My parents have been convincing me to work at Germany. It’s easy for me since I also have a German passport so I don’t need any visa to go to Germany and I won’t be needing work permit to work there as well. That’s just one of the pro’s of having a dual citizenship I’m a bit hesitant but at the same time excited about it. Hesitant and excited because I’ll be on my own! Yay! I’m scared of the idea but I also love the idea! I just submitted my CV to my Dad’s friend who says would help me secure a job, but he doesn’t want to promise anything yet. I really wish he could help me. I’d love to start soon to experience and learn new things

All I have been blogging lately is about work. So don’t get surprised when I blog about work once again. HAHA!

My first job was somewhere in Alabang and I actually told myself that THIS IS THE COMPANY. I imagined myself working there for 5 years… 10… 15… 16… forever and ever *lol* Not only because of how close it is to home but of the company itself. The pay is good, benefits are okay, there are extra-curricular activities like sportsfests and summer outing. We also have treats every Friday called, Bib Treat! (Bib is short for Bibendum, the mascot of Michelin). Sometime in 2008, there were rumors that the company is closing down and true enough it happened. Our company sold their shares/stocks to the company I’m now working for so by September 2008 we were all moved to a new company. Unfortunately, we had to move out of our Alabang office because it wasn’t big enough to occupy 200+ employees. January 2009 and we moved to McKinley Hill, Taguig City. Working at McKinley Hill is a hassle especially for commuters because there isn’t enough public transportation going inside McKinley Hill. That’s why all of us who from the south (Alabang, Laguna, Cavite) misses working in Alabang. One of my officemate even told me that she’d like to go back and work at Insular Life Bldg (where our old office was) even if it means that she’d sell insurance sales leads and not do anything related to IT. The distance is really a burden to us because our salary is just enough, imagine my transportation expense every month is 6K I don’t get to save from my salary anymore because of my expenses And we haven’t had salary increase for 2 years already I just hope this year we get to have an increase even just to cover the 6K transportation expense I incur monthly. How I miss working in Alabang.

My domain is expiring within 45 days. I’m definitely renewing it but probably only for a year.
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Been assigned to do some testing and test scripts at work. I’m a developer but these were the tasks assigned to me for the meantime. I’m now thinking if I should just shift and focus to testing but I feel as if its too late to take a shift. Oh well!
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It’s Valentine’s day tomorrow. As usual, we’ll not be spending Valentine’s day together. We had our pre-Valentine’s dinner last Friday wherein he just let all his frustrations about the week out. We’re both hoping that next week will be much better than last week.

Happy Valentine’s day & Kung hei fat choi

Last Wednesday, we had our Annual Physical Exam at work. It’s a requirement for the renewal of our HMO. Our HMO policy expires every February so we take our APE by January and Payroll also asks us if we would like to retain or add more dependents. My only dependent is my Mom since she’s the only one qualified. I wanted to have my sister as my dependent as well but unfortunately she’s older than 21 years old already. She’s the one who needs a health card because she’s the one who is always sick. Just last year she was confined at Asian Hospital since she had to undergo an operation to remove a lump near her throat. Good thing the operation went well and did not damage her vocal chords. We we’re all notified by her doctor that the operation might affect her voice but good thing it didn’t since she’s studying to be a lawyer. I remembered my mom telling me that she’s planning to get a health insurance for my sister but she just can’t right now because of other expenses and debts. I volunteered to help her out with the payment just so we can give my sister a health card. I’ve been reviewing other health insurance leads but so far I’m still searching for the best and the one that can give the best value for our money. While researching, I stumbled upon this site and found out that they provide leads to agents. So agents will be informed with people like me, who is interested in getting a health insurance. They are known to be the largest provider of leads in the U.S. I think it’s a systematic way and approach in dealing with insurance. Maybe the Philippines can also adapt the same system in the future.

One afternoon a couple of my officemates and I had our PM snacks at the nearby McDonald’s. I love having discussions about the future with my officemates. I actually love just hearing their thoughts about the future, where they’d want to be a year or 5 years from now etc. Our conversation came to the point about our “future” partners. We all agreed that what we want for our partner is someone who is responsible about the future and not someone who just goes with the flow or a happy go lucky guy. We want someone who would always think about the future. We want someone who would prepare for the future.

I’d like to think that I am someone who is concerned about the future. I was probably influenced by my mother. She for sure always thinks about the future, she always prepares for the future. So I opened up a time deposit account and also purchased a life insurance last year, I’m actually contemplating if I should also get a health insurance. Since I’m interested to get a health insurance, I did some research and found a site about health insurance leads. This site is both helpful for consumers like me as well as to insurance agents. It serves as a mediator between the two (consumer and agents) since this site will be able to give out “leads” to insurance agents on consumers that is interested to get an insurance. The site is not limited to health insurance alone, but they also cater to life insurance as well.

I might get a health insurance someday, probably when my salary increases or doubles. But for now I’ll just settle with my time deposit, savings account and life insurance.

I failed to keep my promise to blog at least twice a week. I just don’t have anything worthwhile to blog about. Although, a lot has happened to me while I was MIA in blogging. Let me just share some highlights:

• I finally have a new laptop! I bought a Compaq CQ40-416AU last Saturday. I hope it turns out to be a worthwhile investment.
• Over the week, I got to think about my future. I actually had decided during the holidays that I should move on and find another company because I’ve been on bench for a very looong time, so I started applying online. An opportunity outside came up but at the same time I got accepted to work on a project starting February within my current company. I decided to stay because I wasn’t too sure that accepting the opportunity would help me in my career. Its something new and entirely different to what I am doing, although it still has a bit of Java. I really would want to focus on acquiring more skills and experience with Java development and build my career from there.
• My “game” plan for now is to get as much exposure and experience with the project that I’d be involved in and by the time I go back to being bench I’d start to apply and look for other opportunities outside. But then again, something might come up along the way that will make me to stay a little longer. We’ll see

I’m beginning to blog in bullets… that’s all for now.

I never thought I’d say this but… I miss being busy. I miss not realizing that it’s lunch time or that the day is already over because of how busy I am. You try to finish all your tasks for the day but still think a day is not enough to finish all of them. You get so irritated when another task comes along which needs to be prioritized like submitting your timesheet or else you’d get bombarded with email and IM reminders. Then before the day ends you still need to submit a status report which would mean you need to alot time to document the status of what you are doing. Oh, how hectic one can be. But now? All of that has changed. I sit here waiting… 11:30AM and I start to get “Lunchtime!” IMs, then the clock strikes 4:45PM, I start fixing my things, go to the CR and prepare for an hour or so journey way back home. 5:00PM comes and I’m out of here! That’s my typical day at the office. I feel so useless, I’m seriously thinking of searching for other options come December. If I can’t find any opportunities here, then I think I have given enough time already. I’ve stayed long enough and I’ve been patient enough. It’s time to move on. Unless something concrete comes along the way, then I’m staying. I’m actually shortlisted for a project, but the project is still on its bidding stage. So as of the moment, I’m still waiting whether our company won the bid or not. I really hope we get to know whether we won or not soon, like before December starts. But until I feel safe and useful here, I’m keeping my doors open for other opportunities.

Sorry but I can’t think of any title

Ever since my boyfriend didn’t renew his contract with his previous employer for four years, I’ve been helping him out in finding a new job. Its almost everyday that I check on any employment sites like Jobstreet, Monster and JobsDB. Since my boyfriend graduated as a Computer Science student, we’re both looking for it jobs. Before he would just focus on anything related to security/anti-virus since that’s where he has the most experience but jobs like those are too hard to find or has a lot of skills required. So now we are looking for anything that has something to do with technical support. I’m just happy that I discovered this new employment site, EmploymentCrossing. At least now we’ll have more opportunities to look for, there’s even a chance to work for companies in America. What I like about this site is that its an job openings aggregator, its like a one-stop shop of all job opportunities worldwide. It even has work from home job opportunities which is a great thing since I’ve also been searching for other methods of earning extra income. Since I have nothing much to do at work, I’d like to try out any extra task I can squeeze in on my not so busy schedule *LOL*

I’m hoping that this new discovery will help us out in finding for that perfect computer job for my boyfriend. The same goes with me, I’m hoping to find a work at home opportunity, even if its as a part-time job.

“Change is not merely necessary to life — it is life.”
Alvin Toffler, in Future Shock (1970), p. 304 (Source)

I finally changed my site’s theme! Of course, I still used a premade template which I downloaded from Kya’s site. I just did some modifications on the CSS to make it a bit “personalized”. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Anyways, you’re probably wondering what “change” has to do with my blog entry. This has nothing to do with Tupac’s song This will be a bit serious (I think). We always hear that the only thing constant in this world is change – change is indeed inevitable. Honestly, I am afraid with change. The only time I accept and deal with change is when I have no choice but to embrace it. As much as possible, I try to be on the safe side and avoid taking risks. I’m okay with following a routine, or being predictable. I don’t mind doing something for a long time as long as I love what I am doing. I think this is one of the reasons why I find it hard to move on. I’ve been so used to in what I am doing (or not doing) that I’m afraid to take a step forward. The more I try to ponder about my current situation, the more I feel afraid. In order to grow, I need to move on. It’s easier said than done, how can I move on if I feel afraid? If I feel that I’m not ready to move on? When will I feel safe? When will I feel or be ready? I always think to give it another chance, see if something worth staying will happen. So far I’ve only had a couple of “signs” but no concrete “evidence”. All I can really do right now is be patient… Times like this makes me remember my favorite quote, “If you want the rainbow, you’ve got to put up with the rain.” Don’t get me wrong though, its not as if I’m not doing ANYTHING for my growth. I’ve been taking steps… small, baby steps. I’m just waiting for the right time, the time I feel that I am ready to make the big leap. But then again, time is not enough. I also need experience, but how can I gain experience? No chance has been given to me. I’ve openly accepted some changes… Hoping that these changes would help me build my confidence and at the same time make me feel ready to accept bigger changes… but nothing happens. I have no idea on what else I can do, all I know is that I have to be patient. Patience is a virtue but time is gold. Hay! I can’t even think/write straight because of the things happening. I hope this is just a phase and I hope this phase ends soon.

Another work week has ended. I might be involved in an internal project, not billable but still at least I get to do something productive And this time I’ll be using/studying the .NET Framework! I’m so excited, I just hope it pushes through.

Had fun with my officemates last Tuesday and Thursday. We played badminton at the gym near our office. For only 70Php/person (2 hours). Hope we do this regularly. At least I get to exercise twice a week. I’m not that good though… needs more practice And I was still a bit shy last Tuesday because it was my first time to be/bond with most of them so I was still shy

I’m having problems with my blog. I always get an error when trying to create or edit a new page. Instead of redirecting me to a success page, it redirects me to an error page. But when I check, the page I was trying to create or edit was created/updated.

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