Month: January 2013

I was in Uptown to run a quick errand when a fair-skinned lady donned in hijab approached me, asking if I were the guy who stayed at a corner house around here before. I cannot remember her name but I recognized her quickly…

In late 2007 when I was about to leave the rented room for another location, this lady from the opposite room greeted me. I have not met the other room tenants until now. She asked if she could use the powerpoint in my room to boil water for her baby boy. I said no problem but I was actually moving out already. That was when she told me her story.

She married a Morrocan man and after the child was conceived, he duped her into renting that room – claiming to be a temporary place before they can all move to Morocco – only to disappear for several months without reach.

She was out of money, and the condition of the house was deplorable. The fact that the landlady is a crazed woman didn’t help matters either. The now single mother had nowhere to go.

I encouraged her to take the first few steps: move to a better room elsewhere and get a job. It was a scary prospect for her (and I know it very well) so I gave my phone number and after I left, for the next couple of weeks we exchanged SMSes on guiding her out of that dreaded house + accept that her husband has left and her child. At this point, I offered minor financial assistance so she could buy food for her several months old baby and get a job after moving to a new room.

We stopped contacting after she successfully moved out of that dreaded house (she also got her deposit back from the crazed landlady!) and then got a job.

That was nearly 6 years ago.

Today she’s working an office job for a company, her boy is in good condition and is schooling now. While it may not seem much by the standards of other people, but it makes me happy to see a single parent pull it through in spite of the seemingly impossible odds and not being at the mercy of an undependable husband, and just as happy that I got to play even a small part in it.

Finally… I’ve got Internet connection at my new home office!

For the past several weeks, I have been busy with the new house renovation and shifting details. The dust is not quite settled even now, but it was a disaster when I moved in on the 10th.

Originally I planned to move in on the 8th of the month but I had to push it back by two more days because the essential renovations were falling behind schedule.

On the day we moved in, everything was a mess.

Half of the house wasn’t operational just yet – there was no water going to some of the areas in the house, and only some parts of the house had working lights – in spite of giving the contractors ample time to do the essential renovations. I hated to do this, but finally I had to yell at them to work faster.

There was a problem setting up the kitchen cabinets so that set me back by another week and a half. I couldn’t use my Master Bedroom Toilet just yet.

Worse, I found out my area is out of coverage thus UNIFI would not extend their Internet and phone service here until there’s at least 60% demand in the neighborhood. I was so desperate for Internet connection that I talked to nearly every neighbor I saw in my area on my morning or evening walks, to get them to pressure for Internet access in the area. That was when I learned some of my neighbors had been here for the last 5 to 7 months before I moved in and they had been without Internet and phone access. 🙁

But hey… just when I thought all hope is lost, my sister Ashley suggested I give P1 Max a try. I kept my fingers crossed and ordered for a modem right away; it arrived the next day and voila… it worked! That’s why I am able to blog here now 🙂 The monthly cost isn’t cheap when compared to UNIFI but this will have to do for the time being.

Fortunately I thought ahead earlier and prepared a contingency plan to automate my online business’ mailing schedule for most of the month in case of the unexpected such as this!

As I am writing this, problems are getting solved around the house day by day that it is almost done. I feel more relieved today than I was just a few days ago… when absolutely nothing was working out my way. But I can’t relax now – there is still some more work to be done.

TO BE CONTINUED…