Note: This post was written on a Thursday that spilled over to a Friday but I think it's more appropriate to name it a Thursday Tidbits rather than a Friday Frolicking Thoughts.
the wendell update
While I was slogging away on the PC with take-home work, my good friend Elaine, sent me (and I'm assuming the rest of the 'kada) this bit of good news through the wonders of SMS:
Wendell update: Geting a litle beter. Platelets geting higher.
Resistance 2 infection stil low. Abnormal cells geting les ...
Lets continue to pray 4 healing. Tnx!
Amen to that!
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non-stop influx of office work
Amidst the hustle and bustle for the company participation in Barcelona next week, more and more work is getting hustled into my department.
While I was able to delegate many of them to whoever was free to do it, I got stuck working on content for our affiliate site (the take home assignment I was referring to some sentences earlier) and the more complex auditor report.
The auditor report is the one with more pressure as it requires a good handle of numbers. As I've mentioned several times already in the Coffee House, I'm innumerate. So, the assignment, while not overly complex and not beyond my mundane grasp of numbers, is daunting as it requires me to dig up old figures from 2004 to 2007 (on a day-to-day and month-to-month at that) and do the excel thang -- AVERAGE, SUM, COUNTIF ... as if extracting them from a not-so-friendly database wasn't enough!
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my wife's birthday
My wife, Elvie, turns a year older today ... well, turned a year earlier today anyway and we celebrated it in simple fashion -- spaghetti with seafood sauce; breaded and deep-fried chicken prepped by my sis-in-law; binagoongang baboy (pork cooked with shrimp paste peppered with err, pepper); and steamed fish stuffed with onions, peppers, ginger, garlic and other herbs and spices. Plus, last night, we made several llaneras of leche flan (or milk flan), the cooking of which I will discuss some other blog post.
While I was supposed to be home a little bit after 2pm, in reality I arrived past 4 as I got cooped up in the office with a meeting, some rush work which I had to take home eventually, and some consultation with the guys on their respective tasks.
Despite that, Elvie, was in a forgiving mood and hours later, I was stuffing myself once again. Gluttony has had its pleasurable moments indeed.
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over with left behind
I finished reading Left Behind with regret. Regret because I haven't had the chance to buy the next book of the series and I'm itching as to what happens now to the foursome (wholesome, mind you ... this is a Christian book for Christ's sake) of airport pilot Rayford Steele, his daughter Chloe, news writer adventurer Buck Williams, and the good pastor Bruce Barnes as they begin their work as the Tribulation Force which is also the title of the next book.
Much like TV series nowadays on the tube, the Left Behind book ends on a cliffhanger of sorts. And I can't wait to find an affordable copy of the next book, Tribulation Force, and continue the adventures of our Christian and Bible-touting heroes during the times of the apocalyptic march.
The book, as stressed in websites I've visited about the series (particularly Wikipedia), takes a specific stance on the interpretation of the Book of Revelations and how they predict the Rapture, the Seven Years of Tribulation, the Anti-Christ, and the Second Coming of Jesus. Read that stance here.
It's a good read and I enjoyed the thrill, excitement and adventure that the first book promised. I guess, it's really more in the mold of sci-fi, mysticism and fantasy as spiritual themes hinge along those lines. It tends to get preachy at certain parts but that's not to be avoided, I guess, given the subject.
If the book is going to bring doubts to my religiosity is something I have to determine as the series progresses. While I may not be a hardcore Church-goer, nor do I practice my Roman Catholicism with the expected conviction and affirmation, I do believe there's a God if not a Supreme Being out there who made all things and made all things possible. However, the series I believe will challenge me, in some ways, spiritually.
Nevertheless, I'm intent on finishing the series and this is another item on the Book Hunt List.
Now, how much is that hardbound copy of Tribulation Force at BFL that I saw last week?
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insomnia nights
The past couple of nights have been difficult.
Last Monday night up to Tuesday wee morning, I had trouble sleeping and finally dozed off at 2am. Today, I got around to my snoozing phase at 3am. Who knows what time my eyes will shut later -- 2, 3 or 4am probably?!
I guess I should be expecting it anyway as it has been weeks since I've had the attack of the insomnia nights.
I tried drinking warm water, made sure I wear comfortable boxers to sleep, took a shower, got my eyes tired but still failed to shut-eyes early. At around 1am or 2am these past couple of nights, I've been watching the live broadcast of the Rugby World Cup -- a sport I have no idea what it's all about -- on Star Sports just to lull me to sleep. Not even the comforting arm of my wife, draped across my torso, lullabyed me to snores. I changed positions, changed the position of my pillows, changed the position of my daughter but still nada.
Maybe I'll sleep after this blog post? Yeah, right.
Talkin' 'bout stuff over steaming cups of coffee. Grab a seat and be part of the chit-chat.
