Am No Writer

100 Happy Days: Twenty-two (Vitamins)

2014-03-25T03:26:00.001+08:00

Day 22:

Sorting the chewable centrum vitamins to remind me and husband to take (four of) them daily. It felt like playing with M&Ms except this time it is good for your body.

100 Happy Days: Twenty-one (Birthdays)

2014-03-25T03:25:00.001+08:00

Day 21:

Planning my son's 2nd birthday party for next month. Will be a small and simple get together at my sister's house but of course my son still deserves a fun cake!

Zoo animals ice cream cake (that's the Madgascar movie cast) and some zoo animals party decor too.

100 Happy Days: Twenty (Handwriting)

2014-03-25T03:21:00.001+08:00

Day 20:

I still prefer a pen and paper rather than an electronic list. For today, I felt like doing our grocery list and meal plans, not only handwritten, but in script.

So relieved to know I still have the same penmanship since high school.

100 Happy Days: Nineteen (Appetite)

2014-03-25T03:17:00.001+08:00

Day 19:

On a normal day, my son would have consumed 1 pancake, 6oz juice, at least 1 cup of cereal snacks, 1/2 cup of rice, 1 can of vienna sausage (7 pcs), 1/2 cup of fruit and/or vegetables, and an 8oz milk... all before noon.

So when people ask why he is skinny; well, I do not know.

100 Happy Days: Eighteen (Strawberries)

2014-03-25T03:15:00.001+08:00

Day 18:

Spring Sale! $1.50 per box!

The regular price is around $3, but where we came from before California (is Guam), a box of these goes for $7 to $9 each!

100 Happy Days: Seventeen (Horseback)

2014-03-25T03:12:00.001+08:00

Day 17:

I always feel happy when we go driving around. I enjoy the scenic drive in this area, coastal cali. I enjoy it even more because my husband does the driving too! Haha!

Today we saw a cloud of dust forming from afar while we were on the freeway. It turned out to be a pack of horses, we think they are tourists but we could be wrong. Maybe this is how 'rancheros' do an office meeting. Haha.

100 Happy Days: Sixteen (Slide)

2014-03-25T03:05:00.001+08:00

Day 16:

Slide! I have always been scared of slides since childhood, probably why I am scared of heights too. I am very happy that my son is not. No, not at all scared of heights!

100 Happy Days: Fifteen (Hummingbirds)

2014-03-25T03:03:00.001+08:00

Day 15:

Saw a hummingbird for the first time! It was red! I felt like a little helicopter (on steriods) passed by behind me and then went to check out the flowers at our front yard.

Hoping to see it again and hope it brings its friends too.

Wondering if it is even possible to take pics of it, they just move too fast and come and go when you least expect.

100 Happy Days: Fourteen (Gerbera)

2014-03-25T02:59:00.001+08:00

Day 14:

Gerberas are my favorite flowers!!! Bought two pots of them and I really hope I can keep them flourishing!

100 Happy Days: Thirteen (Pancit)

2014-03-24T12:55:00.001+08:00

Day 13:

My very first attempt at cooking pancit (stir fry noodles), and it was a winner! :)

100 Happy Days: Twelve (Prang)

2014-03-24T12:53:00.001+08:00

Day 12:

Found these old set of Prang watercolor. Have had these since college! That makes it around 15 years old. Whoa!

Wonder if I should use it before finally throwing it away...

100 Happy Days: Eleven (Flip-flops)

2014-03-17T12:54:00.001+08:00

Day 11:

Was pretty happy with the weather today. Warm enough I was able to wear flip-flops, shorts and a sleeveless shirt! 👍

100 Happy Days: Ten (Slumbook)

2014-03-17T12:48:00.001+08:00

Day 10:

Happiness brought by accidentally discovering pages from a slumbook from 2 decades ago. And more happiness felt after realizing you are still friends with those friends you met in high school. 😊

100 Happy Days: Nine (Playgrounds)

2014-03-17T12:38:00.001+08:00

Day 9:

A sunny California afternoon spent "playground-hopping" with my son. We walked around the neighborhood checking out which play areas are actually suited for toddlers.

We were able to check out at least four areas and found a toddler playground where we can go to more often (not the one on the picture).

100 Happy Days: Eight (Outfit)

2014-03-17T12:33:00.001+08:00

Day 8:

Days when you feel as if you've lost some weight without even trying. Or maybe the effect of clothes that actually fit you perfectly. Or maybe the combination of these! Eitherway, made me feel happy (& confident).

Pic above while waiting for my son's check up hihihi. :P

100 Happy Days: Seven (Shopping)

2014-03-16T03:14:00.001+08:00

Day 7:

Oh my oh my oh my! My sister brought us to Ontario Mills, a HUGE outlet store.

I have to say, my sister is THE Shopping Guru! She knows when they have a sale, she gets 40% coupons, and all sorts of discount cards. Imagine buying a $6 shoes from Old Navy, or a $9 sweater from Gap, or a $7 top from Banana Republic.

She is a a shopping genius! :)

100 Happy Days: Six (Snow)

2014-03-16T03:09:00.001+08:00

Day 6:

Snow fun day! The last time I saw snow was February of 2004! Oh my! That was a decade ago!

This was at Snow Valley Ski Resort in California. It is already March but they do make their own snow here. So considering, it was a pretty warm snow day compared to what I had in Chicagp ten years ago.

I love California! :)

100 Happy Days: Five (Bike)

2014-03-08T03:05:00.001+08:00

Day 5:

My new red bike! :)

My husband bought me a bike last week but I only got the chance to really check it out this morning while was organizing our garage.

I call it the Mommy Bike because it is the 'girly' one. The last bike I had, which was also red was a mountain bike, got stolen from our carport (in Guam) maybe 3 years ago.

I haven't been able to actually ride it outside of the garage because we still need to test if I am okay with biking with a baby-bike-seat attached to it. Hoping it will be negligible so me and my toddler can actually enjoy a good bike day out soon! :)

100 Happy Days: Four (Sunset)

2014-03-08T02:55:00.001+08:00

Day 4:

Beautiful sunsets always make me happy. :)

This was taken from our front door. But the same sunset view can be seen from our kitchen sink (extra special while washing dishes hahaha!) and from our dining area.

100 Happy Days: Three (Slide)

2014-03-06T04:39:00.001+08:00

Today is Day 3:

I am very happy to finally be able to unpack, assemble, and setup my son's slide... OUTDOORS! 😊

Back in Guam, this play set was in our living area the whole time because of the unfriendly climate/environment there (almost always 90F with 80% humidity on day time, with wasps, bees, flies, and mosquitoes all over!)

Now that we are in California, and we live in a fenced-in yard, my son will definitely be able to enjoy outdoors more.

100 Happy Days: Two (Buds)

2014-03-05T08:22:00.001+08:00

Day 2:

It has been raining non-stop the past four or so days so I haven't had time to check on my plants.

Today, I was very delighted to see that my roses are actually alive and budding! This is extra special to me because these are actually the stems of the roses I got from my husband on Valentine's day. ❤️ So just barely two weeks since I literally stuck them in a pot of soil and most of them have buds already. If only I was smart enough to have labeled the stems of what color roses they were; but I guess that'll just add to the excitement. Hahaha!

100 Happy Days: One (Snowsuit)

2014-03-04T08:16:00.001+08:00

So I have decided to join the social fad about posting a reason to be happy for 100 straight days.

It seems pretty easy I think. Hehehe. But it is still a very positive way of starting anyone's day. Why not join the fun!

Instead of posting it on Facebook though, I have decided to post it here on my blog. :) I'd like to be able to look back to this in the far future (for which I think Facebook would be obsolete but blogs won't be for sure!)

So here is DAY 1:

I am ecstatically (is that even a word?) happy and (cartwheeling) oh-so-excited because today we got my little boy's snow suit that I ordered online; and it fits him perfectly!

We will go to a snow resort this weekend and it will be his first time to see snow! ❄️⛄️❄️

Snakes in the House

2014-01-13T07:12:00.001+08:00

Today is our pack-out* day. The movers, or as we call them, 'the packers' were supposed to come in at 8AM but apparently they will be late for around 2 more hours.

The doorbell then rang and it was the USDA. As part of the pack-out procedures in Guam, they need to do an inspection of our stuff, our house and yard, to check for brown tree snakes. He brought his dog trained to do this task, and to keep things more fun, he 'planted' two live snakes in our house to test if the dog will find it. Relax, the snakes were in a cage. :)

He put one by the window and another one at the laundry area. He says the laundry area is a good way to test the dog because it can somehow mask the snake odor becaus of all the detergents, etc.

The dog of course sniffed through the whole yard, outside the house, and every corner inside the house. It found the snakes of course. Good job!

Too bad Kale was at daycare, he would have enjoyed watching the dog, especially while sniffing through his toys. :)

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

*Pack-out: Our military assignment in Guam has come to an end and it is time to move again. Next home: California.

9 out of 10

2013-07-29T08:02:00.000+08:00

Saw this article: http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/08/14/ten-habits-of-bad-bosses/

Not surprisingly, my job's score is 9 out of 10.
This is typically how companies here run, based from my own and friends' experiences.

Here's the article:

By Kelly Eggers

It's one thing to have a bad boss. It's an entirely different story when your bad boss is one of many at your firm. That could indicate a deeper problem suggesting your company's management culture needs an overhaul.

Companies with poor management practices typically have employees who are disengaged and want to quit the firm, says Allan Steinmetz, chief executive and founder of Boston-based Inward Strategic Consulting. A recent survey from Harvard Business School says 95% of high achievers regularly update their resumes and check out other employers in part because they're unhappy with their current company's career development programs. According to a 2010 survey from Manpower Group, 21% of more than 14,000 workers globally said they were unclear of their company's strategy and/or how their individual role contributes to that strategy. While a disengaged workforce is a symptom of substandard leadership, just what constitutes bad management? Here are a few problematic practices experts believe should be axed:

1. Bad Communication

Few things cause employees to tune out faster than a top management team that keeps the company's future direction to itself. Such practices cause the rumor mill to work overtime, particularly during times of change or economic stress.

Burton Goldfield of California-based TriNet, an HR outsourcing firm, experienced this firsthand when he visited a firm TriNet was acquiring. In order to meet with the entire staff, he set up two separate group meetings in a small conference room. "The rumor was that half the company was going to be fired depending on the session they were in," he says.

Scheduling difficulties caused some people to be moved back and forth from one session to the other, which they thought meant they were being moved from the "hired" to the "fired" pile. "It is amazing how quickly rumors start based on some distorted kernel of the truth," he says.

According to a 2009 survey of 328 employers by Towers Watson, only 58% educate their people about the firm's values and culture. Just 26% of companies surveyed planned to tell employees how the company was faring through the economic downturn.

Goldfield ultimately fixed his communication problems with a weekly, three-minute podcast. He interviews new hires, talks about new offices or a product the company is launching or what competitors are doing. He even interviewed his wife on their 30th wedding anniversary. "Almost the entire company listened to that one," he says.

2. Leading by (Very Specific) Example

Micromanaging is a mistake many new managers make and there's no better way to alienate your workforce. Employees told there's only one way to do things -- yours -- will stop thinking creatively about how to solve problems.

"There are a lot of highly competent people who have been promoted because they have done things well, and when they become a manager they think they have to show others the way to do things," says Mike Noble, managing partner with Massachusetts-based Camden Consulting Group, an HR consulting firm. "They think, 'My way is the only way, and everyone else can follow my lead. If they are not doing it my way, they are probably doing it wrong.'"

Having one approved method to get things done sets subordinates up for a fall and, ultimately, the firm. "Everyone will defer to you as the expert or the final arbiter on things, and will stop developing new skills because they just expect you to provide the answers," Noble says. "This might close the door on better ways of doing things," he says, which could come about with the advent of new technologies or people with a different set of competencies.

3. Team-Building that Isn't

Fostering a connected team is an important practice, but before implementing group runs at lunchtime or post-work happy hours, be sure members of your team won't feel left out. Those with a physical ailment or are, say, a recovering alcoholic, won't feel comfortable running races or swapping stories at a bar.

"Saying, 'We are a great team-building company,' when everyone goes out to run on the West Side Highway -- that's not in any way in my mind a team-building company," says Goldfield of TriNet. "Running may be the passion of the CEO, director or manager, but some people will follow begrudgingly or try to keep up, when that's not the intent of the team-building."

Getting to know your team members is generally an effective way to build collaboration and a sense of joint purpose. Social gatherings have become a linchpin for career success. Some 63% of employees surveyed by Robert Half International earlier this year said that productivity increases when employees have social relationships with their professional colleagues.

4. Little or No Training

According to a 2011 report from Accenture, 55% of workers in the U.S. say they are under pressure to develop new skills, but only 21% say their companies have provided training to learn those new skills within the last five years.

"A lot of organizations aren't doing the hard work to train their employees and expect them to come into the workforce with skills," Cantrell says. "Most workers don't know what skills are required in different jobs. If you don't know what they are, how do you go get them?"

Programs that cost companies money, such as training, mentoring and coaching, are valued highly by employees, according to HBS. When employees don't have access to development, they often leave. Companies with poor management practices see this as an impossible conundrum. If they invest, they fear employees will leave for better jobs elsewhere, but employees will quit if they don't feel invested in.

5. Ineffective Training

Just as lousy as no training is training that doesn't work. Typically, these are programs that provide the exact same training for every employee, no matter their existing skills.

"There's an assumption that everyone needs training and that everyone is starting from the same level of competence, but that very rarely is the case," says Noble. "Companies want to provide training for everyone so employees feel included, which is an honorable motive, but it can sometimes backfire."

It backfires, for instance, when companies put social-media savvy employees into the same Facebook training session as people who don't yet have a profile on the site. The pace and level of training for class-goers should vary based on the skill-sets of the people receiving it, and creating one-size-fits-all training programs implies that the firm doesn't have a grip on individual employee competencies.

6. Poorly Executed Performance Reviews

"One of the things I've heard most frequently is that people's HR or people practices were irrelevant to them," says Cantrell. People's schedules, rewards and performance assessments are often the same for people working in the same job, at the same level or for the same amount of time, Cantrell notes, "but people do very different work than one another," even if their titles are the same.

Cantrell says that assessing people once a year on generic criteria -- the traditional philosophy -- is outdated. A 2010 study of HR executives from Sibson Consulting and World at Work found that 58% grade their performance-review practices at a "C" or below, primarily because managers don't provide constructive feedback, and employees don't feel motivated by the results.

Some companies also misuse 360-degree feedback, a tool used by HR departments to get perspective on an individual employee from colleagues at, below and above the level of the specific worker. "We highly encourage 360-degree feedback, but say it should be used for development not for performance appraisals," says Noble.

As an evaluation tactic, 360s fail because the reviewers aren't always objective. "An employee giving feedback on their boss might think, 'Deep down I know that she has flaws, but if I tell her boss, they may come down on her and I don't want people to come down on her that way,'" Noble says. That problem can be averted if the employee knows that their comments won't impact their boss' standing in the organization, and vice versa.

More: Best Jobs If You're Over 55

7. Stifled Mobility

Many companies just don't know what their workers are good at or how to develop them once they're hired. That makes it difficult to challenge employees to learn new skills that would enable them to develop their careers.

"Once people become employees, they report that it becomes hard for them to move around to different jobs in their organization," Cantrell says. Accenture's survey found that only 34% of employees believe that they can move into another job at their company. Only half believe that their employer gives them a clear understanding of the skills they need to grow in a particular job or career path.

Having an understanding of the skills and abilities of current employees can reduce the costs of recruiting externally for talent. To encourage employees to find new jobs internally, "employers can make job needs more transparent, and begin to develop more flexibility in their HR processes," Cantrell says.

8. Preventing Follow-Through

Most employees like to feel their work has meaning. If they don't get this kind of satisfaction, they lose motivation, according to a number of research studies. One sure way to demean an employee's work is to move them off a project before it's completed.

That's what one of Cantrell's clients did. Its work strategy moved people on and off projects before they were completed, which didn't allow them to see the results of their work. "It completely de-motivated them," Cantrell says.

"From the employee's perspective, they want to feel like they have an impact," says Rick DeMarco, West Coast managing director for Inward Strategic Consulting. "If you pull them away before they see the result of their labors, they'll wonder what all that was for."

This practice also develops a workforce with a serious problem with follow-through. "A weakness in leadership today is that companies develop great strategists who can't execute a plan," DeMarco says. "Companies aren't teaching people to see something through from beginning to end, which builds a mentality of not finishing what's been started."

More: Cool 'Tech' Jobs: 5 New, Fast-Growing Careers That Pay Well

9. Obstacle-Course Applications

Having a thorough application process is critical to maintaining a level of sanity when an employer is looking to hire, but being too specific can hinder the entire process. Much has been said about how too-specific keyword searches among applicant pools is contributing to the so-called the skills gap, but the problem could begin before applications are submitted.

According to a July 2012 survey from Beyond.com, a job-search website, more than a quarter of 1,700 respondents said their biggest frustration with job seeking is finding job descriptions that are too vague, too specific, too confusing or incomplete. Unclear job descriptions could leave employers with fewer applicants because too many job seekers weren't sure if they actually met the position's requirements because the desired skills weren't clear to begin with.

10. Hiring For Skills, Not Competencies

A frequent complaint of job seekers is that resume-scanning software eliminates them from consideration for positions because they don't have the "right" degree or previous job titles. Accenture found that 38% of workers believe their employers don't consider talents and competencies when hiring. They only consider specific work experience and education, leaving many candidates who might have the capacity to quickly learn a job in the pool of the unemployed.

"Hiring managers try to find people by basically screening a resume for its experience and education," says Cantrell of Accenture. "Academic studies have shown over time that they aren't predictors of performance, but we continue to do it." Searching for competencies such as accounting, design, entrepreneurial mind-sets or computer science can be more of a predictor of someone's behavior at work.

"If you think about it, just because you have a degree in computer science doesn't mean you're a great computer scientist or that you were any good at it," she says. On the other hand, evaluating people based on the competencies that make up a good computer scientist presents a greater guarantee that you'll find someone good at the job, Cantrell says.

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English is Not My First Language

2013-07-25T07:14:00.003+08:00

So my Chinese-Indonesian (yes, the race needs to be mentioned) boss is telling me, for the second time around, that I need to improve on my “English Composition.” He was talking about the first page of a 60-page report that I made from scratch. Yes, from scratch.

The same person who, while interviewing me as an applicant, said I had the best communication skills compared to the rest of the guys in the office. This is the same person that adds an ‘s’ to a singular form noun and the same person who omits an ‘s’ to a present-tense verb. The same person who begins his sentences with “I thinks that…” or “It doesn't seems to be..."

“I know English is not our first language” he says.

Improve on my English composition, he says. To me, who went on business writing training and the only comment the instructor had was that I had awesome handwriting. To me.

"The composition is very elementary'' he says. He was talking about an Executive Summary for a report to be submitted to the military. Very elementary? You mean, short, concise and direct to the point? Just how a summary should be?

The last time he said this not-our-first-language comment, I asked a white American (yes, the race needs to be mentioned) colleague to mark-up my narrative. He did some very minor comments and voila! No more comments from the boss.

So this time, I already knew what to tell him. That I will ask another ‘English-speaking’ colleague to help me revise (which, mind you, has already reviewed my report TWICE!)

If only this was a sit-com then I would have been able to say ‘GO WRITE IT YOURSELF! I QUIT!’ If only, then I would be laughing right now.

Note that I am not claiming perfection; but having different approaches, like in composition does not mean the other one sucks. I am sure I am just pissed right now, I usually don't take criticism easily. Maybe in a few more minutes I will be laughing at the irony of this all.

'Boss, enrolls us to english training so me writes better englishes.' Now, I am beginning to sound like Smeagol. Haha! Okay, enough ranting, back to work!

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As a side story, this is typical of our boss who, when stressed about SOMETHING ELSE, lashes out on the rest of his employees as if they have done nothing right. At least make them feel that way.

So, typically:
Good mood boss = good job employee.
Bad mood boss = bad job employee.