I just realized that I have been working since January 14 and haven’t taken one day for vacation. I only missed work while sick or lying in the hospital. Which really is worse then work. And I’m noticing now on the second round of redesign en reorganizing all websites I work on that I so need a vacation. I just spend three hours of bugs fixing on a website that went live last week. And I still have like 5 websites to load in the new system and troubleshoot eventual bugs that might show up.
Besides work stress…
I started reading “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert, I had the book since early this year but just started reading it. And I’m really liking it so far. It rings so true on the spiritual subject of what I have read before in different kinds of books. Her writing style is very easy, conversational and funny. I never write about it, but I believe in God, yes I said it. I’m not religious, although raised Catholic, I call myself a spiritual person. I have always been, having struggled with my health for most of my life it does make you think and see things different then if you where healthy.
While in this book the writer is looking for peace of mind after her divorce, I’m looking for peace of mind on my health. To not let it affect me, we are all more then just our body, we have a mind and soul. I also hope to get started on meditating and turning my mind off. Have you ever noticed that it seems impossible to shut up your mind? Well with lots of practice/meditating it should be possible. And I hope to achieve that.
Then hopefully next year I can be all zen when stress starts to build up around me at work and home.
Summer is almost over, I’m sure going to miss the warm weather. Not that it was that warm this summer but way better then the winter cold. I spent the whole summer working, no vacation. I was planning on going to Aruba in October but I decided I won’t go for now. I know I should take advantage that I’m healthy enough to travel. But I just don’t want the stress/fear of getting sick away from my doctors. Last time I was on Aruba I made my peace it would be a long time before I go back. And it’s easier staying here so I won’t have to deal with home sickness when I’m back. Leaving the sunny island behind and arriving in the middle of winter is the worst.
Meanwhile last month I got a letter saying that I have been granted health welfare. So I get to keep my job should I get sick and I get a monthly allowance to make up for the lesser salary. I can now relax on the financial and employment aspects of my life.
Yesterday I went to the city for a late breakfast on my way to work. It was early so I decided to drop by the T-Mobile shop to ask some question on the iPhone. My contract is due for renewal in October, so I thought. I wanted to pay extra for the iPhone instead of taking a 2 years contract. But off course they don’t allow that. But considering the monthly payment for the 8GB version is perfect for what I need I decided on it. And turns out my contract was already renewable, well technically from next week on but one week is no problem. So I reserved the 8Gb version which wasn’t in stock.
Considering the costs in the US I think the deal isn’t that bad here. I paid 80 euros for the 8GB version, a two years contract of 30 euros a month which include: 150 minutes(which obviously I don’t use being deaf), 150 SMS messages which I use daily and unlimited internet(G3, GPRS, T-Mobile Hotspots). Currently I pay 20 euros for 150 minutes and 25 SMS. So I win more then I lose with the new contract. Hopefully I’ll get my phone next week, but as I wasn’t planning on buying it right now I’m not in a hurry.
Side note
Last night I had a bad dream I guess, I woke up after I fell out of bed and hit my nose against the side of my closet. I thought I broke my nose, it was bleeding and hurt, it’s still hurting and it’s a bit swollen. Stuff like this only happen to me it seems. How many times do you hear someone say they fell out of bed, hit their nose so hard it started bleeding. I also have a bit of a headache from the pain on my nose. It’s a bit bruised but my glasses cover that up. At least it’s not bleeding anymore.
On web related note, Froggy Studio is offline. A problem with the host and then a domain move. I decided I want to do a new design and change the site from freelance looking for work to developer showing occasional work. I still can’t come up with a design that I like so I guess meanwhile the site will be hibernating.
Now that I’m getting an iPhone it’s time to look into making useful websites for the iPhone and looking into what it takes to make an iPhone app. Although I’ll probably stick with websites. I can think of a few useful information for The Hague to provide for iPhone holders.