Last night I came home late from work because of some stupid critical error in the network. I was so stressed at work that all I wanted to do after was to get in the house and just sleep. Unfortunately, when I arrived home, I realized that I accidentally left the keys inside the house! You could just imagine the feeling. It was 11:30 and I could not think of anyone to help me.

I was so tired then so I just sat on the porch and slept. After a few minutes I heard someone calling me. It was my neighbors Mat and Ellie. They also came home late and noticed that I was lying wasted on my porch. They help me (literally) break into my apartment. Finally, I got my good night’s sleep.

Of course, I was not able to report to work today because I was too tired to get up. I think I’ll just go to the mall and watch a movie to rid myself of the stress AND to look for good door knobs for my door. For now I’ll just enjoy the cool morning and the warm bed. Ahhh…. this is the life…

You need not hurt your pocket to look great – be it for a party, a prom, a wedding or any
occasion. There are so many great dresses at great prices now and many ways to find
them. Go to thrift stores and surplus shops. You just might be surprised of what you will
find.

And don’t forget online shopping. Whether you are looking for any-occasion party dresses,
prom dresses, and even gowns, you are sure to find what you want online. With the advent

of social networking, there are many more ways to buy online at affordable prices. Just
look at your networks in Facebook – who knows? One of your friends might even be selling
clothes! Also, there are fan and group pages of clothes. Just type in your desired keywords
and let the fan pages appear. Browse and buy to your heart’s content. You might even be
able to haggle prices!

I have seen this story quite a few times already – in forwarded e-mails and social
networking sites. This must have been inspired by a similar story or parable told hundreds
of years ago and then modified through time.

As I remember, the story goes this way – there was a farmer who heard of other people
finding diamonds in lands afar and getting rich as a result. So, upon the advice of others,
the farmer sold his land and set off to travel and dig for diamonds in other lands. For years
and years he traveled and dug, but could not find any. Finally, he died without seeing a
single diamonds in his lifetime.

Years after that farmer’s death, the land that farmer bought came into the possession
of a young man. That young man explored his newly-bought farmland and was puzzled
to see something glistening among the soil and rocks. Upon taking a closer look, the
young man was surprised to find diamonds! And there were dozens and dozens of them!

So the farmer, ironically, sold the very land where diamonds lay waiting to be discovered, in
order to find diamonds in faraway lands.

Are there diamonds in your own backyard that you are not aware of?

I’m so happy! I finally found a secluded, cozy and secure place where I can swim to my heart’s content – at the hotel near my office! ^_^

You see, it’s been months now since I have had a regular physical activity. Normally, I either have a sports or any type of recreation to keep myself physically fit. However, I just haven’t had the time, money, and activity to go with my current lifestyle. It wasn’t until I got sick for two weeks straight just recently that I started putting more effort into looking for something to stop my deteriorating health.

Then I remembered my friend telling me that there’s a one year membership fee in the hotel near my office wherein one of the member benefits includes free pool usage. I did recall though that the price is quite hefty. But at my desperate state, with a credit card in hand, and considering that there are comfy outdoor cushions just beside the pool where I can lounge with my friends or after a stressful day at work, I was already 75% okay with the idea.

I inquired last July 30 at the hotel and, to my surprise; the one year membership fee was three times less than what I originally thought! I immediately signed up of course. To cap it off, I can have my sister as a supplementary! So we both get to enjoy free pool usage for a year (including all the other member benefits of course – 33% meal discounts, 20% off room rates, the works ).

Can’t wait to swim and start getting back in shape! ^_^

As I was eating pancakes this morning, my sister and I discussed random things like how to set your priorities, good music, and cheap insurance quotes. This is one of the things that I enjoy doing the most, I guess you could call it one of my simple pleasures.

We talk about the most amazing things during breakfast, and I sure do learn a lot from her. She gives just the best advice for anything.

In exchange for her sound advice, I usually give her good songs to listen to, as I have a wide collection of those and I know which ones are good for a certain mood and feel.

Like what the old saying goes, it’s better to learn from the experience (or mistakes) of others, rather than to commit them your own.

I’d like to disagree though, some of us wouldn’t ever really learn until we experience it ourselves. Being so thick headed is quite normal, as we are human, after all.

Recently, our company acquired several outsourcing companies from the Philippines. This is inline with the company’s goal of expanding offshore. With this, we saw the need to have a standardized way of collaborating documents with both local and international offices. Thus we finally installed our own document management system.

I think this is a wise move by our company to make the processes more efficient. I used to work in a big company that did not use any document management system and I could say that everything was a mess. We used to store our files on a network file server however each user had his own folder. Obviously, documents were cluttered and redundant.

Document management systems allow users on and offshore to work on the same documents and merge them in an organized way. Files are also consolidated in a secure manner, making your data less prone to hackers.

I love shopping for unique birthday gifts for my Nth level friends. Whenever possible, I also organize events or surprises for them. However, for this year, one of my Nth level friend specifically instructed, “no gifts” to me.

I was stumped.

You see, I consider birthdays as a day where you get to be the Prince or Princess – and everyone treats you like one. That is, you can get away with everything and anything, and just because it is YOUR day after all. And I like pampering my Nth level friends like that. For me, it’s also a day where you can legally smother them with your affection without them saying, “It’s too much!” Frankly, they deserve more than what I can come up with during their birthdays. Much, much more.

So for this year, to celebrate my friend’s Birthmonth, given the “no gifts” instructions, I decided to do small things in an extraordinary or special way for my friend. Like last Tuesday, after dinner, I treated my friend to a savory yogurt dessert we both haven’t tried and surprised my friend with a pink stress ball. The next day, Wednesday, I dropped by my friend’s office to deliver a slice of luscious cake.

The month’s almost ending though. I wonder what unique gifts I will still come up with…