1, 2, 3 and 4…

As I said (or did I?), there are too many things in my mind now, so when I got a gem post from Bustaman titled “News we do not want to read”, it made my day. It was funny, true and had a great twist in the end.

Some of my colleagues are on leave or busy preparing for overseas deployment, so I had an increase number of request from other department to help them with the system testing / trouble shooting and fine tuning documentation. In addition to the above, there are several proposals and documentation to be done in the next few days. It was nothing – tight deadlines, last minute work and the pressure to deliver a good job was part and parcel of work. It has to be (for the amount of salary I am getting).

Nah, that is not it…this is not what bothering me right now

My good buddy from overseas got a new girlfriend – young, slim and beautiful. He “msn-ed” me to let me know, of course he said “how’s work” as the opening. All because he managed to lose weight and looks better now. But since I am married, it does not bother me too. I mean it would if I am still single though, I still say “damn” silently but it’s not affecting me. Arrggghh, say what – just forget about this.

What is bothering me is this…

Last week Saturday, I got a letter from my housing developer informing me that my new house has been completed and the Certificate of Fitness has been issued. It was a great feeling to hear that news – the house has been completed way ahead of schedule (7 months ahead actually – so I strike off “abandoned project” cloud from my mind). I can collect the keys and move in anytime now.

In the midst of joy, I remembered that there are still things to do before I can even move the first furniture to the new place. One is installing kitchen cabinet for HEO (in case you don’t know, it means house executive office aka my wife) and another is getting the grilles done. Minor renovation maybe needed here and there but kitchen cabinet is still the priority if I am expecting to have great meal in the new house, that is.

So, we went to a nearby showroom and got a quotation for almost RM11,000 – the materials were of good quality and we could have paid cash but that would have left us high and dry for other expenses. So, we know that we needed to shop around for more quotations.

There are several Saturdays and Sundays for roaming town for options and of course there are always the freelance sole-proprietor contractors who are more than happy to do the same for fraction of the cost. Naturally this means we had to accept certain risk of possible shoddy work and low quality materials. I said possible.

What about referrals you may ask? Yes, there are several and I am keeping them as the last option. The last thing I wanted to do is to go to someone’s house and get the remarks “My contractor did the renovation for Joe, you know?” or “Same contractor but how come it is more expensive for you?” Just kidding but as I said, that it the last option. The advantage of referrals is of course the risk of shoddy work is almost “nil” – we get to see and touch the previous work.

Coming back to things to do before moving, everyday, it seems to add on…cabinet, grilles, tiles, furniture, new laptop, mini bar, 54’ Plasma TV, etc. Now you know why I have too many things in my mind now.

What is the 1, 2, 3 and 4 that heads this post, you ask me? More about it soon

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