Today’s my first day at my new job. I reported for work after lunch but not after reporting to my old workplace first.

I had to drop by my old workplace first thing this morning to conduct a scheduled panel interview, together with my officemates (Cocoy and Gerald), for my replacement. Unfortunately, the guy didn’t show up and so I just had to spend the entire morning creating a list of my turnover and training activities. Gerald, on the other hand, went on with another scheduled applicant interview but for a different position, of which he had a funny and interesting story to tell us afterwards.

He came into the interview room and saw a female applicant stooping down, fidgeting with something. It turned out that the applicant was in front of a wall outlet with a phone charger in hand, apparently charging her mobile phone. Thereafter, during the interview process, Gerald was interrupted midway through one of his questions, when the applicant asked if they could cut short the interview since she had to rush to her current work to avoid being late! Ha! Yikes!

Can you believe it? I thought I heard it all. Oh well, I guess it’s all in a day’s work. Cheers!

Today’s another one of those weird “you win some, you lose some” days.

My day started off pretty well in spite of the heavy rain. Conne and CJ were in their usual jolly and “malambing” selves. Then on my way to work, I received a bit of good news on a career opportunity with an offer I simply found hard to refuse. The timing was impeccable since my renewable monthly consulting contract with my current employer just ended Monday this week. This makes the transition a bit easier since all I have to worry about now is to ensure that my turnover activities go without a hitch. And so, instead of auto-renewing my contract, I guess I’m off to a new workplace come Monday! Yikes, that was fast!

I also found out this morning that my blogs finally got over a three-day slump and earned me a few $’s via Google’s AdSense, well okay, maybe a few cents. Ha! (As an aside, my SEO skills are definitely improving since, for the past weeks, most of my targeted key words have ranked high or are #1 on most SERPs. I guess that’s one advantage of having worked for DirectWithHotels). And with today’s mounting expenses, plus the fact that CJ’s birthday is fast approaching, earning a few bucks ain’t that bad, and is in fact a welcome opportunity.

And after a relatively uneventful workday, the drive home was unusually quick and almost traffic free, plus, dinner was great and really filling! Burp!

But, in an inevitable cliche-like fashion, all good things just had to end. I received word this evening bearing bad news on a case I was closely following. Oh well, suffice it to say, I believe I have now found the prime candidate for the worst lawyer there is, there was and there ever will be – the ultimate “abogado de kampanilya.”

After mulling things over, I now firmly believe God has a plan for all of us. And I believe that the string of blessings I received earlier today more than compensated for today’s misfortune.

Oh well, you win some, you lose some. :)

Cheers!

Today was a pretty rough and tiring day.

My boss called me up last night, on short notice, to inform me that I was slated to go to a client’s office in Subic Bay for a meeting early Monday morning.

I left early in the morning, a little over 6AM to head to the office and meet up with my boss to get some materials. Thereafter, I had to drop by Eastwood City in Libis, Quezon City to pick up a business partner, who turned out to be a former college schoolmate of mine. We then headed off to Pampanga, which was along the way to Subic Bay, Zambales to pick up another business partner. (Note to Self: Wake up earlier you lunkhead!)

The drive was long and traffic was unexpectedly moderate to heavy, which slowed us down even further. We ended up reaching the client’s site, an awesome facility nestled between the sea and surrounding mountains, after 4 hours of driving. My Toyota Innova, “Puti”, ended up battered underneath by rocks and boulders on patches of unpaved road strewn across a scenic, winding mountain pass heading to our destination. I wished I had one of them 4×4 Ford Expeditions or Toyota Fortuners so I could just plough through with ease. (Note to Self: Start saving up for that 4×4 you’ve always wanted!)

After spending much time trudging through high security protocols and miscommunication mishaps involving language barrier, missing key personnel and lunch breaks, we finally had a chance to meet our clients face-to-face at, oh, a little over 2:30PM! (Note to Self: Start catching up on some basic Korean language skills.)

Suffice it to say, we were on the road again in 45 minutes. ‘Twas another 4 or 5 hour drive back to Manila. The drive home would have been uneventful had it not been for the highway patrol pulling us over for having a busted left head light, oh man! But, lucky for us we were only given a warning! ;-P (Note to Self: Have that headlight fixed!)

I dropped off my colleagues along the way and picked up Conne, who had been waiting for me at her office, about half past eight and headed straight home. It’s a wonder CJ was still up waiting for us. :) (Note to Self: Thank God for a wonderful family He’s given you!)

To summarize my day, it was: 10 hours driving, 2 hours waiting, 30 minutes eating lunch, and 30 minutes meeting. And the rest? Some quality time with my family, of course! :) (Note to Self: Stop whining, you crybaby! It was worth it!)

Cheers!