The week that was (March 13 - 19)

Sunday: I was already awake as early as 12:00am but I decided to get up at around 4:00am since I needed more sleep for my work at night. I was able to go online and for a longer period of time while doing my laundry and having breakfast. Then I went to Llanas to get some more items for the week as well as got some Sunday's paper as I read it upstairs while waiting for my wife. After hearing mass at noon, we went back home right away for me to get some much needed rest. I got up a few hours later getting ready for work even if my mind and heart wanted me to take more rest and spend quality time at home. I got in the office just in time for my shift. As I opened my tools, I noticed several emails reminding us of some slip-ups we had for the past week. Well that's part of learning experience I'd rather take it with a grain of salt and move forward. I had one call after 30 minutes of my stay in the office and I gained another learning experience for me.

Monday: I got another call at around 12:45am but I need to escalate it to our support group. Then another problem came in as one of the servers were having problems when I try to monitor one of them so I had to escalate it again XD. Though I didn't noticed that I was still able to do some personal things on the side. I was able to wrap-up everything by 7:15am and head home. I got home an hour and 15 minutes later and saved more than a hundred pesos off my allowance for the day XD. I went upstairs to my sleeping wife but our baby was already awake in her tummy as I felt her move as often as possible. Then I went online for a while while waiting for my wife to get ready for work before taking her to the LRT. I checked on some blogs for a few more minutes before finally going to bed. It didn't took me that long before going to sleep since I've been sleepy the entire morning. I got up at 7:45pm as I prepare for work. As I got to the office and check my work-related emails. I got two feedback from my US Manager on how I handled the call. I was able to do it properly though I should have looked into it much deeper. Anyways, I was able to handle some emails and requests as well as some call outs as they passed the phone to me at 11:30pm. 

Tuesday: I got 2 calls while the US team are having their lunch.I was able to do some call-outs while updating some personal stuff of my own. But at 5:00am, they have already passed the phones to us which means I have to be on my toes for the next two hours before my shift ends. I got to talk to my colleagues from the morning shift before I leave the office at 7:30am. I had to buy a 500-peso load from Globe at The Enterprise Center before taking a bus to Crossing. As I got hungry, I had to stop by at Tropical Hut for my breakfast before taking a jeepney ride home. I got to go online for 2 hours before going to bed but not after taking my wife to the LRT for her ride. It took me a while before making myself fall asleep since I've been thinking alot lately. Probably I got 6 hours of sleep as I started to get into my senses at 7:00pm but I got up an hour later. When I got to the office, I am surprised that one of my colleague who was supposed to report the following night showed up to begin his training XD. 

Wednesday: Work will be much lighter moving forward since there will be three of us who will take care of the phones. We got to enjoy the rest of our shift before the US team sends the phone back to us at 5:00am. We left the office at almost 7:30am again since our morning colleagues arrived a bit late. I went straight home right away without going to some stop overs to nourish myself and instead, had breakfast at home to save money.My wife was still sleeping when I got home. I got to hold her tummy and our baby was active, moving to and from the minute I placed my hand on her mommy's tummy. That alone lessened the fatigue that I got while working night shifts. I went online again to update my blog as well as read other people's blogs. I was able to get some sleep at almost 1:00pm since I've been thinking of things again. I got up at almost 8:00pm felling lazy to get up but since I'm aiming for zero absences this March, I got up and stretched for a while before doing my night rituals for work. To my surprise, I got in the office just in time even if I felt home at past 9:00pm.

Thursday: Even if the phones were transferred to us, we were able to manage since there are 4 of us here at the night shift. I have to train the two new comers since I'll be moving to the 1:00pm-10:00pm shift to monitor my wife who will give birth within the next 6-8 weeks. I got to enjoy more of my shift in the coming days as I'll be guiding the new comers with the ins and outs of AMER Helpdesk so I could focus on doing call-outs to users for software installation. Even if they have already passed the phones to us at 5:00am, we were able to enjoy our shift and have fun since there are four of us already. After our shift, I went to Intramuros to have my breakfast there which I got to satisfy my hunger as well as my visual craving for something new XD.When I got home, my wife was still sleeping but our baby was awake and kicking. That alone made my day. I went online for a few hours as my wife takes her bath but our dogs went bananas since there was a rat in our house particularly in our bathroom. I got to bed at almost 12:00pm as I check on our monthly budget and read a book to make myself sleepy.  I got up at almost 8:00pm but I didn't feel like going to work. But I had to keep my perfect attendance to get my paycheck complete. I left home at past 9:30pm and got in the office an hour later. Even if I got late, I didn't mind anymore since there were more than one colleague manning the night shift especially during Tuesdays to Thursdays.

Friday: Once we got the phones from the US team, we got almost 8 calls in an hour. The good thing is that there were four of us who could handle all of them. I had one call that I was able to fix easily.We got to enjoy our shift before they passed the phones to us at around 5:00am. My colleague got a call that almost took him an hour to get a work around that spoiled my plan to go home early XD. That allowed me to get some much needed cash for our expenses in the afternoon. At 7:30am, I called it a day as I went home. I had to stop by at Tropical Hut Crossing to have my breakfast there. But instead of having the usual 3 pcs of toast, I ordered 4 pcs more to get myself full as if I'm eating one and one-half cup of rice XD. When I got home, my wife was still sleeping so I'd got to feel her tummy again to see if our baby was awake. And she was already awake and dancing inside her mommy's tummy XD. I went online for a few minutes before getting ready for my wife's check-up at the hospital. We left home at 11:00am and we got ourselves stuck in a little traffic before reaching the hospital at around 1:00pm. We went to the Women's Center first to claim my wife's CD Pictures of our baby before going to the Doctor's Clinic. She had her turn at probably past 2:00pm but it was a short one plus the Doctor reminded my wife to watch her weight so as not to let herself overweight for her to have a normal delivery in few weeks time. After her check-up, we went to Robinson's Galeria to run some errands and have lunch there. After paying some bills, we head to Papa John's for Pizza and Pasta. Then we looked for some baby items since they're on sale. My wife wanted to buy the baby stroller she saw since it only costs 1700 pesos but I resented it not because its cheap, but also I'm not convinced of its quality. I reminded her the one we saw at Isetan Recto which was far more ok than the one she saw. We got home at past 6:00pm. I got to watch some TV for a few minutes before feeling so sleepy at dozed off at 7:30pm.

Saturday: I got up from bed at 2:30am even if I'm already awake at past 2 since I've slept at 7:30pm. I was hoping to get 2-3 more hours of sleep and get up at around 4 or 5am but I can't go back to sleep. I let my wife have her sleep so I went downstairs and go online. Until probably 9:00am. In between I was able to cook pancakes for my family here though the batter was too thick. I got to do some laundry for the day as well. My wife got up to use the laptop for her online activities. While watching TV, I was hoping to catch an episode of DPP TV on Studio 23 but I wasn't able to catch it. It could be the time slot has been moved, or the show ceased already (I hope not). At 11:00pm, I went to SM Manila to do some grocery for the week. Traffic took me a while to get there. I was able to use the 1000-peso gift card my ninong gave us during our wedding in 2009. Before I begin shopping, I had dumplings with hainanese rice from Paotsin for the second time this month. For some reason, I find it comforting to have it as a heavy snack or light merienda as I'm hooked to dumplings for quite some time now. As I went inside the supermarket, I bought all the basic necessities we need plus my dose of DVF Carabao's Milk in chocolate flavor. I went hone right away to have lunch and enjoy the rest of the afternoon. Then my wife asked me to accompany her to Recto again to claim the stamp pad she requested a week earlier. It took us while before finally acquiring it. Then we walked our way to Isetann Recto to get some baby clothes. In a matter of 1-2 hours, we have spent 3600 worth of baby items again. I'm not complaining that the total amount reach that high but rather how heavy the entire stuff I have to carry back home XD. Then we had a quick snack at KFC to keep me awake for a few more minutes. My wife noticed that some of the items we purchased that was supposed to have a discount was not discounted. She wanted to go back to contest for it but I was too tired to go up so instead, we head for home. By 7:00pm, I was up in bed snoozing again XD.