Marcus Can Blog

Spotting Riding Perils

This week, I personally know a person who got into an accident while on his motorcycle which I learned all about it after I have arrived at work–on my motorcycle. My friend survived the supposedly fatal crash but it’s one more person added to the statistic of motorcycle-related accident victims, whether his own fault or not. Now anti-motorcycle advocates are out once again with their see-I-told-yous.

These days proponents of motorcycles seem to be losing their case as the incidents involving two-wheeled vehicles share the headlines with reports of employees being laid off. Incidentally, these two headline makers are expected to thrive more while the financial crisis continues like an incurable itch. Nowadays, a lot of people are trying to save and one of the ways is by saving on gas. Of course, when gas gets mentioned, the thought of having a motorcycle, specifically what others call mopeds, scooters or underbones enters the picture. These crotch rockets are gas misers and it’s no wonder almost everyone wants one. And that’s because almost everyone can actually afford one.

This is when motorcycle safety advocates begin to have nightmares about this uncontrollable and unregulated scenario. There are just so much eager and capable buyers (and sellers) that the aspect of safety is often forgotten. Anyone with a cash or downpayment, normally just around Php3,000 (approx. $60), gets to go home with a decent motorcycle. That’s with or without a “valid” license, training, or worse, even without the common sense.

Now other motorcycle riders cry foul about all the stereotyping. Some instinctively point their fingers to the four-wheeled vehicle drivers for causing all the troubles. Others blame poor road lighting, open manholes, wayward pedestrians, and I’ve even read complaints about dog poops. All fingers are pointing to other factors but their own. Denial is the reason live motorcycle crash test dummies continue to exist.

Failing to recognize the risk is often what leads to unnecessary crashes. I remember from one defensive driving seminar I’ve attended the four guides of a responsible driver:

Identify and anticipate the risk or danger.
Act accordingly. Example, adjust following distance depending on the driving condition.
Control whatever you can as you can’t technically influence others. (This is what I often forget. Hehehe.)
Consider a plan B if everything else goes wrong.

Unfortunately, with the fact that not everyone seems to take time to even read about driving safety stuffs anymore is what makes the road a far less safe place to ride. It’s already a given that riding makes one vulnerable to elements like reckless cage (a term used by riders to distinguish a car) drivers. So I went further to identifying every risk that I possibly can. After more than six months of riding my motorcycle, I have compiled several of these hazards.

Stay away from riders without the basic gear or clothing. Riders are sitting open to almost everything hazardous and the least one can do to protect himself is to wear long sleeved shirts, long pants (jeans if possible), and a closed-toe footwear. Decent helmet, included. If you spot one without these bare minimums means just one thing: he doesn’t care about himself and most likely he doesn’t care about you. So stay clear.

Stay away from those with confused persona. These people are easy to spot. They have rosaries and crucifixes wrapped around their motorcycles (mounted on the dash if in cars) but when you see them, they are either poorly clothed (at times even lewd) or drives like someone who has just escaped from a straight jacket.

Stay away from cars with Japanese or Chinese stickers or decals. Some of these have even extra large ones that almost cover the whole rear window. These stickers scream anything but “I understand what my stickers say.” If these people don’t even know what the stickers mean, most likely they don’t even understand what an amber light is for.

Stay away from skinheads who for a moment are seen driving slowly over an ear-shattering base music. These people (often in their teens) are beat- driven so expect them to speed up anytime a Snoop Dogg rhythm picks up.

Needless to say, also stay away from pony-tailed or dreadlocked drivers especially if the car’s interior appears foggy despite the untinted windows.

Stay away from truck drivers especially those concentrating on picking their noses. I’m thinking that this is as distracting (or even more) as using a cellphone while driving.

Stay away from motorcycle-riding policemen without helmets. Period.

Lastly, stay away from someone who is absent-mindedly composing a blog while riding a motorcycle. He’s easy to spot. He made this blog. Ti abi.

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Mood: 3/10 Honks!

Tumbled Upon Tumblr

Not all simple things are created equal and tumblr.com is an example. This is a blog site I discovered several months back after reading it on a newspaper article. It’s one of those lazy Sundays when the moment I see a link, I immediately give it a shot.

At first I find it so simple that I was wondering what was going inside the mind of its developer when he made it. Maybe he’s trying to be among the dot.com millionaires like the people behind Facebook, YouTube or even the fading Friendster. Well, I don’t know if he made the mark but to be fair, I think he or she somehow made a good start. Of course, I already signed up.

Trying to experiment what this site brings got me into starting my own, everythingpetty.tumblr.com. I find tumblr’s dashboard very basic. It requires little experience from its users and one doesn’t even need to be good at writing since in here anything can be posted. Users may post photos, text, quotes, audio and links. Consider this as some sort of repository of drafts of wild ideas.

The large icons make it so highly recommended for bloggers with vision problems. Please tell your grandma about it.

Don’t get me wrong though. This site has some good following from a various talented people. From what I’ve seen, most people like to publish photos and drawings. I’ve seen one member post drawing blogs about his daily life in his cubicle and I was entertained and awed at the skillful depiction of the boxed working environment. I feel him.

The simplicity of tumblr is so enticing that anyone with lots of time to kill inside the cube would likely post something, anything, anytime, any day. Hmm, I think I’ll have to consider this one later in the day. Something to keep me busy during the whole 8-hour period. Hahahaha. Just kidding, IT admin guys.

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My bad. I actually forgot all about this tumblr account but one of my recent visitor’s comment reminded me all about it. Thanks, Mariam. I already posted a new entry. Please check it out every now and then.

Visit also Mariam’s site because so far she’s got the perfect header for a recession-related blog. And incidentally, just like me, she’s also keeping track of those posting the same tags. See it for yourself.

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Mood: 3/10 Honks!

Kids and Lyrics

Just as I have anticipated when we got married (wifey and I waits for a few more months before we become a decade-old married couple this coming June), I have eventually become an overprotective and strict father. Our 9- month old son’s presence confirmed all traits that since then I knew I would be or would like to be when fatherhood comes in.

I really don’t know if I’m doing a good job, but deep inside I feel that I’m at least meeting expectation. Wait, that last two words remind me of work. Maybe it’s because the absence of work, or at least its regular routine, that my missing the attendance tracking of my staff, conducting shiftly hud- dles, checking with my persistent upstream and downstream customers and everything else about work has made me more aware of everything about baby stuffs. Worries about work has been replaced with which nipples goes to which bottle, if milk scoops are exact to the brim, if formula ratio has been properly mixed, which baby DVD has been played already…and this is just to mention a few (trust me). Did I just mention DVD?

One of those baby things that I’ve actually been keeping tab is the baby music’s lyrics which I’ve been hearing so often again and again that the last regular “adult” LSS I can remember is the Journey’s Only the Young Can Sing. Now my ears have been attuned to Barney’s Mr. Sun and I can very well remember the video of Flying in an Airplane that I’m now beginning to think that it’s the Barney videos that are unconsciously encouraging gay- hood or lesbianism. But maybe it’s just me and besides it would require a long separate blog for that topic. By the way, don’t get me wrong and let me make these two things clear:

I love the songs but I hate the video.
I personally have nothing against members of the third sex…and Barney.

Ok now? So let me continue, but still the following maybe as thought- provoking as questions like who is capitalizing from all these recession and layoffs? Will Vietnam’s Intel factory perform just like the Philppines (pun intended)? And so many other questions currently and continuously bothering me.

Having an LSS of music for babies does seem to trouble me more than hav- ing Usher’s Trading Places lyrics play over and over again inside my head. This is because I’m now very careful with what our baby boy might be hearing and if the message it sends isn’t something that will plant harmful ideas to his innocent memory ready to break loose anytime during his ado- lescence. I don’t know if it’s paranoia on my part but I’m not taking any chances. And besides, remember the word “subliminal”? Scary, huh!

Let me start checking some of it now. Here’s the first, titled Ice cream Sun- day. Isn’t this a call to obesity? I wonder if Ronald McDonald composed this lyrics:

Ice cream Sunday it’s my number one day… Monday is not a fun day, mom makes broccoli… Thursday is the worst day, there’s liver on that dish Friday is a cry day, ‘coz then we all get fish…

How about this one, Fiddle-de-dee? This one reminds me of anything but children song. If I remember it right I saw one Body Snatchers episode in the Discovery channel about a bee or wasp planting its eggs inside a fly:

Fiddle-de-dee, Fiddle-de-dee,

The Fly has married the Bumble Bee, Says the fly, says he,

“Will you marry me?

And live with me, sweet Bumble Bee?” Fiddle-de-dee, Fiddle-de-dee,

Oh, I love you, and you love me!

How about a song that teaches our kids to stereotype? There’s probably one, it’s titled There Was a Crooked Man:

There was a crooked man, And he walked a crooked mile, He found a crooked sixpence Upon a crooked stile:

He bought a crooked cat,

Which caught a crooked mouse, And they all lived together

In a crooked little house.

How about one that suggests animal cruelty? Now I find that the famous idiom, “curiosity killed the cat” is after all missing a word before it. The complete could be, “Kid’s curiosity killed the cat.” And we parents should not wonder why in the first place, because of the song The Cat Came Back:

Old Mister Johnson had troubles of his own

He had a yellow cat which wouldn’t leave its home; He tried and he tried to give the cat away,

He gave it to a man goin’ far, far away.

But the cat came back the very next day,

The cat came back, we thought he was a goner But the cat came back; it just couldn’t stay away

Thankfully, there’s one song that would give hope to those cat lovers and this happens to be one of my favorite kiddie songs. I heard this when I was a kindergarten and 30 years after I was surprised that I can actually remember the tune. What’s more surprising was that after I googled and saw the lyrics I was able to sing it with pride in front of our baby. But, I’m still wondering if this one has some hidden message in it…like love and death? Well here’s the full lyrics of the song Senor Don Gato. You go figure.

Oh Senor Don Gato was a cat On a high red roof Don Gato sat He went there to read a letter, Meow, meow, meow

Where the reading light was better,

Meow, meow, meow

‘Twas a love note for Don Gato

I adore you wrote the lady cat

Who was fluffy, white and nice and fat There was not a sweeter kitty,

Meow, meow, meow

In the country or the city, Meow, meow, meow

And she said she’d wed Don Gato

Oh, Don Gato jumped so happily

He fell off the roof and broke his knee Broke his ribs and all his whiskers, Meow, meow, meow

And his little solar plexus, Meow, meow, meow

Ay Caramba cried Don Gato

Then the doctors all came on the run Just to see if something could be done And they held a consultation,

Meow, meow, meow

About how to save their patient, Meow, meow, meow

How to save Senor Don Gato

But in spite of everything they tried Poor Senor Don Gato up and died And it wasn’t very merry,

Meow, meow, meow Going to the cemetery, Meow, meow, meow

For the ending of Don Gato

When the funeral passed the market square Such a smell of fish was in the air

Though his burial was slated, Meow, meow, meow

He became reanimated, Meow, meow, meow

He came back to life, Don Gato

Oh by the way, if you’re wondering how on earth Don Gato sounds, you may check dizzler.com. And if you’re a bit disappointed (like I was last December) after hearing every available version, please tell me and that would be my cue to record and release my own. Hahaha.

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Mood: 3/10 Honks!

Layoffs Around the World

Last night I was checking WordPress after wondering if there are others like me who wrote about layoffs during this recession period. After clicking my layoff tag, the answer became clear—there’s just a lot of us. Here are the URLs that I’ve visited and some excerpts of their blog. (The last two aren’t from authors who directly experienced it but still the reason I captured them is because the emotions and the message are so well written despite being brief. Please check them out.)

http://opentosuggestions.wordpress.com – Les, Oklahoma

When I pulled up to the house tonight, my wife met me at the curbside with a smile and helped me carry my 3 boxes in eco-friendly Walmart bags into the house. We’re a team in everything we do. It’s great to have her by my side. I go to bed tonight ready to meet tomorrow.

http://gotlaidoff.wordpress.com – Anonymous, San Francisco

was just laid off from Accenture, and I have to admit I felt betrayed. The emotions you go through are similar to the grieving process, except depres- sion comes first. I was determined not to dwell on it for too long, so I booked it to Vegas. Yup, good old fashioned denial was what I needed to keep my wits about the situation. When I got back, I was angry, but that got me to stage four in the grieving process- bargaining.

http://passingperiod.wordpress.com – Jacksonhmills

I’m mad that I was laid off, and I think it’s a shitty situation, but I’m not going to cry a river. In fact, I didn’t give anyone the benefit of seeing any tears. You know, except for a few people on the street, when it finally hit me.

I worked at the company for 19 months. I assumed my job was safe because I was busy. In hindsight, the work I was doing was not up to par of someone with four years’ experience copywriting

http://chipdesignart.wordpress.com – From a chip design engineer

how do i get busy, and what i do today, how do i spend my time?

Do i partition a day to cry, get depressed, eat and sleep or i schedule in a different way…

Huge transition when my outlook calendar gets overlapped to no entry in my calendar… what next??

http://sensoryreplays.wordpress.com – Rob, Middle East

four of my co-workers just got removed from our rig crew, they were sent to our base camp in dammam this morning without any advance notice and i really am not sure what the personnel department will decide for them, either they get transferred to another rig or sent straight to the house. it’s just saddening.

http://careeradventure.wordpress.com – Kristi Daeda

Everywhere you go nowadays, it seems someone has lost their job. Your brother, your cousin, your dry cleaner’s daughter… The bright side for the unemployed? The stigma of job loss is dissolving. Chances are if someone hasn’t experienced it personally, they’ve either known someone, or watched competent peers go through it in their own companies.

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This morning after waking up from a long night sleep due to a sudden headache – probably due to reading about layoffs or the hot choco I had before dinner – I read a reply coming from Les (the first blogger):

Crisn

It’s like were all sailing along on the same ship, but it’s hairy because we’re sailing in low water. I’m finding it helpful to think of all humankind as a big family, all in this together. As far as I’ve seen in my 52 years, everything eventually works out. Most of us manage to still keep a roof over our heads and have food to put in our mouths. We at least cover the basics. We may not always get what we want, but that’s a lesson so many of us, including myself, still need to learn anyway. I hope you stay employed through these thin waters. However, If you run aground, come back here and we’ll help each other get through these hard times. Les

That’s just well said and my point exactly why I think that keeping our network open during these hard times is a good idea so we can express what we think, help other people in some ways and show that indeed no man is an island.

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Mood: 3/10 Honks!

Kids Do Say the Darndest Things

I remember several years ago, one of the TV programs I enjoy the most is the one hosted by Bill Cosby, Kids Say the Darndest Things. Several American kids appear as guest and are all seated side by side in front of the camera with the comedian host and they are asked about their opinions on mostly adult matters. The answers are often funny and sometimes so interesting that I’d wonder how at that early age they would have had learned such things. Well, I’m hearing the kids speak once again, this time they’re thinking out loud about the recession.

This morning during our staff meeting our boss started with the usual ice breaker when he flashed through the electronic projector someone else’s doodling. Soon after the bulb warmed up, the intensity of the projection revealed a comics strip personally drawn by his daughter who was just a 3rd grader.

The strip has six frames of colorful drawings telling a short story of their family and their plans during this recession period. Surprisingly, the innocence of his small kid did not fail to capture what has been blasted on TV over and over again in the news reports since our company’s closure was delivered to all of its Philippine manufacturing plant’s employees. His kid even drew a close resemblance of the company’s logo.

Although this is my first time to see a kid’s personal expression of what is currently going on, this isn’t my first time to hear stories coming from colleagues and friends about what their young children said when they learned that their mom or dad will be out of work in the next few months.

One peer told us that when she called her parents to inform them about the retrenchment her young son grabbed the phone and blurted, ”Lola, mawawalan na ng trabaho si mommy at daddy, tulungan mo po kami ha (grandma, mommy and daddy will lose their jobs, please help us)!”

Another heard a different tone from his children, “Tehey, lagi na kaming makakapaglaro kay daddy (We will be able to play a lot with daddy now)!” This joyful welcome of the bad news must have been the most common I’ve heard from other co-employees’ stories. And I can’t blame their kids, really.

Intel’s working environment is so competitive that raising the bar to be at par if not exceed the level of performance (and indicators) of the rest of Intel plants worldwide requires each of its employees to be at their best almost all the time. And to be able to meet that expectation, every employee is at least expected to be at work and leave work on schedule. During the busy years, rendering overtime was often a must. Unfortunately, this is when someone at every employee’s home is deprioritized or worse, ignored – kids. Some will say wives, but that’s a different story.

Therefore it’s really not that impossible if during this recession and global financial crisis, while every parent is worrying about almost everything, there will be innocent kids smiling and rejoicing that sooner or later this year they’ll be one happy family again with their jobless mom or dad just around them ready for 24X7 playtimes.

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Mood: 3/10 Honks!

Review: Free Blog Providers

One of my goals this year, other than driving better than the last year, is to monetize my blog. To achieve that, I realized that getting more traffic or subscribers to my site should be on top of the to-do list. It’s a no-brainer that no one pays for a deserted blog site.

Of course, traffic doesn’t come that easy. Some finger-tapping, networking and a lot of thinking on how to improve the content of the blog site are just some factors that will dictate if who and how many get to be attracted to check the blog out. And after all the countless moments composing posts that at times seem to even interfere with my daily driving, I learned that more factors still have to be considered. Among these are the services from free blog providers.

Free blog providers are to bloggers as point-and-shoot cameras are to photographers. Simply put, both the free blog provider and the point-and-shoot camera are tools that offer beginners of each field the opportunity to experiment and learn the ins and outs of the process. And since I’m still trying to get rid of the urge to dig deeper into the world of photography, I decided that it would be best if I stick to my trusty keyboard, alcohol-enchanced thinking, and try reviewing other free blog providers to see which one fits for me to achieve getting payments thru PayPal once I pursue monetizing my blog.

I first got this idea when I revisited my often-ignored multiply.com account. While checking it out some time in December, I saw that cross-posting blogs is allowed. I learned that multiply blog allows feed from different blog providers which I really find convenient if I want to stay updated with both blogs and photos coming from my contacts without having to leave the multiply network. And these providers are what I have actually reviewed since the start of this year.

Note: I rated these free blog providers by comparing it to WordPress, my current provider. Likewise, I did my best (just within my kill-time periods) to test these blog sites and I’d appreciate comments if I did the right review or not.

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Yahoo 360!

Basics:

Appearance. Not so catchy. If you love text this is your dream site, but if you’re a graphics guy forget getting serious with this service.

Dashboard. WordPress need not worry. This service will need more bright minds to even match half of WordPress’ features.

New post. Fair.

Image uploading. Remember, text yes, graphics no — that is, there’s no point loading images here. Though I wonder if I missed the feature that would enable it to load directly from flickr.com.

Categories. Yahoo! does not categorize post. It only has Tags.

Tags. Yes.

Widget. Get WordPress. Period.

Ads. No. period.

Others: Poll. No.

Blogroll. Yes.

URL easy to remember? No.

Members. There could be a lot mainly due to its connection with Yahoo! but I haven’t seen any serious blogger here.

Recommendation: Does saying “Go get WordPress” deliver the message?

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Blogger Basics

Appearance. I find this somewhere near WordPress’ depending on the capability of the user to design his own theme. However, if the available themes are to be selected and applied to blogs, I’d be very biased to word- press’ appearance.

Dashboard. Blogger is affiliated to Google but it appears that they copied dashboard features from Yahoo!

New post. Fair enough.

Image uploading. 1 GB maximum space. Can be done thru direct uploading or by linking to a URL.

Categories. No categories, only tags.

Widget. I’ve read that there are available widgets, but I find it hard to use it on mine.

Ads. If there’s one thing that will make me leave WordPress, this is it. Blogger.com allows one blogger to get paid thru Adsense.

Others:

Blogroll. Yes, it is available. Your contacts will love you for this.

URL easy to remember? Yes. Just the same with WordPress, except for the domain (duh!).

Members. There’s a lot of good bloggers here.

Recommendation: If you want to monetize your blog then this is the place to be. And if you can come up with better themes than the available ones, then WordPress might be a thing of the past.

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WordPress Basics

Appearance. There’s a lot of great themes to choose from and most of it appears quite cool enough. Graphic-illiterate bloggers like me need not worry about having a boring blog site as there’s almost one theme that will match everyone’s taste.

Dashboard. Constantly getting better than the previous one.

New post. With the dashboard improving, posting a new blog has gotten easier every time (Although, I publish drafts and post thru MS Word 2007′s publish blog feature).

Image uploading. 3 GB maximum space. Images may be uploaded directly, by using a URL or by getting it thru the media library.

Categories. The parent category feature made blogging more organized. WordPress also has a converter from categories to tags and vice-versa.

Widget. Lots of cool widgets available.

Ads. Unfortunately, no. WordPress doesn’t allow its members to get paid.

Others:

Poll. Yes, thru polldaddy.com. I find this a very cool feature.

Blogroll. Yes.

URL easy to remember? Yes.

Members. Most of its members are prolific bloggers. And there was once a WordPress group for Filipinos. Unfortunately, it went out of service for reasons that I still don’t know.

Recommendation: I’m biased, but I think most will agree that this is among the best if not the only best free blog provider. Sign up to word- press if you don’t care about being paid at all.

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Windows Live Space Basics

Appearance. Yahoo! people can smile now. This is the least of my fa- vorites.

Dashboard. The appearance is a reflection of the dashboard. Need I say more?

New post. Fair.

Image uploading. Direct uploading only. I even cannot edit the image once I have my blog posted (I could be wrong, though).

Categories. Yes.

Tags. No? Widget. No. Ads. No.

Others:

URL easy to remember? I have so much hate with this blog provider and one reason for that is because I can’t even remember my own URL after I’ve subscribed and posted my first blog.

Members. Most likely many, but that’s because each one is probably sign- ing up for a new blog name after forgetting what their first URL was.

Recommendation: Good for spammers and bloggers with multiple personality.

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LiveJournal Basics

Appearance and Dashboard. A bit closer to WordPress.

New post. Fair. There’s also a feature to insert mood options right below the blog. Hopefully, they can come up with a honk-mood rating just like I use in my blogs.

Image uploading. This one has the most options. It can upload image directly or coming from a URL, scrapbook or photobucket.

Categories. No.

Tags. Yes. Ads. No. Others:

URL easy to remember? Yes.

Members. There’s also a lot.

Recommendation: As the name implies, most of the users here post articles in a manner like most journals are written. And upon browsing/lurking thru most of the post, I saw that this is the site if you want to let lose some rants and hot air. Paging all bosses, you might find your names here right after you have delivered some tough messages. Hahaha.

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Mood: 3/10 Honks!

Abundance Inside

Intel has been (or still is) a very good company, no doubt. And despite the stressful situation that everyone is currently into, most employees will still agree that Intel Philippines has tried as much as possible to show how each one of us has been so valuable that our personal or career development is one of the priorities.

This was once again proven when today the good people from our employees services (ES) group arranged another Beyond the Cube session. This is a series of sessions wherein external corporate speakers are invited to talk to the employees on different topics which Intel thinks is of interest to the majority–one good way to break routines and let the employees hear great thoughts from the world outside of our cube (or manufacturing floor). Although I’ve heard about this program before, this is my first time to attend such.

Today the speaker is Pido Aguilar Jr. who at first got most of my colleagues worried about what might happen during the talks when we saw him pass by in a weird-looking garb which I told them reminds me of a Video Zonkers episode. We almost cancelled attending the session, but then again the thought of spending another five more hours doing absolutely nothing in front of our laptops convinced us to check the session out. We eventually signed up and settled in the session room with full of anticipation and anxiety. To my surprise, I found the room packed.

Mr. Pido started the session trying to be candid probably to loosen up the attendees as he may have sensed that most are expecting that this session better be good. By around 10 AM, he opened up by saying something like, “I don’t need you to believe me…but all I’m asking is for you to open your mind during this 2-hour session.” The session went on.

Interestingly, Mr. Pido soon got everyone’s attention as the session went interactive with the activities that got the attendees’ participation. Every now and then, the room bursts into a belly-busting laughter as he amused everyone with his funny expressions, humorous examples and other anecdotes which filled the room with smiling yet attentive audiences.

In this session, Mr. Pido shared seven ways to attract and radiate abundance which he said comes from within everyone’s self.

I Smile. I couldn’t agree more when he said that by having a truthful smile at the start of the day does attract and sets what one’s day will be like. He said, “Try smiling then at the same time say that you hate someone.” I followed. It cannot be done. Unless, you’re that character from the movie Psycho.

I LIVE in the PRESENT! If you keep on thinking about the past, you miss to live the present. If you keep on thinking about the future is just as harmful. The first is a “has been” while the second may not even come at all. So living in the present may indeed by the sanest thing we can do right now.

I ALWAYS express THANKS! This one consumed 40 minutes of the session when Mr. Pido made everyone think of and say one reason what they’re thankful for today. It may be because of a person, thing, event, etc. as long as they think is worth thanking for. The mic went from one attendee to the other and it’s interesting to hear everyone’s piece. This he said is proof that there’s just so much for us to be thankful for if you really think about it. There was even who said that he’s thankful that Intel (Philippines) is closing. Remember the saying “When one door closes, the other one opens”?

I REMEMBER: Nothing lasts! I was expecting that this one only refers to the bad things just so to give hope to everyone that at the end of every trial is a resolution. I was wrong, however, and I’m glad I learned why. According to Mr. Pido, this applies to both the good and bad things in our life. He said that by also remembering that good things don’t last we get to appreciate and cherish it more. Now, the ad line “Offer is good while supply lasts” just made more sense.

I CHOOSE to be POSITIVE! Mr. Pido said that even if you forgot or was forced to be negative at one point even after committing to be positive, the key here is to get back on track ASAP and choose to be positive again. I immediately related this to my driving. Since this year I said that I can do better with regards to my driving temperament. So far, I still got to honk at someone else but I’m quite sure that it has gotten less and lesser lately. Maybe if I lose the car after being unemployed it will be zero. No question about it. Ti abi.

I LET GO, I LET GOD. Everyone in the room was asked by Mr. Pido, “Why do you think God can’t be God?” There was a couple of silent moments, then he answered it himself. “That’s because you don’t let him be!” Most of the time we have been so full of energy, motivation, enthusiasm or eagerness to solve our problems that we do forget that these are after all part of God’s plan for us. So next time, let’s pause for awhile and instead consult with God if what we’re planning to do is aligned with his so that we don’t get frustrated in the end.

YES, I MOVE ON! This is one phrase with two key points. First is the word YES which affirms our willingness to face the challenge. Second are the words I MOVE ON which complements our affirmation. And if you take a look at it, both will work as our one big commitment to transition to the next part of our lives and/or career.

During the start of the session, Mr. Pido Aguilar Jr. asked every attendee in the room one favor: To bring home and share whatever we have learned and believed may be significant to others as well. There was a chorus of “Yes, I will” So I’m now sticking to that promise which I silently whispered in the midst of a jam-packed room and in front of the man in the weird-looking garb.

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Pido Aguilar Jr. may be contacted thru telefax number (02)725- 749. His email adds are: abundancecorp@gmail.com & abundancecorp@yahoo.com .

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Mood: 3/10 Honks!

Get Over It, Move Forward

I’m quite sure that at one point of every person’s life there was a time when he’s so desperate and frustrated that he could’ve called it quits. I for one had several of those dire situations when life seems to have had crumbled and that the feeling of not being able to get out of it is so overwhelming. Believe me these ranges from the trivial such as just a quarrel with a sibling to the gravest such as getting into a car accident. And believe me, during these times I just wish I was never born at all. Whether one is a firm believer of God ( or Allah or any other divine being) or not, during these times calling them for help may be the only rational thing to do.

One thing that I always put in mind is that every after trial I had or would have, there is always the hope that I would get over it soon. Change and transition as they call it. Consider being in a break up. That situation is change. Getting over with it is transition. It does not matter if recovery happens right after or several months later but the day would likely come when you’d be able to smile all about it.

Now that I’m just waiting to be among the most “in” person this year of recession, I’m getting more excited than scared or worried. I can’t wait to see what is waiting for me (and my family) until the end of 2009. But what I know that someday, I’ll be out there with my kid (or kids) and wife facing the golden sunset with beer in hand while enjoying the splashing waves and the smell of the salty air.

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Resilient pinoys

If there’s one word that I hated the most when it comes to describing the pinoys, it’s the word resilient. I believe that this is the most abused or overused by journalists or even inspirational speakers especially when used during times of crisis. I hate reading or hearing, what might be already cliché: The Filipinos will get over it. The Filipinos are resilient people like bamboos that sway wherever the wind blows.

That doubt is about to be changed.

What I find remarkable with how most of the Intel Philippines folks (or Intelllites) accepted each bad news that have come in rapid succession in less than a year, is that the transition period seems to be as quick as a snap of a finger. There may have been hundreds of tears shed every after forums where grim updates about the site were heard but believe me that these are the same people who can be seen smiling the very next day.

And the recent download on Wednesday, Jan 21, wasn’t an exception. A couple of hours later and two more days after the closure of the manufacturing operation of Intel Philippines was announced, most of the people at the canteen are already occupied with videoke . Others watched the DVD movies played on two separate TV’s for everyone in the cafeteria to see. Others lined up to play foosball. The rest just seem to get back to their own routine as if nothing happened. It may be temporary, it may even be even be pretentious, but whatever that is just shows that Filipinos can indeed be resilient enough to deal with any situations no matter how dire.

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Domino effect

It’s no wonder that the closure of the Intel site in Gen. Trias, Cavite became one of the headlines of the week and that several thousands of people got worried about it. That is because when Intel stops its operation here in the Philippines the export industry will feel its loss. Frankly, I don’t know the exact figures but Intel contributes to billions of pesos in export which makes it one of the top exporters in the electronics sector. This of course translates to jobs other than the permanent employees.

Many other people work for Intel Philippines. There are the vendors and suppliers who handle everything that Intel needs. They are the people from the cafeteria, the janitorial personnel, facilities maintenance, field service engineers, health services providers, and insurance agencies just to name a few. And like Intel employees, they too will be out of work soon.

There’s not much to do right now to dampen the effect of the recession but to just keep all hopes up and remember that this will all come to past. So to all Filipinos, especially to my fellow Intellites, let’s pray and hope that we’ll get over with all of this soon and be able to laugh or smile all about it.

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Mood: 4/10 Honks!

Intel Philippines in the News

On Wednesday, Jan 21, 2009, the heart-breaking news spread like wild fire. The corporation has finally decided to cease its manufacturing operation in the Philippines. First it was just known by the Intel employees gathered in the recreational center, then a leak spread online that same day. Although some bits of info seems to be hazy, it was one news that sent even non-Intel people wondering if it was one big bad dream.

Then of course just after less than 24 hours of withholding the news about the Cavite site’s closure, the employees finally saw their corporate affairs representative confirm the news on TV. It was a signal that the confidentiality policy regarding this once brewing event ends. The online community soon got even busier and exchanges went back and forth. The major media networks sent their news teams lurking and stalking the company’s campus to get first hand scoop among the employees. Intel Philippines that day became the center of discussions on top of other recession related news.

Intel among the headlines of the prime time news.

Corporate affairs personnel for the official statement.

The rumors that Intel Philippines will be closing down became apparent just less than a year when the big bosses dropped the first news on April 2, 2008 when they announced that the building in Cavite is structurally unstable and that this is just the main reason why they actually consider transferring operations somewhere in Laguna. And to prove that there is indeed a plan, Intel Philippines had setup a small group of transfer team to assess the new site and keeps giving updates about it every now and then. Sadly, despite the high hopes it has brought upon most employees and the thought that there will be a couple more years of extending its operation in the Philippines, the employees in the end weren’t meant to be there. It became their white elephant—it does not exist.

I never knew how it would exactly feel like to be related directly to the news on TV until Thursday. For years, it has been one of my guilty pleasures just to be home and be settled in front of the TV after a long day’s work while I watch the day’s events unfold. I’d always remind myself how lucky I am just to be a mere viewer and not being involved in any of the headlines. Now everything changed when the days are already counting down when I’d just be home for a week, for a month. Hopefully, not for a year. Ti abi.

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Mood: 5/10 Honks!

I’ve got some weird things running in my gray matter since the start of the year. And last week everything seems to have happened in topsy-turvy manner or as what I sometimes describe things in the production floor as chopsuey—just a mixture of different things. There was anxiety, there was hope, and then there’s despair.

And today the emotional intensity has gone up and one thing that made me think less or control it rather than it controlling me was the anticipation that things are about to happen. It’s not matter of IF but it’s just a matter of WHEN. It’s like running out of brakes and just bracing for impact while each second is a countdown of the imminent worst case scenario.

Last week I was mulling over the topic of death once again while killing time (pardon the pun). I was asking myself when was the first time I realized how death of a loved one must be like. And then I remembered, it was way back in my elementary days.

It was one lazy summer 1984 afternoon. The flickering rays of the sun passed the swaying ipil-ipil leaves in our front yard. I was about to enjoy my mandatory siesta when a familiar voice called. ”Mahampang na kami siguro (it must be playtime already),” I thought. But as I rush out of the door, a rather sullen look greeted me. It was my classmate and friend, Jonathan. “Cris, patay na si mama (mom is dead)…,” he said.

I still remember feeling confused, not knowing what to make out of it. I can’t remember the exact discussions that followed but I remember us just sitting in the yard and with me listening while he tells stories about his mom. At a very young age I witnessed funerals of my own relatives but I have never been closed to understanding until that memorable afternoon that with death comes inevitable grief. It’s how one handles it that makes the difference.

Then just two days ago, I received an email with an urgent subject: Emergency Appeal! I read the message and it’s from someone in Africa. I shrugged it off as a scam but verified it anyhow through my college yahoogroups. Just as expected, my inbox was soon flooded with replies confirming what I thought it to be. But one replied out of topic and only addressed to me. It was from Jonathan.

We’ve had some lengthy email exchanges since then and I find it weird that everything has been so mixed up but yet still appears to be in harmony as every dot gets connected in the end. Weirder is the fact that I’ve been holding to a clipping from this Sunday’s newspaper with a story from Francis Kong’s “Tragedy into blessing” article.

Year’s ago in Scotland, the Clark family had a dream. The Clarks had worked and saved, making plans for their nine children and themselves to travel to the United States. It had taken years, but they had finally saved enough money and had gotten passports and reservations for the whole family on a new liner to the United States. The entire family was filled with anticipation and excitement about their new life. However, seven days be- fore their departure, the youngest son was bitten by a dog. The doctor sewed up the boy but hung a yellow sheet on the Clarks’ front door. Because of the possibility of rabies, they were being quarantined for 14 days. The family’s dreams were dashed. They would not be able to make the trip to America as they had planned. The father, filled with disappointment and anger, stomped to the dock to watch the ship leave.

The father shed tears of disappointment and cursed both his son and God for their misfortune.

Five days later, the tragic news spread throughout Scotland – the mighty Titanic had sunk. The Clark family was to have been on that ship. When Mr. Clark heard the news, he hugged his son and thanked him for saving the family. He thanked God for saving their lives and turning what he had felt was a tragedy into a blessing.

The story was made even more meaningful when bad news struck yesterday. God must indeed have plans for us and now, I’d like to believe it more. Few weeks or months from now, I’ll be missing things in the production floor. No more chopsuey. No more turning back.

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Mood: 5/10 Honks!