Past News Archive: August 2007
August 29, 2007
My workplace has a new plan now. We aren't hiring a new front desk agent. We originally wanted to hire someone since one of our front desk agent is going back to school. So, he went from full time to part time weekend worker. Because of this, I managed to predict what the outcome on my schedule was since my GM didn't actually do any interviews for a new agent since the ad was placed. Plus, he told me that when I decided to ask him about it. So, my schedule would be how office people will have: a Monday to Friday schedule. After managing to hit it right, I started to recognize something else when I went home. Because school starts on a Tuesday after Labour Day & being one of two people that does the morning shift, I realized that I may have to work eight days straight when I go back to work this Friday. Unless I get this coming Sunday & Monday off (maybe unlikely) or the GM covers two morning shifts (very unlikely), I'm screwed. In the end, we won't have two people working at the desk in the morning now since that plan is now scraped.
Yesterday, I went out for dinner with two of my friends that used to work at the hotel with me. Did a lot of talking about my work, our past work, their work, & own personal life. Looking at them, they have accomplished a lot in life than me. Both are married & getting on with their lives nicely. One of them is six weeks pregnant which caught me off guard. *Sigh* I should really do something about my life really.
The first of my many shipments have started to arrive. Again, PSP games, DVD, & music. Figures are coming in starting October. Got Jeanne D'Arc last week & Brave Story (finally!) this week. But I'm not touching those for awhile since I got Tales of the World to work on. Either way, money is going to be flying out of my bank account heavily this time. However, I'm a bit pissed at Amazon.ca. Long ago, I pre-ordered the Haruhi Suzumiya Vol. 3 DVD from them. Of course, I went for the limited edition one. Back then, they weren't clear which DVD is the limited edition. I went for the expensive one since LEs are more pricey. However, they label the cheaper one as the LE. Concern about ordering the wrong one, I emailed them to see if they made a mistake. The reply I got is that whatever is written in the listing description is what it is as they go by what it is. I was thinking, "what the hell of a response is that?" I decided to leave the order untouched. Days later, the pricey DVD is labeled as LE as the cheaper one isn't. I was thinking maybe Amazon.ca got it sorted out now. Days later, I was shocked to see it that problem again. Checking when the DVD will be released again from my order, I clicked on the item description & it lead to the cheaper DVD listing & marked it as LE. The pricey one is now considered as "normal". What ticks me off is how my price is the $50 range while the listing is the $25 price. I decided to leave the order as is as emailing them isn't going to help based on my previous experience.
Updates? Just an anime review of Red Garden & brief reviews of Kamichama Karin & Zero No Tsukaima: Futasuki no Kishi . Nothing really since I'm dead tired again (like this is something new). As for the Welcome to Pia Carrot!! 3 special section., there's a lot of major changes in the character storylines. Whatever you read here before should be discarded as it was based on memory in the past & using a poorer translation tool. I have one more character to go by & I should be finished on it next month.
August 22, 2007
August is almost at its end. However, the hotel is still packing up. For some strange reason, my GM told me that our hotel is performing better than last year. Sales are up & occupancy volume is up too. When I think about it, I managed to understand it a bit. Last year, we had a flood in the hotel that made us lost half of our rooms in the ground floor of the hotel; resulting to lost occupancy & sending people to another hotel with us paying for it. Plus, our prices have gone up a bit. Although I've been told sales have gone up, I couldn't factor it much as the difference gap is larger than I imagine.
Supposedly getting a lot of stuff at the end of this month or beginning in September. Mostly media stuff & PSP games. A lot of it got delayed due to product release dates pushed, waiting for stock, or the release date being at the end of the month. Better clean out that closet fast!
I'm currently in the process of updating the Welcome to Pia Carrot!! 3 special section. Reason is because I'm currently playing it again & see some of the stuff I typed in for the character storylines are different. Mainly because most of it typed before was based on memory. Updating it now because it's more fresher in my mind. Expect big changes in data in this special section.
Not much updates really. Been burnt out too much. Complete anime reviews of Le Chevalier D'Eon & Tokimeki Memorial: Only Love. Hopefully, I should get some more updates than this next week before the month ends.
August 15, 2007
In PSP news, most of you should know about the PSP Slim coming in September. There are some special accessories coming out on that month as well for that system. Cables that connect from the PSP to the TV. Comes in many types such as component & S-Video. An interesting item is the TV tuner. It connects on top of the PSP like the GPS receiver & camera. Now, it proclaims to work with the Slim models only, which I don't know if it's true or not. Again, I don't know how it works. Chances are it only works in Japan & not outside of that country.
Summer is approaching to its end as we hit the midway point of August. People will be ending their vacations soon & students will be heading back to school next month. The hotel is getting a bit more busier now. Not a bad thing for business, but bad for me since I'll be working my ass off for the reminded of the month. However, it's not as busy as last year. This isn't based on numbers, but the feeling of it.
Updates? Some brief anime reviews of Devil May Cry, Doujin Work, & Lovely Complex ~ Lovecom. For PSP game reviews, I got up Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure.
That's all for this week. Next week, I don't know if I will have some more updates here since I'm still catching up with life.
August 8, 2007
Busy long weekend for some reason. I got more phone calls & checks in at the hotel on BC Day instead of check outs. Very strange. Got me exhaust mentally & physically. If the same format occurs at the hotel during the low season, I may be able to get some managerial work done finally. If it lightens up, it may be different.
Nothing much really. This past weekend, I went to a BBQ party of a co-worker. Served up some excellent food & a very nice presentation of dessert. I wasn't too active there since I'm not the social type & pretty shy. Plus, I tend to get hyper if I get too much fun. I have an old friend that wants to do some outing which are an Elvis 30th passing celebration & a soccer tournament. I'll probably won't go to any of them since I have work early the next day & these events are two cities down from mine's & are in the evening. I may think about the soccer tournament since my friend is excited in inviting me to that one. Hopefully it's to watch since I got no skills in soccer.
In anime news, Viz licensed Nana & Honey and Clover. Funimation got Vexille. Not much, but some fair big ones really. Update reviews of the Viz licenses I've made.
Updates are still minimal here. Complete anime reviews of ARIA the NATURAL, Ayumayu Theater, & The Third - the Girl with the Blue Eye. For collectables, got Good Smile Company Death Note Kira & L's Handcuff Charm review up in the Death Note section. For PSP game reviews, I got Valhalla Knights completed & up. Got rid of my Pinky Cos: Sakura Wars Sakura Shinguji & Pinky Cos: Street Fighter Chun-Li & Sakura so I've update those reviews a bit.
Not much to say this week. Probably the same next week as well.
August 1, 2007
Getting back to work after my two days off, my GM actually took the time to evaluate me by setting up a time as I had my lunch. It was a lengthy one as it last about an hour. Most of the time, the GM was talking about himself & the work he does. It was almost a reverse role. Knew more about him & some of it was a refresher as I heard it before. Plus, we had a talk about how the union came about. Felt the evaluation wasn't going anywhere at the time. Anyways, the meat of it was that I'm a great front desk agent. But as an assistant manager, I didn't do my job. He tells me that he's probably to blame for it since it didn't clarify to me what he wanted. Plus, he knew that I couldn't handle the workload since I'm too busy at the front desk. So, he cut me some slack a bit. In the end, I got a $1 rise & review what he wanted from me. Basically, be more active & resolving guest issues. Even though they didn't happen on my shift & I don't know about them, I should be following up on them. Plus, I should be using my title to work with the staff such as inspecting rooms, finding out how breakfast is setup, etc. Since the GM is planning to keep two people at the desk as a permanent thing, even for low season, I should be able to do some of the work then. In my mind, I agreed with him. I didn't know what I was doing with that title & what my roles were. Plus, I didn't know what my limitations & boundaries were. In the future, the front desk staff will undergo some training by taking some courses to get certificates in many areas. So, it's going to be back to the books sometime soon. Crap. Overall, the GM is impressed with my abilities. Next evaluation will be in January & I don't know if I will still be here then.
Continuing on about work, my GM has lost it recently. On the last day of my work week, he goes about how he wants to give dismissals on two front desk agents over their continuous amount of mistakes. One person isn't doing his job properly & one seems to lose focus on her work. Personally, I tried to calm my GM down since I want to try to defend the two agents but he was still going at it. But, if I know him correctly, I don't think he'll laid the dismissals down. Not yet at least. I know one of them got fired before & re-hired by the GM. However, one of the other front desk agents did tell me that the GM seems to be looking for another front desk agent when someone dropped off their resume at the desk.
Looking at my online orders, I noticed that most of my orders will be coming on October (items released at the end of September). Some of my preorders have been pushed to September now. The so-called July mad shipping is on set on September. I got games, figures, PSP games, & CDs releasing on that month & it's going to be hell.
Updates for the beginning of the month. Little again. Too busy trying to take it easy. Although the work at the hotel isn't too bad as last year, I'm still worn out. Basically complete anime reviews of Sola & Ichigo Mashimaro OVA. Finally got off my lazy ass & posted some PSP game reviews. Pretty old games actually. Reviews of Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T Portable, & The Legend of Heroes III: Song of the Ocean. Also, since it's a new month, I've archive the July stuff into the Past News Archives.