Missouri vacations. I told hubby about their different packages. They can arrange the lodging and accommodations plus the tickets to the shows and to the attractions. The Acrobats of China sounds interesting. I’ve always been amazed at acrobatic displays. I found out too that there are several interesting museums in the area like the Hollywood Wax Museum. And there are water rides and Go Kart tracks that the kids would enjoy. Now that’s a fantastic vacation!

Since I had the chance to finally resize the pictures, I am going to photo-spam my blogs tonight.
I’m posting pictures of my uncles and aunties for my other aunties who are living on other countries to see.

My father’s the one in black suit.

You might be wondering why one of my uncles look familiar. Hmm, you might remember him as Amante from the Mara Clara telenovela.

My sister just got back from their honeymoon. We kidded asking them if they were able to make us a nephew or a niece. I advised her to be ready and to always eat healthy and be careful not to fall or be injured. You’ll never know when you’ll be blessed with a child. I read somewhere that cerebral palsy could be caused by an injury during early days of pregnancy. She reminded me that they have no plans yet to have a baby because she is off to Belgium for a work-related assignment for next year.

Then I reminded her of the sweet little things she could buy over at Zara for her darling niece at a very reasonable price.

Yes, this is yet another I-hate-the-service-laptop post.

My laptop needs to stay at the service center because its hinge was dismantled, and I’ve experienced 3 blue screens while I was creating the ticket for it (how timely huh?).

Anyway, I was given one service laptop. I find it nice ‘coz it has PS on it. Cool huh? The problem was there was no (client-related) application tools installed on it. So how could I possibly work? So I thought of installing the needed tools. Guess what? Nope, it doesn’t allow any installation from non-admin users.

Fortunately, one (newly-resigned) employee’s laptop was available. I grabbed the opportunity and told the Admin assistant I’ll be getting that instead.

Still I hate it because:
- It has no tool that I can use for queries. Useless. So I kept bugging the duty managers to do the queries for me. If it becomes complicated, I started bugging the DBAs.
- It has no communicator / chat that we officially use for work. Thank goodness for Yahoo Messenger.
- No flash player. Well, not that I need this for work. It’s just nice that when one officemate shows you a video, you can ACTUALLY watch it.
- No PS. Hmm, not work-related. Still, I hate it for that.
- IT DOESN’T ALLOW ANY INSTALLATION. Yes, no plugins!!! Ugh!
- SD drive does not work!!! Duh?!!

Service laptops are the pits!

Disclaimer: I’m using the desktop while blogging.

Yesterday was yet another time to mingle with my equally beautiful cousins. (Yes, in spite of being ugly on those pictures, I still think I’m pretty hehehe) One cousin gave me a package of beauty products with Ephedrasil hardcore. This was because I once asked her what she has been using on her face because she looked radiant.

While two other cousins were the mothers of the two other flower girls in the entourage. Believe it or not, we didn’t agree on what we were to wear on the event but yesterday three of us were wearing purple. My reason for wearing purple was in case BG didn’t want to walk down the aisle I could accompany her without looking off (and still complementary to the wedding theme). It turned out, they were thinking of the same thing.

I should have taken diet pills in preparation for my sister’s wedding. This was what I thought to myself when the snapshots of the wedding preps at Balai Taal (and of course the wedding itself at the Caleruega Chapel) were being flashed before the wedding guests during the reception program. I also realized that my nose is bigger than I thought it is. Plus I didn’t know my skin was that dark.

The best snapshot of me was when I was wiping my tears off when my sister was walking down the aisle. Ugh!

Yesterday, hubby and I were both ready to go to the wedding an hour earlier before the car coding scheme was to be lifted. When it was time to leave, the car wouldn’t start. It turned out that it was time to buy a new car battery. The van was there the battery of which, we could use to charge ours. The problem was the “series” to connect them was with my in-laws who were still out.

An hour later, they arrived. To make the long story short, we were able to leave the house. But when we arrived at EDSA Shangrila hotel, we asked where the Rizal ballroom is. Guess what? That ballroom is located at the Makati Shangrila hotel!!!

Expectedly, hubby was blaming me for not double-checking the invites. I have this habit of selective reading and listening. Hubby didn’t want to go to the wedding anymore, not only because we were already late but he was also worried that the car might not start again when it’s time to go home.

So hubby decided we just go out on a dinner date at Chili’s. Well, the night turned out fine, I guess.

As I have previously blogged, we were to attend a wedding. I tried curling my hair but couldn’t. The (xtenso) treatment had been making my hair straight defying any heat to curl it. It shouldn’t be a surprise since I don’t normally comb or brush my hair after shower and yet, my hair is straight all day.

Anyway, I sought the help of a friend who lives beside our house. She decided to just pull my hair in a half-pony. And she had done a great make-up too. All these for free!

I asked at the salon how much will they charge to have my hair done. 500 bucks!!! No, thanks. I’ll curl my hair myself!

We are attending a wedding (not my sister’s) tonight. My plan is to curl my hair but can’t decide between the two.

Hmm, I had my hair (xtenso) treated 4 months ago, I’m not really sure if I can curl it. Good luck to me. I’d probably start 2 hours from now as I’m still busy looking for the most affordable California car insurance and still swamped with work. Don’t you just love multitasking and cramming?

Btw, I had just tried two cocktail dresses. Good thing they both still fit me. Or else, I have nothing to wear later.

This feels weird. I just answered a bunch of questions and now I’m happier than 80% of all people!
Or maybe, I’m just in a very good mood today.

Your Life is Better Than 80% of All People

You really have things pretty good – so stop a minute and appreciate how great your life is. You likely have a cheery outlook, supportive friends, and plenty to keep you happily busy. You are usually content – and with good reason. You have a lot to be happy about. So when things don’t go well, remember that you have it better than most people!

My brother has been asking me to teach him more on SQL. I agreed telling him we can schedule a one-on-one tutorial when we visit my parents’ house next week. He then started telling me that his current on-the-job training focuses on Visual Studio projects. (His instructors build on the students’ low language skills then moving into the visual languages later.) We started talking about work experiences. Since on his college projects, one developer codes one at a time, he wonders how it works when project tasks are divided among several team members.

I told him about versioning and how hosted team foundation server comes into play. Though I must admit I’m not really familiar with hosted tfs, I told him this is used in controlling access to the codes and integrating with SharePoint and Project. This tfs hosting has gained the trust of businessmen for their reliability having free support and for their affordability with no set-up fee.