Breed of Auditor

Strange as it may seem, auditor though I may be, I find some auditor species to be just as strange as I probably am to other people (oh, and yes, there are types of auditors, just like there are types of doughnuts and chocolates, lol). In particular, I find IT auditors kind of odd.

It's not that I don't understand them, exactly. I'd like to think that being the general auditor (with a burgeoning specialization in Treasury, which is a choice of logistics rather than of actual preference) that I am, I know enough to talk the talk with the almost best of them, if not walk it (the talk, I mean). But they do weird things, say weird things, that even I find cutely pecuilar.

For one thing, they rarely keep physical working papers. They tend to keep everything in databases (gasp!) and they actually know how to manipulate the Lotus application to its fullest (double gasp!). For another, they have weird terms, which I understand (sort of), but laced with a certain humor I could almost grasp. For example:

IT Auditor 1: Just ping me when you're done with your documentation

IT Auditor 2: Wow, parang server.

IT Audiot 1 & 2: (laugh)

General Auditor Known As Kate: ....

These kinds of situations gets me thinking that perhaps, one day, people will even find me stranger (causing other auditors to write a post similar to mine) once I actually become proficient with Treasury Products. Currently, it's quite difficult since there aren't really other Treasury Auditors with whom I could create slang with. Maybe when there are more of us, I could joke about derivatives and swaps, and repos, and, mark to market rates.

Right now though, I can't even think of a lame joke about these things that routinely give me headaches nowadays. And the potential stranger version of me seems so distant, so foreign. So all I can do is watch IT auditors laugh and chat and feel, with an epiphany that I don't want to accept yet, that perhaps, after all, by sheer number, I'm the really strange one.

Blast from the Past

Just got the lay out for our wedding album today (I know, I know, its been three years, but it's a long story). Here are some of the pix of that wonderful day:

Stupid Facebook: Warning - I'm Just Complaining

All I wanted was to access my son's photoalbum located at my sister in law's site.

I have her invitation. Before logging in, I could even view the pictures. And then, I just wanted to see the comments, but the site asked me to register.

So I registered. (Twice, because somehow, my first registration got lost - argh.)

And then, now I can't even see the photoalbum, nor my sister in law's site, nothing!!!

I see nothing! This is what i get for registering.

Hector Stats

Several years from now, when I'm talking to my son's girlfriend, I will have to have some hard facts and stats about him to properly fulfill my embarrass-my-son duties. And so, here they are, as of 27 October 2008:

Age: 3 months, 1 week and 4 days old

Height: 65 cm (above average percentile)

Weight: 7.3 Kilos (slightly above above average percentile but below the 95th percentile)

Head Circum: 45 (way,way,way above the extreme percentile)

Likes: Shiny, silver things; Mickey Mouse Club; Annie Lenox Songs; Whistling;

Dislikes: Fork on plate sounds; rattles

Looking at this list, I'm sort of worried with his rather rapid growth (the doctor is also concerned he might become obese, but thankfully, he's not yet at that stage). Especially the head circumference thingie - while it sounds good to have a big head (now, now, dirty minded people, you know what I'm talking about), and in general, we are taught that being above average in anything is also good, for a baby, I don't really know what it means.

My only consolation is that he seems healthy, and strong, and happy. And I guess, right now, that's the most I can hope for.

Bewildering Stories

Yay! My story is up in Bewildering Stories in this link!

Please visit and share with me your thoughts, if you have time. :)

Conservative Parenthood

Now, more than ever, I find myself thinking about the intricacies of being a parent. Having been brought up by two not so patient people, I know I'm in danger of being temperamental myself to my child, expecting the best all the time and conveniently forgetting the drama I went through when I had to undergo the weight of my own parents' expectations. I hope I won't though, and I hope that I will actually listen to my more even keeled spouse when my own patience is tested, but I know the risk always loom not too far from me precisely because of my own upbringing.

One of the things I've never really thought about, however, is the concept of being "conservative".

Just today, I received an email that emphasized (underscored and highlighted), my apparent liberal nature. Here's the situation;

A teenage boy asked permission from his parents to go to a party in a hotel in Ortigas. Parents agree, and pick him up two hours after the party began. They find that the party was in a room (not a function room), with beds (god forbid), a lot of kids (mostly boys), some booze and smoke, and their son, playing truth or dare with 9 other kids in a bedroom. The mother (the apparent sender of the email), was freaking out about the entire situation, thinking it was so horrible that something like this could happen. The email then goes on to scare (yes, scare) the recipient parents with this final message:

THERE WILL BE ANOTHER PARTY IN [identity protected], AND YOUR CHILD COULD BE IN ONE OF THEM. WE HAVE TO WORK TOGETHER TO STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING!

My first reaction was, OMG, these parents are overreacting. I mean, I don't want my own child to be drinking and smoking, but I also know that you can't actually stop them or their friends (and in fact, the more you do, the more they seem to like doing it, at least that's how my own drinking and smoking friends explained it to me). But what really got to me was that the mother was so upset with her son because he was playing truth or dare (note: he wasn't even drinking or smoking, nor was he caught in a compromising situation).

My second reaction, on the other hand, was something along the lines of 'did I miss something?' Perhaps that's what responsible parents do. They freak out when their teenage son is in a hotel room with twenty other kids with loud music, and booze, and girls, even though he obviously is not drinking or smoking. Perhaps, that's the right way to bring up a child. Perhaps I'm just too liberal.

My third reaction is what's currently taking a hold of me now: a sort of surreal amusement. Especially, when I read the last line of that email.

Which isn't what a responsible parent should do, right? Times like these, I'm just glad moral issues like the ones above are still a long way off.

Hector Stats

Several years from now, when I'm talking to my son's girlfriend, I will have to have some hard facts and stats about him to properly fulfill my embarrass-my-son duties. And so, here they are, as of 27 October 2008:

Age: 3 months, 1 week and 4 days old

Height: 65 cm (above average percentile)

Weight: 7.3 Kilos (slightly above above average percentile but below the 95th percentile)

Head Circum: 45 (way,way,way above the extreme percentile)

Likes: Shiny, silver things; Mickey Mouse Club; Annie Lenox Songs; Whistling;

Dislikes: Fork on plate sounds; rattles

Looking at this list, I'm sort of worried with his rather rapid growth (the doctor is also concerned he might become obese, but thankfully, he's not yet at that stage). Especially the head circumference thingie - while it sounds good to have a big head (now, now, dirty minded people, you know what I'm talking about), and in general, we are taught that being above average in anything is also good, for a baby, I don't really know what it means.

My only consolation is that he seems healthy, and strong, and happy. And I guess, right now, that's the most I can hope for.