Friday, October 27, 2006
Week Past 10/16-10/22
Tue 10/17 at 7:46 am EDT, the US population officially hit its 300 million mark based on the US Census Bureau's population clock. Skeptics abound saying that the number was actually reached months ago. Even officials from the Census Bureau says it's not that precise but close to it. It also does not mean that the 300M person was a new born baby. It could be an illegal immigrant crossing the border so they say.
Sat 10/21, was the first time we attended mass at the church where we moved. It's also named after St Michael similar to our parish church in Farmington. It's an old church and judging by its site plan, (parking space and traffic flow) they either did not foresee the community's growth or did not expect the fast development of new communities nearby.
Speaking of church I'm currently reading (off and on) "Cracking Da Vinci's Code" by James L Garlow/Peter Jones. The authors' intent is to enlighten the readers regarding Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci's Code" which I haven't read yet (it's gathering dusts) though I've read "Angels and Demons". As written in the book's cover: 'You've read the fiction now read the facts'. I find it a good read and learning from it. One example: Whose fault was it in the Garden of Eden? It was Adam, the man, not Eve, the woman, who failed. The instruction not to eat the fruit was given to the male before the female was created (Genesis 2). "The man failed to give protection, leadership and nurture to his home". And as usual, we, the male specie, put the blame on Eve (Genesis 3). pp 67-68 of the book. More from the book next week...how about Solomon who prayed for wisdom yet he also failed God...because of...women..
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Week Past 10/09-10/15
The house is still in disarray. Boxes here, there. Unpacked things everywhere. Since we were not able to properly label all the cartons I'm now unable to assemble some of the shelves. I'm missing some of the screws. We can't even park our cars inside the garage with all the clutter. Mon, 10/09, my day off, I did nothing but clear the clutter. I didn't even made a dent. Early evening W and I shopped for a water softener and microwave. Sat, 10/14 I started cleaning the garage and transferred some of the boxes in the basement. I wanted us to be able to park our cars inside since they are forecasting snow next week (it's too early!) . It's hard to wake up early in a dark cold windy morning to scrape your car's windshield of frost before driving to work. Sat early evening W's staff who transferred to the new staff house invited us for dinner. They cooked kare kare and lechon kawali . Dessert was Cold Stone ice cream . Burrp, thank you. Sun. 10/15 another group of W's staff dropped by at home and helped assemble some of the furnishings that IKEA delivered on Sat. They were still at home having dinner when I arrived from work. Can't thank them enough for spending their time helping us fix the house. Bottom pics shows view from the living room and moi spending my first Mon,10/09 at the new home "soaking" in the surroundings and contemplating on what might be my oeuvre in gardening . The lakeview is partly hidden by trees. By winter's time when the leaves are all gone the lake would be more visible. My work is cut out for me spring next year to clear thorn bushes. Hopefully it would give us more view of the lake.
Footnotes to an otherwise humdrum work...Sun,10/15 I had the misfortune...no...luck, (consider it a learning experience) to deal with a "character" who threatened to sue me specifically and not the company. He looks decent and respectable but then again we are always told not to judge a book by its cover. It started when he asked me to look in our computer his "other" account. His name is very common, like a John Smith or Juan dela Cruz. Using it as search entry would only produce hundred such names. So I asked for his phone number...my first mistake...he doesn't want to give out that information. He told me we're not supposed to have it in our system. He asked if we have it in our system. I said I have no idea since he didn't give it to me and I haven't even started to do a search. He started to lecture me on why he doesn't want to give his phone number and the dangers of giving out such information. He mentioned about him working in the federal government and how those information can eaily be acquired and used by somebody else. It's not just a lecture, he was talking in a slow deliberate and I'd say condescending manner. I was getting a bit impatient ...second mistake...I didn't want the line to build up. I asked for his driver's license....third mistake...He gave me an old expired license. I immediately entered the numbers in the search box. When I told him nothing came up he asked me why I entered his license number in our system. I explained that I just did a search. Nothing was "saved". He wanted the information deleted on our system. I told him I already deleted it in the search box. This is where the real "fun" begins. He wanted a printout that the license number was really erased. A "written" proof from the computer. I explained to him that there was no way we can do that. I tried explaining that we are only doing a search. That's when he threatened that he is going to sue me, not the company, but yours truly, if I do not produce a written proof from our system stating that the numbers were deleted. He again started his lecture short of saying to me that I shut up and just listen to his spiel. Finally he asked for a manager (good I said to myself) He told the manager about the printout. I tried to inform the manager what I did so he'll have an idea on what's going on. He told the manager that I'm no longer part of their conversation, I'm "out of the equation". Fine I said to myself and turned my attention to other customers waiting in line. The manager had to call the regional manager. I think they spent another 30 to 40 minutes. I had no idea how it was resolved. When I met the manager the following day I asked him what happened. He just said "That guy is crazy, I should sue you for having me confront him". I said "That's why you're a manager".Thursday, October 12, 2006
10/02-10/08
Another late blog entry. Been busy, busy, busy as a bee and we had problem setting up our internet connection at the new house. This past week was the "Moving Week". I requested five days off beginning Thu, 10/05 thru Mon, 10/09. Thu we did the closing sale of our house with Keith and Lynette (K&L) . Finally it's done. As of Thu, 5:00 p.m. they own the house. It will be our last night sleeping there. We met for dinner afterwards. Sort of celebration to mark the occasion. Fri, 10/06 we did our closing sale for the new house. It was scheduled at 9:00 am but some documents were not finalized on time so it was moved to 1:00 pm. Meanwhile we decided to proceed to the house to drop off some of our things. I can't believe we were starting our move. Both W's and my car were full of our stuff. Had a quick lunch before proceeding back to the mortgage office. After our closing we went to purchase items for the staff house that K&L would be renting out. Then went to U-Haul to get the truck. W requested some of her staff to help us load the truck. It'll be our first load of three to totally haul all our things out of our former home. We loaded the big items first. Started around 7:00 pm and got done unloading at our new home around 11:30 pm. We parted around 1:30 am after treating our "First Haulers" for a very late dinner. W and I decided to sleep in the living room of the new house since we were both tired and sleepy. We didn't want to risk taking the long drive back to our former house and falling asleep.
Woke up early Sat, 10/07. Drove the U-Haul truck back to the old house while W bought breakfast for the next group that would be helping us load. K&L would be moving in by 12:00 pm so that W's staff can move in on Sun, 10/08 to their other house their renting out. It was typical bayanihan .The "old timers" were helping out KL move their things while the spouses and other girls volunteered to cook lunch and dinner. So we had lunch at our former house when K&L's group arrived. They were ribbing our group ( W's staff or the "young ones") that we we're not yet done loading. Actually we had to do two trips. So while they were unloading we had to take everything out of the house to give them room. Dinner was at our new home. So K&L's group came over. It was a long tiring day for everybody. But it was a fun get-together. So I asked W's staff if they were ready to do it again next week. I got smiles and a hesitant yeas. That says it all. Our heartfelt thank you to everybody who helped. For us it's just the beginning of unpacking and sorting our things and put them in their appropriate places. Pics below shows some of the events.
The "First Haulers" on Friday 10/06 posing beside the U-Haul truck. Night's hard work is done and we're on our way to have late dinner.L-R: Monch,Jay,Debbie,Jeff and Avery.
"First Haulers" with W in front of main entrance. Work is done.
Kitchen empty...Kitchen occupied...by guests for our first dinner at the new home.
More dinner pics. Left pic shows living room as seen from the stairs' landing. Right pic shows part of kitchen and dinette as seen from living room.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Week Past 09/25-10/01
Packing, Boxing, Wrapping
This blog posting is late as we have been busy packing, boxing and wrapping. Actually it's been W who has been busy. I have to give her credit for all the work. I've been dragging and she's been prodding. Our living room is in the "moving" ambience as shown on top pics.
Housing Project (Week 21)
Sat, 09/30 W and I just met at the housing site. Me coming from work and she from our house with Lynette and some friends. Keith and Lynette have started installing their ref, dishwasher and washer/dryer from their old house to our house (which will be theirs by Thu, 10/05) this morning. Our existing ref, dishwasher and washer/dryer are being transferred to their old home that they will be renting out. We also dropped off some of our fragile items to a friend's house near our housing project for safekeeping.
As seen from the pics the house is almost done with just D-5 to D-Day this Sun, 10/01. Top pics shows the exterior finish of the house. Asphalt has been laid on the garage driveway. Center pics shows the kitchen as viewed from two angles. Right pic shows the kitchen and part of the dinette as background. Bottom pic left shows part of the living room, ktchen and dinette leading to the 3-season porch. Right pic is the master's bath. Exterior paint finish looks like a shade of yellow caused by the sun's glare. It's actually a shade of light green.
Noted:
1. Work. Footnotes to an otherwise...Wed. 09/27 early evening we got swamped by customers. So we ended up with a line that was slow moving since some customers had transactions/issues that needs more time to process. Meanwhile I hear one customer in line talking on his cellphone that was a decibel higher for comfort..."He's doing me man...you get me man...know what I mean man...He don't know me man..why he doin it?"... and so on complete with arm gesticulation. And the conversation is just going on circles because it's the same utterances. From my peripheral vision I noticed that the customers in front and behind him are getting annoyed. I said to myself we got to get this customer out of the line and out of the store fast before other customers really gets pissed and antsy waiting in line. As fate would have it I was the one who attended to him. He dropped his two billing statements on the counter still talking on his cell (I already mentioned this situation in my previous blog) ."Man he don know me man". "Excuse me, how much are you paying sir?" I asked. Looks at me and said gruffly "How much do I owe?"...How should I know it's your statement...can't read numbers?...Patience, for they know not what they are doing... I looked at his bill and add the two statements. I told him the total amount. "What?" sounding incredulous. So I said the full amount is ....but you have the option to pay the minimum amounting to...and you'll make the credit people happy...He opted to pay the minimum...man the credit people will be doin you man..."Thank you sir, here's a copy of your receipt"...and I'm not surprised he's doin' you man because you're clueless especially on your finances...
2. Gas Price. I just have to mention the gas price this week. Lowest was $2.08/gal and highest was $2.25/gal. Still a good deal compared to $3.00/gal three months ago.
