I can’t help but be offended by this news somehow.

Women’s workstations harbour more germs than men? Eventhough men tend to pick their noses while in front of their PCs? Or scratch themselves? Wouldn’t that account for even more dead skin cells?

Anyway the article also implied that children are disease laden, which really is a common assumption. Is this true? I find it hard to believe. OR maybe I just don’t want to believe that innocent kids are silent killers.

Second to my last day and here I am sat here with nothing to do but surf the net. A habit I’ve outgrown since Uni days. Naubos na yung mga blogs na binabasa ko lagi, pati ibang suggested blogs nila napuntahan ko na yata lahat.

Nung umaga I printed out so many manuals. Babasahin ko by Monday. Weekend talagang ni-reserve ko for complete fun & leisure with the family, afterall the following week I’m supposed to be preparing for my next job which starts in a fortnight. Wish me luck talaga.

Nung natapos ko yung printing & binding ko, I realised napakabigat pala ng bag ko. Ang ka-kapal kasi. Tinigilan ko na kahit marami pa kong pages na gusto. May meeting ako sa CIO (new bossing ko) tonight then I plan to walk from my new headquarters to one of the mainline stations that I use, so lugging a heavy bag will now really be a burden.

Natapos na lahat syoke wala na kong magawa. So I trawled my MSN & YM lists for people to chat with. Thankfully one of my great friends was online. Chat kami 1 oras!!! Grabe. Then lunch na. Tapos inubos ko 1.5 hours sa lunch.

Then I proceeded to Connie’s Pinoy Cook and started looking at recent & old recipes. I got two: Chocolate Crinkles and adobong sitaw with Pata. For the longest time I’ve been wanting to do “adobong sitaw” for my son because he loves sitaw (i substitute green beans pag ubos na stock ko). As in para syang cookie monster na nagpa-papak ng sitaw. Galing hehe

Connie’s post mentioned putting “vinaigrette” on an eggplant salad she tried on the weekend. And since I need to be occupied I got the recipe for a homemade version of the famous dressing.

Ngayon eto na, ubos na talaga ang magagawa ko. Since 7am andito na ko, pwede na kong umalis ng 4pm. The thing is, 1420HRS pa lang. AAACCCKKK.

What the heck am I going to do? I don’t want to read the manuals I printed out. Sumasakit ulo ko pag nasa opisina ko na walang magawa.

I was surfing the digital channels last night when hubby quipped “Ugly Betty ngayon di ba?”.

Oo nga! Wednesday pala. So I went to E4 & marked the show for scheduled.

Sabi uli ni hubby “ayan makakapanood na ko uli” then he proceeded to ask me what happened to the show he missed last week.

Nakakatakot. hehe

Mababaw lang kaligayahan naming mag-asawa. Maski nung nagd-date pa lang kami pareho kaming di mahilig sa magagarbong lugar. As long as the music is good, the beer is flowing, okay na kami. We don’t hang in Makati or Ortigas too much, the crowd’s too hypocritical. That was our opinion, or maybe we just felt out of place.

Instead we go to Manila, Malate was our favorite place. We just hop from bar to bar. Di pa nga kilala yung iba. Minsan dinadayo naman yung restaurant sa tapat ng PGH (i forgot the name), we always go for the grilled squid and the chocolate milkshake. On Thursday, we go to novena for St Jude (malapit sa Malacañang) & after mass, we stop by the streetfood vendors. Matakaw ako dyan, kumakain kami ng kwek-kwek, bituka, fried bituka… Ang ayaw nyang ipakain sa akin yung dugo. Gross ba?

I love those times.

Ang luho lang naman namin talaga e pagkain. We love trying all sorts of restaurants. Hanggang ngayon tuloy habit na namin magbasa ng mga restaurant reviews, kahit di naman kami lagi nagpupunta.

Things haven’t changed much for us. May anak na kami, may monthly mortgage, maraming bayarin… But we’re still happily simple. Siempre may “illusions of grandeur” din, pero those would often revolve around our dream home in Pinas when we retire, our dream retirement, our son’s future, maybe a future daughter… Mababaw nga e.

Today’s Valentine’s but it’s not something I’d want to celebrate. I keep telling my husband, he should show me his love everyday without fail, not just once a year. At dahil simple nga kami, binigyan ko na lang sya ng £2 pang-kape nung inihatid nya ako kanina. Sabi ko “happy balentayms”, I’m sure touched sya.

Weird. That’s what I tell people who ask me “why”, because to tell them what I really think will sound mean if not bitter.

Tumawag sa akin ang bossing nung Friday night para sabihin sa akin na okay lang daw na umalis na ako the following week. Sa madaling salita e wag ko nang tapusin ang “4 week notice” ko. Tinanong daw nya yung senior member ko at kaya naman daw nyang i-handle ang handover ng isang linggo lang. Sa isang banda e di masaya. Pero sabi nga pag tiningnan ang “bigger picture”, things are not all right. It smells fishy to me.

Anyway, tinawagan ko yung lilipatan ko at dahil gusto na nga nilang magsimula agad agad e di siempre sabi nila “good news”.

At the end of the day (or at the end of this week) everything worked out okay for everyone. But I can’t help feeling cheated. All the more reason talaga na lumayas ako sa shadow nitong bossing kong ito.

Nag-uusap kami nung “papalit” sa akin. Sinabihan nga daw nya si bossing na kelangan ng kahit isang senior pa. Sabi daw e magda-dagdag daw ng isa pang intern (nag-hire na ko ng isa for March-Sept) at “we’ll see” na yung sagot sa hiring. Di ko na sya tinanong kung okay ba ang nakuha nyang pera dahil siempre hindi naman siguro aanga-anga ‘to na tatanggapin lahat ng walang extra bayad di ba? Pero sabi ko nga sa hubby ko, yung attitude na yan ni bossing ang nagpakita sa akin na wala akong ma-a-achieve sa kumpanya na ito kundi heart problem. Maybe I should tell my replacement to get those words down in writing…

So it happened. Pumasok na ngayon yung team mate ko. Aba e tama nga ang hinala. Nag-aantay na nga daw sya ng potential offer this week with an Ericsson partner. Kasi naman paano mamo-motivate ang tao e nakikita nyang di na talaga magha-hire ng tao dito sa London pero di naman nawawala ang pressure sa amin. Marami talagang nabu-bugnot sa poor project planning & bad management.

Anyway, sabi ko we’re leaving the company in a pickle if he accepts the offer. I told him instead that the QA & Testing processes are in place. He will not reinvent the wheel. I have managed to whip the offshore team into shape, that they are now reliable & dependable (all I did was complain no end to their CTO until all the logistic problems were resolved). I was truthful too that it is not smooth sailing as QA never is. We work in a high-pressure job & our aim is conflict ridden. But that in Flytxt I have fielded all those now that at least there’s structure where there used to be chaos. I said all he has to do now is manage it & be vigilant that the processes are adhered to.

Then of course I touched on the financial, because that is the key to motivation. I told him, he is in the best position to haggle & get the best pay. If the company is going to ask him to do my job, then it goes that he should receive my pay if not better. And that he should still request for another permanent tester in the London office to manage the second sprint team in our development teams.

I mentioned that in my next role I’m actually building the QA team, too. He sounded very interested actually & asked how many people we’re looking to hire. When I told him it will be throughout the year, his eyes lit up. So I told him I would like it he stays in touch and lets me know if it was working out for him.

Anyway I can just imagine what’s going on in the mind of our CTO…

Hubby & I were talking on Saturday about the pros & cons on the two job offers I’ve received. I tend to favour the consultancy but that would mean being away from my family from Monday to Friday.

So Sunday night, feverish with flu, I decided I need to be well enough to get up on Monday & go to work & resign. I am accepting the role with the investment banking startup. Mahilo-hilo ako nung tina-type ko ang resignation letter ko. Only when I was handing it to my CTO did I notice the typo in the heading (!!) of all places.

Anyway sabi nya “interesting” followed by “what brought this on?” as if I was throwing a tantrum. To cut thru the BS, basta kako 4 weeks pa din ako magwo-work. Sabi ko I didn’t want to leave them limping by going away in two weeks.

Gusto ko lang mag resign agad dahil I agreed to start on 12 March sa bago kong trabaho. At least kahit paano may 1 week akong “rest” period. Naka-quotes kasi i will be preparing in that time actually.

WISH ME LUCK!

Dumating na ang tulong na inaasahan namin. Siya na ang mag-aasikaso ng karamihan ng household chores na talagang di ko na nagagampanan. Aalalayan din naman namin syang mag-asawa pero at least yung day to day running ng bahay e di ko na pro-problemahin. At in around 5 months’ time, siya na ang magiging nanny ni bebe.

Malalagay na sa government sponsored preschool si bebe by September. 3 hours sya dun then the rest of the time si tita na titingin sa kanya. When that happens, she doesn’t have to tinker around the house as much. We’ve told her that the reason we ‘hired’ her is to have someone look after bebe when he moves to the local school.

Ilang araw pa lang naman sya pero yung burdened feeling talagang nawala na. Di ko nga alam na ganun ako ka-anxious pala but in the 2 days I’ve been back to work, for the first time in 2 years, parang mas relaxed ako. Relaxed ang isip ko na safe ang anak ko, relaxed ang isip ko na di ko kelangang magmadaling umuwi etc etc.

Siempre may nagging feeling pa din na baka mamaya pakitang tao lang ito. Baka mamaya saktan nya si bebe when they’re alone, etc etc. Pero I believe God will protect my son. And of course, vigilant naman ako. Still I pray daily & nightly na “she” is the one na nga.

My feet are itching to move! Sabi ng ahente kahapon at 9am ipapadala na daw ang offer letter sa akin sa Friday - so bukas na. But damn I want it now! NOW! Darating kasi sa kin yun malamang Sabado na, then sa Lunes ko pa mapapadala uli. And malamang e Martes pa ako makakapag file ng resignation ko. Syet I want to do that NOW NOW NOW.

Desperado ‘no? It’s worse this year, last week ko lang na-realise due to another “incident” with management. Umpisa pa lang ng taon para na kong di makahinga. Wala ka ng support sa mga tao, bleak pa ang financial future ko. WTF. Siempre alis na. It’s time to jump ship, people!

Ang nakakatawa nga e dalawa na ang nauna sa akin, kelangang unahan ko yung team member ko at pag ako na lang naiwan ang lalabas pa nito e kasalanan ko! ARRGGHH BUGNOT BUGNOT Gusto ko ngang baliin ang baluktot na ilong ng scottish na bossing ko e. Unreasonable, unfair & judgemental.

Di ako perpekto pero alam ko yatang I am doing my darnest to support this flailing team. So sabi ng tv ad sa Pinas in the 80’s: goodbye bunot, hello pronto!

Sana Sabado na!