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It's almost one week and still there's no Internet connection at our new office... Everyone's getting restless, fidgety, and almost at their wit's end. Well, what can you expect if people are unable to browse their favorite websites, retrieve their e-mails, chat with others via Yahoo or MSN Messenger, and even unable to check their new messages on Friendster.
Oh, there's no telephone line also!
Aaaarrrrrggghhhhhhh!
What more, even Friendster's remote blogging feature is acting up and so I am unable to post to my blog even if I want to.
Double aaaarrrrrggghhhhhhh!
Oh well... That's just some of the pains of moving to a new office address, albeit temporarily.
We've expected this move a little more than a month ago. The company we were leasing our old office from gave us sufficient notice period to vacate because they had to do some major rehab works in the floor we were in. But then, due to numerous other jobs that we had to prioritize, we haven't really planned for this move very well and so we were caught slightly off-guard.
My officemates were already showing signs of worry because with just two weeks left, we still haven't found a place to transfer to. We had already scouted several vacant office spaces and we even contacted several brokers to help us in our search but the places we saw were either to big, too expensive, or too far away for our liking. The few available places that were acceptable to us were in Makati but then we will have the problem of re-applying for a new business license (our company's registered in Pasig City) and confronting higher tax rates come February 2006.
Surprisingly, I wasn't worried quite a bit even if we only had two weeks left to vacate our old office. It was as if I was "expecting" things to fall into place exactly at the right moment... Prayers helped, of course. And so not surprisingly, things did fall exactly into place at the right moment!
Just last week, the company I'm doing consultancy work for in Makati suddenly decided to consolidate its offices into one location so that they can save on rental cost. However, they were unable to terminate their lease contact in one of its offices because they signed a one-year lease term that will expire only on February 2006, thus they are still obliged to pay the remaining portion of the contract term even if they won't be using the office space anymore.
"Wow!", I thought. What timing! I quickly grabbed this opportunity and happily proposed that we take over the remaining portion of the contract. The company was just all too happy to turn over the office to us. Of course we were happy, too! We no longer had to pay the two-month deposit and one month advance rental just to get the office space. And there will be no long-term lease agreement for us. Our former landlord had also agreed that we can still maintain our business address in our old office in Pasig, thus we no longer had to re-apply for business permits and go through some more bureucratic paperworks and approvals. It was like getting a three-month reprieve so that we can still continue looking for our "ideal" office space in Pasig City while we are temporarily based in Makati City.
Our new location is a very lovely plave for an office! It's actually a two-bedroom condo unit, located at the second floor of the building, with elevator access and guarded entry. The environment around the building is a bit laid back, not like the glitzy, noisy atmosphere in Emerald Avenue in Ortigas Center with its ostentatious yuppie crowds. I could actually hear birds chirping outside the windows of our new office... just perfect for capturing that inspiring and creative moment that's utterly important in our line of work. I could also hear some dogs barking and some roosters crowing in the distance.
And for our gastronomical urges, there are numerous places to eat around that offer pang-"masa" delicacies ranging from tapsilog, lugaw, goto, isaw, sisig, balut and even taho and fresh buko juice in coconuts delivered at our doorstep! And mind you, the prices are also pang-masa! Yum!!!
So now, the only thing that's lacking is our Internet and phone line connection. But this is only a temporary setback. Actually, there are some benefits to being "offline" for a while...
Here's what I've done so far while offline:
- Organize the files on my computer neatly into their very own folders and subfolders. My computer desktop, which used to be cluttered with too many icons and folders, is now clear and I can now clearly see the wallpaper behind it.
- Back-up the files on my computer's hard drive and burn them on CDs.
- Defragment my computer's hard drives. Now my computer runs "a bit" faster.
- File away the few printed documents that are still residing inside my table drawers. (I have almost succeeded in running a paperless office, if not for the contracts, proposals and invoices that still need to be printed anyway).
- Get acquainted with the new landlords... They're a very sweet old couple who run and manage the entire building, They're really very mabait and accommodating and always ready with their smile =)
- Lay out plans for next year's activities and timelines.
- Make kulit to the service providers to install our Internet and phone line connections ASAP.
- Make kulit to the service providers to install our Internet and phone line connections ASAP.
- Make kulit to the service providers to install our Internet and phone line connections ASAP.
- Sort out my e-mails and reply offline to those that need to be replied to. (Finally I was able to use Microsoft Outlook's "Work Offline" feature)
- Make my Christmas List: the list of people who will receive gifts from me this Christmas (are you in it?). And more importantly...
- Make my Christmas List 2: The list of people I will be receiving gifts from this Christmas (again, are you in it? hehehe)
So there it is.
Now I know -- I can definitely survive without Internet... but for one week only!!! I might exhibit withdrawal symptoms beyond this period, hehehe.
Now, plz, plz, plz, I need my regular Internet fix ;-)
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