Everything Under The Tropical Sun

After one seamless wordpress upgrade (version 2.7)… the curse was bound to strike again. And without a hitch, wordpress upgrade to version 2.8 was it. I was praying hard that I had already possessed a magical talisman to deter the WP upgrade curse from ever hitting me again.

So what happened? After upgrading to version 2.8, it seemed that everything was working. My dashboard looked pretty much the same. It didn’t look like anything was out of place. I worked on a blog entry I drafted earlier and as soon as I hit the publish button, it’s when it hit me: my visual editor was out of whack. The buttons weren’t there.

“OMGoodness, does this mean I have to get used to writing my blog entry with html?”

It’s the curse of the WP upgrade. It attacked me once again! *sigh* But I guess it wasn’t as bad anymore because after upgrading some of the plugins, it became alright again. The buttons are back and I’m back to happily posting. So all’s well that ends well… until the curse strikes again, that is.

Who ever invented this contraption must not own a dog. If you know who he/she is… please, for the love of God, don’t even think of getting him/her a dog. He/She doesn’t deserve it. A “dog washing machine”?! PBFFT. Really?! Are you clinically insane?!

If you own a dog, you’d know that giving your pet a bath is one of the many times you bond with him/her. Sure, my dogs are big and frisky but the constant touching done when giving them a bath makes me feel that we’ve connected all the more. They tend to lick our faces and play with the water whenever we’re giving them a bath. It’s fun. Why on earth would anyone want to take that experience away?

*sigh*

Here’s the video. It’s not really that cruel… maybe it is useful for the busy pet owner. But if you’re too busy to give your pet a “manual” bath, do you really think you deserve a dog?

What a realization… and I don’t think it’s a good one either…

“Hi, I’m underthetropicsun.com and I’m a Facebook addict.”

Darn. First step to recovery. There you have it. I’m no longer ashamed to admit it. When in fact I first rejected the idea of opening yet another online social networking account. I just opened one because I was curious why everyone was getting in on it and why one of my favorite organizations (Brighter Planet) had a facebook page. Little did I know that my curiousity would lead to my eventual addiction.

At first, I would have weekly doses. I forgot to turn my email notification off so from time to time I’d be reminded of facebook through my inbox. One by one, friends started to add me… I added some more friends and before I knew it, I was playing games like Fashion Wars (which I don’t play anymore), Mafia Wars (I still play this from time to time), Fish Wrangler (I still play), and Restaurant City (this is the most addicting game ever).

It was because of these applications that I kept returning to FB. Then I found myself refreshing (it wasn’t updated in real time before… unlike now, new posts are announced) my update page every 10 minutes. Just to see what people have been up to. Facebook turned me into a pervert, a gossip, and an addict all at the same time. Amazing.

For some reason, the ads weren’t as obtrusive on their site. It was like, I’m in a happy trance whenever I have my FB open… that I end up clicking ads I wouldn’t normally do on other sites. I’m not alone either. My husband’s just as addicted as I am. Whenever he doesn’t answer me on IM, I send him a message on FB and sure enough he answers quickly.

*sigh*

I’m an FB addict. Are you?

P.S.
I also made a page for this blog so please feel free to view and maybe add yourself: FACEBOOK PAGE
I hardly update it but don’t worry, I’ll be taking on a more proactive approach to this page.

It was Labor day and for most of us, our day off… and as usual, it wasn’t for my dear hubby. He went to work because they had a lot of deadlines this weekend. In fact, they worked yesterday. But my hubby didn’t because of our little scare last Friday.

He came home and we had dinner as we always do. Everything was fine and nothing seemed out of the ordinary… and as usual he had his “little” asthma attack before going to bed and used his inhaler. Then he complained that he still couldn’t breathe. I didn’t think anything of it because he would normally go into his asthma attacks and always, the inhaler helped. But this time, he was antsy. I told him to use the nebulizer but maybe it’s because he felt his inhaler made matters worse, he opted not to. After pacing a few more times, he looked at me and said: “We have to go to the hospital.”

My heart started racing. I tried not to worry until I had all the facts. But he rarely complains about anything… PLUS he hates seeing anyone who has to wear a white coat for a living. For him to ask me to take him to the hospital was enough to get me really really worried. A million scenarios played through my head while on the way to the hospital. I found myself silently picking things off and praying that I was just being paranoid. But he couldn’t breathe and he was dizzy.

We got to the hospital sometime around 10:30. Thankfully the doctor was able to see him immediately and he didn’t order him to the O.R. or anything like that so I was a bit relieved. But when he asked for an X-ray and ECG test, my heart and mind started working overtime again. But the tests came up negative. His blood pressure was normal and nothing was really wrong with him. The doctor said that it might be gastrointestinal acid reflux disease. In layman’s terms: easy up on the coffee, softdrinks, alcohol, and other such vices.

He was still complaining about his shortness of breath so I guess he had a slight anxiety attack too. (But to be honest, if the nurse took my BP, it probably would’ve been high and she’d say that I was having an anxiety attack.) So they gave him a sedative (he was quite happy about that) to calm him down and calm his breathing pattern. We got out of the hospital at around midnight. But when we got home, he was still complaining and had to “consciously” breathe.

He’s okay now but gave me quite a scare. I weighed myself yesterday. I had to go on and off the weighing scale about 5 times because I couldn’t believe what I saw: I lost 5 lbs. Was it because of our little scare last Friday? My body had to go on an adrenalin spree because of the worry? If it is… well, that’s one workout regimen I don’t ever want to go on again.

You left this morning anad I’m missing you already. I know it’s for work and you have to do it but it doesn’t stop me from missing you.

I miss coming home and sharing my day with you.
I miss kissing you “Hi!” after a long day’s work.
I miss watching American Idol with you and sounding off opinions about the contestants with each other.
I miss whining that I don’t like our dinner to you.
I miss your wit.
I miss laughing with you.
I miss you making me laugh.
I miss your face.
I miss your tattoo.
I miss you so much.

I can’t wait for Saturday. I’m going to get off work early to pick you up. I’ll spend three excruciating nights without you but I know I’ll see you again. I love you.

I miss my brother’s ex. Stupid brother. Stupid! Moron! Idiot! I love him with all my heart but he’s an idiot for letting such an awesome woman slip away… for even creating a situation wherein he’d risk her love in the first place. He’s usually a smart guy and appreciates what he has but… nevermind. I won’t go into the details. The whole point is I miss her.

I don’t really understand why. I don’t know what to do in this situation either. Sure, I’m not at fault and I should be able to communicate with her but I’m a casualty of war… collateral damage. She’s my friend in facebook… big whoop right? Makes me miss her all the more. Seeing her post recent photos… posting messages on common friends’ walls… it makes me sad. Thank GOD she’s not my brother’s facebook friend. If he saw her with her new boyfriend, he’d probably end up deleting his account.

My brother’s saying he’s okay… that he’s accepted the consequences of his actions. He may or may not be telling the truth but I’m sure of one thing: that if he had the chance to turn back time, he’d do things differently. I suspect that there would still be nights when he’d remember and regret the things that happened between them. I regret the things that happened. I did what I could to keep them from breaking up because I knew that the bottom line was that he loved her with everything he was… simply because he’s a changed man now. I’d think that a woman that had such profound effect on him even after they broke up would be a woman he truly and deeply loved. I mean, because he changed… he tried to better himself… another way to make amends I guess. It’s like it was his only way of saying and proving that loving her wasn’t in vain.

How I miss her. My husband misses her too. She has every right to stay away from us. Maybe we remind her too much of the past and maybe it’s painful for her to keep in touch. I understand simply because it’s painful for me too. I’m also filled with regret… wishing things were different… hurting still as I watch my brother go about his life without his heart… he’ll be fine. Maybe. But I’ll always remember her… will keep on missing her… and wishing her well in my prayers.

I’m so excited! We’re going away on holiday next week. We’ll be off to bantayan then on to bohol. I hope I can get a decent internet connection there so I can upload photos. It’ll be awesome!

My husband needs the break. This morning he tells me that he might go to work (when I specifically told him to make sure he doesn’t) after our bantayan trip. I’ve been bugging him to take a load off and relax because his mind’s not what it used to be. He’s so forgetful nowadays and end up making bad PERSONAL decisions. He tells me that he blanks out sometimes and we’d had conversations wherein he’d ask me where I got a certain information from… I’d say: “FROM YOU!!!” Those times would get me really worried… scratch that. I AM worried.

I thought a good long vacation would do the trick. Since Neptune’s coming and all, we took a leave of absence… or so I thought. Now he’s telling me he’s going to go to work. I WANT MY HUSBAND BACK!!! He’s not the same man anymore. Too much work related stuff is cluttering his brain… and instead of him ramping up his disk space… he opted to just delete some of the stuff in there.

So I WAS excited. But what he told me this morning kinda dampened the whole thing. It’s not about me… I’m okay about him working if his mind wasn’t as jumbled as it is now. He’s turned into a workaholic and I’m not happy with the way it’s affecting him. If he still hasn’t improved after this vacation… I’m going to put my foot down. It’s not funny anymore. I can’t ask for advice from anyone close to me because they’re ALL workaholics themselves. If he doesn’t learn how to balance his job and his personal life… what’s the point?

Oh well… at least we’re going away for a while. I just pray it’ll be enough for him to regain some of his mental prowess… I love that mind. I miss it. I want it back.

The meaning of the words “Burn Out” is lost on me nowadays. There were several years when I lived in a burned out world… I’d tire easily… I’d hate going to work… I’d long for the long weekends and go on a virtual vacation by surfing the web for places I’d dream of visiting some day (I loved doing that!).

Nowadays, I’d still get tired but I’m having so much fun doing what I do now. I learn something new everyday and I make it a point to study on something that I’m interested in and is still work related. I don’t know how long this is going to last ’til I want to  run screaming out of the office but for now, I’m content.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s still hard work but work I don’t mind. I don’t mind the work. I don’t mind the pay. The burned out feeling doesn’t come as easily as it once did… and THAT makes all the difference in the world.

Happy Birthday, Teach! I know you’re on a plane from Thailand right now so let me be the first to greet you ONLINE. And as a tribute, I’m going to go on a “Teacher bashing time…”

A few weeks ago, Teach and I were chatting and he had me check out some photography equipment sold at a local photography store (The Photoshop) near our office. Since he was in Dubai, I was thinking that these things he asked me to check out were most likely cheaper here.

The great friend as I was, I called the shop right away to check on the availability of: 1) UH-200 Bracket; 2) 36″ Shoot-through umbrella; 3) 6.2′ Stand. Only the UH-200 wasn’t available. Instead, there was a UH-400. Told him about what I found out and he said that the UH-400 will do and he said to go ahead and have the items reserved. So I did.

He was trying to work out the payment so I gave The Photoshop another call if they would accept international credit cards wirelessly. They said that they had to physically see the credit card and that it couldn’t be done over the phone. So I offered to pay for the items first. I mean, he really sounded like he was interested in them and they weren’t really expensive so I really intended to get them for him.

He was really bummed to find out that I would have to pay for it from here and will end up owing me money. So I told him that I had a paypal account and that maybe he would like to send his payment to me there. He agreed. Gave him my email address and then he went ahead and wired the money.

After working the transaction out… I was feeling quite proud about being able to help a friend out… he went and said: “Advanced Happy Birthday, TEACH! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!” Stupid guy made me buy all those things for myself! ARGH! I really hated that he tricked me! I don’t mind getting gifts but it’s not the place or the time to give me any (it’s our secret why).

I got the equipment about 2 days later and true enough, his instinct to give me those things triggered me into playing around with lighting. Though I still prefer natural lighting, my fears in delving into the unknown has subsided. I’m still trying to figure out how to use it and I can’t pretend to know that I’ve learned enough to feel confident but at least I’m trying. Photos of my test subject (a.k.a. my husband) will be posted after this entry and the con turned out to be another lesson from my teacher and best friend.

P.S. Isn’t it funny that Teach was born on Friday the 13th and it’s another Friday the 13th… and he just turned 33 years old? Well… it’s just an odd coincidence if you ask me.

I wrote about the bad experience I had the last time I upgraded to the latest version of wordpress. Here we are again, another upgrade in my midst. That reminder has been up there for almost a month now. I’m so hesitant to “click here” but at the same time, I might be missing out on something. I know it will never end. Which I guess is still a good thing, right? That they wouldn’t stop trying to improve this wonderful software?

So anyway, I’ve decided that I’ve waited long enough. It may totally screw up my theme or anything else but I came to the conclusion that I’d rather upgrade and brave the changes rather than get left behind or get some fatal error in the future.

I’m going to close my eyes and click now… wish me luck!