My 2009 Sign Off Post

I know, this is an early bid for the year 2009 but since I will be going off to province to spend the holiday and will have a limited access to internet, I would like to sign off my blog with my 2009's last post.

This will just be a short one as I have lots of urgent matters to attend to. 2009 has has been a year of personal struggles and financial difficulties and I am so thankful that I've been through all that. I just realized that really at the end of the day, it's not your losses or troubles that you are going to count but the blessings that you'd received. And the best things that happened in your life are the ones that you will truly remember. I thank God for this perception for I will continue facing another year of yet another plight but now I know that the past one year of struggles had made me stronger to face the challenges ahead.

I hope that this coming new year brings renewed hope to everyone.

Happy holidays!

Now, what is your 2009 Sign Off Post? I am tagging
RicAdeMus, jacky, yolanda, jenie, manju, romes and ems and every readers and followers of this blog to also blog and share their thoughts.

Come on, let us all end 2009 with a thankful heart.

A message to everyone

Yes, this short message is for you :)


A quick note

This isn't the udpates I am talking about in my What's New section. As I have mentioned I had made a major decision in my career plan which leaves me piles of things to do and blogging about details would take a chunk of my time which I need to spend on some more important things. Not to mention, I also need to re-organize my thoughts because I really don't know where to begin. My hands are pre-occupied. My mind is already cluttered and I don't want to make a mess out of my already cluttered thoughts. Focus, I need focus. And the thoughts of the approaching holiday never loosened this wierdness I'm feeling.


Anyway, I'm on my way of organizing pictures in my photobucket when I digged these photos. I just would like to share it. It reminds me of the fun we've shared back days.

Note: Image is clickable.



























How to avoid this tricky 'Office Dumb Moment'

Imagine this.

You are typing very furiously while giving an exasperated gasp seeing the time displayed on the task bar of your monitor indicates you are already few minutes behind the deadline set for your deliverables. Worst is your fingers aren’t on their best functioning moments as if you are experiencing a trigger finger disorder (is a common disorder of later adulthood characterized by catching, snapping or locking of the involved finger flexor tendon, associated with dysfunction and pain) causing you to type incorrect words (such as 'she' as 'hse') or missing up one word (such as the 'you' from 'thank you for considering...'). It is a good thing your eyes are used to scanning document contents that make you an expert to notice some not very obvious typo. You're in the middle of your dilemma when you see a follow up email from your boss sliding in your taskbar. You're hearing the buzzer sound and in your mind you're seeing the impatient look of your boss - this sends a chill down your spine disturbing your focus and causing you to be more miserable. You let out another heave as if by just doing that you could lessen the panic you are feeling. You mumble, no, more like an insane singing "I'm almost there, I'm almost there" combined with "you can do it, you can do it" monologue to boost yourself. You're typing now the last line of your email, finally signing it off with your e-signature and then you hit the Send button. Email sent! You are now thanking heavens for this.

It’s your pattern to always double-check if the email was successfully sent to the intended recipient. You go to the Sent Items and click the email… then you’d discover the attachment is missing!!!

Of the all the things to forgot, why the very important document! You’re competency and efficiency depends on it! You’re boss is on it fast with a message that reads “no attachment????” Ugh! You could have scream if it were not for the thought that you would be disturbing the peace and order of the office. You are silently scolding yourself while immediately composing a reply for apology and this time, ensuring you have the correct file attached.

This moment always comes in as #1 in my top office dumb moments list.

Actually, I had few tips in mind to dodge off this ‘no attachment’ office syndrome when sending an email, but I failed to remind myself of these in that awkward moment a while ago.

Tips on how not to forget your email attachment:

1. Add the attachment first
2. Check if the attachment is correct
3. Compose your message
4. Add in the recipients
5. Proof-read
6. Send

Sending an email is still very tricky sometimes. If you're in a hurry, you tend to forgot those reminders above. So I did try searching if the outlook offers an automatic 'no attachment' reminders. I was not dispointed because there is actually one outlook plug-in that will save you from future embarrassing mistakes. ReplyButler will help you deliver a better impression, you will never ever do the same mistakes of mistyping a name and forgetting an attachment.

I hope this helps you guys.



Tom and Molly's Act of Lovemaking

He's taking his advances but she is not quiet ready. She run, he move swiftly in pursuit. Over the night, they are in a seemingly endless quest. He murmur something that only the two of them understand. She responds with a gracious body movement. He, reacting but choose to wait for her readiness and then the inevitable happens.


before your mind wanders off to something else. I'm talking about the act of lovemaking in cats, yes - Tom and Molly and the reason behind their wild noises when they engage themselves to the world of breeding.

For several years, our boarding house garage had served as a dwelling house for the this family of 'pusakal' (pusa sa kalye or homeless cat). Despite the sternness of the sorrounding, these cats had come to love the place. We usually find them lying underneath the cars, besides the windows, up in the garage posts, or in any corners. Sometimes we tripped over them on our way out especially if the lights were off, expect that we will receive a disgruntled sound or a scratch (which rarely happens) and lucky for us if the cat will just scamper away. The three of them - we called according to their age, mother (obviously, their mom), ming-garot (a male) and sister (the younger one, female). If we have spare foods, we let them inside the house to feed and eventually prompt them to catch some mouse. Aside from the occasional tripping, there is no problem having them as err... household members? lol

It was the usual friday night in our 'bahay ni ate' (this is how we called our humble abode - boarding house and when I say usual it means we are still up and busy catching up with each other or watching a movie 'til past midnight knowing it would be a glorious rest days the following two days). My relaxed mood was disturbed when we heard the loud and amorous noise coming from the garage. The 'barako' or the male cat (Tom, generally a name for a he-cat) was producing this very loud voice so frightening, which is responded in shriek by the female cat (Molly is what you will call a not pregnant female cat). I'm quiet familiar with the sound though because I have heard it before back in the province but it still never fails to make my arm hairs stood to its end. Tom and Molly continued their loud talks for quiet a time despite our rebuking. Out of curiousity, me and one of my boardmates went outside and took a peek underneath the car. There we saw, not the act but their prelude. The female cat, our very own sister and her male guest, were facing each other. The sound is non-stop despite having us as their spectator. We decided to throw them some water to stop the noise because it's really disturbing and we were glad that they did.


I wonder what reasons behind their sounds when they engage on the act and this curiosity drives me to search. Below are what I have read:

  1. Caterwauling refers to the male's loud voice which serves with two purposes: announce his availability and warns other males of his intention and territory
  2. Tom's interest to Molly increases when he is summoned by her own calls of love or smell her receptivity from urine or secretions from the vulva.
  3. Flehmen refers to the expression (wrinkling up his nose and appears to be grinning) on the male's face as he smells the female heat.
  4. If the female is not yet receptive, she may engage in a flirting chase, refusing to let him mount - thus the reason for the screeches and scratching sounds I've heard in our roof back in province. All this time I thought the female cat is being raped haha...
  5. Once the he-cat is done, the she-cat pulls away, strikes out at him with a talon-exposed paws and screams. This is due to the pain she received from the spines on the male's withdrawing penis. (To view the complete source, click here)


Random Monday Part 2

Happy Monday everyone! Time passes by so swiftly, it's working week again. Not that I am expecting load of office works this week, I only prefer staying home and lying down in bed longer than the usual. I strongly feel that the 2-day off work is really not enough for me to recuperate from all the fatigues and sleep deprivation I've been through these previous busy weeks.

Recapping for the weekend's happening and all, my hands were tightly tied for my Saturday and Sunday's commitment. For the second time last Saturday I've been a willing helper of Ems for her My Chocolate Heaven (Manila branch) event - a catering of chocolate fountain station for an elegant wedding reception at Manila Polo Club. We arrived at 3pm, the exact time for the chocolate fountain setup. I've been sooo beyond stress because we pushed, dragged and carried everything from building's basement all the way through the second floor. 3pm was supposedly the start of the setup - it's only the two of us, we've got less strength than man to spare so we literally ran basement to 2nd floor and back again twice or thrice and had consumed the 30-minute setup time to transport everything to the setup area. Lucky for us because the elevator which was busted earlier was already functioning when we arrived so we did not have to go by stairs. At the reception area, our idea or what Ems and her client talked about was to setup choco-fountain for two tables – for the cocktail area and dinner area. So we were quiet surprised the reception coordinator told us to setup another one table for the soup area. We were not on the right time to argue so we just hurriedly started the setup as we were told. We started in the cocktail area. We were half way through in the cocktail setup when some of the guest arrived and started to pick some goodies. The chocolate fountain was the primary attraction for the early guests so they basically swarmed the area. We on the other hand were delayed in setting up the station for the soup area because Ems from time to time checked the cocktail area and refilled some of the goodies. Three hundred guests arrived and more than half of them enjoyably took a dip. Just for the cocktail area, we’d already emptied half of the dippers which leave us not much to setup for the dining area. It was more than 5 hours of checking and running to and fro and watching the gala on the fly. To sum it all up, it was a very tiresome event. But sadly, I did not find the gratification at the end of the event. Reasons: we were not satisfied with the setup; the bulk of work is just too much for allotted setup time. In addition, we divided the package that was selected into three that had left the table setup so plainly bare. So much for the recap and here's to my Random Monday posting. Below were some pictures I've took - streets and nooks of Manila Polo Club (bare with me, the pictures are a bit blurry. I used the night mode in my phone when I took these photos).

The streets and lights at Manila Polo Club



That's me and Ems while
waiting for the cab

Eclipse

This is a long over due post, I should have posted it 6 days ago but because I was in the province for that long weekend, I don't have the access to the internet. For the time being, the internet connection in our place is limited to the new settlers. As you may know, we've just moved in our new house last June 2009. Hopefully by January of next year, we can have the internet connection.

Anyway, have you already witnessed or experienced an astronomical phenomenon called the solar eclipse? I did at the young age of 8 back when we were still living in Leyte. Yes I know the latest solar eclipse just happened recently (July 22, 2009). But I was not aware there was an eclipse happening that time. I remember the first time I had witnessed the solar eclipse. We were at our school. The eclipse was expected at noon, when the sun is at its very highest. I've heard myths that while the earth is partially covered in darkness, lots of evil spirits are roaming around, rejoicing. I've heard elders reminding young ones not to look at the sun directly while the eclipse is happening if we don't want to our sight. To protect our eyes, we were advised to use sunglasses or an x-ray film. Our teacher then, Sir Gaddi (*may his soul rest in peace*), put a large basin half-filled with clean water in the middle of the school's playground. The water mirrored the heavenly phenomenal that produces the excited yells of every innocent students. He shouted to every student who dare move the basin or stir the water or unintentionally covered everyone's view because it spoiled the moment of witnessing the rare 'moon covering the sun' event. It is somewhat fantastic to watch. When the full solar covering happened, the light coming from the sun rays had dimmed. It was mid-day but it feels like a very late afternoon. Later did I know that some part of the Philippines (like in Pampanga) had experienced a total darkness.


Eclipse is a natural phenomenon which produces darkness in areas where the sun rays are covered by the moon's umbra. It lasts in a matter of minutes and seconds. It's not permanent and I could not help but compare it to what we are experiencing in our lives. We have our own several eclipses - those are the episodes in our life when feel lost and dispirited because of overwhelming difficulties, issues and uncontrollable circumstances that confront us in our day to day lives. But just like the eclipse, it is not lasting. When there is darkness, there is light. For every problem, there is a solution. It's only a matter of perspective: either you choose to be responsible to do something with the problem or you just ignore it and be confronted with a much bigger problem later.


Problem is a part of the natural cycle in our life. Do not expect that the problem you resolved today is the last problem you will be facing in the your entire life. What you can do? Two things: Prepare and Pray.


Prepare

1. yourself to be strong
2. for things that can eventually help you (like savings, most of the life problems can be resolved financially)
3. spiritually and


PRAY for God's guidance and help to strengthen you in your course.

For a little perspective, I would like to leave you this inspirational quote from Mary Kay Ash:

For every failure, there's an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.

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