Corny Joke of the Day

My family and I were talking on webcam last night.

Fam: So how's work?
Me: Ayun, busy kasi bukas na yung build for QA. Tapos non, busy ulit dahil sa bugs.
Fam: Bugs? Ahh! I-spray-an mo sila (ng Bygone)!

Corny noh? Pero I think it's cute. That was a tiny piece of home for me.

Happy Friday!!!

You need to commit

Whew, my QA gal almost filed a defect.

It was about a database change that does not get reflected to the running application. She showed me the sequence of steps she took and I observed that she did not run the "commit" command. I pointed that out then, she said, "Oh! That's why! I did not run commit".

In my attempt to help her remember to use that command, I blurted out, "In a relationship, you need to commit."

She laughed out loud. I giggled. We both had a breather.

Manila, Manila...

It's been very, very, very cold lately. We went to church yesterday when it was -4F. That's -20 degrees Celsius! The Filipino habit of taking a bath in the morning hasn't quite changed so my hair froze during my commute. I walked just a quarter of a block from my apartment to the train station and I felt my long hair make a slight crunch as I touched it.

I miss the pleasant temperature in Manila. No heavy jackets, no bonnets, no gloves, and no chunky boots to wear everyday. So as I got back to my apartment, I went online. I go to weather.com most of the time. I searched for Manila.. and I found 3 Manilas. One in my homeland, the Philippines, and the 2 others are here in the US. Surprise! Surprise!

Dramatic Philippine Tarsier

Here is a link forwarded through email. Dramatic Tarsier -- found only in the Philippines!

I am 10:02 a.m.

You are breakfasty, like a pile of pancakes on a Sunday morning that have just the right amount of syrup, so every bite is sweet perfection and not a soppy mess. You are a glass of orange juice that's cool, refreshing, and not overly pulpy. You are the time of day that's just right for turning the pages of a newspaper, flipping through channels, or clicking around online to get a sense of how the world changed during the night. You don't want to stumble sleepily through life, so you make a real effort to wake your brain up and get it thinking. You feel inspired to accomplish things (whether it's checking something off your to-do list or changing the world), but there's plenty of time for making things happen later in the day. First, pancakes.

Okay... the personality quiz was somehow right. I can be a bit of a perfectionist with some "routine". Ngyaha! But I can be sloppy when I want to (or when I can't help it). I don't literally read newspapers in the mornings but I truly feel inspired to accomplish things on a daily basis. And yes, I wake up for breakfast! Haha!

How To Fix a NullPointerException?

Here's one of those memonts when my lips and my mind say/think differently.

QA Guy runs web application and hollers: Hey, Ann! There's a NullPointerException.

Gaaah! I hate it when people call me Ann*. But now that I'm a small fish (tropical, that is) in a big pond of US Citizens and immigrants, I have given in. Why? I guess I just got tired and lazy to exacerbate the triviality of this annoyance. And oh, since he had to shout out loud "NullPointerException"... I might as well call the ambulance! Boohoo!

ME: Okay... In which screen? Have you logged it as a Defect?

We have a cool tool you know. You sign in, open a few screens, describe your findings, and I'll get back to you with a solution. That's HOW it works, ya know!

QA Guy: No. Looook.

Fine. Now he wants me to walk over and read the logfile. Okay. He might make sense this time, who knows? He might be a wonderful professional afterall.

ME: What did you do to find that error?

QA Guy: I don't know. You think you can fix it?

Sure. I can fix anything. I've been involved in this project for barely a week. Sure. I can fix anything. And yes, a NullPointerException explains EVERYTHING. A NullPointerException can be caused by an OCEAN of possibilities! I need specific details, phhleeeazzzzz! I don't have to explain that to you. You must have been in the IT industry when I was still watching Sesame Street or Ghostbusters!

ME: I can try.


Fast forward one month. He got moved to another floor. Yippiyayey!!! Here's a bonus, my Project Manager wanted me back to join my former team. Goodbye lazy, pretentious QA Guy! You're a shame to the real QA people I know (back home) who know what they do and are good at it.

-------------------
* Ann sounds too girly for me. Too common. And, guess what I prefer to be called with? Marie. Hahaha! Someone once reacted, "And you think "Marie" isn't common? Duh!" Yeah. I'm wonderfully weird sometimes. Thank God for friends who can say such things in my face. Really.

"Lost In Translation"

Who: YBW - Young Brown Woman (That's me!) and OWW - Old White Woman (Well, an old white American woman)
What: They had a short, weird chitchat
When: One sunny Saturday afternoon, many weeks ago
Where: Inside a chapel

---

OWW: "What time does the mass start?"
YBW: "I'm not sure, I haven't been here this time of the day before."
OWW: "I see."
(short pause)
OWW: "Are you Thai?"
YBW: "No, I am Filipino. Why?"
OWW: "Nothing. There's just so many of you here now, it's hard to tell."
(some silence)
YBW: "Are you here for the anticipated mass?"
OWW: "Say what?"
YBW: "anticipated mass" (Speaking slightly louder. YBW wonders if OWW has hearing problems.)
OWW: "Oh.. oh yes!"
(short pause)
OWW: "Nice. You are not second class [Filipino]."
YBW was silent. Her brows could knit a table cloth!

What the hell was she trying to say?!?! I don't have a clear understanding of what she meant upto now. A dozen thoughts rushed into my mind that moment but, I rather not jot them down here. I leave the rest to you, my fellow Filipinos.

How to be a Lazy Jogger

"So where are you going today?", asked my roomie who just got dressed for work one Saturday afternoon. "I'll take a jog nearby, maybe just by the park around this block," I said. "Be careful, okay. Remember when two big men saw us jogging together and stared at us like they were going to eat us? Argh! Be careful, okay?" "I will," I assured her.

Tada! Forty-five minutes later, I found myself more than a mile away from our apartment. I have a couple of books in my sling bag which I intend to return to the library. I've been going to the Evanston Public Library since I moved here; and I never had to buy books! (I am not cheap, just smart. Haha! Okay, okay, cheap AND smart. Hey, I consider it my way of taking benefit from the taxes the government takes from my paycheck! Besides, I really enjoy spending a few hours in the library, when I feel like it.)

I spent a few moments browsing through a current issue of Home Journal magazine which has two of my favorite celebrity chefs on its cover: Giada de Laurentiis and Ina Garten. I got a hold of 3 more books that I could take home with me. I borrowed Like Water For Chocolate, Moby Dick -- The White Whale, and The Inquisitive Cook. Yey!

I checked out of the library and jogged around a corner. I felt hungry and I was craving for freshly baked bread when I saw the Panera Bakery. Yeeeeee! The lazy jogger decided to take a break. She took her time skimming through the overhead menu. She was delighted with the sight of bread and pastries in the store. "I'd like to have a Portobello Mushrooms and Mozzarella Panini, please, ... and a tall glass of green iced tea."

The lazy jogger savored every bite of her grilled sandwich. She munched on the crunchy bread that hold together the stringy cheese and tender mushrooms. She picked up small bits of caramelized onion that fell off at every bite. Yummmy... She wondered, "Should I still jog my way back home or should I just take the train?"

She headed out of the bakery. With a fully belly, she decided to walk to the lake. The lake was making beautiful crashing sounds against the rocky shore. So, the lazy jogger sat by a big rock and basked in the sun. She let the wind brush her sweaty hair, reminding her of the ocean she misses back home. She misses the triggerfish that almost bit her on one dive, the big waves at Siargao, and the colorul fish and corals in the shallow shores of Anilao.

Time to jog. Again. She jogged alongside health buffs who were sweating like crazy. Some faces were familiar -- faces that she had seen jogging past by her an hour ago. She got distracted with the sight of one man jogging with his baby in its trolley. Cool eh? Talk about multitasking -- jogging and baby-sitting!

She heard dogs barking by the beach, with their owners throwing neon-colored toys to the lake. The dogs happily swim to the lake to get the toy back! The lazy jogger stopped and realized she finally found the Dog Beach she once read online. Lucky dogs. Then she wonders, do these dogs have lifeguards too? Could they be dogs, too?

It's past 5pm and the sun is still glaring. The lazy jogger forced herself to continue and not be distracted anymore. She made her promise till she realized she almost got lost. Thanks to the grid-like streets of Evanston, she managed to get home, relying on basic high school geometry concepts: perpendicular and parallel lines.

"What a pleasant afternoon jogging around Evanston! Now it's time to shift gears; time to do my laundry..."

KANAN, right?

Notice the boat docked at the Navy Pier here at Chicago, IL. "Kanan" in Filipino means right, hence my title-that-tries-to-be-catchy. This boat Kanan brings tourists around Downtown Chicago (backdrop), which I yet have to try. For now, I enjoy waving at them (or not) when these boats cruise along Chicago River which is very close to my office building.

Here's more about Navy Pier and Chicago's love for the arts.

I'm 28 on the 28th

That's tomorrow -- my first birthday away from home.

When I was very young, I dreamed of getting married at the age of 28. It's the age that I think I am already capable of nurturing my own family and withstanding its difficulties. It's the age that I think I am mature enough to do a lot of things on my own. Well, I'm turning 28 tomorrow and I certainly am not getting married soon. I am not so sure if I am "mature enough to do a lot of things on my own". But I certainly am on my own now.

Contrary to other people, I like celebrating my birthday no matter how simple or extravagant the celebration may be. When I say celebrate, I do not necessarily mean having a party. I mean, celebrating it in a sense that I take that day more special than any other day. I do not keep it a secret from the people around me. To me, a birthday should be remembered not so to have a reason to indulge in parties and gimmicks. Likewise, I don't keep it a secret so I don't get pestered by my friends to have me treat them for snack or dinner. (Yeah, that's how birthdays are celebrated in my home country -- the celebrator spends for the party.)

A birthday is a reason to pause and look back at the blessings I have had in my lifetime. It's a stop sign in life's freeway to remind me that I have gone this far! I may not yet be as rich as I wanted to be... not yet as "fulfilled" as I wanted to be... but all that matters is I am here. I am alive. I AM.

Yes, I am geographically distant from my family but they are always in my heart. I admit I feel a tinge of pain for not having them around tomorrow. It's a feeling I cannot tramp on. Still, I feel blessed for belonging to them. Life is good. All it takes is a positive perspective.