Deliver Or Die Trying

A quickie. A lot of blog days have gone to waste and topics are piling up. Work just gets in the way of blogging :P I've been staying really late in the office past couple of days. Well, later than usual. The wife says I should stay here since I like it so much. Said lovingly, of course (she might be reading).

We received one of those pieces of work that fall under "the world will end if you don't finish it ASAP!" category. So, because misery loves company, I involved a few other people in it. To them, thank you and I'm sorry :P I wish I could say I won't do it again. We've sent the client a reply, hopefully we never hear from again about that particular issue. But that is wishful thinking at best! I dread reading my Inbox tomorrow morning.

Working Late

I gotta learn my lesson. Never utter the sentence "looks like it's going to be a slow week" in reference to work. It always comes back to bite you in the ass.

We were finally able to do a team activity. For a while there it seemed like fortuitous events were conspiring to stop us from having any kind of team activity. But we kinda snuck this activity in. Didn't really announce it to everyone, just went "let's go!" and we did. Went and had ice cream crepes at Crepes and Cream, what rebels we are!

So, one of the project groups has 5,000 hours worth of work to complete in one month. Wow. And I was complaining about 1,400 hours worth work to be completed in two and half months. Well, stock up on the coffee and red bull people, long nights ahead.

Acquisition this week:
The Tower - Valerio Massimo Manfredi

Well actually, I didn't buy it myself. It was a gift from the missus for our 2nd anniversary. That makes the gift almost a month overdue :P But I love it, she really thought about this one.

Ode to a sand castle

Thought I should modify my blog description. A sand castle signifies mortality or temporal existence. I didn't feel that the tag line "the only constant is change" had the same message. So I just wrote something new:

the tide comes in
we crumble
returned to whence we came
the act is not malevolent
it is natural and peaceful
the surf stirs us
drifting across the abyss
glimpses of a foreign shore
dreams of building once more

Better than sliced bread

Actual email excerpt ->
"You just need to bring-up a CC&B screen and type in the new file name. Easy as pie. Although I know how to use the idiom, I was never quite sure of its origin. I've seen my mom make pie and it's not easy at all. Now eating a pie, that's easy. Well, a slice of pie, cause eating a whole pie isn't easy. It also has to be good pie, terrible tasting pie is hard to consume and might not go down well. So, to be clear -> Easy as eating a really good slice of pie. *whew!*"

Came the reply ->
"You crack me up................ who would have thought that one simple pie saying could cause so much thought! What other crazy stuff do you think about? What about the saying "better than sliced bread?" have you heard that one?"

Answered back ->
"The question is probably rhetorical but I'll reply anyway, cause it's fun. Also, people watching see I'm writing an email and they think I'm working.

I'm familiar with the expression but I'm a baguette person myself. Good bread and you can use it as a weapon for self-defense in case somebody tries to mug you on the way home from the bakery. And if the mugger ends up in a hospital:

Doc: What's the injury?
EMT: Blunt force trauma.
Doctor: The cause?
EMT: A day old baguette.
Doc. Nurse, get me 20mg of pate, stat!

Sliced bread is great. Who wants to spend half their breakfast time slicing bread? So I say it's a valid expression :P
P.S. - I hate baguettes. Tough bread. I just thought a baguette was funnier than regular sliced bread :P"

Not very business-like exchange, but hey, I had fun. Put this down to improving client relations. Oh yeah -> Disclaimer: To protect the identity of paties involved, names, dates, and places might have been changed.

New look for the blog, more "sandish". Trying out Blogger Beta, more user friendly I think.

Easy as pie

I was writing an email to a client and I used the idiom "easy as pie". Although I know how to use it, I was never quite sure of its origin. I've seen my mom make pie and it's not easy at all. Now eating a pie, that's easy. Well, a slice of pie, cause eating a whole pie isn't easy too. It also has to be good pie, terrible tasting pie is hard to consume and might not go down well. So, to be clear, next time use -> Easy as eating a really good slice of pie.

But really, this link, makes this entry pure blabber :P

A Week of Blogging

So, blogging for about a week now. Hooray for me. Where's the parade? Confetti? Aw shucks, blogging is not all it'’s hyped up to be... :P

A friend and I came up with a concept for a website more than a year back. We got excited discussing it so we actually went and purchased a URL - http://www.eReklamo.com. I only have it until the end of this month, so I decided to play around with it. I got it to point to my blog :P So for a couple of weeks at least, my blog's URL address is not a mile long. Shame I didn't think of it sooner.

Headline: Arroyo concerned over rising peso
I have to say I share your concern Madam President. It's only going to get lower as Christmas comes in. I would do my usual rant that prices keep going up, but gas prices actually went down. So there goes my rant.

Headline: Scientists’ teleport two different objects
So, what excuse will you have now when you're late for something?
"Sorry, the re-materialization process is a bit sluggish today. "
But it doesn't look like Scotty is beaming up anyone anytime soon, unless that someone is only composed of a few million atoms. Everywhere geeks are holding their breath.

Wouldn't you want to see the police line-up for this?
"Doctor, can you identify the perpetrators?"
"Ah, yes officer, the lady with the double D's..."

Collegiate Champions League is now on. Can't wait to see the match-up between San Beda and UST. Colleges from all over the country from different leagues nationwide battle it out. Including the "Webmasters" from Cebu University. Guess what? They have their own website, what a coincedink.

Several Battles (sports, policy, tv, financial, personal)

Congratulations to the UST Growling Tigers!
UAAP Season 69 Senior Men's Basketball Team Champs!

What a season for UST! I guess they just like doing it the hard way :) They had to beat UE twice in a row to get into the Championship round and they overcame that task. Game 1 of the Championship they lose to Ateneo by 1 point. They now had to beat Ateneo twice in a row to win the crown. And guess what? They did. What a season. Specially if you consider they almost didn't get pass the elimination round. This Cinderella team won't have to go home at the stroke of midnight, enjoy the party guys!

"Our Aim Is To Keep This Bathroom Clean. Gentlemen, your aim will help. Stand closer, it's shorter than you think. Ladies, please remain seated for the entire performance."

Following is an article from a Norwegian, Aftenposten, newspaper on October 2, 2006. It should serve as a warning for the boys:

Urination will go to committee
A local decision that schoolboys must sit on toilet seats when urinating has provoked political debate.

The head of The Democrats Party, a splinter group of former Progress Party hardliners, Vidar Kleppe, is outraged that boys at Dvergsnes School in Kristiansand have to sit and pee.

Kleppe accuses the school of fiddling with God's work, and wants the matter discussed at the executive committee level of the local council, newspaper Dagbladet reports.

"When boys are not allowed to pee in the natural way, the way boys have done for generations, it is meddling with God's work," Kleppe told the newspaper.

"It is a human right not to have to sit down like a girl," Kleppe said.

Principal Anne Lise Gjul at Dvergsnes School would not comment on Kleppe's plans to make political waves and regretted if anyone was offended by the ban on standing and passing water.

Gjul told NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting) that the young boys are simply not good enough at aiming, and the point was to have a pleasant toilet that could be used by both boys and girls.

(Aftenposten English Web Desk/NTB)

I especially like the quote:
"It is a human right not to have to sit down like a girl,"

I wasn't aware that the U.N. ratified such matters. But as a male, I have to say I'm glad it's in there. Of course, that doesn't mean I wave my right to pee sitting down. And yeah, I agree, sounded like they were quoting an eight year old boy "I don't want to sit down like a girl! I don't wanna get cooties!"

So boys be warned, improve your aim lest you be forced to "pass water" sitting down. Maybe instead of a ban they should consider issuing licenses. Once you've been certified to have passed potty training, you are issued a license and you may pee standing up. Of course, a special action force will need to be assembled to regulate such training centers and enforce these toilet related laws. They can call themselves S.Q.U.A.T. (Special Quality Urination Action Team). Catchy huh?

Yey!!! Battlestar Galactica Season 3!!! Exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point!!! Odama kicks Cylon a**!


Final note: To my dear co-workers, we are screwed. I hope you find solace in the fact that George Michael is also screwed.