Today's the birthday of Miggi / Migoyski, originally an LJ friend who's pretty much migrated to Multiply. Happy Birthday, Miggi!

Well, Barrack Obama is the 44th President of the United States of America. The FCC has ruled that the "white spaces" may now be used for commercial purposes. And while all this was happening, California Proposition 8 won and their state constitution now limits the definition of marriage to that being the union of a man and a woman. Oh well, you can't win them all.

In much brighter news, a few minutes after I posted yesterday's entry, we got a call from our friend Ryan, who had been following up with the condominium that we were interested in since it's the unit right next door to there's. Surprisingly enough, it turns out that we were approved for the lease! It was both good and bad news since (1) we really like the unit but (2) it'll really strain our resources to come up with the initial payment. After a few back and forth calls to clarify things, we ultimately determined the initial fees that needed to be paid and how to go about things so it looks like we just need the money to be all set.

This is where Brian |kitchengod| and his little telethon of sorts really comes to the rescue given the support of some really close friends who pledged amounts to help us out. With all the amounts put together, it looks like we'll be able to come up with the initial deposit after all and this is without needing to cancel any of my insurance policies to boot! I love it how life just pulls through for you when the going gets tough and I become all the more grateful for how amazing our friends really are. Thanks you guys!

So now we just need to actually collect the money, make the final payment next week and of course settle things with our present land lord. Once all that gets done, we'll be pretty much set to start moving into our new place. In addition, it looks like we'll be able to move the cats over as long as we assure the owner that we'll take good care of the unit, and thus Brian and I are now toying with the idea of a really big cage like the ones they have in some Cartimar pet shops with all the ramps and stuff so the cats remain contained and yet still have room to maneuver. It's just a thought for now - I'm not even sure how we'll get a steady supply of pet food over there. Decisions, decisions...

I'm pretty excited about the move and Brian is as well, perhaps even more so. This should be an interesting change in our lives indeed.

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Man, those would make some pretty cool names for training rooms, haha

Man, work was pretty busy today. I think I spent majority of my shift in various meetings, which is never fun. The only thing I could really be happy about is the fact that I have a fun side project for our new account - working on training material about the top paid TV channels out there. My first test fact sheet was on the Discovery Channel, which naturally was a lot of fun for me, hehe. It's the small things that help the day go by faster.

Naturally, the need to move to a better location remains to be one of our primary concerns right now. Just as we were recovering from the initial shock of the burglary, Brian |kitchengod| went online and started to do some house hunting until he came across this ad for a one bedroom apartment at the Windsor Tower on Legaspi St. We tried visiting it yesterday, but the guard couldn't work the keys and so we had to come back today to finally check it out.

It's an old building but it seems sturdy enough and the association that manages it is certainly doing a decent job of taking care of the place. Security is pretty consistent and they say they do regular rounds of the building to be sure. The unit we're looking at is one of the few with three locks on it - two deadbolts and of course the doorknob itself, which is pretty much how we've setup our locks at Matilda at present. The place is pretty big with lots of shelving and storage, which is always a good thing. It has a walk-in closet, a pretty decently large bathroom and a bar in the kitchen area, which can double as a breakfast nook. It has that old unit smell, but I don't mean that in a bad way, and it has locks of electrical sockets plus two tiny verandas that face the street behind the building. The area seems generally quiet and it's a pretty manageable walking distance from Greenbelt, my current office at RCBC or Brian's office at Export Plaza.

Oh, and we're near Legaspi Park, which I finally have a good place to jog, if ever.

While it's not the most amazing place, it certainly feels right and the location is pretty killer. Moving is going to mean a lot of things like giving up Smoke and Mist, our dear Persians cats, selling some of the furniture that we don't actually need and either borrowing the money for the initial deposit and advanced payment or me canceling one of my insurance policies to get ourselves more liquid. After this point, we definitely have to implement more stringent savings measures to get us back on track.

I still need to set up a meeting with the owner to discuss the terms of the lease, methods of payment and such and I've also asked my insurance agent to study my options and to determine who I might be able to get the cash that I need while possibly retaining both policies, if that can be done. Cross your fingers.

Have any of you heard of any good places to stay? This one seems just about right and given the circumstances, I don't want to be overly picky.

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It's all about setting very realistic expectations.

We've been living here at Matilda for more than five years now. In that time period, she's been quite the home for us and from our humble beginnings with pretty much every room bare to how well-furnished things are now, she's come a long way. Of course now given the break-in and the loss of both our laptop Dizzy and our Sony DSC-H50 camera Shane, things are definitely going to change.

We got new locks installed yesterday - the workers of the small apartment building that we live in came in special just to do the work today. They installed a new door knob provided by the landlady and two new deadbolts that I had purchased after we had discovered the burglary. It took quite an amount of time to get all three new locks installed, aligned and tested to be working properly but it was worth the effort and staying up all day. As much as I hated missing work at such a critical point, it was necessary.

This was the first time we had ever kept the door locked the entire time we were home. Even when Ryan visited, we would quickly re-secure the door once everyone was in and threw all the locks and the chain to boot. There's just no telling what might happen, I guess, and I doubt even our presence at home is going to make any would-be thief less motivated to get into Matilda a second time. When Brian |kitchengod| needed to go to the office to pick up some papers, we made sure to lock everything up again as I was left home. Since I was getting pretty sleepy, I had to eventually retire to the bedroom, but this time I made sure to lock the bedroom door behind me. I cannot remember the last time I had ever needed to do that.

Today we tried to visit a unit being offered for rent at the Windsor Tower right on Legaspi St. in Makati. It's walking distance from both of our offices at this time and even for Ayala and so it might be worth the investment despite it doubling how much we're paying for rent now. I really hope I get a raise soon to help offset the increased costs. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the unit open and have to wait for the broker to ready things tomorrow, but still we're seriously going to start looking around for a place to stay.

I think it's fair to work around a 15k budget in terms of a unit. Anything beyond that seriously starts eating into our savings and prevents us from even saving up to actually buy property. I've love to find a two-bedroom spread but given that kind of a budget, I know we're going to get stuck with a one-bedroom unit, especially if in Makati. Moving to Makati makes sense since we can then eliminate most commuting costs and start walking to and from work along with walking to the mall as opposed to our taxi runs now. When my office eventually moves out of RCBC, it'll just mean added jeepney fare for me and that's still quite manageable.

I just feel bad about the cats. In all scenarios that I can come up with, I know we're going to have to give them up. Anyone interested in getting two Persian cats? We promise to visit often!

So many things to think about. I've even started calling our different services to inquire if they provide service in Makati and what the associated costs are to move. Hopefully all the added requirements and considerations will help keep me distracted from the very real sense of discomfort I now feel in the Pasay City area in general, even more so than before.

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Name all the internet references!

I'm not going to work tonight.

While Brian |kitchengod| and I were at work last night, someone broke into our apartment, Matilda, and stole my laptop Dizzy and our Sony DSC-H50 Shane. I'm still in the process of paying my mom back for the laptop and of course Shane has only been in my possession since the end of May.

Cue CSI mode - there were no signs of forced entry. In fact, the door was locked when we arrived home close to 10:00am after going to the bank. I couldn't determine anything remotely like tool marks around the locks but that doesn't discount the possibility of a lock pick being used. Everything downstairs seemed to be in order. It was only when we went up and discovered the laptop was gone - all that was left was the part of the power cable attached to the extension cord. they had taken the other half of the adapter. My mug on the computer table that normally sits amidst the wires of my USB mouse and the power cable was still on the table undisturbed. They had also taken the mouse. The bag with Shane in it normally sits right beside my computer table and was clearly gone. Upon further inspection, one of our kitchen knives was standing against the old desktop.

All windows were intact and the bars remained secure. There were no holes in the ceiling and no other access points, and thus the burglar got in through the only access point of the apartment - the front door. I don't count much on the main security gate of the building since the lock works with any key and the building is too small to warrant professional security. We've lived here for other five years.

I live in Pasay City, which is scary enough when it comes to crime. And yet through the years we've always felt safe and we both always made sure to lock the deadbolt securely before leaving the apartment. Of course we leave like clockwork within a general range of time given our work shift, thus naturally the thieves had more than enough time to determine our pattern. There are locksmiths on almost every corner of the area and even more pawnshops. Getting rid of the items is probably going to be very easy for the one/s behind the crime.

They're changing the locks as I type this message - I bought two new deadbolts of different brands and the landlady provided a new doorknob. I know they're worried about losing us as tenants and I can't blame them - who'd want to stay after something like this? I eventually called my mom earlier and naturally she advised me to move out as soon as I can. It'll probably cost us more money, but security is worth the price, right?

I try to console myself with the fact that these are just things and they can be replaced. The presence of the knife was most disturbing about all this - it meant the thieves were prepared to harm anyone they found in the apartment. I have a password on the laptop that meets SOX-level security requirements and I kept no personal information on that computer. Fortunately, I had reverted to an online document model prior to my LA trip and thus all my financial records and budget calculators and trackers all exist online instead. All personal photos had already been transferred to our external hard drives, which were not taken, so all he got was a lot of porn that was still being downloaded or were being seeded. Yes, lovely gay porn.

I will miss Shane though. He was an amazing camera and I'll never really get to move past that model. I suppose my challenge is now to hunt down another one just like him.

I know I need to sleep but I'm not sure if I really can. How am I supposed to feel safe now? Is Matilda still home?

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Sigh indeed. Paying it forward sucks right now.

So what did I accomplish this weekend?

Given my long Friday shift and Lydia's Breakfast Party, Saturday was pretty much non-productive.

When I did wake up past midnight, I did get around to finally synchronizing myself with the US by watching both episodes 3 and 4 of Pushing Daisies and the latest episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Naturally I continue to love Pushing Daisies and every episode is worth waiting an entire week for. I think I'm beginning to form a slightly geeky crush on Lee Pace, who plays the protagonist Ned. And of course there's Kristin Chenoweth, who is always worth watching, hehe. Clone Wars was pretty good this week, although I think I'm still generally holding my breath about the series and waiting for it to get somewhere. The introduction of commando droids was a little weird, but still interesting.

Chris and Chase did come over for dinner last night and it was awesome. Brian |kitchengod| really cooked up a feast and I think the night went rather well, as simple as it was.

I've finished Feeding Frenzy 2 twice now - once the usual way and once using The Intruder as my fish. I've given up on Diner Dash Seasonal Snack Pack and Diner Dash Flo Through Time - they're just too hard! I ended up downloading the first Diner Dash and now I'm stuck there, too. I tried playing the endless shift mode and got to level 20...but of course now my hand hurts. Bugger. Where are StarCraft II and Diablo III when I need them? I need to progress past these kinds of arcade games!

Brian and I were supposed to go to our banks today but ended up postponing it for tomorrow. I only have to do my usual "bank run", which ironically enough means depositing money into the savings account from my perspective. Sue me if it's a confusing term, I just like saying it. Brian has to make the monthly deposit for his mom's condo, which he's paying for on her behalf since she's out of the country. Of course being up all night in order to preserve our sleeping pattern and general feelings of lethargy has translated into us pushing out departure time back and then ultimately postponing the whole thing for tomorrow. Why is it so hard to leave the house once you're all settled in?

This week should be a lot lighter for me in terms of work. I don't have a class to run and I'm not obsessing about nesting either. I will hold office on the floor for the next week or so to help clarify any questions or concerns that the pilot group might still have while I work on additional training materials for them. My boss, Carlo, is on leave this week, which means I have to pick up his slack to keep things running. It's not that bad given I used to manage all this before. Still, I'll not be overly optimistic and will remain on my toes to monitor things as they progress.

Brian is cooking breakfast now - part of the compromise for not going out to the bank today. I always get excited when he starts to prepare food - he makes omelets into amazingly special treats. He's doing something with chicken breasts this morning, so this is well beyond an omelet, hehe. All I can manage is to cook rice and that's about it.

Welcome to the last week of October. I still don't have a Halloween costume for work. =(

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You know, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Cartoon Mafia, hehe

Today's the birthday of work friend Archie. I hear she and Lyd have a nice day together mapped out - coolness! Happy Birthday Archie!

Work is work. I really ought to stop writing so much about it, but then I suppose it reflects how much of my life centers around my work life. Good grief. All I can look forward to is that this is the last week of classroom training and I hope to be somewhat less involved during the on-the-job nesting period.

Weekend is coming up again, and I find myself stumped. There are probably movies worth seeing, fun things to do and that sort of deal but all my time traveling to and from our QC site always gets me terribly homesick. I can see myself trying to reorganize the cabinet and getting rid of all the clothes we don't wear as much or perhaps just spending quality time with the cats or whatever. As usual, I have episodes that we've downloaded over the course of the week. Brian |kitchengod| is rather under the weather this week after all, so all the more we shouldn't do anything drastically strenuous or tiring like clubbing, right? Does that mean we should simply stay home? =P

Yeah, that really counts as justification.

I do want to get our PS2 fixed soon, and more and more there's discussion of our client wanting to go to Greenhills to experience the local shopping scene. Like all visiting female clients, she's pretty determined to get her hands on pearls, cheap bags and all that. I'm not sure if I'm going to get dragged into this activity since we don't have a client services manager involved in this project at this point, and thus the role falls primarily on us for now. I dunno if I'm up for going all the way to Greenhills as the pre-holiday crowds start to gather, but then it is a great place for PS2 repair so it might not be that bad of a venture.

But then that means my weekend will involve way too much of a work element once more. Gah

Thankfully there are only two more work shifts to go, including tonight.

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Yeah, having Dogbert's ears fly up really conveys motion, heehee

This weekend has been mostly about me sitting at the couch with my laptop in my, well, lap and the TV on from time to time. I've managed to catch up on a number of shows I've downloaded over the course of the week. I haven't gotten caught up on Heroes just yet, since that requires that I wait for Brian |kitchengod|. No worries though - as much as I'm still following the show, I'm not quite eagerly following the show.

Star Wars Clone Wars S01E03 - the jury's still out for me in terms of this series. I guess the best way to describe the series is that it's a collection of great Star Wars moments held together by a lot of kiddie fluff. As much as i understand that this show is an attempt to draw newer, younger fans to the Star Wars universe, I feel like it has to step all over the existing fan base. This episode certainly tried to play on classic Star Wars sequences but perhaps a bit too much - there was just too much rehash in terms of the original Death Star battle plans and attack sequences and it probably didn't help that the bombers looked a bit too close to Y-wings melted. This episode hasn't won me over yet but the sequence with the mantas was certainly jaw-dropping.

Pushing Daisies S02E01 - I totally loved this show's first season and absolutely hated the fact that the Writer's Strike had to cut the series short in its maiden voyage. Thankfully there was enough fan buzz for the studios to decide to pick it up for another season and we all had to wait a year before it came back. The show didn't fail to remind us of what made it great the first time around - the quirky humor, the plucky writing, the great chemistry between Ned and Chuck and of course Kristin Chenoweth. While this first episode didn't blow me out of the water like some of the greats from the first season, it did a great job of setting up the season and laying the groundwork for a lot of character subplots that are bound to be explored in the episodes to come.

The Colour of Magic (Part I) - Call me an idiot for now downloading catching this made-for-TV movie sooner. I was surprised to find this being shown on Velvet last night and of course tuned in to watch the movie. While it's not necessarily my favorite Discworld story (I'm just not much of a Rincewind fan), it's always fun to see how people try to interpret Terry Pratchett's vision time and time again. There was a bit too much cartoony slapstick for my tastes, but then again how else can one portray a lot of the craziness that goes on in Discworld books. Some of the casting could be better, but then humans just can't perfectly match the kinds of characters Pratchett has created and so you have to make do with what you get. Now I'm rectifying my original error and am going about acquiring a copy of Part II along with the prior TV movie based on Hogfather.

Other than that, we did the grocery shopping today using all these Rustan's gift certificates Brian received for commendations at work. Remind me never to do our shopping there - their selection and pretty much their service is just horrid considering the price differences. I'll probably write about this at length. We also picked up some new unmentionables given a combination of want and need.

But the real gem for today was getting a new external terabyte drive! Here's to more, um, extremely liberal media acquisition!

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I LOVE it when Sinfest does transforming robots! *squee*

Two more days! You definitely know work is getting a bit worse than normal when you're nearly obsessively counting the days until the weekend. I know everyone looks forward to the weekend and to some extent we all count down to Saturday but then when you start counting on Monday, your first day of the week, then you know you have a bit of a problem.

It's not that I don't enjoy training - I know I keep reiterating this fact. It's just the circumstances around this training, most especially the travel, which really get to me. Given all this, allow me to look to possible weekend plans yet again.

There are so many other things I want to do with my time. Sure, there's always my blogging beyond LJ that is always on my list of fun activities outside of work and readers of the Geeky Guide inadvertently know when I'm busy since my posting frequency significantly drops. Beyond my blogging, I also want to find time to work on my fiction writing. I think my story idea is really coming to a head - what else is there to think about during my long ride to our QC site, right?

I have a lot of things to watch, too - the week has afforded me a lot of downloading time. I still need to watch the past two episodes of Heroes and I just finished downloading the season premiere of Pushing Daisies. I also have a copy of Gypsy from 1962 and it's been on my drive for more than a month now - it demands to be watched! I have comic books that I've also downloaded that need to be read and eventually reviews about all these things to write.

We need to get some grocery shopping done this weekend since we're already out of certain consumables like toothpaste and we're on our last bar of soap. Sugar levels are running low along with stuff that Brian |kitchengod| can cook so that we stop ordering out and manage our finances a bit better.

It would also be nice to go out and watch movies instead of just staying home. I definitely want to watch Tropic Thunder and more and more people are arguing that Eagle Eye wasn't actually that bad, so who knows, right? I'm also willing to invest time in Igor and perhaps Three Kingdoms. If I can't manage theater time, at the very least I'd like to go on another DVD run at Metrowalk so I can add more essentials to our DVD collection, hehe.

Looking at this entry, perhaps I need alcohol more than I think. I know I'm trying to save money and avoid the club scene but given all that's going on and the stress levels I'm trying to manage, it might not be that bad of an idea to go drinking somewhere, not necessarily within a club context. Hmm...

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You have to admit, Microsoft has no idea how to manage their advertising...