Random Ramblings From My Daily Life

Childless

2011-11-11T19:49:00.000+08:00

This blog may very well be the reason for the death of the human race if people were to take this advice seriously and perhaps leaving the world inherited by the brainless version of ourselves.

Early in life I have often imagined myself living in a decent house with a couple of kids frolicking in the yard and a loving wife. A decade later and way past my thirties that fantasy went away with my 20s. I have become a realist, an optimist of sorts and a pessimist by heart.

This would be my entry about why I would never raise children in this modern world.

I can't afford one

Let's face it. In today's economy, the average couple can barely have enough for themselves. We have foreclosures, unemployment, depreciating investments and temptations from the secretary who looks terrible in a skirt. According to one article, children account for half of your lifetime income. This includes schooling, food and medical bills in times of sickness and insurance in case something happens to you. I am inclined to believe that the analysts were speaking in assumption that we are not Bill Gates. I am not completely selfish and devoid of soul but I am also not stupid. This situation far outweighs the consequences of having children. I make it a point to avoid any recurring expenses that I cannot control. Hence, I prefer variable monthly expenses rather than fixed utility expenses.

I also currently live in a time where financial life is still very unstable. Nothing is certain. You can preach to me all the joys of being a parent. Mind you, I am pretty much aware that more than half of you are just marketing your own misery. I am a firm believer that a partner is someone you share your life with not someone who makes you complete. Those are two completely different things.

For me, having kids is up there with owning a Ferrari AND a mansion. It is a voluntary dream but regardless of this, it is best to plan ahead - always.

I don't want him/her working for someone else

You can blame me for reading Robert Kiyosaki's book of vague references to employer vs employee on this. That being said, even if I could support a family, the only way for my children to live in a self-sustaining environment long after I'm gone is if I leave behind something to keep them going without the mercy of some dipshit employer.

Maybe if I had the comforting thought that my children will one day lead a business empire or rule a country for decades I would consider parenthood.

I don't want them as emotional shield for my future demented wife

Let's face it. Nobody's perfect. Call it love or call it stupidity but for purposes of self-preservation, I prepare for the worst. An overenthusiastic idealist would be offended at the thought of a prenup or the thought of a possible failure in marriage but I am open and accept this as part of life. All things come to an end. Maybe not now but they do happen. As a fatalist, it's not a matter of "if", it's a matter of "when". So WHEN the shit does hit the fan for my marriage it will be my kids who will suffer the full force of its traumatic fate. I could say less for myself since I was expecting it.

So what's the point of all this? Would I ever change my mind? Do note that this is my mindset as dictated by the current external trends happening in my life.

I have yet to meet a woman who can actually at least guarantee me a happy life for half of our years together. Someone who just doesn't give me promises but results.

As of the moment I am enjoying my bachelor life. I can blog here and not give a crap of who doesn't like it. I can post politically incorrect and offensive wall posts on Facebook without the bitching of a better half. I can book a flight to Rio today with a ticket that's worth six months of my salary and having no one to explain the stupidity and impracticality of my actions. Hell, I can buy some worthless junk with absolutely no practical use than to have something to do with your excess income without having to worry that someone in your life is going to starve to death.

So better ask yourself, does getting married and having kids in today's world really worth the trouble? You who have so much to live for and so much to do by yourself. Don't dive into a relationship just because you feel empty or lonely. You'd have a much better exit strategy by "finding Jesus".

As for me, there's still so much to do and somehow I don't see how a relationship or children fit into my life's equation.

My Smart Buying Guide

2011-07-04T14:20:00.001+08:00

Ever had one of those dilemmas where you can't decide on something to buy? Ever had the feeling that you're being suckered into something you know nothing about? The consumer goods may be smiling upon you. These days a simple oven toaster and the regular coffee maker are no longer the mundane household appliance. Each of those things are armed to the teeth with jargon and buzzwords that sound like something that should be better left on NASA's command center and with good reason.

Buy the product with the features you need. Shun the ones you don't.
Remember, you are paying for everything that goes into a product. There are no freebies here.

Here's an example:
When I was shopping around for an LCD TV there were two models of the same brand that had a P10,000 difference ($230USD). The salesman claims that the one that had the additional cost was newer. I looked it up online and used the product comparison feature of the page. The only foreseeable difference I could see on the item was an unfamiliar "connectivity" jack that was used for media devices - a device that I do not own. So if I were to consider this "newer" item, then that would mean that I would be paying for this jack - a feature - that I would never use. That plus the subjective satisfaction of buying the "latest" model.

So to shop smart, make a note of the things you are looking for in an item. iPod support. Playstation integration. Antimicrobial filters. Water-resistant fabric. Whatchamacallit nano-materials that would qualify your item for a trip to the moon.

There are some features you can never seem to scratch out of the list of shit you don't need. So get the ones with the least of those junk. We all agree we can never get one item because another one has the something you need or vice versa. We also have to deal with the annoyance that some features always seem to overlap another but never both. Pick the one you can inevitably cannot live without. Save that nice-to-haves for a future upgrade. In this world of buy and sell depreciating items an upgrade is always a work in progress. But for the mean time, your wallet will thank you for it.

If you're not an enthusiast or a newcomer, ALWAYS start with entry-level products. The suggestion that you go big time the first time is a good investment is a myth.

Why? Because you cannot forsee the future (yet). You may not like what you got yourself into. Maybe 3months to a year you'll probably regret it and hate it. In any case, you need something you can dispose of quickly and with a chance of getting some or most of that money back. Going the high-end range makes it difficult to dispose and even harder to deal.

Warranty
From a Filipino consumer's perspective, it doesn't make a sound budget sense to pay for a speculated event in the future.

Firstly, you shave off a considerable amount off the retail price. The savings you get can go to more urgent expenses you currently need.

Secondly, if the product does break down under warranty you will still face the same amount of corporate bullshit even if you did pay for it. They will - and this is a guarantee - give you a hard time to make warranty claims. Oftentimes, the cost to repair doesn't exceed the amount of your savings - money you have ON HAND.

Case in point, product X costs 35,000 pesos with warranty. It costs 5,000 less without warranty. If it breaks, it will most likely cost you less to have it fixed unless you really fucked it up. So why pay the excess amount for something that costs less to fix? That is not to mention that you're only paying for that peace of mind for a limited time only - it's not permanent. (There's no such thing as lifetime warranty in the Philippines.) It's like insurance, only it keeps you broke for a shorter period of time and has no complete return of investment. What about major breaks? Trust me, these manufacturers know the statistics. They always play with the odds in their favour. That being said, they anticipated that the likelihood of anything breaking in their product does not exceed the cost of your warranty. It's still about profits, my reader.

Update: Some Filipino stores have ramped up their after-sales service. This is good but I have yet to see one that honors lifetime warranties. Sometimes it really helps when western brands w/ reputable service warranties enter the country. You introduce a whole new set of business paradigms.

Research. Research. Research.

As with anything, knowledge is power. Be armed with it even if it takes you days, weeks and months to grasp everything, take the time. When it comes to buying, wasting time is better than wasting money. (Do not mistake this philosophy with investments, which is an entirely different thing.)

I am Troll

2011-05-19T15:33:00.003+08:00

"In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion." -- From Wikipedia

Just a few moments ago I happened upon this site that was all about anti-barefoot running while quoting a Google search. Scanning through the site's articles had me yelling "troll" at the back of my head. Seriously, a domain dedicated to publishing all his rants about the barefoot paradigm? This guy took trolling to a whole new level!

I won't lie. I really wanted to hate the guy. He pulled his ideas out of the forums where he was bitching is defiance and put in a site that he controlled and declared martial law. While most of his arguments can simply be answered by doing the research (or experimentation) himself instead of relying and attacking an entire community, the core nature of his blog would make me a blooming hypocrite (and I hate hypocrisy). I compulsively argue with people who either have their heads up in the clouds or up their asses because that is just me. I don't let people get carried away with their habitual delusions even if it means finding me unpleasant.

Honestly, I'm no elite runner. I'm not even a competitive runner at that. Just like him, I'm simply a blogger. Shooting him down would be like shooting my gray matter out with a shotgun and pissing on the residue. I might as well be looking in the mirror while I'm doing it. His insights on barefoot running maybe troubling for hardcore barefoot runners just like my insights on call centers, death and monogamy may be unsettling for deluded believers.

I'm not saying he's wrong nor am I saying he's right. I'm saying he dares to ask. He questions the ideas set forth by an entire group just like me - just like a few of us. Of course, that idea may not always be generally acceptable. It may well be taboo for most readers. I do enjoy delving into unpopular and unwelcome thoughts because if those thoughts don't exist, what's the point of being alive? I tell you it's far better than keeping it to yourself. Who knows, it may eventually sink in. Hint: Once the idea is fed, it's not coming off.

So for my parting phrase I tell you: Dare to ask. Be a skeptic before you can be a believer and you don't necessarily have to be "right" to believe in something.

I am not a troll. I just don't agree with you.

SmartBRO's Bullshit Slow Torrent Downloads

2011-05-16T12:35:00.015+08:00

Smart Bro Plugit Prepaid HSDPA modem Kit
Originally uploaded by jangelo

Okay, just when I thought I was ready to believe that Smart wasn't the greedy inefficient broadband provider like their competitor, I ran across this subtle and undisclosed fair use practice that is best expressed through their actions rather than in writing. Hint: They claim their network is under maintenance, which conveniently always happens when you call up. Here's the truth....

After downloading more than enough movies to last me 2 months of weekend marathons, I was suddenly met two weeks ago with a trickling download speed akin to a 28.8kbps dial up connection.

Google searches yielded people experiencing the same problem. The symptom is this: After a while, you can surf and download typical web sites but you cannot stream or use torrents at a leisurely speed. In short, they have filtered specific high-speed traffic from your number.

If you called their customer service hotline you would be met by the scripted answer of a "network maintenance" that is now "fixed", which, of course, is untrue. I know for sure that neither Globe nor Smart services will go down. EVER. (I was tipped by a former Smart employee who works in the server room that if you can't put their system back up in 5mins you might as well tender your resignation - hopefully, five mins should be enough for you to find a new job).

I had feared the worst but for the sake of experimentation, I used my extra Smart Buddy SIM. Before I knew it, the speeds were back up at breakneck speeds that my N8 had to lock up more than a dozen times in a day because it couldn't handle the speed. Truth be told that Smart blacklists SIM cards that are heavy users.

So what is my consensus? If you're not tied to their ridiculously poor postpaid plan and being victimized by a lock-in period, I suggest you treat your broadband SIMs as disposable items. When the torrent speeds drop, it's time to change SIMs. Don't bother waiting for a month for their so-called traffic reset - they're not giving back that speed to you. PERIOD. At 40 pesos per SIM, it's hardly a loss. Simple as that. Maybe when these fuckwads run out of numbers on their network will they wise up and give us the service we paid for and not the money they want to steal from us.

So SMART, Globe, Sun and PLDT, next time when you brag about fast broadband speeds on your TV ads make sure it IS fast in EVERY aspect - CONSISTENTLY. Don't let us use it then eventually slow it down to make room for more oblivious users (tikim-tikim). Focus on customer retention because it's the EXISTING customers who propagate your reputation to POTENTIAL customers. Fair use policies are for pussy providers who mislead customers about their excellent service when their real intention was to rake in more users.

Oh, by the way, I AM SMARTer than the mindless hired monkeys you have in your server room and no amount of Oracle, Sun, artificial penis enhancements (read: jargon of the overpaid worker) and NO-ONE-GIVES-A-SHIT certifications will change that. EVER.

Never underestimate the ingenuity of your consumers. You rip us off we rip you off tenfold. So respect us because we put food on YOUR table. The customers who notice aren't the stupid ones. So STOP LYING TO US.

Now in Tumblr

2011-05-12T18:47:00.000+08:00

Yet another network. This is getting silly but it makes sense for online survival. Gotta keep up with the times or get left behind. I don't want to be another dot-commer.

I know, I'm a late adopter. I'm lame. Better late than obsolete.

Random Ramblings from My Daily Life

BPOs degrade Filipinos

2011-04-29T12:39:00.002+08:00

I have never been a fan of call centers. I have never been a fan of its glorified namesake "BPO". Most of all, I am not a fan of what it does to Filipinos.

Before moving on I would like to point out that I have never worked for a call center. But I did apply for the job many years ago. I also have friends and relatives who did work for call centers. These days I would occasionally thank God that I was never hired for the job. You see, with that kind of job, once you're in, you're NEVER going out. It's the millennium's McJob. It's literally career suicide. I am not being prejudicial. I am being a realist. I see [and smell] the pile of human fecal matter that the west has dropped on our doorstep.

Today I could not imagine myself as an expensive emotional punching bag. You had to think that catering to irate or incompetent people on the other side of the globe is already degrading as it is but the thought that the people calling for OUR help is actually earning much more than we are! WHY are we the ones providing help? Why are we the ones who are underpaid individuals wiping their noses and listening to the whines of white boys? If we were so smart why are we the ones on the receiving end reading a scripted answer and sounding just as stupid?

This is why call centers are a bad idea.

They degrade the way of life for Filipinos. Why?
Instead of spending a good amount of time and money in college or even high school we look to call centers as a "quick and easy" excuse out of a good education and the financial responsibility that goes with it. Who needs to go to school when you can earn "big bucks" answering irate customers, right? All you need is good diction and a pretentious accent, right? Wrong! A slightly above average paying job (unless your going into business) is NOT an excuse to skip a good education. Hell, even Mark Zuckerberg had a good solid foundation before he started Facebook. You can put your education on hiatus but you can never put it away for good.

Seriously, who wants to be a driver, a saleslady, a waiter, a nurse or even a DOCTOR or ENGINEER, when call centers pay twice even THRICE as much?! What's going to happen to our skilled workers if everyone wants to make a living answering phone calls?

Recently, we've already been stuck at a dilemma that these individuals are leaving our country for a better life. What has our government and entrepreneurs done to compensate them well in the first place?

Degrade the mindset of the Filipino youth.
Got your girlfriend pregnant by accident or on purpose? Daddy, left the family? Ran away from home? No problem! Just apply for a job at a call center and you have instant stability. How many call center agents agents are single parents or currently opt for the job due to unplanned pregnancy? With this scenario again, we could be looking at another group of individuals who will NOT finish school and who think that working late equates working hard. This job introduces a mindset that you can easily run to this job even if you're not responsible enough to work, save money and raise a family properly.

Call centers introduce a false sense of security for the uneducated. A an outward consequence of my first point.

Degrade the financial situation of the country

With the above situation described, it is also no wonder that this next point is an outward consequence in the domino effect of call center employment. For some reason unknown to me, the culture of these BPO companies are very superficial, like it was an everyday fashion show of sorts (I wear the same shirt twice in a row and don't give a fuck). Since most individuals who sign up are under the impression that the job pays big (which it actually doesn't) these people tend to spend even beyond their means to catch up to their colleagues' trends (Mundane gadgets, clothes and accessories all add up to a hefty credit card bill). After all, you're earning the big bucks now, right? Wrong! If these people start borrowing money from banks via credit cards and don't pay, we could be looking at a recession on our very own soil! I have yet to meet someone who works in this field who actually pays their bills on time or, by some great miracle, in full. I also have not met a single credit card agent that deals with this group of employees.

The false sense of security and the misconception that the pay is big entices irresponsible individuals to spend beyond their means. What will that do to the financial standing of our country?

Threaten the health of Filipinos
Two words: Graveyard shifts. We don't need to be scientists and doctors to know that humans were not made for nocturnal activity. It is not healthy and it is never healthy! Compound that with the stress that comes with the job and it's no wonder why this job also has a lot of incidents of stress and people rolling over and dropping dead. Even if you slept eight hours after being up for an entire evening, it doesn't fix this. Some of us already know this firsthand even if you haven't worked for a call center before.

Why on earth would we stay up at night to wait for a phone call?! Unless you have personal motives like making a booty call, no one else is worth the wait! Everyone else who calls is just some brainless overpaid asshole looking for someone to bitch.

Everywhere I go I see on walls, buses and newspapers glorifying call centers; about how our "potential" can be reached; about how you can achieve your "career goal". Reality check, you cannot achieve your career goal as a doctor if your only purpose is answering phone calls. You don't build bridges, buildings and roads as an engineer if you are catering to brainless people with IQs no higher than a a fruit salad. Most of all, you can't educate an entire nation if you, as a teacher, stop teaching and would rather teach someone how to use a smart phone - both of you whom have never used one in your lives (guess which one of you can't afford it too?).

And, please, do not give me the "you were there by choice" excuse because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that before you even set foot beyond those magnetic doors you were desperate and out of options. So, NO, you were not there "by choice".

Tread very carefully, because you are never leaving those doors again. When the REAL opportunity knocks it will not look for you. It will look for real engineers, doctors and nurses. The job which you were dreaming of doing in the first place. Now you're on the outside looking it. Regretful of the bad choice you made early in your "career".

If you want a real BPO you work in real companies that actually have the "process" in business process outsourcing. If you want an IT company, you work for companies that provide automated electronic solutions. At least to me and most of my colleagues, call centers don't fall into that description. Calling a call center a BPO is like calling a mountain bike an ATV and works "just like an ATV". They may appear to do the same thing (interact with white boys) but they are two completely different devices (one answers phone calls while the other does the actual work).

It is not a wonder why a certain Indian (I forgot where I saw it) once said: "Only a Filipino would think of making a career out of a call center." This was after India, a once looming threat to the Philippine call center industry, wizened up to the ruse that the west was just exploiting them. Today, they know better. They know that the there's a lot of them and the west wants them. Today they would say in their amusing yet cool Indian accent: "Don't bullshit us, white boy!"

When will it be our turn to wise up?

Note: This post is not subject to debate or argument. The existence of call centers do more harm than good. If you want to improve the employment situation in the Philippines provide more jobs and better wages for EVERY industry as it has always been and SHOULD have been and not glorify a job that actually nobody wants but have no choice.

Things I learned from the corporate life

2011-04-29T11:47:00.000+08:00

Strange, I thought published this a while ago. Oh, well, the fun thing about blogging is that it is under MY time and MY terms. No deadlines to catch. No people to please. That's kind of the opposite of what I have experienced in the corporate life which I am describing below.

Let's not deny the reality that we are all part of the rat race while the rest of the privileged ones get to rake in the big bucks.

Cronyism is NOT a crime

First and foremost, while Marcos and all presidents past, present and future - regardless of nation and economic status - will ALWAYS have cronies. There is a reason why most presidential government systems are patterned after corporations, but, unlike corporations, cronyism is a punishable crime to some extent. Most of the time, the parties involved can only get away with it to some extent. Corporations, however, do not punish this type of practice and it usually falls on deaf ears and most of the time if you're bitching about it it falls under the category of "speculative" observation.

More than once have I experienced the sad fact that the longer and larger the company is the more likely you'd encounter people up top with an IQ no bigger than a Lindt chocolate bar (and they cost just as much too for that unsatisfying taste). I wonder how many cocks these guys must have blown to get to where they are.

Meritocracy is a myth

We've seen the slogan before: "Company A is an equal opportunity company. We do not discriminate... bla bla bla..." It kind of makes me wonder why the typeface used by these slogans are so small you need the Hubble space telescope to get a closer look. It's kind of like those items you see on sale at a local retail store: "70% off" while to the untrained eye you could barely see the smaller letter beneath it reading "on selected items only". There's a pattern there too! Smaller companies have that disclosure in equally big letters. The bigger the company the smaller those letters become. *wink* *wink*

Let's face it: Companies, hate you. They hate blacks; They hate whites; Christians; Muslims; Fags; Men; Women and long walks along the park. The sooner you deal with it the more likely you can come to grips with the fact that the company that EQUALLY provided you with a job has EQUALLY decided that you should be let go (amongst the blacks, whites and fags) because they can't afford their employee that they LOVE so much.

Process, Processes, Processing

Whichever way you look at it there's always some pompous windbag, asshole, bitch and fuck-up trying to show off his dick waving and piss shooting abilities. I swear to God, sometimes I wonder if we were put to work so we can show off who's the biggest dickhead.

There's always some process that needs to be done, improved, retrofitted, and eventually forgotten because we end up wondering why we need a hall pass to take a dump. The next week or the next month someone else screws up the first guy's process and proposes a better one and thereby, either revoking the previous retard's work or fucking it up even more by adding to it. You'd think that it would be over and done with when the rest of the year everyone else wants a piece of the action. Everyone gets an award or a promotion and the rest of us who don't give a shit will be screwed over by a multiplier equal to the number of people who stuck their dicks where it don't belong. Everyone wants to prove something and that something is how much of the company you can screw over before moving on. I recommend they don't put that in their resume. It would just be plain wrong to say you screwed up your last employer or was an accessory to it.

Case in point, when I started working for a company, processes were simple and we get things done faster. As I stayed, to have your work approved you need to do some long line of tedious "processes" that have to be accomplished with great scrutiny akin to that of tax collector. It has to be filled out, reviewed, returned because you forgot a decimal point, resubmitted, reviewed again, reviewed by another person higher up, returned for god-knows-whatever-reason, repeat the process until they are satisfied you have NOT met the deadline. It is only then that you realize that you forgot to add something to what you've already accomplished. Believe me, you'd have more luck getting your taxes done in a single day than you ever will in a week doing the above chores.

This is high school and showbiz combined.

Remember the good old days when you used to ask for your parents' permission to go somewhere? Same goes with your job. You need permission to NOT WORK. You need permission TO WORK. Fuck! You even need permission to think! Yet they blame us for not thinking out of the box.

Just like high school, almost everyone is scrutinizing the way you walk, who you're seeing, how many wives you have and who they are, what you're wearing and potentially how big (or small) your dick is. Hell, they're even discussing how much the company is possibly paying you.

Also just like high school is the fact that you have to prove yourself exceptionally well before you are counted as "in" the gang.

Colonial Mentality rules supreme!

I only have one rule when it comes to outsourcing and dealing with westerners. Call me when I am awake; not when you're awake. After all, they are the ones requiring help.

Changing People

2011-03-30T18:08:00.002+08:00

If you've seen the movie Inception you get the general idea of the futility of changing people.

As the movie Inception shows, you can't feed a thought into people. That's why it proves what I've known all along that self help books are next to worthless. Those who claim it does are actually the ones who were due for a change anyway or they are simply charitable idiots who enjoy making rich people richer. Generally, you really can't change people unless the power to change comes from them.

Although I'm not exactly a love and life expert (hey, since when has anybody else been an expert?) I have become somewhat of an expert in predicting that people who need advice usually never follow it. I confess to being guilty of this in the past but now I don't take things for granted. I have learned that the most minute trace of wisdom can come from anywhere even from a child.

I am writing about this just now because I want to save people the trouble of yacking 'til their gums bleed to a friend who had just been dumped for the Nth time by the same boyfriend or girlfriend.Give it up! You give them advice to move on and they go behind your back and get back together (mostly because they're horny as hell). You tell them "don't" and they still hook up and break up weeks or months later. It's only until this lunatic cycle comes to its own dramatic conclusion (without your help) that things turn for the better by their own means. You want a shorter and more frank advice to give? Tell them this: "If you're horny talk to them. If not, then keep moving on."

You also can't tell a person to quit a job because they are endlessly whining about the problems around the company. They won't do it because you told them so or the right amount comes along but because they simply don't have the balls to shove their resignation up where the sun don't shine. Put simply, they're not quitting because YOU told them to.

People change themselves. No amount of talking, alcohol binges, kidnapping and varying forms of torture will ever change that (Jigsaw killer: UP YOURS!).

The irony here is that you'll probably think what's the point of this blog of advices if what I just said was pointless. Well, I would just like to reiterate that the purpose of this blog is so I can just bitch online about anything and everything I want. This is my outlet and not something someone can use as a bible (although there's a sense of sexiness to that thought).

Being Complete

2011-02-22T17:56:00.005+08:00

The purpose of relationship is not to have another who might complete you, but to have another with whom you might share your completeness. -- Neale Donald Walsch

Acceptance. That is the true realization of it all. Not for the demise or the loss but the realization of failure. It takes a great deal of testicular fortitude to accept ones flaws and it wouldn't make you a lesser person. As long as we live we are allowed an unlimited amount of chances.

I should be wallowing in self pity right now and contemplating a premature end. Sadly yet luckily for me that is not the case. I'm a thirty SOMEWHAT something and I've pretty much felt and seen half of it all so you will forgive me for my inherent indifference. You come to a point in your life when the punches feel a lot more like a Swedish massage and less like Pacquiao's uppercut. You get used to it.

I hope some young (read: naive) heart will read this and understand that this is not because we are insensitive or bitter but because we came from YOUR phase in life and rose above it. We survived and learned to accept the disappointments and move on. Although it doesn't get better it does get easier. Accept that and I assure you you won't be heartless. Bitterness is voluntary. You may not fathom this today but you will someday.

Recently, I spent some of my time gambling on the 'what ifs' and not regretting the 'if onlys'. Admittedly, I do occasionally regret them both but, of course, a life without regrets is a life not lived. Anyone who says otherwise is fuckin' hypocrite.

Friends often wonder how can I be so indifferent to easily move on. So I lay it out here for them to digest:
1) The people who leave actually feel no remorse no matter how much they try to glorify the situation in their favor.
2) If you don't move on chances are they will - without a hitch.
3) Their world doesn't stop because you are gone. So it's important that your world revolves around you.
4) If life chews you up and spits you out. Make yourself harder to swallow.
5) This is the most important. I am COMPLETE by myself. I enjoy being me and I'm satisfied being me and I would NEVER allow anyone to take that away from me. I'm geeky, I'm annoying, I'm a pervert and I'm obnoxious. I am me.

So why should I feel sorry for myself? I shouldn't.

There is nothing more adventurous than moving on, discovering, rediscovering and experiencing it all again in a different perspective and experience. It's like the melancholic déjà vu that perpetually haunts us all. This is my thrill. This is my reason never to fear the unknown; never to fear trying again. In contrast, my past mistake was not trying at all!

You will find your dream. If you stop now then your dream will not find you.

If there is one thing I would wish for everyone it's learning to be happy when you're free; to be happier when you're in love and to be happy when you're free again. This is the magic of being you - being complete. Satisfy yourself first without relying on others.

Life is a gamble. Take risks. Lose big. Win some. Repeat. Reuse. Recycle.

Blog drafted with Swype.

Broadband Globe SIMs: Tattoo vs. Xtreme

2011-02-08T19:39:00.002+08:00

After purchasing an N8 I started exploring the Internet capabilities of the device. So the WiFi worked like a charm aside from those annoying drops from the signal. I was actually able to download an entire movie using SymTorrent too. I didn't have to mention the porn and the dirty activities I did with the phone so I advice you to wash your hands if you happen to be one of the lucky people to hold my.... uhm, phone.

At first I didn't mind that my phone wouldn't connect myGlobe Internet APN. I kept getting an "Access Denied" or "Conn. Failed" error when using it. myGlobe Connect worked fine. I initially thought that my cheap-ass load wasn't enough to grant me Internet access. For some reason I suspected this to be unusual that my phone would use a WAP access point instead of the Internet. It doesn't help that with the small fortune of load currently on my phone it still wouldn't connect to the Internet!

After an entire week of reading through forums and configuration tips I came to conclude that WAP wasn't to be used if you're using a full broadband connection. I eventually got in touch with Globe.

At their advice, I went so far as to get in line and had my Globe SIM upgraded just to check if it was an issue with an old SIM. For experimental reasons, I also bought a Globe Tattoo SIM to try out those same access points. I also tried my friend's Globe Super Surf Postpaid SIM with the same settings.

Here's what I found out: http.globe.com.ph DOESN'T work on Globe Xtreme! Two SIMs out of one rules out this issue and to even think the postpaid SIM was for BlackBerry! (Yes, according to their call center my Internet was activated).

It appears the standard SIM from Globe only works on the WAP access points. I guess I'll have to live with having to inform my imaginary friends of my new number and I'm too damn cheap to spend 200 pesos sending the same message to all of them!

Organzing your online life - a concept

2011-01-31T14:38:00.001+08:00

Before reading on, I would like to note that there is no scientific basis for this entry and that all of this is just a subjective conceptual approach to organizing your online life along with noted risks and suggested management.

First of all, to exist online you must need a valid email. Our email not only is the core of our online life it is in itself a key to other services online. Sign up for Facebook & Twitter? They need your email! Sure, some of these services now offer linking with each other but somewhere down the line you will need your email.

Before I move on I would like to establish first that this entry does NOT make your online life safe and secure. It only explains how to manage your online life into memorable tidbits and provides a reasonable degree of risk management. I have always believed that security is a state of mind and not a state of things. Do what is reasonably in your comfort zone.

Let's face it, with all the web services being offered online, it's really a pain to remember passwords. While, it is tempting to use use a one-password-fits-all we all agree that this has always been a bad idea. If someone figures it out, goodbye to your online life! Now while I am against this approach I did manage to do a little bit of both worlds. I created a set of passwords that would cater to the type of service I would be using. i.e. A single password for my emails, a single password for my social networks and so on. Sounds familiar? It's like having keys to the front door that keeps the things in your home safe and keys to your garage to keep your cars safe (let's forget the complexity of the situation by not thinking about the car doors). That way, I only need to remember that type of service and the password for that service. How is this safer? The answer is, it's not. At least not 100% anyway.

How would I do it? Well, I followed a bottom-up one-way access approach to my accounts to minimize compromising them way up the service hierarchy. Why did I do it like this? I recently tried to imagine my online life like an organized web of services. My emails would be the center of it all and spreading outwards would be services like Instant Messaging, Social Networks & Blogs and each would occasionally be dependent on another somewhere up the line but NEVER below it.

This idea accomplishes two things for me:

If a specific service gets compromised it's only isolated to that type of service and can easily be recovered back in my email provided if the services provides a mechanism to ask the old account first if the malicious person changes it. Sadly, not a lot services have this. This is one calculated risk I'll have to live with.
It provides me with a degree of one way security. e.g. My Twitter can post to Facebook but not vice versa. This is so my known friends can see what my Tweets are but keep my followers oblivious of my Facebook account. Twitter's nature potentially invites a wider range of strangers compared to my Facebook so privacy becomes my concern. Yes, I could keep my Tweets private but this was not my intention at the time of this writing.

Currently, my Facebook only receives data or feeds from my other services like Twitter, FourSquare and Blogger but I NEVER let it post to those services. Why? Usually, those other services have generic information. Having Facebook post to those sites would expose my existence of a Facebook account which then implies that I have much more detailed information there.

Here's a conceptual diagram to illustrate my idea:

The arrows that meet only the line illustrates general association to those accounts.

This design is not set in stone and your online life will greatly differ from mine. What I'm selling here is the idea of HOW to organize your online life.

One tried and true testament to this paradigm of mine is demonstrated in this blog. Have you ever noticed that while I do mention my Twitter account I made no mention of my email nor my Facebook profile? This is my idea at play. NO, my Yahoo ID is not my email either!

What about those all-in-one services like Meebo?
Well, as I've said, to each his own comfort level. I use those reputable ones and only because it's a pain to to use those IMs on my mobile.

What about email that's the core of them all?
Your emails can be set up to be backups of each other. A person can know one or two of your emails but rarely all. (I'd imagine that's why you have multiple accounts in the first place, ey?) Besides, if someone tampers with the backup emails one or all of your accounts will be notified of this change and should alert you of suspicious activity.

What about sister company websites?
I would suggest treating them like you would your email since it's pretty limited to what you can do with the privacy and such. If the service allows you to set up an alias I suggest associating the sub-sites with that alias instead of your email.

Some advice
When a service asks permission to do something on your browser just follow this simple rule: If you don't understand or you don't know what it does, just say no - even if it deprives you of a service you're expecting. That's right, like saying "No" to drugs! Prevention is key!

Lastly, I will not change the universal rule that you should write your password on a piece of paper be it virtual or physical. It is and will always be the most stupid idea you'll ever make!

Being called gay and dealing with presumptions

2011-01-28T16:48:00.001+08:00

It happens to the best of us, guys. Every now and again we come across some presumptuous women or some sore losing bitch that throws in the gay card every time you don't do things your way. Sore losers are sore losers not matter what so I wouldn't even go that far to talk about them.

Now, if you were the type of guy with an overly inflated ego I guess that would have struck your nerve. As vain and as evil I might occasionally be, there are some levels of low that am unwilling to stoop. You see, guys, taunts like these are pretty much a "prove it" dare. On some occasions, it's some butt-ugly babe questioning your "manhood". If you're in that sort of thing, I would imagine that you would probably call that dare and bone anyone closely resembling a pug. Let me just assume that you won't, unless, once again, you're into that sort of thing. Then again, it has always been a principle of mine that if anyone dares me it's usually a test of how STUPID you are.

Guys, what others think of you is just that: THEIR OPINION. The sad part of that is that there's really nothing you can do to change that. Hence, the "presumption". But why would you let it bother you? You can't control what others think of you.

These days when someone thinks I'm gay I just simply snicker at the thought.

So sum up this whole post is this quote: "Never explain yourself. Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it." - Belgicia Howell

How to tell if a woman is overreacting

2011-01-25T16:36:00.009+08:00

No man is a match for a woman’s tears.

Let's face it, ladies & gentlemen. Women are a bundle of emotions. After all these years of observation I've broken it down to a simple science. It's quite simple really. Just answer these simple yes or no questions.

Is she physically injured?
Is there a threat to her life?
Is her house on fire?
Is she on fire?
Did you kill someone our did someone die as a result of your actions?
Is the world coming to an end?

Also, do note that I did not ask if she's "dying" because "dying" is a very subjective term to her.

You must answer "no" to ALL of them for it to be safe to assume that whatever trauma she is going through right then is psychologically self-inflicted. It is best to downplay the situation and meet it with utmost indifference and passivity. Humoring her will drive you to the edge of insanity. ;)

Peace!

P.S. Yes I am occasionally a sexist. Feel free to rally your "sympathizers". I could use the traffic - good OR bad.

Blog drafted with Swype.

I am now "mobile"

2011-01-03T15:15:00.000+08:00

No great feat here. Blogger just announced the availability of the mobile template feature where your blog is formatted for mobile devices. The only thing I found coincidental was that I actually logged in today to see if the said feature was offered. To my surprise and relief it was prompted as a new feature. Whew!

3G, WAP, GPRS & MMS Connectivity Settings for your Nokia N8 for Smart, Globe and SUN, etc...

2011-01-03T15:11:00.017+08:00

As a Christmas gift (and after weeks of obsessing) I decided to get myself a Nokia N8 (orange because it's simply harder to find. lol). Note: If you don't like to hear my rants skip to the part in bold. ;)

I only had two rules for buying a cellphone: 1) It had to fit in my pocket and 2) it should be no more than 15,000 pesos - both rules do not measure up to the N8. It's worth around 23,000 pesos and will only fit on my back pocket! However, I also had a completely unrelated rule but relates to my rule in buying gadgets: All of my techy shit should be as modular as possible! i.e. I have a separate gadget for my phone, media player and camera. You would think that living the way of the Japanese I would have taken a hint and got an all in one. Stupid, true, but hey, we live in a third world country and holding a device as gorgeous as this would definitely attract some, umm..., envious hands with malicious intent. Should said individuals act on their impulse I would at least have two of the three items intact.

I finally broke down to the sad pitiful realization that I can't or find no reason to get a bigger place and that I simply find it inconvenient to have all these gadgets in one stuffy room. There's just now way I could keep all three gadgets at once. (I keep the box for warranty purposes and I usually sell them after a reasonable age)

The only frustration I had was that I had a hard time getting this thing to work on the local mobile networks because there are currently no instructions on how to do this! In fact, Sun Cellular's broadband load won't work on this for some reason.

So to spare my fellow countrymen who had the opportunity to acquire this handy device the Nokia N8 actually doesn't need to send a message to Globe, Sun or Smart! It automatically downloads these settings on initial power on and, mind you, the settings are 100% accurate! If in case you missed that miraculous stroke of genius you can see it action - with no inadvertent duplication of the settings - by going to Menu > Settings > Application Settings > Settings Wizard > Operator. Follow the wizard and the phone sort of handshakes with the network to retrieve the desired MMS, GPRS and Internet settings - streaming as well, where applicable.

Update (2/22/2011): The N8 currently only retrieves the postpaid APN for Globe. For Globe Tattoo users you can update the settings from internet.globe.com.ph to http.globe.com.ph in Menu > Settings > Connectivity > Settings > Destinations > Internet > myGlobe Internet

Update (3/9/2011): The same goes for a Smart BRO SIM. If you're using Smart Bro you may need to change the access point for the internet to "smartbro". For some reason it worked using the old settings "internet" for a time when finally it stopped connecting.

Okay, so now with all these rants I have put forward this would now mean that I need to get rid of my PS3. Sheesh!

Oh, by the way, just like the movie Tron: Legacy, the Nokia N8 can actually read and write to a USB drive WITHOUT a computer! I actually didn't expect this type of configuration to actually exist at the time of this writing but there it was - discovered by accident! (by reading the manual no less).

Update: I must have been living in a cave for the most of 2009-2010. The whole USB to mobile device thing is actually called USB On The Go or USB OTG.

Update (02/08/2011): Some SIM cards may not necessarily have access to the provider specific access points. An example here.

How Wealth is a Curse

2010-12-07T12:22:00.002+08:00

As I watched Manny Pacquiao grab his Nth boxing title and cash in another fat paycheck I cannot help but wonder what goes on in his mind when he gets it. In fact, I often wonder about the fate of similar people after wealth is achieved.

There was this unconfirmed incident that one of Manny's agents actually contacted one of my relatives to purchase a parcel of land in Cebu. Being in a remote area in Cebu, the property only cost a few million pesos but for some reason the agents bloated it at an exorbitantly higher value. The reason, as it turns out, is so they can go back to Mr. Pacquiao and charge him for an amount that exceeds the value of the property. Where does that extra money go? Let's just say my relative, the owner, was griping about the irony that they won't be earning as much as the deal. The agents will stand to earn so much more than the property's value. So....no deal took place.

This leads me to my point about this blog. How much of a curse wealth really is. My father once told me that as long as there's money, the world moves. It's really THAT simple. No matter how ugly or obnoxious you once were the world will view you as Jesus Christ who looks like Tom Cruise.

You might think that this is mere speculation of a jealous broke man but here's the deal: As my savings and income exceed the six digit mark I can assure you the reality of my speculation becomes evident.

Money corrupts and when some lottery winners think their money is cursed that fear is not unfounded. I really feel sorry for Mr. Pacquiao with all the crocs at the bottom waiting to take a piece of what he earned so hard to achieve. It is indeed true that with wealth you really don't know who your friends are and you realize that as long as you have money nothing is free. With wealth you have to pay for everything from things to friends to love at a higher price. Nobody cares who you are anymore, it's what you have. Doors, mouths, pockets and legs will open for you as soon as you flash that fat bank book.

So my advice to those who achieve unexpected wealth is this: Keep your interests to yourself and let nobody at it because I swear to you they will come in droves. The whole world will literally lean on you. In your new life, nobody works everyone asks and begs.

Money is power, true. As you watch how the people around become corrupted you will not be spared of this infection if you are not ready to wield your new way of life. You will hit rock bottom - and HARD. Live your life the way it once was or slightly better. Never flaunt your blessings because the people who care won't do it for free and those who don't probably don't know as well.

"You love being rich. It allows people to be the real ass-wipes nature intended them to be." -- The Expendables

Lower than Crab Mentality

2010-10-14T14:11:00.009+08:00

"I'd rather work with someone who hates me but is good at his job than work with someone who likes me but is a complete idiot." -- Donald Trump (not exactly sure if he said it. I remembered reading it on Reader's Digest)

I've observed this type of superiority complex running around lately and it's really rampant in the field of IT. It's when senior employees bring someone on board who are not as skilled or experienced as they are with the selfish intention of securing their own jobs due to the dependence of an inexperienced team. By influence and seniority they believe that with this simple balance of power they couldn't lose their jobs and thus putting themselves in a situtation with the company in a relative stalemate.

Now, this is all fine and dandy. There's nothing wrong with delusions of job security regardless of the harsh reality that this is actually a myth. Honestly, do most of us actually plan to stay in one company for such great lengths of time? Hell, I don't!

Some of us probably read that toilet paper of a book about one's wealthy father and his poor biological father. (Forgive me for bashing. I had some really bad memories about MLMs with that book.) Successful businessmen who never went through highschool or college got to where they are now by investing in people - college graduates for that matter - who are far better than them. Why? Because it amplifies your company's efficiency! I know this firsthand because I have a grandfather who worked his ass off after he quit highschool. Today, he hires accountants and lawyers who offer skills that he alone does not have. Also, take note that these guys WORK FOR HIM and not the other way around as what most of us are traditionally lead to believe.

Throughout the course of my career I have been disillusioned by the so-called "influential gurus" or "experts in the field". In the no-bullshit reality of it all, these people only look good by surrounding themselves with stupid people. I shit you not, folks, I've seen IT experts with Homer Simpson's IQ (plus a wall full of those certificates that prove how stupid he is) and make moronic decisions that would literally make me look like a god among us. The only right thing he did in his career was hiring people like me on his team to make it actually look like he knew what he was doing. That's the best case scenario. Worst case is the point I've been earlier rambling above. I also had my fair share of working for individuals who are really intent on making sure that he/she maintains their god-complex. Some even actually pretend that they are disappointed with my poor performance. I prefer it we just cut through the bullshit, we both know that you enjoy the ego boost of your actions, right?

If you have no long term goals in a company don't make yourself look incompetent and ignorant by hiring people more inferior than you. It makes your job harder and you mutually make each other miserable. If you want your company and your job to be more efficient, hire people who are BETTER than you.

I always believed that I should hire someone better than me - not lesser nor equal. So before I left one company I put someone on board who was cocky and immature but good. This attitude doesn't bother me because they all outgrow this. I should know! I used to be one of them! The one thing I learned to appreciate about putting someone better than me on board is that the praises ALWAYS pass through me before it gets to him. After all, I was the one in charge. No praise goes by without me sharing a little bit of the sprinklings of their glory.

Lastly, just like your love life, know without a doubt that SOMEONE is always better than you. He may not show up now but he will and it is this humbling realization that will make you a better professional and a better person.

The Myth of Give & Take

2010-10-06T16:42:00.010+08:00

How long has it been? More than two years maybe of giving relationship advice and right now I'm going to throw it all away. If you haven't done so already you can have those crappy advice printed out and use them as toilet paper. Before continuing please DO take note that I am NOT QUALIFIED to do this and I have no professional background on the subject matter. Furthermore, I don't have a wall filled with expensive certificates paid via college loans that will likely never pay off. :p

Rejoice, my readers, not only does this enlighten you to some misleading extent but I am about to save you a few thousand pesos! How can I do that? Simple, I'm going to tell you that the rules to finding the right ONE is not set in stone. Sure, we can have those experts and specialists printing volumes and volumes on the subject but - guess what - relationships still fail! Writers and their books do not account to the limitless "human factor" in any science that deals with people and that's what makes analysis and conclusion on the subject moot. So save your trips to the book store looking for books about love (unless it's about sex) because they do not necessarily apply to you. In fact, they RARELY apply to you. You might scan a few pages and say "that's true" or "we're like this" but if you view it with the forces that shape your relationship you'll realize that it's NOT TRUE and it's INCORRECT.

Give & Take. This is actually a one way street, sad to say. If there's one thing I do agree is that relationships are NEVER equal. There will be givers and there will be takers. And what makes this formula so perfect is the fact that they still add up to the 100% theory in a relationship. This is the reasoning behind why our partners are supposed to complete us no matter how unbalanced and imperfect our human factors are.

Control. The giver must control the taker. I shit you not when I say it's easy to lose sight of your limits. It's easy to give in; It's harder to say "no" and before you know it you're on your knees with nothing. Yes, you're getting nothing back. Live with it! The taker usually never realizes this. However, the giver suffers the most because he/she feels the impact of everything. Ideally, there's the occasional reciprocation and the balance stays in equilibrium. The nightmare would be all out exploitation tipping the scales against one of you! When this happens no matter how much you give, it will NEVER BE ENOUGH.

As a giver, knowing how to do this without looking and sounding utterly selfish is a technique that completely escapes me. As soon as you introduce control it also introduces doubt on the other. But the depressing fact is that those doubts are speculative. You're just trying to set limits or you both go under.

Why does the scenario of exploitation happen? Frankly, in my observation, it's a lot of things. It could be an immature relationship; It could be varying professional or even family backgrounds. As I have emphasized earlier, there is no tried and tested way to a good relationship. There are practically billions of people on the planet and that leaves you with billions of combinations to anticipate and analyze (you want to get started?).

There is no right way to answer the "how" in a relationship. God, I've been in relationships since college and I still don't know the "how" part! And this is coming from someone who has no knowledge of women! My counterparts who DID have knowledge or experience in women are not faring any better either so this proves my point.

The world as we know it is governed by the law of checks and balances. It could be in a smaller or grander scale but, nonetheless, it keeps its balance no matter what. It could be you and your partner or it could be you and your partner against something else and so on.

So let's put this all in to a more generic solution and formulate your own custom-made solution based on that relationship. Whos, whats, hows and whens are YOUR problems not mine. But be warned that it can NEVER apply to the next relationship or the one after that either. Treat everything as one of a kind because IT TRULY IS. If you make mistakes along the way, let it be. As long as you live you are allowed an unlimited number of mistakes to make.

In general terms, a "relationship" is a partnership of some kind and an agreement on something is made. Never go into it without a full understanding of the risks involved (only the risks because the rest is what you're after). The most common mistake that even I make is to talk about "what to expect" in this union. I seldom see or hear people saying "what they can offer" in a relationship. I know what you're thinking: Awkward. Awkward. I sound like a blowhard. You're actually right but I really don't care. Might as well point out your goals for focus and at least you don't mislead your partner by letting them do the guesswork and make erroneous assumptions that lead to disappointment.

Finally, sacrifices and compromises have to be made for the duration of your union not BEFORE. After all, it's about taking risks to see what works and what doesn't. Challenge the unknown. But what if things can't be ironed out? Again, from what I have personally learned, some failures are caused by refusals to make a common agreement. I humbly admit I make this mistake too. Ironically, there is no fix for this. Men and women weren't designed the same way, otherwise, there would be no need to make both. (Inserting rhetoric question/conundrum here)

There are just some things in men and women's minds that each of us cannot fathom from the other. One of life's greatest mysteries. ;)

Never be afraid to start over. As long as you breathe you will always have 2nd chances but be warned: Give & Take is mostly a one way street. But don't change who you are just because taking is so much easier and better.

Note: Wow! Did I just say that?! I usually don't believe in second chances. ;p

Someone's bitching already? What did I just say?

2010-09-15T18:22:00.010+08:00

I was originally slating a time to blog about one of my idealistic methods of improving this country grow when I stumbled upon this article while hooking up my Twitter with local news networks.

First and foremost, it is no military secret that certain government services are ruled by ludicrous incompetence. To air and sensationalize it on international news would be superfluous. Broadcasting to the world that a 3rd world country has poor law enforcement is like booing at Saddam Hussein - we get it, okay?! But to bear the weight of criticisms from the entire world (or at least in Asia) on the failure of a dozen under-trained and outdated policemen is just overkill for such a small issue (and I do emphasize SMALL because that's what it really is). Foreigners die in our country or ANY country for that matter. Hell, we have Iranians, Indians and Koreans getting mugged, raped, murdered or just plain drunk they slipped and fell. Where was your bleeding heart for them?

Secondly, there are literally hundreds of departments in our government, do you honestly expect Noynoy to actually review, criticize and overhaul all of them in two month's time? Shit, I've had 3 software projects lined up for me and I don't even bother to go into the details in all three of them unless I'm actively working on them! It's just too daunting. "The President's job is more critical", you say? I don't buy that crap! Every job entails a degree of urgency that's why it's called a "job". If I don't do my job I cost the company millions - a loss that can just as well be equated to the deaths of Chinese tourists on a bus because someone failed to do their job right. And NO, that is not an apple to oranges comparison! Put simply, you don't do your job - any job - you lose big!

The mistakes of that incident are pretty much highlighted in every discussion. So, yeah, they get that too! They know what went wrong and they're currently fixing it. You think it's easy to spend months in SWAT training? Plus it's going to be even tougher now that they know that they have a lot of catching up to do!

If you complain about our government and want to make a change, YOU run for office. I believe that's what Dan Quayle said and that's exactly what Noy did. At least as a Filipino citizen he exercised his rights. I didn't see YOU running for office and I most definitely didn't see you or any "concerned citizen" storming in that bus and taking down the hostage taker yourself.

Again, I would like to remind us all that complaining and shooting down each other only detracts us all from national stability. If you think there's a better way, you make it happen because no one else will. Do your part as a Filipino.

P.S. Making desperate potshots at this post's wrong grammar, if any, does not count as a valid argument. Stay on the issue!

My New Blog Direction

2010-09-07T19:03:00.018+08:00

Okay, this has somewhat gone far enough. After many days of brainstorming as to what to blog next I begin to think that maybe this isn't my thing.

Now, now there! Before you all get flustered up to a rave that this will be my last ramble this is merely a metaphor to an end. That's right, I'm ending all this rambling of derogatory remarks unless it is meant for the betterment of my countrymen.

From now on my ramblings will be targeted towards inspiring, motivating and guiding my fellow Filipinos. And if that doesn't work you'll get the usual, albeit, painful, slap of reality that I am notorious for. If you are wondering what forces of nature or what god of what religion moved me to make this life-changing decision then the answer is simply you.

[Serious mode ON] What people may not know is that I am a frustrated businessman (read no business at all). I would like to start a business so why am I not starting one? Well, just like every other Filipino out there, I have less than enough money to actually convince the drooling wolves at the banks that I need cash to start a business. I have completely no idea what to provide OR what to sell.

What has that got to do with any of this? Simple folks! As I've said, I want to help. The basic concept of a business is that you see a need and you fill a need (except for the most part everyone's doing the same thing you're doing). Not only do you provide something for the people, you also provide opportunities and jobs as well as feed spending power for the economy. You do not help a country get rich by being stingy (note: stingy and smart shopping are different things). Everyone holds on to their money in place and the entire economy comes to a grinding halt.

Now I can't start a business because I don't know how. So therefore there is no way for me to help Filipinos by providing more jobs. This left me stumped as to how to contribute. Honestly, as much as I like to see myself as an overpaid slacker the thought that I can't help Filipinos is much more frustrating. So then I realized that if you want to help, you have to contribute in your own little way. Little things from a lot of people add up to a greater good. This is when it dawned on me, if I can write all this shit up and ruffle a few feathers, why the hell not should I aim it to do something more productive and at least hope that it's as close to resembling any trace of humor? So with a little motivation and some observation with some of my readers I snapped into this idea of a redirection. That plus another reality check that I don't want to be like some of my relatives who relish the thought of misery and take great pleasure in seeing others fail (It's not fun when it's real, actually.)

So here it goes. As we all can see, our country is still at some degree of momentum but we still have a long way to go. Our rookie President is taking baby steps on his position. While I am in no way pressuring him to make great strides for our progress I am, on the other hand, expecting us to be behind him for his guidance. Let me reiterate that a President merely guides a country. To build a country requires ACTION from its citizens. Simple as that. If something goes awry it is not the President's fault. It is YOUR fucking fault for not doing your part in the first place. Bitching won't help this country and, oh, we really love to bitch about a lot of things, do we? This is not the west, my fellow Filipinos, this is the Philippines. We were not raised to be spoiled brats. We were raised as slaves, freed by blood and given an independence way before its due time. I would at least expect a little humility and some degree of common sense. We are building a country, not yet reaping the fruits of its labor. We can bitch AFTER we get something done and have something to bitch about not something that you are obligated to fix in the first place.

[Serious mode OFF] Lastly, NO! To those of you who have taken offense in some of my earlier posts you will not be getting an apology here, tomorrow or EVER. So you can continue to spend your sleepless nights lulled by my harmonious words of derogs about fags, celebrites, broke westerns and ugly people.

I'm now on Twitter

2010-09-07T18:55:00.003+08:00

Okay, after finally breaking down and giving in, I've decided to sign up for a Twitter account. Personally, I find this service somewhat claustrophobic (for lack of a better word), due to the fact that my ramblings could go on as long as the 140 character limit that Twitter provides. If I wanted to rant in that span of characters I would have done in through my cellphone.

Oh, well, since it links up with Flickr, Blogger and Facebook I might as well get with the program.

The Psychological Benefits of Masturbation

2010-07-29T18:06:00.006+08:00

Let's face it, guys. There's nothing like a quick wank to get the testosterone out of your system. To my love, I apologize in advance for the content contained in this blog. ;)

I admit there are times we just have the carnal urge to just get it on with anything with a hole. So my advice would be this: Do NOT resist temptation! Yes! Give in to the call to spank the monkey, polish the bishop, choke the chicken and all the other colorful discrete metaphors we can think of.

Why would I do this sickening and perverse act, you may ask? Am I such a hopeless loser who can't laid on a Friday night? The fact here, folks, is that I am doing this because I DON'T want to get laid. Call me a whining, paranoid excuse for a guy but I am completely in fear of the pussy at large. Everytime I even welcome the thought of going after an easy lay the thought of STDs, jealous boyfriends (and girlfriends if they swing that way), BFFs with Paris Hilton, celebrity's ex-girlfriend (again, male or female) and worse, actually manifesting Rambling Chad Jr!

What makes this scenario even worse is that the urge gets stronger each time you resist. Lack of sex obviously increases your libido. Believe me, from a man's point of view, no sex means the brain stops functioning and our body goes into autopilot mode - autopilot meaning our body now INSTINCTIVELY and blindly looks for the next juicy cherry to pop. In this mode it can be argued that we resort to basic (lower) brain functions. Yes, this justifies the reason why women think we think with our shafts

On a positive note, if you have just fiddled the ferret I find that I am far more capable of thinking clearly and resisting the charms of some duplicitious bitch. No jack-off means good-bye to all your sense of will power! So do this before thinking. If it doesn't work then I guess you must really be in a far hopeless state of being in love. (Jack off some more!)

When in doubt, wank it off, guys! ;)

Everything in its time...

2010-07-18T12:29:00.009+08:00

My professional life has been recently wrought with just one criticism about me: An iherent lack of urgency. Mind you, it doesn't mean I don't take my work THAT seriously. But still, the white boys and their ass-kissing buzz fanatics seem to take this in a more, uhm, paranoid-the-sky-is-falling tone.

Of course, I really don't want to go into the details of my personal paradigm that mere mortals are unable to fathom. You see, things don't always go as planned and no amount of nuclear warfare or violent tree hugging is going to change that. This brings me to a very abstract concept of our existence: Time.

Time follows its own path and it triggers events by its own discretion. What people try to deny is the fact that when you set a specific moment in time for an event, it doesn't happen because you set it. It happens because a sequence of events roll into place consequentially leading to that moment. You may or may not be involved but, either way, it moves at its own pace. You can't make time go faster OR slower. That's a more harsh reality than death itself (be thankful with what time you have)! Note: At the time of this writing, time travel has not yet been invented.

Throughout my life I have come to realize that things DO happen for a reason. Events happen asynchronously or not but all events, no matter how trivial, in this great fabric of existence all play a role in things that happen or do no happen to us.

Sometimes a simple walk to a mall would lead me to very unexpected experiences and discoveries. Even my emotions, physical condition, and decisions ultimately play a role to be at a specific place in a specific moment in time. It is a hard concept to grasp but I gave up trying to understand it. The lesson is simple: WE ARE NOT IN CONTROL OF OUR LIVES. We are the rats in a psychology student's maze. We are the trains on the railroad with a sole origin and destination. Things simply just...HAPPEN. Period.

But what has all this abstract, albeit, mindless theology have to do with my job, you ask? Well, for starters, advanced, on time or delayed deliverables happen not at my discretion but several external factors beyond my control. Any seasoned project manager knows this!

I know I sound like some slacking employee justifying his work hours using Facebook instead of actually doing his job but here's the thing: When I do something I don't do it alone, I share my work with other people and other teams and I also need their cooperation. However, those "other" teams and people don't have MY team or me in their best interest. Hence, the priority is not me. This is not wrong, however, since if I were in their place I would put my own priorities ahead of theirs so don't call me a hypocrite. This also doesn't mean that things don't get done. They do. Just not in the time I would expect or define. Most offshore ass-kissing colleague would see this as me not doing my job but, sad to say here, even under the threat of death I cannot help move an entire project forward. If they had issues with it they should have talked with the people doing the holdup.

Anyway, to sum up this mindless rambling for the day, I follow a simple paradigm for patience: "Everything in its time WHEN its time". This advice taught me patience about many things and it doesn't necessarily translate to aspects of work. It's a work in progress but it's getting there.

If it happens it happens. If it doesn't then it may happen later... or not. That's time. That's life.

Why stopping movie piracy is political bullshit

2010-04-14T12:07:00.012+08:00

I'd have to admit that a good part of my 160 pesos spent in watching a movie goes to wasting 30 seconds of my life watching an anti-piracy commercial. This along with the snickering of viewers behind me during the broadcast. Of course, it goes without saying that my grin has something to do with my guilt at watching pirated videos. Obviously, the reactions don't surprise me at all but what our "brilliant" national leaders fail to realize is why we bother to make and patronize pirated movies. This all the more makes this bullshit propaganda moot.

Let's face it, movie piracy is one of multiple problems in Philippine economy (I also think faggots screening talentless actors should be illegal). Hell, it's disturbingly overwhelming that visiting foreigners from western countries actually cringe and grin simultaneously at this. It is so rampant that we begin to think that this is actually mainstream media (As a kid I once thought that what I bought was a cheap original). It is so common that we even come to think of it as "legal"! But it isn't, is it? Piracy is a crime no matter how much of us actually accept it in our lives - like doing premarital sex in a hypocritically conservative and religious country.

You know what's another pathetic act of hypocrisy? A politician organizing a group to cater to the insipid act of deterring the sale of pirated movies. It kind of makes me wonder how much of our hard-earned taxes they are using to actually address the problem. If you look at it logically, we're actually paying twice for this needless endeavor. 1) We pay our taxes for our public servants to actually "do something". 2) We're also buying the same thing we're paying them to get rid of. Decisions. Decisions. This is a tough one isn't it?

For some unknown reason our "brilliant" politicians fail to see that piracy is an effect NOT a CAUSE. Look around you, Mr. Politician-Actor or whoever you are! Most Filipinos work at minimum wage. We are paid a fraction of what our western counterparts earn (to even think they are 100x broker than we are!). You sell us products from the west at the price only a westerner could afford. How do you expect us to afford that when we have not seen any results from your move to improve the Filipinos' quality of life? Yet you continue to distribute these pieces of overpriced crap in our country!

Basic human instinct in any society: if people have no means of acquiring even the simplest things, they WILL resort to crime! You of all people should know that! Piracy is just one clue of how inefficient your methods of improving our lives are!

You want to stop piracy? Stop chasing the pirates. Give us the means to do the right thing. Give use the motivation for honesty and integrity. Increase our average income so even a janitor or a security guard can afford a $30 Blu-ray disc. You know where the money goes if they can't afford it (that's right! The pirates! I'll bet they didn't teach you that in your PolSci class or Law school!). Improve our education so 90% of Filipinos actually know the difference between a Blu-ray labelled disc and a real one! Income is key!

If you do those things, who knows, maybe you can have more headroom for money to steal.

Idle Hands

2010-02-19T16:15:00.006+08:00

"Idleness is the workshop of the devil." -John Bunyan

Honestly, I originally thought it was St. John Bosco who said that line because our school priest uses that tag line just before we're off for summer vacation (just in case we do something stupid while technically NOT being a student of their school). In case you witless and prejudiced readers out there re-read that line in shock and awe... Yes, I went to a Catholic school for boys so please keep your tongues in your mouths. I'm not exactly the first abomination (it's safe to presume I'm gay if you like) who crawled out of "ideal" cultured environments, you know!

Anyway, in regards to idleness, I have come to realize another type of evil. STUPIDITY. God, as much as I like to think a lot while working, doing nothing is some kind of addictive drug that lulls you into complacency. In fact, it is so addictive and dangerous (at least to my job) that I strongly believe there should be a law against it and I don't mean the divine kind!

One week. Yes, one week is all it takes before my mind starts to go. Hell, even ecstasy takes years to rot your brain and here is idleness taking hold of me at a rate faster than it takes to get a virgin woman to get addicted to sex (that is, presuming if she experienced her first orgasm or not).

I don't know if this problem is me or if this is a normal thing. You spend days wasting away in front of your desk waiting for something to be done and you start thinking: "Well, this is nice." You start surfing the miscellaneous primordial soup of questionable information on the Internet and you suddenly feel like you there's nothing else that exists. I have already mentioned the fact that a large part of my existence has already lost itself in the online world.

Okay, so I was wrong! Maybe these are actually two drugs: Internet and idleness. I already knew this perverse - and I REALLY DO MEAN PERVERSE - concoction of asinine proportions would be the pitfall of any brilliant mind even back in high school. Many a high school student has already fallen by idleness alone and what they do behind closed doors is as disturbing as you might imagine.

So why do I put up with it aside from my conscious acknowledgment of its nature? Well, to put it simply, in my work, there's really not much to do around here once you get the ball rolling and the ball is in someone else's court and you wait for it - albeit, PRAY for it - to somehow get back to you with either positive or negative results.

What's the worst that could happen? Well, for starters, when the ball gets back in my court I would start staring at it like some dumbstruck animal as if I didn't know I was the one who tossed it in the first place. I've gone so soft that the idea of work has to be instinctively avoided like STDs and strangers my parents and teachers used to tell me. When work does happen, I don't have answers to questions that would have been routine on any busy day. In short, I'm just too lazy to think after so many days of not thinking!

"I think a man only needs one thing in life. He just needs someone to love. If you can't give him that, then give him something to hope for. And if you can't give him that, just give him something to do." -- From the movie Flight of the Phoenix