What to prioritize...

I almost lost my temper when by boss approached me this morning with a different tone. She's two-faced.. sometimes she's so nice to me but when she gets so stressful, she transforms into a "monster". I'm not kidding.. My hands were shaking earlier while I was talking to her... Here's what happened.. There's an error on an order that came from Sales and she wants me to check what might have caused it. She told me that the same scenario happened to her before and it's all because of the incorrect weight. I made a test but found out that it's not just all about the weight. Then she told me to talk to the customer and walk through with him on how he placed the order. The guy on the other line was nice even though his order was way behind and he told me that he wants to expedite the order. I asked him if he had completed the whole order process. He did and he even received a confirmation email from us. With some sales skills I mastered while we're short in workforce, I placed a new order for him. When my boss found out what I did, she freaked out. She wants me to do a "live" test using the account of the customer... well, using my own judgement, I know that it's not right coz testing MUST be done without affecting anything outside.. it should all be internal. I told her that I'll use a test account and she agreed. She told me it will only take 5 minutes to do a test then place the order afterwards... Well 5 minutes is not enough and the customer is on the freaking phone talking to me. There's a lot of things to consider in doing a test. So I asked... what is important, the customer or to do a test? I remember on one of our company meetings, she told us to prioritize sales. If there are errors, process the order then fix the error later on.. It seems like everything has changed only because I didn't follow what she instructed me to do.. Bummer!!!

Beach Atlast!!!

It was a nice sunny afternoon when Darwin and I went to Hermosa Beach. Quality time with my sweetie again.. It's perfect... sun is up but it's not that hot, it's breezy and there's lots of activities to do like beach volleyball, fishing, roller blading. We walked along the shore.. I love to feel the water.. actually I want to swim but I dont have my bathing suit with me... I miss the beach so much that I wanted to stay longer.. We watched the surfers wait for the BIG wave at the pier. It's the best beach I've seen so far in LA. There's Redondo, Venice and Santa Monica. We ate french fries in one of the diners there and headed to my apartment to rest.





That evening, we went to Gladstones in Universal Citywalk to celebrate Sherinie's birthday. The whole barkada is "almost" complete. Jhun cant make it because of the accident that happened to him a couple of days ago. It's nice to meet and catch up with them again. Here are some pictures...


From left sitting: Chris, Eric, Paulo, Darwin, Sherwin. kneeling: Raf and Allan


From left: Arvie (Eric's date), Roanne (wife of Raff - Happy Anniversary), Me, and Jannie (gf of Sherwin)

I ordered garlic shrimp with scallops and it's very delicious. I love shrimp!!! Darwin and the twins had paella and it's served in a BIG bowl. Eric kidded if there's a bowl bigger than those.. hahaha We all laughed. All the guys are funny especially Sherwin coz he gives these "innocent" punch lines like he doesn't know anything and sometimes he mispronounce a word.. he reminds me of my brother, DJ.



Yesterday, we watched "First Daugther" at Northridge. It's a "feel good movie" and I'm sooo kileeg while watching it. I squeeze Darwin's hand everytime there's a kileg scene.. sorry Darwin if it's too tight.. We craved for chocolate cake while watching the movie coz it was shown three times where Katie's eating her favorite cake. After the movie, we ordered Brownie Finale at Claim Jumper and I took a picture of the cake. Yum-yum!!!



Had a great weekend!!!

Happy Day

YES!!! My boss is not around so more time to play. LOL We'll also leave early today coz it's the eve of Yom Kippur. It is probably the most important holiday of the Jewish year. My co-worker told me that the freeway is empty, that means most the commuters that pass 405 are Jews. Last night, I researched for Scion xA but this time, it's more on reviews. I've been doing this research thingie since Tuesday and I have already called some Scion dealership that's on my list, from Valencia to Culver. I'm looking for Scion xA 2004 but all they have is Scion xA 2005. They asked me why I like 2004, I said coz I know it will be a lot cheaper since they're getting rid of the 2004 inventory. But they told me the difference is only $50 bucks. HAHAHA Anyway, this is how my dream car looks like.



I'm chatting with my cousin right now and it seems like he's more excited than me. hahaha.. He wants me to add accessories to it but I told him saka na. As long as I can drive it, it's fine with me.. I just want it automatic transmission with moonroof...

Sites that I check:
(1) Consumer Guide
(2) Car Buying Tips
(3) Cars Direct
(4) Scion

Amazing in the PI

I watched Amazing Race earlier and yes.. the race started in the Philippines and ended in Dallas, Texas for its final race. I didnt know that this is fun to watch coz there are clues on how to get to the destination and they are tasked to do what's in the envelope. I cant believe they don't know the Philippine flag, hahaha. Luneta Park, El Nido and other part of the country was shown. Chip & Kim from SoCal won! I just love how they play tricks on their opponents. BAD!!!

I look soo harassed. This was taken before leaving the office (right) and when I arrived home (left)


Oh last night, we had dinner at Max's in Glendale then hanged out at Barne's and Noble. We're supposed to watch Wimbeldon but there's not enough time left kaya straight home na.

Shaq was here!!!

Darwin and I went to Universal Citywalk yesterday because Shaquille O'neal was there to visit his fans. He gave "Thanks Shaq" t-shirt to all his fans and I got one!!! But it's too big for me (XL size) so it's gonna be added to one of my sleepwears.. hahaha. He arrived at exactly 3:10pm at Team LA merchandise store but he only stayed for a couple of minutes.. I tried to take pictures of him but im too short so I went to the other side (near Hard Rock) and tip-toed. Good thing I know how to balance myself. I remember I mastered that when I was still taking ballet lessons during my younger years (dba Abbie?)

I took this shot... whoo! It's best I can do...


Shaq has been known to say some "interesting" things. I heard this in the morning news while I'm about to leave my apartment last Friday.

- About his relationship with Kobe Bryant: "It's sort of like ancient karate movies.
Think about it. The master trains his young disciple. Then when the young disciple gets some (expletive), they think they can do better."

- On his trade to Miami: "I just like to look at it like this. Agent O'Neal did a great job for the FBI in Los Angeles. His time is up there. And now he just has to relocate to Miami."

- O'Neal even discussed his ability as a GM: "The Heat being able to get me and keep
Dwyane Wade? That's how good I am. You know I have great general manager skills. I old them if I go somewhere, I'm going to a good team. I'm not a dummy."

Last Saturday, I asked Darwin if we can go to 3rd street promenade after his exam. We just strolled the whole strip and didn't go to any shop (hanep sa control ano!) except Hear Music Coffeehouse. It's a first-of-its-kind record store that combines a Starbucks coffeehouse with a music listening bar. Customers can create their own personalized CD compilation. We're both curious on how it works so we sat on their music bar. We found out that their music database is limited. I listened to Salt 'n Pepa's "Let's Talk about Sex"... It's funny coz I used to memorize that when I was still in Grade 6 and I have a video lip-syncing the whole song with DJ.. hahaha

It's Crazy

Yesterday, I arrived at work pretty early. I just stayed in the car and listened to my MP3 collection in iPod. I had it shuffled coz travelling from the valley to work takes an hour because of traffic. It's like a parking lot out there.. (as what all of us that takes 405 call it)... Anyways, as I was waiting, 5 of my coworkers arrived too and they are all waiting outside the office. I have no idea that our warehouse was open and thieves tried to steal some of our inventory last night. It's really crazy.. one of my co-worker was explaining that it's all because culver city is a bad neighboorhood and almost all who lives here are BLACK.. hello? what do you think of me? hahaha I joked around.. Well yeah, my apartment is in Culver and it's near Sony Studios and it's quiet here compared to downtown LA where i used to live.. but on weekends I stay in the valley.. Anyways, it might be a gang from South central but we're not yet sure.. It's still under investigation.

Went to Target to buy coolant. I told myself I wont buy anything except that.. but as I was looking for "nice" stuffs... I cant help but get the sleeping bag that's on sale (from $20 to $5), bottled water (well i need this, so ok lng), and some girlie stuffs.. hahaha. My mom was telling me that I'm like DJ (my brother).. we're impulsive buyer.. but I have my reason. it's one way for me to be happy.. I love adding stuffs at my apartment. Jill called me last night and she's asking how it feels to live on your own... She doesnt know if she's ready to move out her relatives house.. Well, as for me, i love being independent and doing stuffs my way pero it's kinda lonely rin coz I dont have a roommate. That's why most of the time I'm online chatting or just surfing around.. What can I do without the internet? I think I wont survive.... hahaha

Didn't really watch The Apprentice coz I was talking to Jill on the phone, but I was shocked when Bradford gave up his exemption to get fired, his group lost this time.. What a stupid move. I guess he's just too over confident... Well then, Mr. Trump fired him.. Oh well, I dont know if Im still gonna watch it next week coz I feel like everything's scripted.. even their reaction is soo fake..

HOT weekend

Yeah, it's really hot here in LA. It reached 108 F last Saturday and I cant stand the heat that's why I prefer to stay home and sleep... but you need to go out some time to relax and have a coffee break.. Here's a quick rundown on what happened to me last weekend.

Last Friday, we're supposed to meet Kate to give her our going-away present (Him: Webster electronic dictionary Me: Usher's Confession CD) but she's not available so we just stayed home and waited for Tito Joy. I was at the phone talking to my aunt from Frisco when he arrived. I can overhear them talking about hi-tech stuffs (as always...) He's using my laptop and he told me na maganda daw, but what caught my attention is his new cell phone, the Sony-Ericsson p900. He's playing a movie at that time, it works as a PDA too and it has blue tooth... But that's just too "fancy" for me.. as long as I can call someone from my cellphone.. ok lng.. hehehe I love my cellphone though, it never failed me since Feb this year..

Saturday, met up with Kate & Joel (the newly weds) at Tita Zita's (Darwin's mom) place. I gave Kate our going-away present and my package for my mom. We had fun veiwing the wedding pictures from my laptop. Tita Arlene is really something.. hahaha I remember when I used to live at her apartment, all we do is laugh. I'll surely miss Kate, had so much fun listening to her detailed stories and watching movies with her on weekends. We went straight to Fashion Square to look for a 20x30 frame for our photo mosaic portrait.. but ended up buying it at Aaron Brothers.. Darwin was like.. "Eto lng ba pwede nila ibenta.." hahaha.. I laughed so hard coz literally, it's packed with picture frames everywhere...We studied at Borders with a laptop on (him) and iPod on the other (her) .. whoo.. the tech-savvy couple.. hehehe.. I got a call from Mads inviting me to go out.. shocks! wrong timing coz Im studying.. Gimik daw sa Pasadena with some of my college friends... Sorry girls, I cant go.. next time na lng...

Sunday, we went to Central library in L.A. to borrow books that I need for my review. Slept at home before going to church. This time we took the 5pm mass coz I dont want to miss the premiere season of Charmed.. yeah, I'm still a Charmed fanatic...

From Darwin's xanga:
Jack and Bobby: good new show on the WB network. Its about two brothers---living with a family secret, raised by a single mom, lots of influence and experiences that would mold one of them someday---to be the president of the U.S. Very interesting and very cool.

******
It's the show after Charmed and We watched it while eating dinner that Darwin prepared. I'm telling you, he's really good at the kitchen (and I'm not.. huhuhu). Anyways, my theory is.. Jack will become the president, then he'll die (dont know the reason yet) and Bobby will run for office.. The series just started so it will take some time for us to know what's gonna happen. Let's see...

Canossa Syndrome

Ok, it's my turn nah since Abbie (the one who started this), Aileen and Tins were done.

1. Bakit ka nahuhuli sa pila bago mag-flag ceremony?
'Coz lagi akong late or nasa restroom pa ako..

2. Anong favorite mong bilhin sa canteen?
Chocnut, Sampalok, Arroz caldo

3. Na-guidance/principal's office ka na ba?
Yeah, refer to question #1.. hehehe and Im with my brother at that time, pareho kaming late...

4. Sinong favorite teacher/s mo doon?
Ms. Francisco & Ms. naval

5. Sinong HATEST teacher mo naman?
Sister Tessie... Mission.. Mission.. (while collecting money..) hehehe

6. San ka usually tumatambay? Why?
Canteen & kiosk where you'd get most of the latest chickas

7. What's ur most unforgettable experience sa highschool mo?
WYD, Intrams, and when we (Ajie, Jamie L, and Gigi) cut classes in the afternoon just to watch a movie or make telebabad.. hahaha

8. Varsity?
Chess

9. Sinong una mong nakilala sa high school mo? new studes in high school...
Anna Leah & Mary Girl (can u believe that?? yun controversial sa batch natin ngayon...)

10. Sino unang mga barkada mo?
The Charms (Charo, Celina, Hazel, Aileen, Mikki, Marivic) - in order yan ha.. as how u spell Charms.. hahaha

11. Sinong mga kabarkada mo nung nag-graduate ka from HS?
Exordium (Aileen, Charo, Ajie), Parker Lewis (Sinta, Zsa-Zsa), Jamie L, Gigi

12. Sino mga barkada mo from highschool hanggang ngayon?
Forces of Nature (Aileen, Abbie, Charo, Ajie, Tin, Ivy)

13. Na-mimiss mo na ba yung uniform mo?
konti.. hehehe j/k lng.. pero in fairness, when we had our WYD sa Luneta, they thought we're the same as Holy Spirit.. oh say nyo.. hehehe

14. Favorite teacher's quotable quote?
Next... cant remember any...

15. Most unforgettable person? Why?
I agree with you Tin..

16. I-describe ang mukha mo sa grad pic.
i still have it... check my website and u be the judge.. hahaha

17. Anong binibili mo sa labas tuwing uwian?
Coke na nasa plastic with straw... cant bring the bottle eh

18. Sino huling nakita mo sa batch?
Forces.. send-off party ko

19. Anong contests ang sinalihan/napanalunan mo?
Math Contest

BAKIT WALANG # 20 & 21?

22. Kamusta naman ang Intrams?
Ok lng, there was a time nun Sophomore year natin, di kasali Seniors and Froshies

23. Sino mga sikat sa batch nyo?
Tin, di natin ka-batch si JMD.. hehehe..

24. Sino mga magaganda at gwapo sa batch?
hmmm...

25. Nasa friendster mo ba yung crush mo sa HS?
Yah, si Toniel.. add nya pa nga ako or yun wife nya nag-add.. si Tin2x

26. Did you ever regret going to ur HS?
nah, not at all!!!

27. Sino sa mga ka-batch natin ang dapat napasali sa Star Circle Quest?
Si Wong.. remember when he did that autistic character sa play..

28. San ka na nag-aaral ng college? Course?
De La Salle University - Computer Studies with specialization in Software Technology

30. Sino ang peborit labs team of dem all mo?
MM & Adrian (sila nagkatuluyan since grade school..) may susunod ata.. you know who you are.. Vida?! hehehe

31. Anu-ano ang mga section mo?
Mark, Catherine, Paul, John the Baptist

32. Sino ang crush mo sa upper batch?
JMD

33. Sino ang crush sa lower batch?
Jeff B.

34. Orgs mo nung highschool?
Combo Club, Science Club

35. Sino pinaka-na-mi-miss mo ngayon?
Forces

TGIF

Finally, everything turns out OK from the server migration I had last night. I left the office really late and Mr. Farahmand or "tatang" as we all call him teased me that he'll leave me in the office coz it's pass 6pm already. But that old man is really sweet, he's like our grandpa.. he waited for me til I finish doing what I need to do.. I need to give myself some pampering, I've been harassed for the past couple of days. When I got home, I had some ice cream from the fridge... but I want more.. maybe I'd go shopping later... hehehe

Anyway, the transition to our new email server went smoothly, our new printer is working (finally, it's replaced!!! my co-worker told me that they had the old one for 10 years... hahaha antique na talaga). Fulfillment!!!! What a great day.. I hope I'd feel this way the rest of the day... hahaha babaw ano

Last night, I watched the season premiere of Joey, the spin-off show from Friends and The Apprentice 2... Joey moves from NY to LA where he is met by his sister Gina (she's from The Sopranos) and his nephew Michael. Joey begins to pursue his dream of becoming a big Hollywood star but he is soon turned down for the parts he was offered. He then accepted an audition to host a Hollywood news type show, some kinda of E!. This is the funny part coz as they keep switching between cameras and he can't keep up and, in a last ditch effort to salvage the audition, he does the "Romeo, Romeo" line.. hahaha

In "The Apprentice 2", I found a lot of similiarities from last season.. there's someone that's almost the same as Omarosa and Sam's character and the contestants dont act naturally.. it's pretty obvious but everything turns out ok, I was entertained. The two groups were tasked to create a product for Toys R Us and the ladies won led by a guy (it's something new.. the project manager chosen will go to the group). Anyway, I might still watch it next week...

What a day!?!

We just went "live" with the new check-out process of our eCommerce site and it has blown out of all proportion. It's crazy... This is the 3rd phase of our system migration and I've led and participated it's development process. We started revising the check-out process module last Aug 17 (imagine, this is just one of the soo many modules we have) and I did it's black box testing (see description here) almost everyday. After 3 long weeks of patience in looking for possible errors and never ending follow-up with our support, everything's perfect and I am confident enough that it's ready to go live since all of my proposed revisions were all met. But when our support applied the changes to our production server last night.. there were system timeouts, database conflict and wrong display of data.. just what I needed.. URGH!!!

(to be continued... need to setup our new email server now...)

do you know that.....

stolen from friendster.. some are VERY true =) Read on..

- we don't have to change friends if we
understand that friends change.

- no matter haw good friends are, they're going
to hurt you every once in a while and you must
forgive them for that.

- true friendship continues to grow, even over the
longest distance. Same goes for true love.

- you can do something in an instant that will give
you heartache for life.

- it's taking me a long time to become the
person I want to be.

- you should always leave loved ones with loving
words. It may be the last time you see them.

- you can keep going long after you can't.

- we are responsible for what we do, no matter
how we feel.

- either you control your attitude or it controls you.

- regardless of how hot and steamy a
relationship is at first, the passion fades and there
had be better be something else to take its place.

- heroes are the people who do what has to be
done when it needs to be done, regardless of the
consequences.

- money is a lousy way of keeping score.

- my bestfriend and I can do anything or nothing
and have the best time.

- sometimes the people you expect to kick you
when you're down are the ones to help you get
back up.

- sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to
be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be
cruel.

- just because someone doesn't love you the
way you want them to doesn't mean they don’t
love you with all they have.

- maturity has more to do with what kind of
experiences you've had and what you've learned
from them, and less to do with how many
birthdays you've celebrated.

- it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others.
Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.

- no matter how bad your heart is broken, the
world doesn't stop for your grief.

- our background and circumstances may have
influenced who we are, but we are responsible for
who become.

- just because two people argue, it doesn't
mean they don't love each other. And just
because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do.

- you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It
could change your life forever.

- two people can look at the exact same thing
and see something totally different.

- your life can be changed in a matter of hours by
people who don't even know you.

- even when you think you have no more to give,
when a friend cries out to you, you will find the
strength to help.

- credentials on the wall do not make you a
decent human being.

- the people you care about most in life are
taken from you too soon.

Picture Mosaic and Great Deals!!!

From Darwin's blog..

Hey look at this pic....
Mitzi: I just added a script for you to see the original and rendered image. Just rollover your mouse and you'll see the difference.




Its a picture mosaic i did this afternoon. Each cell are pictures taken from our digital photo album. Heres a blow up section...



Its not that clear..coz' I played it all natural--which means there was no color changing' scheme involve. I got the idea sunday night when i was at Barne's and Noble. I saw this picture mosaic calendar and I thought its really cool. I wanted to make one also. So today, with some internet research on how to make picture mosaic...theres the result. Its soo fun to do that I ended up playin' with it all afternoon hahaha....

Here's the original pic by the way....




coolness.

the pic mosaic isnt that sharp coz' I didnt cheat in makin' em (no color changes, no repeat pics next to each other etc...). Maybe if we take more pics the resolution will be better...well, as for now its cool.

Labor days all over. Summer is suppose to be all over.....even though its still hot (108 degrees today). Just to get out of the house we went out and ate dinner at El Pollo Loco..then to barnes to study some more. Then home na...

****

I'm his critique actually and it's a trial and error process that's why it needs a lot of patience.. Obviously I dont have that so I only check it once rendering is done. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes to render an image. That night, we went to Walgreens to make prints of the mosaic but the largest size they have is 8x10" only. The result wasn't good so Darwin ordered a 16x20" prints in ofoto.com. Darwin searched for a coupon code before checking out and we found a 40% discount at www.xpbargains.com/st_deals.php/Ofoto_coupons.htm. We both laughed coz we're not expecting to see any discount coupon and we used google to look for it.

I cant wait to see the picture mosaic print.. 2 days to wait!!!

My online order from Fry's came in today. I'm so into online ordering na coz it's really convenient. I remember last week, I'm just browsing for a 256 MB SD memory card and I noticed that the $25 rebate ends that same day.. I placed the order at once.. hahaha nag-panick ba? Original price is $40, I got it for only $15... Great deal huh! Almost all my orders has rebate on it.

Open you eyes...

Went to Best Buy in Burbank to look for Plasma TVs last night, but I ended up donwloading MP3s to my iPod from one of the demo PCs that plays iTunes.. HAHAHA It's like I'm stealing something.. I even hide my iPod using my improvised case (there's not much accessories available for 4Gs yet) so it wont be that obvious. Darwin was teasing that I might get caught but I still continued DL-ing the file. I selected the songs I want coz there's a total of 1000+ songs which will take an hour to complete. Now, I have 58 new songs with James Taylor tracks, Totally 80s music and current hits like Lean Back (Terror Squad) and Goodies (Ciara).



Ate dinner at home and while eating corned beef that I cooked, we watched Vanilla Sky. I was quite surprised at the amount of thinking that's needed in this movie unlike those that are "spoon-fed" to the audience. The opening act is good, I dont know if it's still a dream or if it's already the reality. "Open your eyes"... the voice of Penlope made me laugh really... hahaha

As the movie approaches the scene where David (Tom Cruise) sees his disfigured face at the mirror, I can't help but close my eyes... I know what's gonna happen...Darwin's told me last year about that scene and it's already stucked in my head... I kept on telling him.. There's a GLITCH!!!.. Is his mind being controlled already???.. All he said is.. "Watch it"... And the scene is exactly the same as I imagined.. Goose bumps!!! I had a hard time getting sleep. I surfed the net and configured my iPOd instead.

The other night, I called Jill and we talked for almost an hour on the phone. I told her that there's gonna be an earth quake coming on or before Sep 5 as what some scientists predicted. I asked her to observe her cat and if it's doing some unusual things. They said that if your pet is acting unsual, an earth quake is coming. Oh well... we both laughed on that theory..

Excuse?!

I'm so forgetful... My co-worker just returned my pouch bag with my kikay stuffs on it from the restroom.. I left it near the faucet.. I told him, atleast it's something new coz the things that I usually forget is my watch and my eyeglass. Two days ago, he asked me if I forget my watch coz Im not wearing it.. It just so happened that I dont have it with me... hahaha Inunahan nya na ako!!.. My excuse is..maybe it's because of the anesthesia... hahaha

Pasta??? Filling??? Whatev!!!

Yesterday, I left the office early because I have a dentist appointment at 3pm. My boss forgot all about it and he reminded me that we have a company meeting. Actually, I dont want to attend that meeting because it will just end up with nothing... as in... Nadah!!! For sure, there will be a lot of arguments again with no agenda being met. Anyways, I just told him that it wont happen again. The freeway was really empty so arrived at the dental office at exactly 3pm. I had my name listed on the front desk but much to my surprise, 30minutes have passed and Im not being called yet. I asked the lady if I my name was announced while I was in the rest room. She told me I should wait coz my dental record is with the doctor already.. After a few minutes, I was called na.. Atlast!!! I read a magazine while waiting for my doctor, it's a long wait again so I texted Darwin to move his appointment to 6pm instead of 5. The doctor arrived and I told her that I'll have pasta. She said, "What's that?" Good thing her assistant is a Filipina and she said... "Oh doc, tooth filling?".. Then she told me.. "OO, papastahan ka nya.." I told the assistant, "Ok, they dont know pasta pala. Thanks." She gave me anesthesia and did the procedure for about 10mins. The wait was longer than what she did to me. hahaha.. While she's doing the procedure, the doc was telling the Filipina assistant that she likes my earring and was wondering where I bought it.. First, I cant speak because my mouth is full of saliva.. What are they thinking???? So I just made hand gestures and they got it naman. I asked the assistant how long the anesthesia will last, she told me just for 2hours.. It's really weird coz I feel numbness on my right cheek only.. hahaha