Last Sunday was Mother’s Day here in the UK and in Australia. I wasn’t expecting rose petals on my bed, but I was hoping for a morning kiss and a breakfast made by someone else besides myself. I got squat. Nada. Nil. Zilch.

Kelvin woke me up at 6am saying he wants telly. I shooed him off to his Dad who turned over and snored his way out of the situation. Long story short I got up, fixed Kelvin his brekkie, did the fry-up for myself and hubby. Then sent some friends their “Happy Mother’s Day” greetings, answered a few calls and did some calling, too.

By 10am I was already grumpy. Hubby was bug-eyed and was wondering why I was being irrational. My so sweet a husband said that he sent his greetings to our friends and refrained from greeting me because he was holding out til lunch time. I don’t know where he gets this crazy idea that it will be a better surprise for me, when he was only going to say “happy mother’s day, mahal” to me. It’s not as if he was going to give me a 10-carat diamond ring. (more…

Everyone’s looking forward to Summer, myself included. Though I dread the hayfever season I have been preparing mentally and physically for my perennial enemy.

Since the start of March I stayed away from dairy products and I also spent £350 for a batch of immunotheraphy jabs.

Breakspear is my last resort in battling my hayfever. The hayfever “package” included testing for the typical UK allergens and they pricked me with varying doses. The area with the least reaction has the least dose that my body can take. They then sent me home with frozen measured doses good for three (3) months.

body art

It took nine (9!!) jabs to determine the right shot for me. The worst reaction (the biggest of the lot) actually stayed with me for 5 itchy days. It also left a pock mark.

So I have been pricking myself here and there and everywhere for eight days now and so far so good. I have a daily reminder for my dose, now I know how diabetics feel with their daily regular insulin shots.

I hope and pray that this expensive treatment works. I hope I can enjoy my birthday in June without sneezing and wheezing. I hope I wake up in the July morning without feeling short of breath and tired. I hope I enjoy my August walks without itchy, watery eyes.

I hope, I hope! This is the end of my allergen curse.

I read about this British chef getting fired on a popular American TV show for lying about his credentials. I find it incredible that no one caught him out before his show even aired.

When I worked in Ortigas, there was this girl in Finance who worked for the company for at least 2 years before she got the sack. Her CV says she has a degree in Accounting from UST. She even worked with the Head of Finance in another company. So she’s apparently experienced and has got good references if her boss took her with him in a second job. She was gregarious and was always brown-nosing to our Company Director’s wife (doing odd jobs like donning Winnie the Pooh costume for her kid’s bday party). I don’t know how anyone found out she’s not a degree holder because I was certainly not asked to produce my diploma, thus it wasn’t a routine check.

Then in my last job, I overheard a contractor speaking to the development manager about the content of his CV. As he was freelancing, he said it was necessary for him to dress up his CV to get that interview. So he puts in technologies and owns up to skills that he doesn’t know (much less understand). He says “it’s easy enough to read up on it when I really need it”. Du’h!

On that day I realised why a developer sent me a mock “Dummy’s Guide to DOS” picture, which he says that contracted web developer needs. This “experienced” web developer was asking how to go from drive c: to d: in a Windows DOS console.

A friend said that lying and cheating are genetic traits. One more reason why the Pinas’ political dynasties do need culling.

Just got out of a really frustrating meeting and now I have a thumping headache.

My request for my team got bumped off the top priority and will not be done until tomorrow morning. I understand why it so, but when the person said sorry to myself, I felt even worse. I *think* I smiled and shrugged but knowing how bad I still feel about it, I looked either sad or mad.

The thing that’s really bugging me is I should have caught this problem before. I keep banging on about data-driven testing, parameter-ised test scripts but my review focused solely on test scenarios. I kept my faith on the members to implement the framework we talked about, I didn’t check it myself.

Now it’s biting me on the ass. And it hurts.

Maybe I really have ESP because is the sort of thing I fear most, and the reason why I wrote this.

I know we need to correct our current implementation once and for all. My call is to continue with what we have for the week and spend a couple of days next week correcting this mistake.

For now, I am going to take another paracetamol and I am going home where my husband can soothe my aching heartd.

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updated 5 March 2008

Got home and found out my monthly visitor’s just arrived… So that’s why I’ve been loony the last couple of days.