Who the heck are these guys? Led Zeppelin that’s who!

Some trivia first, do you know that they dropped the “a” in Lead because they fear the Americans will pronounce it as “lid” as in “Lead the Dog”.

And do you know that Jack Black produced videos of fans asking Led for permission to use “Immigrant Song” in his film “School of Rock” (which I saw & loved)?

Well I just saw the news last night that these old rockers are doing a reunion concert at the o2 Arena! Thing is the tickets are limited & are sold for £125!!! But if you think about it, this could possibly be their last concert. So I am having a go at entering the ballot.

Please, please keep your fingers crossed that I get a ticket.

Some would say my work is very “negative”. I assure the quality of our products. Test the beejesus out of it. Make sure nothing is broken. Make sure that if something is broken, it’s isolated. I can go on for a long time.

One of my better managers once said that we actually have the best job in the software industry. We find a bug, it’s great. We don’t find a bug, we give an all-clear, it’s great. But underneath that second statement is a lot of sweat & some nerve-shaking decisions (read: risk management and cost-cutting).

Anyway, that’s my job, it’s me, it’s part of my life. I’m a software tester, and I love it.

I am pretty reasonable. I don’t go loggerheads with developers or management (okay I do gnash my teeth a lot). Experience taught me that there’s no point. At the end of the day, I am here to get my money at the end of the month. I am not here to fan anyone’s ego. Or be someone’s fall-guy. Eff you if you think that. And you’ll have a rude awakening if you think, I’m a pushover.

I guess most non-Pinoys I worked with, think I am a soft touch because of my mild demeanour. I wish I could tell them that’s not how my Filipino colleagues would describe me (or could I be mistaken? hmm). I do encounter attitudes but most are tolerable & I let them pass, so yes that’s probably why they would say I’m “nice”. But whenever someone pushes me a little too far, I can be like Wolverine and turn them into muttering brats.

In my second London job for example, there was this Irish “call-me-Dr” know-it-all. I’m not sure if I blogged about him in the past, but here goes. I reported a major crash on our Symbian application. Our phones were crashing with KERNEL-whatever errors and his code’s log weren’t sufficient. The problem was straightforward to reproduce & I allowed him some attempts to send it back to me with a lame “fix” and at least 3 “not reproducible”. The latter was a push to close and forget about it. I told him we can work in tandem & showed him the steps & voila! The crash. Then he stood up and said “Okay, reproduce it again and call me.”

“No! You sit down, watch what I’m doing & FIX your bug!“

I must have looked like the Furies. He can only manage a barely audible ‘ok’ & meekly sat down. When I finished, I slammed the phone in front of him so hard, I thought I’d broken it. The nerve of this PhD-wielding-weasel! He picked himself up & said something about going to work. That afternoon, I received a fix that actually worked.

London offices are open-planned, so yes my raised voice carried throughout the floor which houses the sales, marketing, HR, support, and dev teams. Everyone in the dev team were smiling and looking at our direction. My then manager gave me two thumbs up and later on in the pub bought me a pint. Then everyone gave their “horror” stories about the red-haired geek, apologies to good geeks out there. Well, let’s just say he wasn’t very popular.

Are you getting the picture?

Now, as in an hour ago, a developer whose component has been the weakest of our entire trading system, had the gall to tell me he “doesn’t have much time to look at the problem” because he’s busy! WTF?! I told him the bug (which is really at least 3 months old as it’s related to other failed fixes!) is with his dev manager & they will deal with it appropriately.

I am a software tester, not your “debugger”, jack—.

I wasn’t hot at all. In fact, he probably went away thinking “I showed her”. Thing is, I am the QA Manager, mate. Even before you gave me that attitude, your lack of, uhmm what’s the nicest word to use?, let’s say: your lack of focus has given me cause for concern for a while. I already had a 5-minute chat with your boss about my observation, albeit I didn’t pointedly say you’re “not good”. He did.

Okay that’s it. WHEW. It’s been a while since my last work-related post ah.

“I live to break your world”

That’s James McAvoy. I met him last week while watching the “Last King of Scotland”. I couldn’t get him off my mind since then. At first I was apprehensive he will be like most men that catch my eyes these days – younger than me. Well, he is but only by 2 years not 10. So I guess we can make it work, as long as his wife doesn’t find out. Oh yeah, my hubby is best kept in the dark, too.

Nak ng tokwa naman kasi! Look at those sexy eyes and what could possibly be the second most kissable lips on Earth (hubby’s is the best! — hi Mahal). I saw his bum on the film while he was cavorting with Idi Amin’s “third wife” (real life, Kay was Amin’s second wife). hihi -> yup I giggled & felt really nice all-over. “TURNAROUND, HOT STUFF!” But he couldn’t hear me.

I guess even if I wasn’t impressed with the book, I’ll have to watch “Atonement” to see him again.

auee@swooning

UPDATE 12 Sept AM:
Hubby claims to looking like my dreamboat. HMMM

With her flamboyant personality, very public stance against multinational corporations and outspoken opinions on traditional stereotypes of attractiveness, Roddick will be remembered as a maverick in the world of beauty.
—- WWD.com

Anita Roddick died on Monday and for the second time in my life, a public figure’s death touched me and I mourned. Roddick may not be Mother Theresa but she’s certainly an inspiration to women around the globe. Her death meant losing a powerful and credible role model for our children.

Roddick is the founder of Body Shop and she was diagnosed with Hepatitis C which she caught from a blood transfusion upon giving birth. I don’t really know much about her. I don’t have any of her books. I’m not a regular customer in her shop. But from the little news and history that I learnt since coming to London, I can’t help but be amazed by how much she has accomplished & how much she managed to give back to society. I know this is superficial I also liked looking at her pictures and more than once I told my husband that I want to grow old like her: gracious and always simple but elegant. Truly classy like a modern day Audrey Hepburn in her greying years.

For most of us still living & breathing, especially those struggling to do the right thing or to “make it”, Roddick‘s life can still inspire us to persevere, to stay focused, and to challenge the norm if it meant staying true to what you believe in. She’s truly one a kind. God Bless her soul.

I made it just in time (I hope) for the yummy mummies‘s Fam Pic this month. I have been “experimenting” in our small garden and have been attempting to grow edible stuff. So far I have harvested some bok choi (variety of chinese cabbage) and now my chillis are ready for re-planting.

I started growing them in planters that are really meant for border flowering plants. But due to lack of space (and lack of patience and skills), the planters served my purpose to grow the seedlings.

When they were big enough for smaller pots, my 3-year old boy helped in digging them up by hand careful not to damage the roots. We transferred them to pots that fit on the window sill in our kitchen.

Here is a shot of the first chilli fruit I “harvested” two weeks ago. They’re very productive now and soon I’ll have more than I need for a suka’ng maanghang. But what we’re really looking forward to is to cook some proper chicken tinola with fresh sili leaves!

Here are some more “potted” posts from fellow sexy Pinays:
Julie’s flowersRaqgold’s Potted Memory
Cookie’s different kind of pot
KK’s indoor and outdoor pots
Rach’s Flowers and a Smile
Lynn’s Pot Shots
Lady Cess’ The Best Tea
Feng’s Tagaytay Pics
Analyse’s Life isn’t easy being a nomad
Purple Girl’s Coffee Alamid
Mitch’s very edible photos
Noemi’s Ceramic Fondue Pot
Vicky’s Potted Fruits and Vegetables
Dine’s anything potted in Bhutan and Capalonga

Angel tagged me to discover what other great events happened on my birthday. I was mildly disappointed because I didn’t know most of these other Cancerians but the events were aplenty.

Da Rules:

1. Go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday (month and day).
2. Write down three events, 2 births, 1 holiday and tag 5 friends.
3. There are five slots in the Birthday Meme. As you are tagged, you have to remove the name in the first slot and bump everyone up so that your name can be added to the bottom.

Da 3 Events:
1284 – According to legend, the Pied Piper lures 130 children of Hamelin away.
1963 – John F. Kennedy speaks the famous words “Ich bin ein Berliner” on a visit to West Berlin.
1997 – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling is published in the United Kingdom

Da 2 Births:
1921 – Violette Szabo, French WWII secret agent (d. 1945)
2005 – Princess Alexia of the Netherlands

Da 1 Hol:
Lebanon: Prophet’s Birthday (until 1999)

Da list:
Are We There Yet?
Gran’s Memory Keeping Corner
Teacher Julie
Mommyness is Happiness
Kwentong Walang Kwenta

Da Diss:
Here is where I break the rules. I’m not going to tag anyone as I have barely scratched the surface of my blogging. I did enjoy this though & I’m sure YOU will too, so pick it up & go WIKI!