Crimson Heavens

As I had mentioned before, this family has a custom of feeding ‘em neighborhood street cats every night. Two of these street cats however, had been receiving special treatment eversince we had found them.

Dinner time, and we open our doors to these too little buggers who come and dash towards our bathroom where their dinner is served in two separate plates. They are the only ones allowed to enter our house, the rest we feed outside.

This is Anthony. We found him during the feast of St. Anthony when he was just a few days old crying his lungs out at the path behind our house.

Francesca is Anthony’s adopted elder sister. Actually, he started following her mom around and the two of them eventually took him in as part of the family. Baby (one of our regulars), Francesca’s mother, always leaves her young too early, so she too was left to fend for herself.

But both were too small and too weak to be able to survive and they ended up not being able to eat anything because the bigger cats always ate their share. They started getting sick because of this so we all decided to take them home and feed them in the bathroom (Lucy, our resident cat is quite territorial so we had to take them somewhere she wouldn’t go).

I’m usually in charge of making food for them but I have been sufferring from this irritating toothache that got my whole right cheek swelling like a ripe peach. Annoying. Actually, it’s my wisdom tooth. It’s been trying to come out for years now and I guess it is what they called “impacted wisdom tooth”…Grr…Problem is I can’t just trust any dentist here…I’ve heard stories about some of them not sterilizing their equiptments…EWWNESS…I hope we have some kind of a free 800 number to dial for, oh I dunno, reliable recommendation for medical clinics, doctors, dentists etc…Wahahaha! Okay, fine, don’t mind me…am just insane…and am terribly hurting…

So we went roaming last Saturday again, as usual, and hubby took me to Salmiya. We really didn’t do anything but go straight to this food-court thingie over there to have our brunch (sorta) since we both woke up very late. And then after that we went to Sultan Centre to see if there are any new stuff that we might be interested in…

We went to Eureka too and we saw that they were selling Wii consoles for 99KD (it costs 120KD in other electronic shops). Of course we didn’t buy one even though hubby told me that we could if I really want it (he actually prefers to buy an xbox 360 or ps3 if ever we’d buy another gaming console) but I said no. Even though I want it so bad, 99KD is still a lot of money and I told him I’d feel guilty.

We went straight to Kuwait City instead of home after Salmiya and went to Alghanim Electronics over there to drool on ‘em game consoles. Of course hubby was more interested in PDAs and he started bugging me about buying me a one (he wanted to buy me one for Christmas). And so we went home with this:

An HTC Touch Cruise. The bugger is actually happier than me…

So what have I been doing the past few days that I had failed to update my blog? Just plain ol’ (yet very stressful) officework. We have three projects that has the same deadline (which is 25th of January) and all are like…oh I dunno, only half-way done? It seems that all had been signed long ago but client approvals were all delayed (I would like to stress the phrase “It seems”…), so much so that we were left two weeks to finish each project (out of err…3 month timeline – each?)…and don’t ask me why clients are not giving us extensions… theyallfoundloopholeseverywherelalalala
and of course, my team will have to suffer…Actually, we ARE suffering right now… darnincompitentbasturdddss. Of course, after I reach home I have no energy for anything except cook dinner and this will probably go on until the following weeks, because I saw the projects list and there are a  couple (a bunch of ‘em, actually) of projects that are “in the pipeline”.So “YEY” to me…crap.

On a cheeful note, after 4 months, I had finally reached my PLURK NIRVANA…I can finally use the ninja smiley wahahaha…I can be such a lamer…

Hmmmm wot else…ok…random nonsense:

1. I am planning to take a break from wearing contact lenses and wear my eyeglasses to work tomorrow.

2. Tomorrow night is rambling night…I wonder where hubby will take me?

3. I still want to play ‘em games dammit, but I’m starting to feel sleepyyyyyyy…

4. I dun wanna go to work tomorrow…but I really have to .

5. I dozzzzed off just now. Better go to bed…

Just one of those moments…Nuff said…

Since we were not able to celebrate our New Year properly, hubby decided to treat me out for lunch (and go malling) last weekend. Didn’t really do any splurging or anything like that, we just roamed around and I bought a couple of lipsticks (since whatever I have are all getting over) and a mascara (of which I had no idea how to use but ohh well…there’s no harm tryin’).

I really do enjoy going out with hubby, probably because we usually get to have deep conversations when we are outside rather than when we are at home. It’s like, at home, we relax…we cuddle while we watch movies and tv series together, or while I read my book and he watch his movies, we chat with our friends and families, etc…and of course, we do the household chores; outside, we talk and discuss about life, religion, philosophy, dreams, plans for the future, possible small business opportunities to start on…you get the drift.

So far everything is going fine with work. Mornings are usually dull, but then come afternoon and then I get ‘em emails…One of my colleagues/subordinates still had not come from his vacation (we were expecting him to get back here since the 7th of January),  and HE DIDN’T CALL AT ALL! Dunno wot will happen now, I’ll probably end up looking for a replacement for him too. Honestly, I don’t like the idea of having only newbies in my team, it takes time for people to adjust and we won’t be able to handle critical projects efficiently if ever they do all come at the same time (happens a lot in this company). I would probably doing most of it  myself…(BOOOO!).

Speaking of things to do, I have a lot of things that I want to do this year:

1. Go to Goa (We’re both disappointed that we had to postpone our trip BOOOO! again)

2. Give my hubby a chance to experience Christmas season in the Philippines

3. Redecorate our house. Do some crafts and all that…

4. Upgrade my MS certification

5.  Learn how to bake.

6. Launch my other website.

7. Buy my hubby a designer watch.

8. And last but not the least…Get preggy!!! I think kids are the only ones that are missing in my life…

One of the items in my “To-Do List” for 2009 is that I need to upgrade my current Microsoft Certification. I am a Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer, and although this certification will still be valid for at least a year more, Microsoft will not be offering this certification starting February (I think…not sure) and I figured it would be wise to proceed and upgrade it. This means I have to study again and take several Microsoft Certification exams (I have to take minimum 1 exam, depending on to which I want to upgrade to).
A candidate can opt to attend classes or to study on their own. Last time I did my certifications, I bought a set of books worth 250USD (which was a huge amount of money at that time) and well, I eventually felt that they were a waste of my money. It is easy to make excuses not to study if you only have books to depend on…Anyway, the exams are worth almost 60 USD each, and since I probably have to take more than one, hell, I really have to study…Problem is now, I have less time on my hand because of my job, and to attend a course in the nearest review center is going to be a no-no for me.
Anyway I decided to browse through some websites that are offering online/multimedia solutions for busy people like me. I saw this website QuickCert, and I think they do offer what I am looking for: practice tests, multimedia presentations, and more…They offer review materials for a wide arrange of certifications like MCSE Certification, MCSD Certification, MCAD Certification, COMPTIA Certification, etc.
Anyway, I still have to see…

I know, I know…December wasn’t really the “Regularly Writin’ ‘Em Blogs Month” for me. As I had mentioned in my previous post, “I was preoccupied with work-related bulls**t…”

Our team-leader and systems analyst had been promoted (sorta kinda) into a position of which he will only have to go to work for 2 hours everyday, and I was named as the person who would take over his position and of course, his responsibilities. For the last three weeks he was training me (but it was sort of like a hush-hush thing, dunno why the hell it had to be all that…). I was also in charge of seeing through the hiring of the new programmers who will work under me. My side of the department actually wanted someone that we had evaluated…not some idiot person that the HR will get for us and then later on would just be some big bullshitter talker…Of course, the Trade Test we devised took care of that (*evil laff*).

My new position as the Development Team Leader was announced on the 29th of December and I formally took charge on the first working day of this year, same day ‘em newbies were supposed to start workin’. There were instances that I did wanna give ‘em young-ins a few good smacks because of their selective amnesia (and christmas-lights-like common sense, blinky-blinky) with regards to given instructions, but then again, they are new and probably terrified of their short, sometimes-childish, but very WEIRD AND unpredictable supervisor.

I still have yet to have a formal conversation about the terms and conditions of my new job (i know it is weird, you get the job first before the seeing the proper contract)…sponsorship, term life insurance term health insurance, salary, bahhhh…it’s just so annoyingggg….

I celebrated my New Year’s Eve (day) and New Year’s Day in bed—knocked out, suffering from THE FLU. I was not able to leave the house at all for 4 friggin days (no work on the 31st, no church, no grocery shopping, no nothing!). THE FLU did not spare my husband…after taking care of me for two days, he also fell sick. We both don’t have fever now but we still sound like mad, uncontrollable Alsatians (WOOF! WOOF!).

My blog finally got a PR2! Yey to me! Moolah, moolah, moolaaahhhh….

Anyway, Happy New Year…Hope this will be a bright year for all of us.