Taxes

So, today I got paid from my job at CAPSIC, but who knew that I could not just receive my paycheck, just like that, I had to get a personal "recibo de honorarios", I still don't know how to get them, but tomorrow I have to go to "hacienda" to get my RFC (Registro Federal de Contribuyentes, or Taxpayer Identification Number) and some other paperwork, I just hate this kind of things :(.

Well, I am so lucky because a friend that works here too let me use one of hers, but it was a pain, I had to get out of my work early to go to my friends work place (she works at another place apart from CAPSIC), and then I had to get back to my job so my boss would sign my check (that was written with my friends name), then I had to go to my friends work place again to give her my check and then we went to the bank to get my money :P

It was a pain, but at least I had a good time with this friend, now I just have to wait for her to tell me how much of taxes I will pay her. And if it isn't that much I told her that I would invite her dinner next time I see her (which would be when I pay her my share of the taxes) :P

Embarrassment...

Today I was talking with a co-worker, I only see her when I have to stay for a meeting, and I have only seen her like five or six times, well she asked for my phone number and I gave it to her, she then called me to register her number (or verify that it was my number, lol). Since I didn't remember her name I used something else to know that it was she.

I think she noticed and asked with what name I saved her number... I had to admit that I didn't remember her name, I do know it, I just couldn't recall it at the moment. She was a little mad and I had to make a bet, I told her that if I remember her name she would forgive me... and give me an ice cube (she had a glass with ice cubes), but first I needed a clue, she gave me the first letter of her name, an S.

I remembered her name instantly, Sandra, and she wasn't mad at me and I won an Ice Cube. But dammit, I hate when I can't remember names, lucky me I did remember it this time, but I might not have it next time.

There is a problem when...

...your dad tells you to play some video games.

For the first time in my life I heard that words from my dad, and it is a problem because for the last month I have done nothing but work most of the time. Since I started programming my dad always asks me if I was programming whenever he sees me, and most of the times it is either a yes or not know, I am working with my other projects.

For the last weeks he has been asking me this because he always wanted me to be an engineer and now that I am working with something similar to what he always thought I would study he seems happy when I say yes, but today while eating dinner I was thinking of something work related, he approaches to me and says that he knows that look, that I was thinking of work, and I couldn't say no, he was right, he also told me that he had not seen me much lately even though I spend most of my time at home.

We started talking about many things, we always do this at the table, either while eating or after eating, at some point he asked me if I was still playing WoW, and I told him that no, I haven't played that since February I think, he asked me what was I playing now since that game was technically the only one I played and I told him that I wasn't playing much lately.

He then told me that since I spend so much time in my computer he thought that I would be at least playing something since my parents always assume that the only thing I do at my computer is playing video games, we talked for a while, at the end of our conversation he only told me to go play any game, that I wasn't allowed to work. LOL, I love my dad, but unfortunately I had to disobey him...

+ points in regeneration

Today Sergio, Michelle, Marjorie (Michelle's sister) and I went to a tribute to the Beatles, I won't talk about it since I think Sergio will do it, as I already wrote I hurt my ankle this Tuesday, it hurt so bad the first day, and I thought it would take me longer to heal, it doesn't hurt too much, just when I make some specific movements, and because of that I can't jump or move to quickly.

Some local bands played at the tribute before the main event (Los Biruls), and between bands they played music, while a band was getting ready the staff put some music to do some riot... well, that is how I see it, back to the point, I was dragged by Marjorie to the mini riot, I was trying to do it, but I really have no coordination for this kind of thing :P, that didn't matter, I was really trying to do it, but I had a bad turn and my ankle hurt a little and I came back to the table we were at.

When the main band was finally twist and shout I don't remember if it was me or Michelle, but we started to jump around and make some good old fashioned "desmadre", I was trying to jump with my right foot mainly  so I don't hurt my ankle again, I did land a few times with my left foot, but it didn't hurt that much, it still does sometimes, but I feel like I will be able to move freely soon enough, tomorrow (or in a few hours) I will try to run some laps to see how if it has healed fine.

Yet another awkward day...

Today in the morning I had to go to do some work, a friend bought a new desktop and she wanted me to install some software, but the problem was that she wasn't going to be there, she had to attend an event from our work (we work in the same place), and her father and mother were the ones who had to receive me. I thought it would be a nightmare because I don't know these people, and I am not very good at starting conversations.

I was thinking of getting the job done as fast as I could so I didn't have to stay longer than needed, well, it was in vain, I got there at 10 a.m. and went out at 3 p.m., I finished what I was supposed to do past 11, but all that time I was talking with my friends dad and mom, it was actually pretty funny and interesting. I had breakfast there too and helped them to learn some things, like using wikipedia, how to search in youtube for tutorials and things like that, created their gmail and facebook accounts since they told me that they knew that some members of their family used facebook to stay in contact, and they wanted to do that too. 

At 1 p.m. my friend came home, she and another friend that was in school with us, we were talking there till 3 and it was pretty cool and I got another client to check a laptop next week.

Oh, and I ate some cherries like the ones Angelica or Chuy posted some time ago, they were awesome, and I was called a nerd by my friends father... dammit, well, at least that is a compliment to me :P

Awkward situation...

Sergio, another friend and I went to the movies, but since we got there super early we were walking in the mall until it was time to get to the theater. We went to Liverpool (in Las Misiones) and I saw an old classmate, he didn't saw me... or at least I didn't noted that he saw me. I told Sergio and my other friend about him, and asked if they wanted to meet him, I must admit that I didn't want to speak with him, at least I didn't care about it.

We decided not to speak with him and went our way, after that I saw him near us like 4 or 5 times when we were just hanging around, and when it was almost time for the movie to start we went to buy some snacks and he was there, we waited for him to go and then bought our stuff. We got to the room were the movie was being showed and went upstairs since most good seats were already occupied.

Daniel (our other friend) decided that I was the one who should look for seats since, I think, he wasn't competent enough for the task :P, I saw three not so bad seats and went there, I saw this guy again, he was at the first seat in the row I was going to I didn't saw him directly, like if I didn't know him, Daniel I think did the same, but Sergio... I don't know what happened but by the time I realized this guy was talking with Sergio, it was funny because we avoided him all night, but in the end he got to one of us.

Taste...

A few days ago I bought hummus, I have been wanting to taste it from some time now and since I found some here at sams I bought it, it is an artichoke and spinach hummus. Since I have never tasted this food I decided to try it alone first, but just a small bit, I don't wan't to repeat what happened with blue cheese :P
At first it tasted weird, I don't know if it had too much garlic or not, but it sure had a strong flavor, well, next test was with some bread like if it was using peanut butter, this time it didn't feel that strong, but still it needs something more, I tasted it with some tortilla too and chips like if it was a dip, it was ok, but too salty :P

Those were all the tastes I had with it, but yesterday in the afternoon I prepared a sandwich and I used hummus instead of mayonnaise (not a big fan of mayonnaise) and it tasted good, I still need to get accustomed to its flavor, but I liked it. When I have some time I will try to look for some recipes where I can use it, but for now, with some bread it is fine.

Ankle update :P

It feels weird, yesterday the pain I had in my ankle was unbearable, I couldn't even move because of it, today I don't feel that much pain anymore, and it isn't swollen either, I don't know if it was the medicine I took, or maybe the damage wasn't that severe, or something else, but today I was able to walk again without limping too much, it still hurts a little, but I can stand in that foot again, lol, if it continues this way I will be able to run again before Monday.

Getting used to pain...

In the morning I had a little accident, I sprained my ankle while walking to take the bus to go to the Tec. de Monterrey, I knew I hurt bad because it felt worse than any other I remember, it didn't hurt that much at first, and since I was in a hurry I had to swallow the pain and continue walking, I had to get there to get some training and advice for another project I have in my work, so I couldn't miss my appointment.

I got there and it really didn't hurt anything, I finished earlier than I thought and went home (I thought I would finish between 12 or 1 pm, so I was supposed to get to my work place after going to eat something), I had to walk again to my house, it is a 20 minute walk from where I get the bus to my house, and besides the sun, it wasn't so bad. I got home with a little ache, checked my ankle and it looked well, a little swollen.

I decided to use an ointment that my brother uses when he gets hurt, but I couldn't find it, I called my mom to ask her if she knew anything (it was like 11:30 at that time) but she couldn't answer the phone, she was at her job (a school next block, she is a teacher there), a few minutes before 12 she called me and told me that she didn't knew where it was but that there should be something more in her room (an oil made out of oak, or something like that, it was relaxing, but it wasn't enough), at this point it really was starting to hurt to the point where I was already limping bad, and it had swollen a little.

I heard someone knocking at the door, and since my mom told me she would be there in a few minutes (her school is finishing classes at 12 this week, I don't know why :P) I thought it could be her, to my surprise it was a pair of brothers (you know which ones, the pair of brothers that come in a black and white pack, with bibles and everything), I wasn't in the mood to be polite or anything, so I almost told them to get the fuck out of there, obviously I didn't say it that way, but first chance I had to speak I told them "look, I am atheist, I don't really want to hear anything you have to say, there is nothing that you can say that I haven't heard before, so anything you say isn't new to me, I have no need for religion nor believing in a god..." and something more, I don't really recall everything, but after that they were speechless, they said goodbye and that was everything with them. Score!!!!! (BTW, they looked like they were pretty new with this, the second guy who talked was so nervous, and that was even before I speak).

A few minutes later my mom came home and took me to a doctor, it was quick, the doctor checked how bad was my ankle and since it looked that there wasn't anything broken I didn't need x-rays, I just got a shoot of dexamethasone and something else, some pills for the pain and an ointment, so far I can't walk and the doctor said to me that I should try to let my foot rest the most I can for the next 10 days... getting to work is going to suck :P.

But it is almost 1 a.m. and I don't feel so bad at this moment, I can move my ankle a little more than a few hours before, and it doesn't hurt that much, lets see how it is in the morning.

lol, and sorry for the extra long post. I was inspired :P

Covers...

I am not a big fan of covers, most of the times I think the original songs are far better than the covers, but there are exceptions, one of my favorite songs (at this moment :P) is The Return of the Giant Hogweed played by Transatlantic, I liked it from the first time I heard the album The Whirlwind, and it was my favorite song from that album since the beginning, at first I didn't know it was a cover from Genesis, but when I read about it I couldn't help but search for the original song, and while it is not bad I must admit that I like the Transatlantic version a lot more. Same with the song A Salty Dog from Procol Harum, I really liked the Transatlantic version more than the original.

Transatlantic version

Genesis Version

Epiphany...

Today I worked almost all day, since I woke up I was either programming or reading something about to do what I had to do, in the morning I was having a lot of trouble with a certain part of code that I needed, since I am still new to this I don't know most of the functions that I can use, so I have to read and test and test and read and... well you know how this is :P.

It was hot in my room and I wasn't having much progress, so I decided to get up and prepare me something. I went to the kitchen to prepare me a smoothie (a pear, apple and guayaba smoothie) but I had to wash the blender, while I was washing it I had an idea, it was like a little revelation of how to do what I wanted, I left the blender there and went to my computer, I wrote some code and changed some things and it worked.

I wasn't finished yet, but at least the part that was giving me hell was done. I had to celebrate with my smoothie for this victory :)

The sound of muzak...

Today I went with Sergio to a Telcel customer service center, he was going to pick his new phone, and while I was waiting there, I couldn't help to hear this weird noise that came from the speakers in the ceiling, it was playing the tune from Hotel California, I like this song, but this was just too... slow, it didn't had guitar, no lyrics, no nothing, it was like an empty song. I suppose this is what this song refers too...

*Edited because last part didn't make sense and I was almost dead :P *

Work hard...

This week I started working with my Vocational Orientation project, I have a practicing student at my charge, I am responsible of her work here, and it feels weird, I do have good experience in this branch of my career, but only working at it, not being the leader of a project nor having people at my charge.

I must say that I am pretty excited because shit just got real I am finally working this project that was proposed to me a little more than a month ago. This project can be as huge or as small as we want (obviously we are shooting big), and even if it seems at times like too much work, it is totally worth it.

And I love that I got all the support from my ex-teacher and now boss, because she is helping me lots with this projects, and since it is her area of expertise the help she provides is as good as it gets.

Here is where I work

Back to school...

Today I went to my school, Michelle and I had to go to get some information regarding a project that the UACJ has that could serve our company, but I won't talk about that for the moment since we got almost nothing :P. My school hasn't changed much, looks almost the same, even the cafeteria smells the same, but this little journey was worth it, first thing that happened when we got here was that we met an old friend of both of us, and we talked for a while, it was pretty fun and relaxing. After that we went to where we where supposed to be, but before getting there I saw this weird and new food establishment that I had never seen:

Next time I go to my school I will get there and see what they sell :P

We also spent some time in the library since we need to learn some administration things so we don't screw things :P, we found some books and we just looked at the index to see which ones would be worth taking, the library is the same too, nothing new here, after that we went to visit some of our teachers, but we didn't find the ones we where looking for and we had to leave.

It was cool visiting my old school, I miss it a little :P.

Sometimes you visit the hospital...

**dramatic effect** ...to finish some work. Since we have less than a month for this health fair we are organizing and I am helping with the advertising design, I had to go to the Star Medica hospital to finish some work I had since the person responsible to print them needed them by tomorrow morning. And since she called to tell me that she could get to my house after 7:00 p.m. or I could go there earlier I decided to go.

We finished just in time our job and she gave a ride to my house.

It had been ages since I visited a hospital, I think last time was when a friend of us dislocated his arm, and before that I don't remember, well, I took a picture from the office we were, it was in the sixth floor.

Improvisation...

Today I had to improvise a little while at therapy, this session I was supposed to define what we are going to work, set the goals for my patient, explore different ways to work with it, and set a number of sessions in which we would like to work with that goals.

Well, from past experiences I always did this in no less than half a hour, sometimes even two sessions, but this time it took us not more than 15 minutes, it is good that this patient wants to work, it can be a pain in the ass if they don't want to work, or what they really want or why are they there.

But since I only had that prepared, I had to improvise a little and continue with the interview and explain the kind of work that he was going to do. At the end it extended to almost the full hour, and it was good, the goals and the way he is going to work are clear, and the time in which he intends to do it.

Pride...

...sometimes you have to forget about it to enjoy a great game.

So, my laptop is not powerful enough to run most new games, not even games from 2 or 3 years ago that are demanding in the graphic department. But I can play them in my brothers computer, but I really don't like to use it because since he build it all from scratch gets a little picky in what I can do with it, and even if he has told me that I can use it, that I just need to be careful with what I install in it, that's why I prefer not to use it, I would rather not fight with him.

But a few days ago decided that I wanted to play Dead Space, but since my computer cannot handle that game I had to swallow my pride and play it on my brothers computer, but to avoid him saying that I am using space from his hard disk (or anything else) I have the game in my external drive (lucky me it doesn't have a slow load time, and it plays smooth), so far (and even if I haven't been able to play that much) I am enjoying this game. And my brother hasn't noticed it (maybe he will if he reads my blog :P, but it is worth it).

Screw this...

So, some time ago I said that I wanted to go live to my parents other house, but I couldn't do it because it had some roof leaks, today I helped my father to screw some galvanized sheets to the roof to cover it (just a quick fix for the time being), but I must say that I do not feel comfortable being there, I have a little fear of heights, specially in wood roofs since I almost killed myself in one some years ago (well, not that dramatic, but I almost fell from a roof into a house because it was made of wood and it was very old, and by almost I mean that at least one of my legs went inside that house through the roof).

Well, fear apart I really enjoyed working with this drill (it had a screwdriver bit, so it worked as a screwdriver) and repair the roof, I will move there once I have some time to get all my things there, or I will do it little by little over the week.

Bad Habit...

Today I was reading The Walking Dead comic book in my computer, but I had this bad habit of starting to read from right to left, this is obviously because I am more used to read mangas even if I don't read that many anymore, it was a little uncomfortable at first because I got to the end of the page and I was like "What did I read?" and every new page I had to try to remember that I have to read from left to right, and it was kinda annoying.

I didn't read that many issues, but it reminded me that in October the new season of the t.v. show will air, and I am really looking forward to it.

A little privacy..

Today I wasn't at my home in the afternoon, but approximately at 2 p.m. I received a text message that I needed to call CaPsic, I was on my way home already when I remembered this (like 3 p.m.), and as soon as I got there my mom told me that someone has been calling me. I picked the phone and called there, so... there is a little job for the weekend, and I need to finish another thing to start this Monday (the vocational orientation project) since I will be having someone that will work for me.

I have no problem to do anything of this, but I felt that it was too much to have text messages, phone calls, and e-mails for this, I mean, it's not like if I don't do this someone will not be able to work. But well, this is the kind of pressure I will be working now, and starting this Monday it will be probably worse since I will have office hours for the people that will be under my care :P.

Ethics...

Last week I wrote about a possible job opportunity, one in which the client was asking for someone who was good with psychometric tests, this past Tuesday I asked about it and since the job was external my boss didn't knew what it was exactly, so she decided to call the employer to tell her what was the job about.

Unfortunately the job was for a psychologist to instruct an intern worker (probably someone from Human Resources or an administrator) to apply said tests, review and interpret them. Doing this is against the ethics of any psychologist, it is almost as bad as psychologists prescribing medicine to our patients, even if we know what they do, how they work, how much would be the recommended dose and all that jazz.

Even if it isn't that hard to apply, review and interpret said tests, it isn't recommended to do it if you aren't trained for that, most people use them as factual data, which they are not, they are only a tool for us to use to confirm or deny something that could have been brought in the interview, and to complement our work.

That's why my boss told the employer to fuck off... well she didn't said that :P, but it would be awesome, she told him (or her) about what I wrote, that it is against our ethics and if they are interested in someone to do that job, we have people that know how to do it, and are willing to work in something like that. I suppose that they weren't interested since the call ended not too long after that.

BTW: Psychometric tests are instruments to measure certain aspects of a person, it can vary from intelligence to personality, sense of responsibility, dependability, if a person can be a liar, and many many more aspects of a person. All these tests are based on statistics and most of the times they can be trusted since they are updated regularly and are revised in different population (well, most of them), but as I wrote, they are just a tool, and should never be trusted as an absolute indicator of the person. They are to complement our work.

Headphones...

As you may know, I wear headphones most of the times, and since I am spending more time at the "Centro Colegiado" when I have a patient (and after that), I have been listening to music from my computer (groovesharking ftw) while I write my report, but the headphones from my cellphone are too short and I have to bring another pair if I want to use them on my laptop to listen to music, or watch videos if I have to stay here for a meeting later, the meetings are at 7 pm and it takes me between 30 to 45 minutes from here to my home and since I finish writing my report at least at 5 pm it is better for me to wait until 7. So it is a need for me to bring an extra pair of headphones (last week I was watching scrubs while waiting for the meeting).

Working all day...

Doesn't it suck when you work almost all day? Well, I cannot say that I did work all day, but it felt like it, I didn't had a chance to sit and relax, well, just like one hour and that was because after my therapy session I forgot my backpack in the office and someone else had a session there, so I had to wait like one hour to write my report, I left his psychological record in my backpack. I also forgot my laptop and my headphones in there, so I was stuck without music and internet...

So I had that hour to do nothing, and I sure did nothing, well I talked with a colleague for a few minutes, then she had to go and I was stuck with nothing again... And I was hungry, I thought that I would be back at home by 5:00 at least, but since that little error I started to write my report at that time... and I finished between 5:20 and 5:30 and I was preparing to go home, packing up my things and all, and my boss asks me about my vocational orientation project, and tells me that I need to get it pronto because they already have people that will be working with me (or for me :P). And also that I need to design a triptych for a conference. So a little more work...

So, it is past nine and I am going to sleep, I feel a little tired, but I will continue tomorrow... or in a few hours, whenever I go to sleep earlier than 11 I wake up at 3 or 4 and can't sleep again :P.

JavaScript

For the last 3 or 4 hours I have been watching and reading tutorials of JavaScript, I must admit that it is easier than I thought, but still I have a long way to go. A few months ago it might not look as easy as it looks now to me, I feel like I am getting the hang of it.

I am still pretty new at programming, and I know I lack so much knowledge about it, but I am having so much fun with it.

HD

For more than a year I have been trying to watch everything I can in HD, if I have the option of watching something with a better quality I welcome the extra pixels, for most people it might not make a big difference, but once you note it there is no coming back, I mean, I will not get angry if I can't watch something in HD, and if there is no other option I'll still watch whatever I was watching, but if there is an option, then I go for the best quality available.

BTW, I didn't forget to post yesterday, it was windy and my internet connection went down, and it didn't look like it was coming back, I did wait for like half and hour and nothing :(

Weird service...

After two weeks without phone here at my house Telmex finally repaired our line, I reported it in July 27 and I was told that either that week or next we should have a technician visit our house to check if there was any problem with the line, well no one ever came, my mom reported it again last Tuesday, and she was told the same thing, that a technician would come here before Friday.

And no one came, I do not know what was the problem with our phone since we had internet all this time, it was just the phone that wasn't working. And today we received a call to make sure that our phone was working properly... yes we received a call, but no technician ever came here, and now after two weeks of waiting they just call? I'd like to know what happened, well, I don't care that much, but it was weird since we have no problems with our payments and the phone was fine, and as I already said we had Internet. It is working fine now, and that's what matter, but it took too long, but why do I care? The only reason I use the phone is when I can't use my cellphone or to call for pizza.

Must eat...

Here I am, it is 3:00 a.m. and I feel hungry, this whole week I have been eating very badly, this has been for two reasons, the first because I started working out again, and the second because I have been working hard this week for the projects I have and reading a little for my therapy session next week.

The reason working out is affecting me is because I decided to cut my meals and divide them through the day, well, I haven't been able to do this properly, I do cut them, but I am just eating less because I forget to eat at the hours I am not accustomed too, and since I am working most of the day I forget about it and I go grab something when I feel really hungry, that is if I do not forget that I was hungry by the time I decide to go grab something.

I should probably try to write a schedule, but I suck at things like this.

Movie debate...

As part of the plan to get some funds to pay us at the "Centro Colegiados" we are doing a movie screening in a theater, but not only a movie screening, it has to have a meaning and something of value for the people we are showing, so we decided to take a movie that shows a mental disorder and make a debate after it with some specialists in the topic. If things go well this could cover a good part of the salaries of the people who work here (including me).

Some of the movies that we have in mind are
Sleepers
Sybil
One flew over the cuckoo's nest
As good as it gets
... and I can't remember the others >.<

Well, these are some of the movies we could show.

Opportunities...

As I wrote yesterday, I am officially working for the "Centro Colegiados" or Capsic, for the moment I have just one patient, but this opened an opportunity for more things, today I received an e-mail for a vacant for someone good with psychometric tests (I must admit that I really like this and am good), but this is only for those that already work here, so I am applying for this too, I still don't know the details for the job, but I will try anyway, there is nothing to lose for trying.

A bet on the future...

As I already wrote, my institution is passing through difficult times, but that doesn't mean that it will stop working, yesterday I went to my school again to see if my credentials were ready, well, they weren't, I need to call next month... fuck that, one more month without documentation is too much.

Ok, I have something to confess here, I do have a work, I haven't write about it because right now I am not working properly here, well, that was until this Sunday, for the last months I have been studying  hard to learn web development, I form part of a web development business that is run by 3 persons (me and another 2), but this isn't the right time to write about it, I'll write about this in the proper time.

Yesterday in the afternoon I received a message from a friend for an opportunity at the "Centro Colegiados", one of the projects of the "Colegio de Psicólogos", my friend told me that there was a patient that wanted to receive therapy, but he wanted a male psychologist, and since there aren't many there they called me, I am now officially working here and will probably get more patients.

But there is a problem, since there is the situation with the money it isn't sure that they will be able to pay me by the end of this "quincena", they still need to figure out this problem, but I made my bet by staying and used this opportunity to get some experience, also I still have one of my projects (a project of vocational orientation), the other one that I said is actually a project for my company and the "colegio", a web site for it, but this one can't be paid for obvious reasons, we are still going to do it, for free, and get some advertising.

I am betting too much for this projects, and I will work my ass off for this to succeed.

Yoquigua

So, my last name in facebook is listed as Yoquigua, but here in gmail I have it like Gutierrez, my official last name is Gutierrez, but it really should be Yoquigua, that was the last name of my grandpas dad, but due to circumstances out of his control back when my grandpa was still a child (between 8 and 10 years old) he had to change it, his father died when he was very young and since my grandpa was the legal owner of thee lands that his father owned his uncle convinced his mom to send him away and make profit from his lands.

I don't remember all the history my grandpa told me about it, and how he changed his last name, but he once told me that it should really be Yoquigua and that he would like to change it, but he is too old and it would be to much work, I like it and that is why I use it on facebook.

That is really a good story that I will write some time :), but right now I can't remember it as well as to write it.