Colds, Cough, Torture.

Couldn't be any better. *rolls eyes*

This is the second time - in the same month - that I'm sick with cough and colds. At the first incident, I was amused because I totally lost my voice - at first it cracked up, then the tone changed, then it was gone! - which I wanted to happen for about several years now. And so it didn't really bother me that much since it answered one of my long-time wishes. I also had runny nose but only on the second day of its onset.

But now, I'm not enjoying it anymore! I'm coughing like our neighbor's dog, which never, ever stops barking. Once it starts barking, it sounds like it doesn't even stop to breathe! I was even thinking our neighbor is just playing a very rude joke by turning on a recording or a battery-operated huge barking dog toy. Or something. I just cough and cough at short intervals so that now my throat hurts. Because it hurts, my voice doesn't sound like its mine. To add the cherry on my mud cake, it's not just runny nose I have, but the genuine colds. That one which makes your sinuses hurt in addition to the clogged nostrils, if not, runny nose.

And let's not forget that my office is quite the North Pole. The airconditioning is just too much to bare. I just hope this thing doesn't develop into flu or something now that my eyes feel a little hot inside.

:(

Vote Isla in Benetton 2010 Global Casting

 Have you heard?!

Benetton has launched an online global casting for their 2010 campaign and as one of those internet lurkers who like to look at nice pictures, pretty faces, and nice bodies, and let's not mention your - and my - instinct to be a bit patriotic when seeing ads abroad with familiar faces like that of the Nike ad with Pacquiao, or that magazine ad for the Pinoy fights in Las Vegas (that one with Donaire, remember?).  We would most certainly and most definitely like to see another Pinoy/Pinay in one of those international brand campaigns. So what can we do...?

For one, I know someone, a Filipina, non-stereotypical (read: look at her hair and cool tats! *wink wink*), super fit and healthy - she does yoga, absolutely pretty in print media, and I think she can kick your as-s if she wanted to. Guess my next statement would be, go to the site and vote for her you....you....reader! lol! Here is the link to Isla's profile,or copy and paste this to your web browser:

http://casting.benetton.com/users/76558-isla


I think you can even vote as many times over as you'd like, and please spread the word to your friends.Just keep in mind that voting ends March 16th and the winners are announced March 18th.

Do I need to beg?

;)

PS:
Before I forget, you need to log in, BUT!!! You can use your facebook account! They have a facebook connect thing going on, so no hassle..ayt?

Farmville, Cafe World, Audit, Head and Tooth

New updates on Farmville and Cafe World are up and you may have noticed that already - you can now expand chicken coops (I lost one of my two coops because of this. grr!) and get bonuses for helping out friends and neighbors. I also noticed Farm Hands, these "spirits" that help you harvest from all your animals in just a split second. Cool. But i think you can't buy them, you just have to wait for a friend or neighbor to publish that he/she is sharing his/her farm hands. Such a big help they are, especially that a lot of my chickens are all over the place!

The spice rack update in Cafe World has also started. It feels a lot like the upgrade/building of the horse stable in farmville, you have to ask your friends and neighbors to donate the necessary materials to build your own spice rack. I just haven't grasped exactly what that rack is for.

Moving on. Remember that post I had about Uncle Fester being in my office? Well, he was back here the day before yesterday because he said he needed the help of the auditors. Great. Just when we're about to drop another bomb he wouldn't want to catch.

He said he already told Yuan is Nothing (yes, it's another alias, sue me... I just hope I remember all these codes I use.. lol!) about it and that he was to proceed to out office to discuss it with us. And so the problem was actually something I've already heard of before, I just didn't stick my nose into it. Apparently, it's still something we need to stress out for, but it's gonna be worth it, I can be assured of that. It just so happens that the timing and the motive for Uncle Fester's sudden concern is a bit... questionable.  ;)

But. Rest assured, that we will handle that issue with utmost care and enthusiasm. And as for you our dear Uncle Fester, see you later.

Those things aside, I had a headache before starting this post, and it's fading just about now. Not because I'm blogging, but because I took something for it already.

Hmm, the tooth is because I'm going to visit the company dentist a few hours from now because I managed to nick off the dental fillings on one of my molars, and the incident left a gaping hole on this darn tooth, which now is uber sensitive and sometimes causes my headaches. Grrrr.... Thank God for dental benefits!

And before I forget, I'm starting to get vibes that Zebra Girl (yep, code again!) has tipped off one of our audit concerns because I cannot contact the one and only phone number this guy supposedly owns. Hmmm. Guilty, eh?

It's now lunch time here, my people are now scratching their heads due to hunger issues. And I think they don't want to go ahead and eat without me. I don't look like fried chicken, do I?

;)

Fleurcreation: I'm so Into Giveaways!

Again, scanning through my google reader, I saw another one! And this time, it's a dainty sugary nice giveaway.

Liza just opened her online store, Fleur de lis Creations and to top it off, she's giving away hand-made jewelry and cellphone charms.For the first prize winner, it's a lovely necklace:

for 2nd prize, dangling earrings:

and last but not the least, a yummy cellphone charm.

If you also want to join in the buzz, just grab her badge, (get the code directly from her post here), and maybe read through the instructions too, so you can also join! We'll never know, you just might win, instead of me.. lol!






So, good luck?
;)

Animetrics Favorite Things

I waited for her announcement, and tragically, I almost forgot about it if not for google reader. lol!

Animetrics is giving away wonderful wonderful stuff this early in the year, and there's actually no harm in trying. {photo credits to Animetrics}

Among these heaven-sent items, I'd rather be given the Neutrogena Wave, which she also has previously reviewed in full detail. Why?

Because I need it, given the current condition of my skin. If you look closely enough you'd notice the deep scars from both acne and chicken pox. I also have uneven skin tone, and pimples. By the way, these are unedited.

 sorry about that, hubby and I were goofing around when this shot was taken.

Yes, my face is a problem. Lol! But it's ok. Besides, even if I wanted to buy one on my own, I still would be able to because of a famous line I've learned to despise at times, "Do you need that?" And even if I was able to justify my so called need, I still would be hearing this small voice telling me I can do without it for a while longer because we needed more free cash for our use - since getting married, I have been a bit more careful in letting go of liquid assets, we'd rather save bit by bit for things in the house, or for our monthly amortizations and whatnots.

Anyway, if you're interested about this giveaway thing, go ahead and click on this link, or copy and paste this address to your browser --> http://animetric.blogspot.com/2010/02/animetrics-favorite-things-year-1.html

Hopefully, I get it, the refills are much cheaper compared to the wave unit itself. lol!  ;)

Good luck!   :)

How will our Baby Look Like?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not yet pregnant, at least that's what I know.  :)

I was lurking in facebook when I saw someone else try to predict her friend's baby's future face. And.... As curious as anyone can be, I tried it out. Entered this address on my browser, http://www.morphthing.com, registered and just followed instructions.

And according to morphthing, here's how our offspring may look like:

And he/she has blue eyes.

;)


ps:
Ate Jovie's is officially, pregnant! yay!  Congratulations Ate Jovie, and EJ, you're really gonna be called Ate EJ already!  :)  Because last Christmas Ej was actually "forcing" me that I she wants to change her name into Christine Elealeh Joy, and that her nickname should be ATE Christine. lol! At least the "Ate" part came true...  ;)

The Blue Speckled Diary is a DOFOLLOW Blog

Announcing!

This blog is now a dofollow blog, which basically means that if you leave a comment with links, this blog will recognize it and there will be an exchange of value and credit towards improving search engine ranks.

And for those who didn't know or has not tried to use PR Checker to check this blog's page rank, it's actually a PR3 blog.



And to always remind you of this fact my dear reader, I've placed a picture at my sidebar saying that if you comment, I will follow. So, comment away!

Badge of Happiness

Found a comment under one of my appreciation posts and upon following the link to her blog, I found out that I received a Happy 101 Badge!

So sweet of Loveleng of Chronicle of an Inconsistent Mom to give one to me and recommend this blog to her readers too!

To pass on the happiness bug, here's a list of some of my most visited blogs in the last few weeks:

• Chronicle of an Inconsistent Mom by Loveleng
• Animetric's World by Rowena
• iBlog 1 [Oh] 1 by Red Apple
• Trip or Treats by Jean
• Yatot Chronicles by Yatot

Feel free to pass on the Happy 101 badge to your friends and blogmates, and don't forget to thank them for whatever it is they have shared knowingly, or unknowingly.

;)

Just Received my Trip or Treats Prize!

From this tweet, I was informed that I won a Christmas Goodie Giveaway from Trip or Treats and finally, through the kindness of Ms Tessa Prieto-Valdes, who I wasn't able to meet (it's okay, I know she's gonna be real busy for the Reveal Fashion Show tonight), it has arrived and is now sitting prettily on my desk.

 

 there it is, with the note from Jean of Trip or Treats...

  

 I liked her stationary... especially the header which says:

"spirituality is the source. love is the force. life is the course."

so cool.

 

her paperclip was cute too.. it didn't really look like a typical paperclip.

So let me say Thank you again Jean...  :)  I'll try to post pictures of when I try to have it baked already. And oh, regarding that thing you mentioned on the note... Sure, I'd love to work with you, I'm also looking forward to its opening 'coz Tessa's the interior designer, right?

~

So if you too would want to win yourself some goodies, or read some fabulous reviews, see their trips and drool over their treats, just go to Trip or Treats.

Does Globe Customer Service Suck?

Even the bigger companies like Globe and its customer service, including their billing and charge monitoring systems have slowly dwindled over the years into something just plain annoying.

Pia Magalona, on her tweet today - which was the first to catch my attention, dubbed this as the KML Syndrome - "Kung Makakalusot, Lulusot!" {If they can get away with it with their excuses, they will! - sounds a bit like Murphy's Law huh?}

Anyway, the tweets looked like these, yes tweets.. They were more than one!

TO EVERYONE: look at those ADJUSTMENTS and GPRS charges! Dyan sila kumukuha ng add'l sa GLOBE. Sabi nmin y may GPRS charge e SuperSurf?32 minutes ago from UberTwitter 

I said pa-investigate muna. Den girl comes back n says SORI dpt pala wala GPRS chrg bilang SuperSurf! Wapak! It's d KML syndrome. 30 minutes ago from UberTwitter

@talk2GLOBE SEE!!! Andaming paddings ng bill ni Elmo! Worth almost 3K ang dagdag! I had all my other accts chekd again! 

KML stands for Kung Makakalusot Lulusot! I said AND I'm not switching networks. I'm protecting my rights. Do ur job @talk2GLOBE! 29 minutes ago from UberTwitter

@talk2GLOBE Kasi nga u hire all these useless ppl n we're left to solve our problems. Unlimited? Too good to be true!

So there, to those using Globe, you prolly already understand what the heck's going on between these two twitter people. If you like to continue following their conversation, you can go to convomonitor.com or click THIS LINK. 

;) 

Facebook is UNSTABLE.

At least Farmville had the balls to admit it and publish something like this:

{click on the image to enlarge it}

How about considering the old homepage now?

ps:
Don't forget to be a fan of The Blue Speckled Diary in Facebook!

Eating.

Eating is that one activity that takes your mind, and mouth, off from snoozing at work.

Doing 5S, I mean 6S, to my Office

I have been invited several times by our human resources department to join this 5S Housekeeping traning session and I have never been interested.


Until, I finally awoke to the fact that my desk looked like hell, and I couldn't find a paper clip amidst all the clutter. I had too many papers lying around, too many teeny weeny thingies jumping around my laptop, which practically took over the center of my desk. Don't get me wrong, my desk isn't small, and my laptop isn't too big. It's just that I have too much stuff ON my desk which I practically don't use every single minute of the day.


So I decided to search the net for this 5S thing, and a twitter friend, @OlinTaha pointed out that it's now 6. And voila, after searching more, it really was 6!

Implementing the 6S Rules.

1. SORT. After looking around and noticing this 2 big piles of paper, I decided to sort it all out. What to take note of:
•  Company's retention policy on documents - this will help you decide which ones you need for reference and which ones you can throw away.
• What I need everyday - the documents/forms I need for my work everyday.
• Those that need immediate attention - very self explanatory, right?
• Pending items - reports, forms and others that need attention too or those that were just set aside for the time being because you prioritized.
• Trash bin/shredder - you need one near you so you can just immediately and painlessly toss your unnecessary clutter into these useful things.
2. STRAIGHTEN OUT / SET IN ORDER. Once you've sorted out which ones are still needed and you've actually finally thrown away that 2007 budget proposal, you can now start to set order on your office.
• Set aside a "personal" space for your things like your pens, stapler, planner, binders, telephone, and even your mug.
• Just like any other space, try to maintain each one, do not let something get out of its "personal" space because once this happens, then it's not gonna be so orderly anymore.
• Add or put labels on folders, binders, containers, etc. A basic organizing skill, this also helps you identify the contents of a huge binder without creating chaos on your desk.
• Compartmentalize your bulletin/cork board. If you're like me and you have your own cork board in your office, go ahead and straighten things out. Separate personal notes and tacks from those work related. You can use adhesive tapes or colored pins to separate these compartments for easy reference.
• Again, be creative! Use colored papers, post-its or even colored adhesive tapes to set those "personal" spaces or labels. The more involved you get, the more importance you'd give to this order you have finally created.
3. SHINE / SWEEP. Since we're already organizing things and whatnot, why not go a step further and not wait for the cleaning guy? Wipe the surfaces of your desk, the filing cabinet, chairs, side tables, counter tops and even the printer. You can always do this just once in a while, let's say once a week, just to start things going. The cleaner it is, the more at ease you'd feel toward your workspace.
4. STANDARDIZE. I actually do not have the solid idea on how to implement this to my desk/office, but I think this can be related to being organized. By setting a "standard" on how to handle things, like using neatly cut scratch papers for little notes or phone call inquiries and tiny reminders, you can lessen the chances of losing that important telephone number you scribbled "somewhere" when your superior started yelling. Or, just continue following your company standards or policies. I think that'll help a lot.
5. SUSTAIN. Don't procrastinate! If you need to yell at yourself and risk looking like a dimwit to anyone who'd accidentally see you talking to yourself, do it! Do not put off doing something if you can finish it today. This also goes with your organizing and cleaning up. If you can put that file neatly into that blue-colored folder, go ahead. Make your day. *lol! so cheesy...*
6. SAFETY. And because you are already starting to be a neat-freak, you'd notice that you'll take extra steps in cleaning up or straightening out without even realizing that you have just added a safety feature to your everyday things, like making sure that the wires are neatly tuck and are not sticking out to snag someone's foot, or that you have kept that big metal scissors from the hands of a disorganized and stressed workmate, or simply reducing the risk of being smothered with smoking hot brewed coffee by simply clearing out that space away from your telephone.

Isn't that easy?



source:
5S in the Office

The Blue Speckled Diary Facebook Fan Page

 Okay, I decided to breathe life to that page, again.


Yep. You read that right, the facebook page for The Blue Speckled Diary is alive and kicking, and you can be an instant fan by clicking at the fan box to your right.

You can even share your thoughts or interact with me via that page, just like any other FB page... You can even suggest topics, or better yet, if you like, you can even be a guest blogger!  :)

What ya think?

Hah! A Fancy New Phrase

Managed to coin another fancy shmanzy new phrase a few hours ago...

Exponential Rate of Brain Cell Depletion

And it's actually a bit self-explanatory.

Yey!

:)

Brain Cells

Brain Cells.

• the main cellular composition of your brain, which is the organ you use for both voluntary and involuntary bodily functions.
• the more you think, the more you use up.
• the less you think, they still get used up.
• what you need to be useful. at all.
• a scarce thing nowadays.
• is very hard to produce, I think.. (Ooops, there goes 1,000 of them already, just for that statement! lol!)

Smallest Place I Called Home

When I was starting out my work here in my current company (wouldn't want to mention it, so sue me..lol!), I rented out a room in Labangon (Cebu City). The rate was really small and I was to occupy the whole room by myself. It wasn't at all "bongga" or anything. In fact it was... cramped. Really cramped. I felt like a sardine pushed into a can with 3 others, plus the sauce.

It was about 2m x 3m, I think, I never really wandered how "big" it was. But what I remember was that it fit a double-decker single bed that was just wide enough that your body will fit just ok when you lay supine, plus a small wriggling space. There was also a small cabinet, a small table where I put my TV on - I had to get one so I'd stay sane after work. And a little walking space for one person to be able to move around, change clothes, hang her feet or something, use a stool as a dining table, etc. It was really THAT small.

Aside from the room being small, the landlord was small too. He was an old man, but not grumpy. He was, at his best, sociable. He often asks where my family's at, where I work, how much do I earn, things like that. And he absorbs it like a dry sponge. Later on, he charges me big bucks for that darn TV. Crazy old man.

But it wasn't at all that bad. For as long as I could sleep on a bed, change clothes without being seen by other people, watch tv without the whole town watching with me, and just enjoy solitude after a day's work, I was ok with it. It was really tiny, but it was home for me for about 2 years, I think. And by the way, here are some crappy pictures I took while I was there. You couldn't decipher the size of the room from the pictures, these were just for boredom's sake.

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

I'm sick, don't bug me!

I'm not feeling well. Don't mess with me.

This was the warning I issued to all my facebook and twitter friends early today because, as what it says, I'm not feeling well. Runny nose is not such a good thing, especially if you need to look down all the time to look at your laptop screen. Darn it.

Even the base of my nostril is a bit sensitive to the touch already. I've been sneezing and wiping for just about the whole morning already. Gulped up more than 600ml of fruit juice already, a cup of green tea, and huge mugs of water. Been to the restroom for just about 6 times since I came into the office, and at the rate I'm consuming liquids right now, I just might double that number before the day ends.

Aside from colds, I actually have a lot of things going on in the office. And I'm getting a bit fidgety. Grrr.. This was also why I got stuck with no recent updates in the last few days. I was actually busy.

harhar. *sniff*

Got to go. *sneeze*


PS:
I was just wandering, doesn't Bilivery have any Valentine's promo or something?