And it’s official! I have already submitted my resignation letter and I’m just counting down till May 22, which will be my last day at Safeway.

It’s been two years since I started work here. Actually, it’s been two years since I started working, ever. I didn’t actually think two years would be that long, but with my time here at Safeway, it felt like I was here for five years. I was always in for a long day (or night) every time I start my shift.

If you’ve been following my blog, I’ve dedicated several posts on reasons why I want out of this company so I won’t dwell on that anymore. I’m more excited on what’s gonna happen in the future.

I’m definitely not gonna look at another line of code again unless my life depended on it. Of course my IT knowledge won’t completely go to waste as I can still use it when we go searching for a system that’ll suit our company business.

I probably won’t be working for another company again unless I have no choice. I already got two years under my belt. I know I’m still raw but I believe I got the basics locked in.

I hate Safeway but I’m gonna miss a lot of things as I perform my graceful exit. First of all, I’m gonna miss my batchmates as we’ve been really tight ever since we entered the company. Lots of things have happened. One of our batchmates getting totally alienated from us, problems here and there, but when you count everything in (the pantry sessions, the joke times, the PSP games, the trash-talking, the boy’s night out, etc.), it was a good two years and I hope we’ll all still keep in touch in the future.

I’m also gonna miss my teammates. They’ve been very helpful during my newbie days and also during the course of my stay. Every time I got a problem, they’re always there to help or guide me and give me some pointers. Just like my batchmates, my teammates are also a good source of fun and happiness and together with my batch, they all try in vain to make my hatred for Safeway go away. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed everybody’s company. It’s just that work at Safeway is too toxic for me.

Last but not the least (Yeah right, this shit’s not ordered by importance. Believe me!), I’m gonna miss the rest of the people who I’ve crossed paths with and who do not belong to the two groups mentioned in the paragraphs above. You can be the guy I always meet at the CR. You can be the guy or girl I always say hi to but can’t even remember your name (I doubt you remember mine). You can be the guy or girl who I’ve talked with about things I don’t really remember. Or you can simply be the guy or girl who just didn’t have the luxury of being my batchmate or teammate which is why you’re included here. Whatever the case, I’m gonna miss you guys.

Oh yeah one more thing. I’m gonna miss Safeway, you know, the company as a whole. For what you say? For giving me the opportunity of a lifetime. For giving me trainings in programming. For jumpstarting my career and giving me a chance to excel in this industry called IT. For adsjhf;lajsf;asjdf;ajsd;lfja;sdfjasjdflajsdlfjlasdf.

Oops! Sorry I just blanked out for a second out there and my face just hit the keyboard. I’ve got letter marks all over my face right now. I think I fell asleep. I’ve had a tiring day so I hope you guys cut me some slack. Anyway, disregard the previous paragraph as that was the work of a demon or a ghost or something. Just to keep things clear, that was definitely not me.

As I was saying, Safeway’s the best company that you could ever run into aklsjdf;ljdas;lfjdas;lfjdaslfkdas.

Whoa! Blanked out again. Time to end this post.

Later.

As I was in the course of writing the Tiendesitas blog, I was called on by my manager and told me it was time for my performance appraisal. You know, the ‘How much would your salary increase be’ meeting.

It was totally unexpected because the meeting was set for tomorrow. Since I was doing nothing really important, I didn’t mind and I held back on mentioning that little detail.

As the meeting commenced, my manager went on to say some good things about me. I’ll summarize it for you guys. He told me that I am still fulfilling all my duties despite the fact that I’ll be leaving soon. He also said that I don’t complain even if I’m assigned more tasks. Well those are the stuff that I remembered. There was something else but it just escaped me.

Anyway, he told me that I got promoted. Well, not exactly position-promoted, it’s sorta like level-promoted. You see in this company (I’m not sure with others), we have these so-called levels and of course the higher the level, the higher the salary.

My previous level was an IC1/T2 (I don’t know what IC stands for. All I know it’s the level in terms of seniority. T stands for technical.). My ‘promoted’ level is now IC2/T3. Yey! (sarcasm alert)

I won’t say the exact amount but my increase is in the range of 15-20%. I got mixed emotions regarding this. I mentioned in this post that I got one teammate who was skimped out on the salary increase.

Although I’m happy for myself, I can’t help but think why that particular colleague of mine got screwed. He/She works harder than me. Sure all the tasks that are handed to me are much more difficult than solving tickets (which is his primary task) but I don’t care. That guy/gal who was skimped out did NOT deserve what he/she got. He/She deserved a lot more. It’s not his/her fault if he’s/she’s not being assigned other stuff.

Come to think of it, I can’t be entirely happy. You see I know of some people who even got a higher increase than me. From what I can deduce, the disappointment outweighs the happiness.

Later.

Me and Ira went over to Tiendesitas so that both of my dogs (Daffy and Trixie) could get some fresh air.  I was against the idea at first because there were only two of us and tagging two dogs along could be a handful.  I was trying to sell the idea to bring only Trixie along coz she’s the one who’s less capable of giving us problems.

Then I realized that I couldn’t even remember the last time that Daffy went out of the house.  My sympathy took over and before I knew it, we were already at the car with those two mutts at the back.

And as both of us predicted, it was very tiresome.  Trixie started off by crapping along the sidewalk.  I had to go to a store and shamelessly ask for a plastic bag without buying anything so that we could pick up the manure and throw it away.  Both of them were so excited that I can’t even count how many times their leashes got tangled. 

Lunchtime was a surprise as both of them were behaved.  Although the fact that I had their leashes tied to my seat also helped.  We tried to feed them but they only ate when we spoon-fed them.  Guess they’re just not comfortable eating at that kind of environment. 

After lunch was shopping time, doggy-shopping time to be exact.  I bought a harness for Daffy and a pack of Cesar dog food for both of them.  We also bought dog tags for both Daffy and Trixie in case they get lost in our neighborhood.  Those dog tags cost P500 each!  Ira agreed to pay for one of them since she was the one who suggested the idea so I sorta got a 50% discount.

After buying all those stuff, it was time to go home.  Yeah I still had work and I was already running late.

Overall it was fun.  It was a good feeling that we were able to spend time with my dogs.  It was tiresome but I really felt good afterwards. 

That feeling changed though.  As soon as I arrived at the office, well, you know the rest.

Later.

 

I got a lotta things assigned to me right now. To be exact, I’m currently assigned to a project and at the same time, to some enhancement work.

Procrastination has been my best friend for a while now. Since those two things above don’t have a hard deadline, I’m really just trying to wing it. I’m leaving in less than two months and am really in no particular mood to mess with program codes.

I’m sure all of you guys are pretty much aware of the downfall of the US economy. You may not feel it coz you live here in the Philippines but I sure have. My stocks look like they just drove a car downhill before realizing that the brakes are broken. In addition to that, Safeway’s a US company so we get in touch with US people. We’re also kept in the loop with the stuff out there, stuff that are much more widely known as cost-cutting and downsizing.

You see, our company has already lain off a lot of employees (US employees only) in order to save more money. Guess people there prefer Walmart a.k.a. el-cheapo-grocery to Safeway a.k.a. good-service-but-expensive-grocery huh? Office supplies and other office “condiments” are also being controlled. And here’s the big kaboom, employee salary increases are definitely gonna take a hit.

I really shouldn’t dwell on this much coz I’ll be leaving in a few but I can see the reaction on my colleagues. I got this teammate who works hard, helps others by updating their tickets, does what he’s/she’s asked to do. Basically this guy/gal gets the job done and you can always count on that.

But how does the company reward him/her? By totally skimping on the increase and that’s no exaggeration. I mean his/her increase on the first year was even better compared to the one he’s/she’s getting right now. He/She was a lot more inexperienced back then. He/She was less efficient, was still a little raw. He/She was everything a newbie was supposed to be and the increase that he/she got the last time was at least in proportion to what he/she was doing for the company.

And now when he’s/she’s more experienced, when he’s/she’s doing things efficiently to the point of having time to help others, you’re just gonna skimp on the salary? That’s just Bull Fucking Shit!

I don’t care if you got financial problems due to the crappy US economy. I know of some people who got a lot more increase and I’m not saying they don’t deserve it, but at least you gotta give this guy/gal I’m talking about some slack. He/She works his ass off. He/She should at least be at par with some of the increases that I’ve seen. Politics can be an ass sometimes (or is it all the time?).

I haven’t gotten my increase yet (although I’m expecting it to be low) but I’m sure not expecting much. What with my reduced performance due to lack of motivation (see: Procrastination; see: first and second paragraphs). What with my frequent internet surfing. What with the fact that everybody knows I’m leaving. I don’t think they’ll be giving me a hefty increase and just see me walk out the door after a little more than a month.

To wrap this baby up, there are just some things in life that needs something else besides working your asses off. Politics doesn’t just apply to the government. Life as a whole just ain’t complete without it.

Later.

I guess all the predictions on my previous post were kinda wrong. I’m glad they are.

I predicted the Rockets’ 13-game winning streak would be broken pretty soon because of Yao. What happened? Well they just coasted to a 22-game winning streak, good for second in NBA history, just behind the 33-game winning streak by the Lakers (’71-’72).

I also predicted that my fantasy team would go down with Yao. Guess again. I’m in the finals right now. Totally not expected.

It’s nice to know things could go the right way sometimes.

Later.

I’m hatin’ my life right now. Well at least the basketball part of it anyway.

Yeah, Yao Ming just got injured for the rest of the season. That puts the 13-game winning streak of my Houston Rockets in jeopardy, not to mention the playoffs. The Western Conference’s just so damn competitive that the Rockets are three games behind the first placer and three games away from being eliminated from the playoff race. Go figure. Guess those this-year-will-be-the-year-the-Rockets-get-out-of-the-first-round talks will never be seen again, huh?

You think that’s all? Yeah my fantasy team also got screwed. I had to drop Yao Ming for some no-namer and that pretty much destroys my team’s playoff hopes. That was just the latest of a string of injuries to my team. You see, prior to Yao’s season-ending disaster, I already had three key players injured in my team (Gerald Wallace, Mike Miller, Devin Harris). I was barely hanging on and then Yao just went down and pretty much destroyed whatever slim object my team was clinging on to.

The last two years of my fantasy life has been a disaster. Last year, T-mac and Yao got injured for most parts of the season and two of my fantasy teams had them both. In another team, I had Dwayne Wade and he got injured for the bottom part of the season and Peter was able to overtake me for first place in the latter part of the fantasy season because of that. And now this season, it’s Yao Ming. Man, maybe I just wasn’t made for fantasy.

I got nothing left to say… How about… Go Rockets! Or should that be a question mark instead of an exclamation point?

Later.

Ladies and Gentlemen: I am now officially back on the vampire shift.

Now that statement, my friends, just won the first award of the year. It just won the “Last thing you want to hear/see after ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’ Award.”

Got really nothing to talk about so I’m just gonna share some lingering questions in my mind right now.

Do I submit my resignation as early as now, or do I wait it out till I get my 13th month pay on May? I’m kinda leaning towards the file-my-resignation-now-to-get-out-of-this-place-as-soon-as-possible route but I’m still weighing my choices.

Will Tmac ever play an entire season without getting injured?

In connection to that, will the Rockets get past the first round this season? Will they even make the playoffs? I hope they get past the first round, for the sake of poor me. Pretty please?

When will I have my own car? Once I get my dibs on one, I’ll be sure to pimp it out.

Who the hell took the battery out of my PSP and never returned it? As a result, I haven’t been able to play or use it for a month now. I hope the one who took it gets a bad case of herpes.

Why can’t I get my old body back?  You know, the lean one when I was still in first year college.  All reasons point to Ira force-feeding me burgers, pizzas and the whole enchilada.  But I could be wrong, you know.

How many times has my office computer crashed? Beats me. Sometimes it crashes twice a day. Safeway’s a cheap company. Not recommended for people above 18 years of age.

Why is Daffy (my guy dog) already humping Trixie (my girl dog)? She’s only around 7 months old!! C’mon Daffy, pedophile ain’t so hot these days.

Do I really love Ira? Hehe just kidding, my love.

Later.

Oh man. I’m a changed man. Yeah, that’s what I am right now.

I just arrived home from work. I just worked a Sunday shift and it effin sucks but that’s not the point. Guess what? I was able to resist the urge to race!

During Sundays, along the roads of EDSA, it’s pretty much a race track, especially at around 9pm onwards. There are so few cars that you can actually think that you’re playing Daytona instead of really driving.

As I was driving and minding my own business, I noticed an AE92 Corolla tailgating me. By tailgating, I mean he’s probably only around 3 or 4 feet away from me. That’s kinda dangerous considering we were traveling at speeds of 80-100 kph. If I suddenly hit the brakes, there’s a 90% chance that he’s gonna hit me.

By then, I knew he was itching to overtake me. If you put my past self in the wheel during this time, here are the things that I’d probably be doing.

1. Down shift in order to increase my acceleration and thereby signaling a challenge to him.
2. Squeeze through any space possible and in the process, scare the living hell out of innocent drivers.
3. The hell with buses and other public utility vehicles being the king of the roads.
I’m the new king, you dig?
4. And lastly, I always win. Well, I don’t really always win coz there are times when I lost. But hey, those times that I ‘lost’, they were to a souped up Civic SIR, Lancer Evolution 8, and Porsche Cayman. I believe those are valid exceptions.

What happened tonight was quite different. Sure I wasn’t really able to fully suppress my road raging ways, but for some reason, I set a limit to myself. I set a 100kph limit. If I can’t overtake him with that speed, then I’m gonna let bygones be bygones.

Sure enough 100kph wasn’t gonna keep him at bay. Once there was space, he overtook me easily. He was probably going at around 140kph. My max speed along the roads of EDSA is 160kph. He’s not bad but I think my past self would’ve beaten him.

Times are changing and I think I’m growing up. Man that just means I’m getting older. That sucks.

I guess it’s ok, because even with the growing up stuff and all that, it doesn’t really dampen one of the things that I wanna do even just once in my life. And that’s to be part of an official or underground street race. I know it’s dangerous, but hey, I wanna feel that mixture of euphoria and nervousness while I’m behind the wheel and waiting for the traffic light to turn green.

Later.

To you guys out there who are thinking about watching Dragon Wars?  Well I suggest you thoroughly erase that nasty thought from your memory. It’s not worth it, unless you have a bootleg copy, of course.

Anyway, me and my college friends (Maico, Louie, Ray, and Harvey) had a little get together this Saturday at Trinoma and we decided to watch a movie. Well the movie was decided by Ray and Louie (I think) because me and Maico were kinda late so we just went with the flow.

The first 15 minutes of the movie consisted of people speaking in Korean and that’s fine with us, but what the hell happened to the subtitles?!? I’d forgive them if it was five minutes but fifteen minutes?? C’mon Mr. Director. Did you even consider that not everyone understands Korean?? It’s an American movie for hell’s sake.

During the course of the movie, it was like nothing’s happening so I wouldn’t even want to say there was a course to begin with. If not for the kick-ass special effects I’d be sleeping through this.

We were so pissed with the movie that we kept on cracking jokes about it. I think all the other viewers were kinda pissed off at us for being noisy but what the hell. We’re doing them a favor by pulling their attention towards us instead of towards the dumb movie.

So here’s the deal. If you’re a fan of cool special effects and dragons, then go ahead and watch the movie. You’ll have a blast. But if you think that action scenes are just mere sideshows and the storyline’s the heart of a movie, then I suggest you read my blog instead. It has more of a storyline than that dumb movie.

Later.

You know what? I think this is the first time this year that I’ve gone through rush hour traffic. Why only the first time? Well thanks to the irregular hours at work, I was usually able to escape rush hour traffic. It’s nice to know that night shifts are actually good for one thing.

I had to work the regular shift today. Yeah, you’re not blind and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with your eyes. I worked the same hours that millions of other people do. That was also a first for this year. Why? Coz I had to take some sort of English Skills Test. It’s a test which measures how proficient I am in writing, listening, reading, and speaking the English language. Go figure.

How’d I do in the test? I don’t want to blurt out any confident and boasting premonition coz I might be shamed by the time the results come out. Overall, I think I did okay. It was a total of 100 points so I probably did about 110 or something around those lines. Where’d the bonus points come from? I think the proctor had the hots for me. I’m pretty sure she’s gonna give me those extra points.

Let’s go back to the horrible traffic topic. Because it’s been such a long time since I’ve done this, I wasn’t really aware how bad traffic was. And during the times that I’ve worked the regular shift before, I commuted so I really did not notice that it was hell on earth (well at least along EDSA and Makati). I opted to drive today so that I could have that luxury to go to some place after work if ever I felt like it.

You guys know what happened? Well it took me 2 hours to arrive at the office and another 2 hours to get home! I had wasted 4 hours of my time on the road! Not to mention the gasoline consumed! I mean, 4 hours… That’s the amount of time it takes to drive from my home to my girl’s province!! I should’ve gone there instead (ahem, don’t I at least get a kiss from Ira here?). So yeah, I wasn’t able to go to any place after work, except home of course.

Traffic was real bad and these are the times that I wish my car had an automatic tranny. Wait, on second thought, I’d still prefer the manual one. I can get more acceleration that way because during traffic, it’s all about how fast you can get to the fastest lane. Does that make any sense?

I’m just glad to be home right now after that grueling road trip. I’m gonna put a reminder in my head every time I’m on the regular shift. Never ever ever ever drive.

Ever.

Later.