Daily Report: I Want Ikea

I spent the morning plugging away at work. My transcription company is losing the hospital I transcribe for to another company at the end of this month. (Apparently they didn't like the computer system my company uses or something.) I've been moved full-time to the University of Texas Medical School accounts (which readers of my past blog know I loathe), as well as the University of Pittsburgh Psychiatric Institute, which if anything, is actually worse than Texas.

As a result, my transcribing speed has been cut almost in half, with a result that unless I work more each day, my paycheck is affected correspondingly. (This was yet another reason I moved to The Philippines: This upcoming pay cut... although I didn't think it would be this bad.) I'm still making great money, and my transcribing speed will slowly edge back up as I get more comfortable with the accounts... but for now, I have to consider 6 hours of typing a day to be "not enough", whereas it used to mean a great amount of work.

My motorcycle was dropped off today by the dealership. It was a bad keyhole-turney-ignition part causing the electric system to fail to operate. (The odometer seemed to be about where I left it, so there were apparently no joyrides. I'm glad that my trust proved well-founded.)

For lunch, Epril and I went to SM Mall where I bought Epril a new shirt, and a silver bracelet. I bought her mother some reading glasses, her little sister, Dimple, 2 dresses (so cheap too), and some toys (even cheaper) for little Doreen.


The new night table. In
Cagayan, you can't get exactly
what you want every time.I went to the furniture store called "My Home" to find some night tables, and their selection was terrible: An entire furniture store, and only two styles to choose from: one style was $300 per table, and one style was $50 per table. That kind of seems to be a running theme here in Cagayan for things I want to buy: I can get either the luxury version of something, or the bargain basement version... but nothing in between. And, of course, the cheap version is just like the Thai version: You're buying something you know damn well isn't going to last.


A typical Asian help wanted sign:
"Female, single, at least 5'2" with a
pleasing personality, 18 to 21 yrs old"
So illegal in America, so common here.Anyway, since the $50 night tables weren't too terribly ugly (oval, modern, with tall lamps built into them), I bought those. Still though, I wish there were a nice big Ikea to buy cheap... but stylish... furniture for the house. Well, since the tables are hidden up in the bedroom, I'm not too fussy about them. (Also, I'm told that the craftsmen here in Cagayan are pretty good: If you take a photograph of a piece of furniture to them, they can make a knock-off for a very reasonable price... probably cheaper than you can buy it in a store.)

In the afternoon, Maid Susan left for Jassan with all the things we had purchased for Epril's family. Epril and I finally had some quality time alone in the house, and then I put in 4 hours of work in the afternoon.


A man weeds in the hilltop park
down the road from my house in
the "River Grand" housing estate.
There is a nice pool there
overlooking the valley, but I
don't have a membership yet.
I'm trying to get one though.In the evening, Epril and I ate the last of the leftover spaghetti, a bit of leftover chicken from Greenwich, and we watched 4 episodes of season one of Heroes on DVD. (That show is really turning out to be excellent. Highly recommended.)

I tried calling some of my new friends to see if there was anything to do out on the town tonight, and nobody was having fun. Well, Mike was having a company party, but of course, that doesn't count. It's going to be hard for me to get used to the idea that "nothing to do" actually means that there is literally nothing to do here in Cagayan, instead of — as in Pattaya — "nothing I feel like doing."