LIVESTRONG! "One Balut a Day Keeps the Doctor Away!"

My 1.3.11. You want a piece of me?

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:56:00 +0000

Welcome to another edition and another year of Livestrong. What do we have for this year partner?

Well partner this year, we will be having the 26th celebration of Mac's Birthday. This marks the 3rd straight year of having a street party and the highly anticipated fireworks display around 12 midnight. The fireworks display has been sponsored by Hon. Chief Lawrence Santella the past two years and this year he plans on sponsoring the fireworks show again. There will also be special guests expected to arrive and give life to the special celebration like Hubert Webb, Sen. Trillianes and Morong 43. Wow those are bigtime guests and I'll be looking forward to that partner. I think Mac is planning on inviting John Redor and Davey Yu as hosts for this event. That would be crazy!

Of course Mac is having some time off, I think he is scheduled to be on Isabela right after his birthday celebration with his family.

Indeed partner! Mac is also planning on going to EK this Feb. I think he was supposed to be on EK last Nov. it just turned out that he was sooooooo busy with the deployment that he postponed on going there. But I think this time around, he will be there with the Livestrong gang. Hopefully this will push through. This will mark Livestrong's first out of town for 2011.

I think that's cool though, having a break after months of hard work. Gives you time to recover and of course re-energize yourself. March I think would be Mac's hell month, This would be the time where Mac would hit the gym hard and prepare for the summer events most especially the countless summer basketball leagues he will be joining and of course the lifelong dream, having a sick pack abs(how I wish! C'Mon!). Let's hope he will be achieving this haha

Looks like a good one isn't it. Looking forward to March! I Guess that's it partner, lets look forward to the 2nd, 3rd and fourth quarter plans of Mac in the next couple of months.

See you again next time guys. Same site same writer.

These are just plans, and there are plans that were intended not to be blogged here. Youp!

-Commercial Break-

Salubong! My 1.1.11 and 1.2.11

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 21:43:00 +0000

Great things start from small beginnings, growing up reach early for your dream. Seize the day there's a new challenge, a chance to be better, a chance to become your dream. (don't sing, please read...)

My 2011 start was a blast! If only I could describe exactly how happy, how thankful and how crazy it is, I would. But as of now, words can't describe it. It feels like I'm in ecstasy! haha

The journey of a great 2011 started with the thunderous sounds of bottles of beer being opened and the mind blowing effects of the beer that was being drunk (you thought it was fireworks! gotcha!). I was not drunk don't worry, I just had a couple of beers, thanks to my generous neighbors. Yes they are generous when it comes to beer! haha... Of course there were fireworks everywhere, good thing it was a few meters away from our house because the drinking session was set up right in front of ours.

The famous five star (oh how I miss "lolo thunder"), the ever dangerous kwitis, the dazzling pla pla, the moody whistle bomb (iinnnggggggg), the dangerous scent of bawang, the smoke belching fountains and of course the 3-5 minute noise barrage of the Judas Belt can be found and can be heard everywhere. You can feel the strong and disturbing shockwaves and vibrations from those legal and some illegal firecrackers.

Midnight came and greetings are heard here and there, one thing I cannot here is from an addicted caller, called me around 12 midnight and fortunately we had this 1 minute clear conversation to say our greetings before the noise disrupted our conversation, We can't barely hear each other.

It was time to eat at last, and of course I destroyed my diet knowing I will be burning those in a couple of days. I ate like there was no more tomorrow, I stuffed everything I could in my mouth to satisfy my very hungry tummy(takaw for short).

After a very successful digestion, I was finally put to rest.

My beautiful, gorgeous and sexy mom woke me up around 9am to prepare for the mass. She wanted to start the year by hearing mass with the whole family (*blushes*). I went up and did the necessary preparations. We arrived on time and to no surprise there were few mass goers. They might have been drunk or something. After hearing mass, we headed straight home and ate the leftovers from midnight for our lunch. Of course what happens to me after eating? I get sleepy. So I went upstairs and tada! zZZzzz...

Finally I woke up at around 5pm, I should have been up as early as 230pm but me being a sleepyhead prevailed.

I went up and prepared for the scheduled New Year GetAway(NGA)!(haha). It was supposed to be around 4pm and it turned out to be moved at 7pm. Good thing the NGA still push through. I went to the LRT Station and waited for the train.

While waiting, a man carrying a plastic bag placed his things beside me. I just ignored him for I was busy texting. Suddenly he put something out of his pocket. It was like a pen, then he twisted it and pointed it at the plastic bag he placed beside me. To my surprise I saw a green light, somewhat like the effect of the strobe lights you see in bars and disco houses and... [bleep]. I gave the man a curious look and guess what!? He said something to me.

Manong: Nakakainis 'tong LRT, magtataas ng pamasahe para daw sa maintenance eh wala namang imamaintain dito. Tignan mo yung ilaw, kulang kulang ang dilim dilim pa. Wala ka naman imamaintain dito eh, tignan mo yang kawad ng kuryente na yan, magnetic field gamit diyan so mas tipid dapat talaga sa kuryente! Pinaglololoko lang nila tayo eh.

Me: (Smile)

Manong: Mahina lang tong si P'Noy eh, di tulad ni Marcos, dati kay Marcos lahat ng presyo binababa pero sa kanya lahat tinataas.

Me:(Smile, then text)

Manong: Mas tipid pa nga sa HongKong (a.k.a Isabela) kasi ang bayad nila per KWH ay cents lang kung ikukumpara satin ilang piso na. Eh ang Pilipinas dati nasa top5 countries ng ASIA. Kaya kayong mga kabataan dapat ang minamana niyo yung mga ikakayaman natin hindi yung mga ikakahirap lalu natin.

Me:(Smile, then text)

Manong: Ayan, yang cell phone na yan, text ka ng text nauto ka na ng (forgot the name of the country sorry)

Me:(Looked left, then finally saw a train arriving at last!)

Thanks for the timely arrival of the train, Manong was already giving me history lessons. So he picked up his plastic bag and placed the pen back to his pocket. My addict buddy at that time also arrived and then greeted me a "Happy New Year". We boarded the train and of course I told him the tale of Manong who also boarded the same train with us.

We arrived at the destination, we got off the train and then next rode a jeep. While waiting for the passengers to fill up the jeep. I dared my addict buddy that I will do whatever the barker says! haha Good thing that the barker keeps on saying the same thing which of course works to my advantage for I will keep on doing the same thing.

We finally reached the destination. We did a lot of walking and a lil bit of window shopping. Then we proceeded to buy tickets for the movie Rosario. After buying tickets we decided to do more walking so that we can burn more calories and time while waiting. We happen to pass by "CENTRAL: with their favorite music The Time (Dirty Bit). We entered Central and we looked for shoes and bags hahaha.

After hours of walking we decided to buy something at Wendy's and then we went to the Cinema to watch Rosario unfold her mystery. The movie was good, I just can't bear that there werekids watching the movie even though their parents were with them. They are still too young to watch those. I think they are around 6-10 yrs. old.

Anyways, they were allowed to watch. After watching the movie, we walked until we reached a point we got tired and we sat. There happened the addict moments haha, we made fun of people we saw. We even tried some role playing, I being my addict buddy and my addict buddy being me.

After hours of laughter and stories we got hungry and decided to go somewhere. My addict buddy suggested a place and we went to a ktv house. We ordered food and sang even though I am not anywhere closer of being a singer and my addict buddy having a bad throat. It was good though. First of all, it was my first time to go to that place, to enter a ktv room and sing, and to hear my addict buddy singing for me hahaha.

Unfortunately we have to part ways again, awwwww... We bid our goodbyes and went headed home.

It was a crazy but a good start for 2011. Thanks to manong for the knowledge and for his effort to enlighten me to some other things aside from texting and of course for the LRT train for being so late, for without you being late I would have never met Manong. Also thanks to my addict buddy for of course being crazy as usual and for bringing out the craziness and once again the addict in me.

What really happened?

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 18:32:00 +0000

Breaking the silence... I was hurt, you made me feel useless, unworthy, immature and the worst part, it was like I was not really loving you at all.

Asking me if I have plans on whether I would give you a Christmas present, asking me about the travels that you said I was not even interested or I did not show any interest at all was just too much.

Thinking I was a flirt was even more [bleep]...

We tried it a lot of times and we were crazier on every attempt. The result - "we failed". I don't know whether we were just pretending or we were just trying too hard.

Mica is no doubt my favorite. She is the first baby girl in the family and there is no question when it comes to my responsibility, love and understanding to her. I try to play a girl thing whenever she asks me to no questions asked. If my work schedule wasn't nightshift, I could have spent my time teaching her and of course eating with her.

Mikhail of course, will be my little brother. I would teach him the right way on treating girls don't worry. His parents will be there for him and I'm pretty sure they will share their lessons to him. I will guide Mikhail in every way possible.

Forgive me for everything, it would not fit here if I will mention them all. Thanks for the forgiveness and the love (which has no word to describe it) for the past number of years. Thank you for opening my world to a lot of things and for making me a brand new me.

For the past relationship, I guess I'm sorry too. It was all my fault. Sorry for making you feel and think worse than you can ever imagine. If only I could erase that all away easily I would. I don't want you to suffer or better say be in that situation all because of me. All I can do now is pray for you.

Forgiving me I think would not be part of your plan anymore. I just hope someday you'll learn to forgive me, nothing to be sorry on your part. You showed me a special kind of love that a fool like me wasted it. You are special and no one and nothing can take that away from you. Learn to love yourself again I think that would be a good start.

I'm really sorry...

God give me time please... I think I've had enough. Let my remaining days of 2010 be a time for myself and be ready for 2011.

The Road to Redemption Part 5 - For the PRIZE!

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:29:00 +0000

After eating the mouth watering dinner, everyone went to their respective groups and had their close door meetings in preparation for the presentation night with matching bonfire. Laughter, excitement and anticipation filled the Acuatico resort. You can feel the competition is just getting tighter for this will be the last chance for every team to be able to bring home the town red!

The moment of truth, we gathered at the middle of the battle field. Tiger looks and endless trash talking. The criteria were given and everything was set.

First up, The Blue Berry Pancakes. Short, simple, direct to the point. Dann even made himself portray a gay role.

Next, The Green Grasshoppers. Fun, entertaining, unique and our very own JM Rogelio Ponce was charming. Who would have thought! Was it just because he was so eager to impress Marian?

Next, The Yellow Is It Me You're Looking For Group. Simple, Prepared, Intriguing. They witnessed the courtship stage of Armie and Lui.

Lastly, The Red One Green Two Blue Three. Daring, Charming, Sexy and Yummy. A re-enactment of the famous Hayden Rob and Almedina Halili scandal.

Everyone gave their best efforts, it was a week long preparation and to be able to deliver it nicely and as planned is already a consolation prize to everyone. They were able to entertain the audience. Unending laughter, unforgettable performances and the showcase of talents will be priceless.

One needs to be declared winner for the night. To no surprise, it was the Marian-JM Rogelio tandem that made it to the top. They had so much chemistry it even looked like they were dancing for years.

After the presentation night, the moment of chilaxation and bonding. There were 4 bottles of absolut vodka and 4 bottles of Jose Cuervo tequila. Also there were beers in can, snacks and lemon to go with these hard drinks. It was a tiring day but for sure the stories and performances will be passed on and be told to our children. Remembering the days when we turn into something just for the prize.

The Road To Redemption Part 4 - Party Freaks!

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:27:00 +0000

Everyone's already sick and tired. Still need to finish two tasks. Up next is the Poker game which was inspired by the famous singer Mike Pendon. Mechanics is as simple as one two three. Instead of having chips to bet, you have your beloved team members to bet. Instead of having cards, you will be given a question which you need to answer. The fastest player to to give the answer wins the pot.

The game started, everyone was hesitant and were doing their best to display their pokah faces on. Bets here, bets there put them altogether you have bets everywhere. The green meadows faltered first, then yellow submarine sank . It was a battle between the blue berry cupcakes and the red tomatoes. It was intense and apparently one has to give up and one has to win. Due to the sharpness and eagerness of our former employee Dann "The Man" Yamsuan. They emerged as winners on the Pok

ah game.

At last, the first phase of the contest was already done. Everyone was feeling thirsty, dehydrated and tired. It was due to the very intense and very competitive games the whole afternoon. Fortunately the Big Boss Man Lito ordered refreshments and for our injured member Lui, it served as his medicine. We ordered bottled cans of beer, sodas, juice to refresh ourselves.

Others started enjoying themselves and have a feel for the resort. Some played volleyball and some dumped themselves to the infinity pool of Acuatico. Others also played basketball and others just simply spent their time roaming around and taking pictures.

At last the much awaited dinner came, and you can feel the excitement in the air for the last and much awaited part. The group presentation! The 4 participating groups will be presenting a special number to entertain everyone. Everyone in the table were busy planning and discussing what they will be doing for tonights show.

The Road To Redemption Part 3 - Fall 7 Times, Stand up 8 Times

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:36:00 +0000

First task was done. Everybody was uneasy, you can feel the insurmountable amount of pressure that has suddenly arose. The next task was announced, the Man vs. Web. The mechanics were pretty simple, each team member must cross the web without touching any part of it. Once you touch a single part of it, you'll be stuck and you will be eaten by the giant spider. Yikes! But since the giant spider went up the water spout. Down came Prince and then we heard a shout, "You are allowed to hit any part of the web but we will be adding extra minutes/seconds to your total time."

We all went to our designated positions, studying the options, weighing our chances. Then everyone decided to give it a try. Everyone was simulating their moves before the game proper. Until this daring group tried a death-defying stunt that made everyone in awe. They attempted to cross the web by going on top of it. So the Matt and Jeff combination of the Yellow Submarine gave it a try. Dyek "Matt-Chete" carried his yosi buddy Lui "Jeff-Plane" on his broad shoulders. Going up, Matt is trying to maintain his balance so that his buddy could easily jump above the Acuatico's Wide Web. Unfortunately Matt cannot get his bearings, then his buddy Jeff suddenly went into panic mode. He quickly jumped out of Matt's shoulders, trying to cross the secured Firewall of Acuatico's Wide Web, The "Jeff-Plane" fell short, hitting the topmost part, going off-balance then crashing on Acuatico's Sandbox. You can hear the deafening silence around, everyone stunned to the scene they have witnessed. Lui was quickly attended by experts, there were beer experts, cigarette experts, salesforce experts and flex experts. After a very intensive examination, he was then given medical attention. Fortunately he suffered minor cuts.

The show must go on, after the nasty and painful crash, the yellow submarine squad was determined than anyone. They dedicated their efforts and promised Lui they will win it for him. True to their words, they finished first on this task even before the giant spider could go out of the water spout.

No time for celebration, the BRC immediately gave the next task. It's called a Tower Building, yes build a tower using straws. Simple mechanics, build the tallest and strongest tower. But they made some twist and turns, to make it a bit more challenging and interesting, every member will have their disabilities allowing them to board the special boarding area alloted in the LRT and MRT. So for every group, there must be someone who is blind, mute and normal. We were given 15 gruelling minutes to build the tower. Everyone coming up with their unique techniques and engineer instincts. Luckily for everyone, we were able to build our own tower. This time the Red team emerged as the winner. Their members simply have the uncanny ability to make that tall and strong tower. (Magagaling lang talaga magpatigas at magpatayo).

With the Red and Yellow winning, the Green and Blue promised that the next task would be theirs. They won't leave Acautico empty handed. They finally had time to catch their breath and wait for the next task.

The Road To Redemption Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:25:00 +0000

Finally, we have reached the point of no return, no more tomorrow, a win or go home situation, Acuatico.Being the typical "first-timers" we were, we took pictures as proof that we went there. Picture here, picture there, put them together picture everywhere.

We arrived there around lunch time, we settled in the lobby and then finally we were told to go up where we have to do our first task as survivors, the "do not starve to death" task. So what else can we do, we have to eat whatever is served. The boys, knowing their unexplainable and out of this world appetite positioned themselves strategically. Right behind their table is where the foods were placed.

Everybody was so hungry that they can't wait for their turn to attack the food. So while waiting, a very witty survivor picked a very nutritious and juicy banana and ate it while waiting for his turn. Everyone was up to the task, no one was giving an edge.

After the very challenging task, the BRC gave the survivors their respective room assignments. I was so lucky the very sought-after guy JM "The Heartbreak Kid" is one of my room mate, thus giving me extra motivation and inspiration. After sleeping down with JM, I mean settling down our room the BRC called us out to formally start the competition.

We were assembled on the very sizzling hot shore where we were like attending a monday flag ceremony. Our very handsome and very courageous Lito gave the opening remarks.(naks! increase!). "Let the games begin!"

First task was the "Name that Dude". It is a crossword puzzle you have to fill in using the clues given. The clues given were unique facts about everyone in PSOD. They were given 15 minutes to complete the puzzle. It was very challenging and mind boggling, it was a good thing that majority of the yellow accident prone submarines were gossip boys and girls. They almost knew everyone in PSOD, even their darkest secrets. They had an edge over everyone and eventually they got the first place, followed by the red boys bakla tomboy butiki baboy, then the bluer than blue squad and lastly the green mango shake.

After getting the results, uncalled for comments, demoralizing punch lines and lots of trash talks started to spice up the very tight competition. Now each team having extra motivation, passion and promising they will do better and try to catch up with the winners.

The Road To Redemption Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:40:00 +0000

It was late in the morning, yes it was late. The guys were scheduled to meet at 6 am in the morning and yet, it was already 730 am. This was not a regular day for the brave and courageous survivors. This time, they reported to office not to work, not to log in to their facebook accounts, not to play restaurant and pet society but to do something else they have all been waiting for the past couple of days, the company outing.

They all arrived with a single purpose in mind, be the ultimate survivor. The group were divided into four groups. The Green Archers Anti Eagles, the Red Boy Bakla Tomboy Butiki Baboy, the Bluer than Blue Sadder than Sad, and the We All Live In The Yellow Submarine. Everyone expected the yellow submarine to bring home the bacon because of their fearless and daring members. But of course, the other group won't give up that easily.

They boarded the bus on their way to their battle ground, the oh-so-famous Acuatico. Everyone was fired up, including of course the air conditioner inside the bus. Everyone was raring and daring to battle it out for the prestigious half a million peso pocket money. Lots of trash talking, demoralizing the opponent in every possible way they can.

After hours of waiting for the earliest bird to arrive, which we may call Davey we were now headed to the battle ground. While cruising along the rocky roads to Batangas, the Blue Ribbon Committee(BRC) prepared something to entertain us along the way, While the I Love the Bartender Boys are busy giving away free shots of vodka. The BRC prepared a show! Yes, two members of the BRC, the siamese twins Ryan and Davey prepared a "show me" game. So simple, they will ask for something and the participants will just have to show it as quick as they can. The game took turns between the blue and green team, but in the later part of the game, Robert singlehandedly took over. It's as if, he knew what was listed on the show me list. Everything that the boom twins asked, he has it. He raised the Red team in his own two hands, while the yellow team remained spectators and was simply overplayed.

After the very grueling and tiresome show, they prepared another game, it was the Kitiki-Text game, a very simple mechanic, fastest and most kitikittexter wins. A mouth watering and eye-popping 100 pesos worth of load for the winner both for Smart and Globe Subscribers. Everyone was on their feet and was trying to out-text one another, hoping that their message would reach the receiver a lot faster than the others. It was cool though, because we were not using keyboards on our laptop which we are used to. We used the keypads on our cellular phones.

After finishing the Vodka and the very tiring games, the BRC gave us time to rest in preparation for the upcoming activities once we reach Acuatico. We were asleep for almost one hour until we finally reached our destination. TBC...

Kwentuhang Lasing Ng Mga Batang Batibot

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:48:00 +0000

Isang maulap na tanghali, isa na namang pakikipagsapalaran. Nag desisyon ang mga batang batibot na magtungo sa kanilang tambayan at magkwentuhan.

Sila ay umorder na ng kani kanilang mga pagkain na lalamunin habang sinasabayan ng isang makabagbagdamdamin at isang napakatalinhagang usapan. Sina Irma Daldal, Kapitan Basa, Koko Kwikwak at sina Sitsiritsit at Alibangbang ay pare parehas na kumuha ng napakasarap at kaaya ayang fish fillet na sinabayan pa ng talong at sayote.

Unti unti at pinilit nila itong ubusin. Hanggang sa napagusapan nila ang mga kapwa nila kasama sa Batibot. Una nilang napagusapan si Khie Khie Pai, isa sa mga astigin at isa sa mga kinatatakutan ng lahat. Si Khie Khie Pai ay madalas nakakaaway ni Kapitan Basa sa mga gawaing panlipunan. Sa Sobrang sipag nitong si Khie Khie Pai ay naiinis na si Kapitan Basa. Wala yata sa tropang batibot ang may kayang tumapat nun.

Napag-usapan ng mga batang batibot ang mga kahinaan at kalakasan ni Khie Khie Pai. Si Khie "Khie Pai ay masipag, dedikado. Tiyak na wala ka ng hihingin at sasabihin pa." wika ni Irma Daldal. "Ngunit sa pag-intindi ng mga gawain ng mga kasama niya, ay mukha yatang may kahinaan itong si kumare nating si Khie Khie Pai." wika naman ni Kapitan Basa. "Ang akala niya lagi na lang madali at mabilis lang ang mga gawain ko." Pasunod na sabi ni Kapitan Basa. " Hirap kasi di niya napagdaanan ang mga napagdaanan ko." Wika ng naghihinaing na si Kapitan Basa. "Ok lang yan, at least siya kaya niyang pakalmahin at sagutin si Sultan Parachibum." Bawi naman ni Alibangbang.

Sunod na napagusapan nila si Direk, na kinatatakutan ng iba ngunit magaling makisama. "Si Direk naman cool!, basta matapos mo lang ang gawaing panlipunan at para sa ikauunlad ng bayan ok lang." Wika ni Koko Kwikwak. "OO tsaka di lang puros mga gawaing panlipunan ang pinaguusapan niyo, kasi alam niya ang buhay ng isang katulad natin." Dagdag ni Kapitan Basa.
"Pero huwag ka, kinukulit din ako nun, nakulitan nga ako dun minsan eh" Biglang epal ni Alibangbang na agad namang sinundan ng kanyang katuwang na si Sitsiritsit. "OO nga, minsan abala ako sa ginagawa ko eh bigla ba namang nagtatanong, eh kailangan na matapos na agad nung ginagawa ko." Dinepensahan naman agad ito ni Irma Daldal "Baka naman kinukulet lang din siya ni Sultan Parachibum kaya kinukulit din kayo". "Kunsabagay" wika ni Sitsiritsit. "Kahit nga makita akong palaro laro lang ni Direk eh ayos lang" Sabi ng may singaw na si Koko Kwikwak.

Sumunod at ang huli nilang pinagusapan ay si Sultan Parachibum. Ang lider ng tropang batibot na talaga namang kinatatakutan ng lahat. "Malaki na pinagbago niya, dati mabilis siyang magalit at manigaw. Pero ngayon sobrang bihira na lang" wika ni Sitsiritsit. "Ay naku tama ka diyan" banat naman nitong si Irma Daldal. "Problema lang sa kanya ay ginagawa niyang robot ang mga tao sa loob ng kaharian ng batibot, gusto niya tapusin mo ang mga gagawin mo, Kahit na sobrang pagod na yung tao kakasaka sa kanyang bukirin" Pagalit na bigkas ni Kapitan Basa. "Ang hirap na nun, detached siya sa mga nasasakupan niya, di niya naiintindihan ang mga pangangailangan nating mga normal na tao sa kanyang kaharian." Dagdag ni Kapitan Basa. " Baka kelangan ay ipaalam na natin sa kanya iyan ng diretso, lumalaki na ang nasasakupan ni Sultan at maraming tao na ang maapektuhan." Pakalmang hirit ni Irma Daldal. "Minsan kasi ay nagkaroon na ako ng pagkakataon na tinanong ako ng Sultan kung ano yung mga pangit sa akin. Pero halos kaunti lang yung nasabi ko." Dagdag niya.

Sa haba ng usapan ng mga tropang batibot ay di na nila namalayan ang halos dalawang oras na nakalipas. Sila ay muli ng bumalik sa loob ng kaharian at pinagpatuloy na ang mga gawaing panlipunan. Ipinasa na lamang sa tadhana kung may mangyayari ba o may uusbong na kilusan para lamang mapatatag ang samahan sa loob ng kaharian ni Sultan Parachibum.

Exhale!

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:28:00 +0000

Change the things you can change and pray for the things you cannot change. There are always things that is not within your control. So instead of being frustrated, just pray for it.

Anyway it's a good thing, I have this blog. I can release my frustrations.

Warning! Don't Read If You Are Not In A Good Mood!

Basketball frustrations...
Losing, we were unbeaten all through out the entire league. Then came the final match, what a time to lose. It was my first time to lose a championship game after winning the last 7. Anyway, maybe it's not my year.

Cleveland losing to Orlando in the Eastern Conference Finals, they were playing great all throughout the season and when playoffs came, they all seem to struggle.

My right wrist being injured in a basketball game, it sucks, wanna know why? Because the next day, I have to play a semifinals game. Anyway I played through it wearing a bandage and a wrist support and fortunately we won.

Love life frustrations...(yun eh! tagay!)
Waiting... Is it worth waiting? Or move on? It's been a while since I last have a special someone.(patay emo mode). Feels like I am hanged in a tree waiting for someone to cut the ropes so that I would eventually move and be freed.

I have been dating some, but I don't know why in the hell I suddenly became afraid to make commitments. Is it me being contented being single, or my previous experiences are haunting me and now I am getting afraid. I don't know either...

General frustrations...
Traffic of course, that's the reason why I hate going to the office around 7-10am, it is so traffic. So instead of getting pissed and stucked with the heavy traffic jam. I prefer to report at the office around lunch time or early in the afternoon. I don't know how and why it is traffic during rush hours, but thats the way it is. Pooooof!!! Ayun trapik!

Cellphone, My cellphone has been repaired for 4 times the past two years. It seems odd because even though I know it will be broken again after sometime. I still asks for it to be repaired. Am I too poor to afford a brand new cheap cellphone? Haha

Addiction... Poor Mac Mac, Due to the stress free times he is enjoying at his work, after almost 3 months of heart pounding, mind wrecking, hand warming intensive coding and hardwork. Mac managed to survive. So now what, He is now addicted to Facebook! haha I think it's not just me, so no worries.

Thanks to my blog space, for giving me the space to write down my frustrations and allowing me to release the negative vibes in me.

10 Tips to go from Begginer to Intermediate Developer

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:18:00 +0000

It was another challenging day at the office for me. So I decided to challenge myself more by looking at some articles on the net. Fortunately, since I was so lazy searching and thinking of a topic. ZD Net sent me a mail. I opened it and somehow I found it very interesting and helpful so . It was an article by Justin James.

#1: Learn another language
It doesn't matter which language you learn, but learning another language (regardless of how many you already know) will make you a better developer.
Even better is to learn one that is significantly different from what you already use on a regular basis. In other words, if you are a C# developer, learning VB.NET or Java will not help you as much as learning Ruby or Groovy.
And when I say "learn another language", I mean really learn it. Learning a language consists of three realms of knowledge: the syntax, the built-in operators and libraries, and "how to use it". The first two are easy; I think that an experienced developer can pick up enough of a language's syntax to maintain code in 30 minutes to a few hours depending upon the language. The operators and libraries are just a matter of slowly accumulating knowledge and being willing to check reference materials until you memorize what you need to know.
But it's the third item--"how to use it"--that can only be learned over months of working with a language and that's where the real magic happens. I suggest doing a project that is well suited for that language and doing it in that language's style.
Truly learn another language, and I promise that your abilities as a developer will start to blossom.

#2: Learn advanced search techniques, tactics and strategies
More and more, being a good developer is not just about your skill, but your skill at finding information. Simply put, modern languages and development frameworks are too large for most people to remember much of them. As a result, your ability to get work done is often dependent upon your ability to perform research.
Unfortunately, knowing how to find accurate, high-quality information is more than just heading to TechRepublic for the answer or typing a few words into your search engine of choice.
"Techniques", "tactics" and "strategies" may sound like synonyms, but they are not. The techniques you need to learn are the advanced search systems of your favorite search engine; you need to learn things such as the Boolean operators, how to filter results (negative keywords, domain restrictions, etc.), what role word order plays, and more.
You should learn tactics such as knowing how to approach any particular search and knowing what you should you actually look for. Errors are easy--just look for the error code--but keyword selection on many searches is much more difficult.
With regard to strategies, you need to learn things such as what search engines to use (hint: general purpose search engines are not always the right answer), which sites to visit before going to a general purpose search engine, and even which message boards to post to for help.
#3: Help others

Teaching others is invariably one of the best ways to learn anything. It is understandable to think that you don't have much to offer because you are relatively new to the development field. That's nonsense. Remember, everything you know you learned from someone or somewhere; so try being the someone that another person learns from.
Spend a few minutes a day trying to answer the questions on TechRepublic or another site as best you can. You can also learn a lot by reading other members' answers.

#4: Be patient and keep practicing
Research shows that it takes "about ten years, or ten to twenty thousand hours of deliberate practice" to become an "expert". That's a lot of time.
Furthermore, becoming an expert does not always mean doing the same task for 10 years; it often means doing a wide variety of tasks within a particular domain for 10 years. It will take a lot of time and energy to become an "expert"; working as a developer for a few years is not enough. Want to become a senior developer in your early 30s? Either start your education/training sooner or be willing to do a lot of work, reading, and practicing in your spare time.
I started programming in high school, and I devoted a lot of off-hours to keeping up with the industry, learning new skills, and so on. As a result, I hit the intermediate and senior level developer positions significantly earlier in my career than most of my peers, which translates to an awful lot of money over time.

#5: Leave your dogmas at the door
Time for some brutal honesty: Beginner developers probably don't know enough to state that there is One Best Way of doing something. It's fine to respect the opinion of a friend or an authority figure, but until you are more experienced, don't claim their opinions as your own.
The simple fact is, if you don't know enough to figure these things out on your own, what makes you think that you know which "expert" is right? I know this sounds really harsh, but please believe me; I have met far too many budding developers who had their careers or their growth set back years because they got hung up on some foolish piece of advice or followed some "expert" who really didn't know what they were talking about.
A great example of this is the abuse of object-oriented architecture. For example, many beginners read some information about OOP, and suddenly the class diagrams to their simple applications look like the Eiffel Tower.

#6: Learn a few advanced ideas in-depth
Much of what goes into being an intermediate developer is having a few concepts that you are really good at working with in code. For me, it is multithreading/parallelism, regular expressions, and how to leverage dynamic languages (and the last two are fading as I get farther away from my Perl history).
How did this happen? Multithreading and parallel processing came about because I read articles on it, thought it sounded interesting, and figured it out on my own; I keep writing apps that use those techniques. I had a job that used a ton of regular expressions in Perl. Also, I ended up writing my own e-commerce engine with a template processing engine and built-in database system; then I spent nearly two years working on it.
Find something that has you really hooked. It might be image manipulation or maybe database design or whatever. Even if you're an entry-level developer over all, try to become an expert in at least one area of focus. This will get you into that intermediate level quite quickly, and once there, you will be halfway to expert.

#7: Learn the basic theories underlying your field
It's one thing to write "Hello World", but it's another to understand how the words appear on the screen. By learning the "groundwork" that supports the work you do, you will become much better at it. Why? Because you will understand why things work the way they do, what might be wrong when things are broken, and so on. You will become better by learning what happens at a lower level than your work.

#8: Look at senior developers' code
At your job, take a look at the code the senior developers are writing and ask how and why things were done a particular way. If you can, check out open source projects as well. Even if other developers don't have the best coding habits, you'll learn a lot about how code is written.
Be careful, though, not to pick up bad habits along the way. The idea here isn't to just blindly imitate what other developers are doing; it's to get an idea of what works and what makes sense and try to imitate it.

#9: Learn good habits
Nothing marks an inexperienced coder like stupid variable names, poor indentation habits, and other signs of being sloppy. All too often, a developer learned how to program without being taught the less interesting details such as code formatting--and it shows.
Even though learning these things will not always make your code better or you a better developer, it will ensure that you are not viewed as an entry-level developer by your peers. Even if someone is a senior developer, when variables are named after their 97 cats or their functions are called "doSomething()", they look like they do not know what they are doing, and it makes their code harder to maintain in the process.

#10: Have fun
Want to be stuck on the career treadmill? Hate your job. What it takes to move up in this business is not merely dogged determination to bring home an ever growing paycheck but an actual enjoyment of your work.
If you do not like your work and you are a junior developer, what makes you think that being an intermediate or senior developer will be any better? Change jobs or change careers. On the other hand, if you love the work you are doing, great! I guarantee that you can become a better developer if you keep at it.

10 Guys, 1 Mission, 1 Team, 1 Goal

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:52:00 +0000

"There are so many reasons to celebrate" a business analyst in PSOD once said. And why not, a very charming January birthday celebrant named Mac, two lovely and pretty February celebrants named Joanna and Grace and a spooky March celebrant which is encrypted by the name of Burn. Combine it with the new members of the family named Paul, Simon, Wilson, Lui, Armie and Tin, what kind of celebration would you expect.

10 brave and courageous On Demand Professionals planned a very special afternoon to celebrate. They gave their colleagues a treat they would simply forget and !

On the afternoon of February 6, 2009, one spaghetti and one palabok, two boxes of pichi pichi, 75pcs of BBQ and two very elegant bithday cakes envaded PSOD. It was a much awaited celebration that all employees immediately left their working stations,it's as if they were having a fire drill. The celebrants had their traditional job of blowing the candles on the cake. It signifies that they grew one year older and marks the start of the feast!

Pictures here and there, present also in the party was the very famous receptionist of LinkSolutions named Cherry. She will be the first pretty face you will see once the elevator opens on the 3rd floor.

It was a successful celebration to sum it up. There were lots of foods, others were able to bring home some. Hoping that the next batch of celebrants and newcomers in PSOD will take this seriously.

Apex - Continued

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 06:53:00 +0000

The Force.com platform includes a number of ways for administrators and developers to implement custom functionality. It includes VisualForce(which I am very eager to learn), The Force.com Web Services API and Apex.

Let me start with Apex primarily because among the Force.com, I first used the Apex.

Starting with it's limitations.
- it cannot render elements in the user interface aside from the error messages. (that is it's limitation for now, but for sure they will fix it.)
- change standard functionality - Apex can only prevent the functionality from happening, or add additional functionality
- create temporary files
- and sadly it cannot spawn threads

Anyway Apex is not designed to be a general purpose programming language.

Now let's proceed to it's similarities with some of the programming language.

In declaring variables:
Integer numbers = 10;
Account [] accnts;

SOQL (Salesforce Object Query Language) Query:
accnts = [Select id from Account where name is like 'test%'] ;
delete accnts;

accnts = new Account[numbers]

Control structure (for loop)
for (Integer i = 0; i <>bers; i++) { accnts[i] = new Account(name = 'test ' + i, outstandingshares__c = i); } insert accnts;

Declaring an array
Contact[] con = new Contact[0];

for (Account acc: accnts) // iteration for salesforce
{
con.add(new Contact(LastName = acc.name + '1', accountId = acc.id));
con.add(new Contact(LastName = acc.name + '2', accountId = acc.id));
}

insert con; // Data manipulation language (DML) in Salesforce

Using Collections
Apex has the following type of collections
1. List (arrays)
2. Sets
3. Maps

List - is a collection of elements like string, integers, objects or other collections. Use List when the sequence of elements is important.

Because Apex is strongly typed, you must indicate the data type of the List.

Set - collection of elements that is unordered. Each element in the set must be unique. It cannot contain complex data types. Can contain primitive data like boolean, date, datetime, decimal, int, long, object, string and so on.

Map - collection of key value pairs. Can have duplicate values but each key must be unique. Can include primitive data. Use this when finding something by key matters.

By the looks of it, it is not that very different from what I have been used to in .net. I am very excited and looking forward in doing my very first Hello World application!

APEX - My First Encounter "May the SalesForce Be With You"

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 06:21:00 +0000

Way back when I was in college I was introduced to the world of .net. Luckily for me I landed a job at my previous company wherein I was able to practice and enhance my knowledge in .net. Unfortunately, due to some fortuitous events, I have to take a different path and explore into the world of programming.

There I met Salesforce. He introduced me to Apex and then Salesforce left me alone with Apex to spend some time together. We wasted no time and he told me a lot of stories. Here are some of them.

What is APEX?(it is not an acronym)
- it is a strongly typed, object oriented programming language that allows developers to execute flow and transaction control statements in the Force.com platform.
- using syntax like java and acts like database stored procedures, it allows developers to add business logic to most system events including button clicks and related record updates

How does APEX work?

When a developer writes and saves an Apex script to the platform, the platform application server first compiles the code into an abstract set of instructions that can be understood by the Apex runtime interpreter, and then saves those instructions as metadata.

When an end-user triggers the execution of Apex, perhaps by clicking a button or accessing a Visualforce page, the platform application server retrieves the compiled instructions from the metadata and sends them through the runtime interpreter before returning the result. The end-user observes no differences in execution time from standard platform requests.

By the way you can try developing your APEX applications by obtaining your developer account absolutely free. Just register at Salesforce and obtain your free developer account.

DeepArctic Inc. Player Profile: Leigh Camalig

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 11:18:00 +0000

Leo "The Slow Mo" Camalig

Name: Leigh Camalig
Nickname: Leigh
Position: Junior Developer, Point Guard
Sex: Legally Female
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 135 lbs
Salary: 25-30k

Known for his patented slow motion move, that makes the opponents out of their rhythm. He also makes the referees take a second guess and make them always have a second look on his moves. As the second court general coming off the bench as a reliever for the starting point guard Christian Reyes, Leigh averages almost 7 points per game in 15 minutes of slow basketball action. He also contributes to the team by giving them 0.75 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and a mouthwatering 3 turnovers per game.

"Di ko naman talaga normal na position ang point guard eh, sanay ako na shooting guard ang laro ko, gusto ko kasi yung laging nashoo-shootan este ako yung nagsho-shoot." According to Leigh who was interviewed right before the start of the season. Accepting his role to come of the bench, far from his last year's role as starting point guard, he is a prolific outside shooter with a 55% shooting percentage.

According to Christian Reyes, "Maasahan talaga siya sa labas, maganda kamay eh, marunong humawak ng bola at magshoot".(To the delight of the whole DA Team!) He is known to be a prolific scorer with a great touch from the outside.

Although this season proved to be a disappointing one for him, he promised he will be back stronger and a lot better. "Magpapractice na talaga ako, at paghahandaan na talaga namin". With the pieces coming in slowly to the team, he hopes his next season will be a promising one for him and for the team.

Watch out for Leigh next season!

A Parish Priest

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 13:14:00 +0000

It was another day in the office for the leaders of the different organizations in our Parish. Let's just hide the name of the Parish hmmm... let's say (OLGP... haha). Well it was another Parish Pastoral Council(PPC) meeting. As usual, important matters regarding the parish activities were discussed, fortunately for me I already had my share two years ago so I wasn't a part of it. Unfortunately for my mom she has been there for quite some time, let's say 4 years.

As the meeting progressed, they came accross one of the plans for the church. It was the repainting of the church's ceiling. Details of the plans were discussed including the budget and the timespan it would take for the church to be fully repainted.

Suddenly one concerned parishioner suddenly raised her hand and voiced out her brilliant idea(for me it's brilliant). "Baket hindi na lang po natin linisin or barnisan na lang ulet para mas tipid." Now curse me if personally you didn't believe this wasn't a brilliant idea. It gave a few seconds of deafening silence to those who were inside the meeting. Until suddenly this man who happened to be the parish priest suddenly ended the silence with a heart pounding, blood warming, and simply annoying response.

"Sige, sino ang gusto sumama sa kanya na maglinis ng kisame ng simbahan??!@#$%^&"

What an answer!!)!@#$%^*&^%$@#$%

Come on! If I were in that meeting, I would stand up, ask that priest why he told that and then walk out of the meeting and slam the door.(Practice ko din yun para maging artista! hahaha).

That priest is well known for he has developed a lot. He rebuilt the (OLGP), he made the social hall of the (BLP) and a lot more. He has focused on redeveloping the structures of the church. Unfortunately I think he has forgotten his mission as a priest. What will you do with those beautiful structures? What you need are parishioners, followers. I think the point of that woman was, "If you could just allot the money for sipiritual growth and development of the parishioners, it would be much better than spending it in repainting the church."

To those who know him, I think this guy needs a reminder to remind him of who he is. I have high respect for priests (not for him though). In fact, I even have friends who are priests and I really idolize them for what they are doing, their mission, devotion and faith. It just amaze me. All I can say is, maybe we could just pray for this priest.

So help me God... AMEN

For Immediate Hiring: QA

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:32:00 +0000

Responsibilities:
- Reviewing design and requirements specifications to determine testing requirements.
- Regression testing of software changes.
- Working within the defined software development process.
- Contributing to the overall plan of new applications
- Executing test scripts and documentation of results
- Excellent communication skills
- Be involved in all aspects of software testing
- Test new and existing applications

Requirements:
- Minimum of 1-2 years testing experience
- Must possess a university degree in Computer Science, Engineering or equivalent
- Detailed, meticulous and hard working
- Knowledge & experience in different test approaches, standards & processes.
- Knowledge in software development product life-cycle.
- Willing to work within a production support environment
- Willing to work overtime if required
-Applicants must be willing to work in Makati City.
-Applicants should be Filipino citizens or hold relevant residence status.

What is in it for you:
-Work in a fun, friendly, growth oriented, and fast pace environment
-Opportunity for growth and career advancement

So if you are a talented QA Tester looking for a long term opportunity, then we look forward to hearing from you today!

Applicants should email a word format of their comprehensive resume to kofamac@yahoo.com, with subject "Application for QA Tester"

80's and 90's

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Thu, 08 May 2008 02:15:00 +0000

Here's a simple checklist to determine if you belong to the late 80's and early 90's.

You undoubtedly know Shaider(Ang Pulis Pangkalawakan), Bioman and Masked Rider Black with his BattleHopper.
You most probably ate Humpy Dumpy
You knew how to play the so-called "10-20"
You knew the universal song dubbed by the students as "Uwian Na!"
You, by chance must have performed/danced to the tune of MACARENA and BOOMBASTIC
You value so much the essence and meaning of "taym pers!"
You also knew how important it is to say "period, no erase!"
Bet me on this one, you placed pritos ring on your 10 fingers!
You owned a pencil case that has a lot of buttons and of course the small particles, kisses to be specific, that gave your pencil case a very good smell.
You probably met remy, cedie and princess sarah!, you must have sung the "AB- Cedie, Sarah, Remy, Nelo, Patrash taga lako ng gatas!" hahahaha

Do you have all of them? Well you are getting younger my friend!

TOP 10 REASONS EMPLOYEES GET FIRED

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Mon, 05 May 2008 07:55:00 +0000

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TOP 10 REASONS EMPLOYEES GET FIRED

Dishonesty, evasion, or lack of integrity on the job.

It is important to be honest, straightforward, and forthcoming on the job with management and coworkers. However, this does not mean that you should blurt out everything you know -- It is important to protect your company's proprietary information, such as copyrighted and trademarked materials, company manuals, program materials, and new projects, services, and inventions in order to prevent corporate espionage and theft. Time sheets and expense reports must be 100% true and accurate, without padding. Projects reports, especially facts and figures must not be faked.

Employees should not use company materials or equipment for their own personal purposes and this includes telephones, cell phones, copiers, laptops, PDAs, and the Internet. However, some employers will make an exception in some cases - for example, printing up few flyers for a charity -- but ask them first in order to preserve ongoing trust. Most employers also permit emergency phone calls from and to family members and allow parents to call to check on their children. Absolutely no employee should use company time, equipment, and materials to operate a personal business on company time, such as an Internet sales page, or a Pampered Chef or Tupperware business, etc.

Lying on a resume.
More and more employers are checking every single reference a job candidate provides. If there are notations on your resume of more than one business "closed down" or one or more employers having died, or there are untraceable educational certifications, you risk being fired for fraud. Be prepared to show some sort of documentation for those closed down business and schools. Many employers now require that you show them, and provide them a copy of, your High School, Vocational School, and College transcripts and diplomas, so have them ready.
Please understand that reference checking continues after you are hired. Some employers even run credit checks on their employees every 6 months.

If any one tells you to make up information to make your resume look better, they are either 1) naïve or ill-informed, or 2) trying to get you into trouble, because some people make it their hobby to hurt others.

Talking too much and conducting personal business at work.
Don't be guilty of misusing company resources, including the Internet, office supplies, and especially telephones; too much idle (personal talking) with coworkers. Non-business talking wastes more company dollars than any other activity. It should be saved for lunch and break times. This includes talking on the phone/email with stockbrokers, travel agents, hairdressers, bankers, etc.

In the 1960s and into the early 1970s, many offices and factories did not allow any conversation - employees were to work, not talk. This policy loosened somewhat in the 1980s and 1990s and then as employers discovered how much talking costs them, they began laying off the talkers. HOWEVER, some employers allow a certain amount of this type of activity and it is important to understand YOUR company policies and follow them.

Inconsistency - unreliable work and behaviors.
Employees must be stable and consistent in behaviors and productivity in order to benefit the company and produce profits or positive outcomes. While most people have ups and downs, if these interfere with productivity and accuracy in their jobs, they need to contact their Employee Assistance Program or seek professional help. If employee reviews are given regularly, these trends can be caught in time to be guided into something more positive. If you are not receiving employee reviews, ask for one/

Inability to get along with other people.
Some people have a lower "Social IQ" than others, some are loners, and some are sociopathic or have personality disorders. Unless there is a mental health disorder present (like the sociopathic or personality disorder symptoms) people can learn to be civil and have productive conversations - even those with Aspberger's syndrome and other autism spectrum disorders. Management should notice extreme problems with employee's getting along with others and intervene professionally with a referral to the Employee Assistance Program for consultation and help or the Professional Development Program for training like awareness and communications education.

Without these latter two programs, many more employees would be fired and end up possibly in jail or homeless

Inability to actually do assigned job tasks.
If employees lie convincingly enough during an interview or on a resume, stating that they can do certain tasks, but proving unable to perform these duties on he job, they will likely be fired if they cannot learn to do them very quickly. However, some tasks that require certifications and licenses cannot be quickly learned on the job during the first weeks. These deficits will expose the employee as unable to perform assigned duties and having lied during the application process .

However, occasionally there is a lack of initial orientation and training on the job and the employee needs to ask for help early on. Sometimes, through misunderstanding, an employee will be assigned tasks that are beyond their training or education or in an entirely different field. This is certainly a mis-match. Such an employee needs to speak up right away in a professional manner and ask for help or reassignment. These employees may need to report their circumstances to Human Resources, an Employee Assistance Program, a Union Steward, or their attorney if the situation escalates.

Performing tasks slowly, with numerous errors.
Some employees are sloppy and not invested in doing a good job. Unless their attitudes change for more productive beliefs, they will likely be fired.

On the other hand, and unwisely, some employees try to "string out" their work and make it last longer in order to have job security. This is dishonest. A better plan is to finish their tasks at an acceptable rate and ask coworkers if they can help them, and after that, go to the boss and ask for more work. Not only is this honest, but it lets the boss know that you are a good worker and deserving of raises and promotions.

Unfortunately, some companies do not have adequate training and follow-up programs in place, leaving employees to figure out their jobs on their own. In these cases, slow work and high error rate are not actually the workers' fault. Alternatively, some people are simply in the wrong job for them and they need to be placed into jobs in which they can excel. These people need to ask for help from their supervisors and bosses and these management persons need to notice the problem and be prepared to help, either with training and coaching, or a job change.

High absenteeism rate.
When you are hired as an employee, your company owns the time that you are at work, except for lunches, breaks, and authorized time off.

It is not a sign of integrity to take every minute of sick time you have, just because you are allotted that amount and are not actually sick. Some employers have solved this problem by lumping vacations, mental health days, sick time, holidays, days for family funerals, and personal days into one category called "Time Off" or similar. You don't have to give any explanation. Longer family-leave and parental leave time usually requires previous authorization though. However, if you need to take sick time for another reason, confide in your bosses and they may make an accommodation for you.

If an employee is having problems with job burnout that often manifests as absences and tardiness or is suffering frequent accidents, drug/alcohol abuse, family difficulties, or other mental health or physical issues, many employers have Employee Assistance Programs to help guide and treat these problems. Employees should take advantage of this help to 1) increase the quality of their own lives and 2) become more consistent and productive workers.
Drug and/or alcohol abuse.

This leads to inconsistent work, errors, accidents, poor interpersonal relationships, increased absenteeism, lower morale among coworkers and supervisors, bad publicity for the company, and other negatives. Drug and alcohol problems both are usually only one of a set of serious disorders known as Co-Occurring Disorders, so there is usually much more to the problem than drug use or drinking that got out of hand.

Source: http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5462663317974119946

Corinthian Plaza Basketball Tournament

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:05:00 +0000

Corinthian Plaza Basketball Tournament Rules

Aside from the FIBA rules, the league will also adopt the following rules.

Game Proper

1. 1. There will be 4 quarters. Every quarter will be played in 10 full minutes(stop clock)

2. 2. 5 minutes for overtime period.

3. 3. Possession arrow will be implemented. Jump ball will only be used at the start of the 1^st quarter.

4. 4.Teams will enter into the penalty situation after it’s 5^th team foul.

5. 5.Teams will be given 6 time-outs per game. 2 Time outs in the overtime period.

6. 6.There will be 15 minutes defaulting time.

7. 7.Uniforms are not required.

Composition

1. 1.Teams will be composed of 15 players.

2. 2.Players who played in last year’s league are still allowed to play even though he is not employed in that company. Provided, that player plays in the same company he played for. He just needs to show his ID.

3. 3. Teams may also be composed of players from two different companies.

Special Cases (Force Majeure)

1. 1.If the game is stopped anytime during the first half, the game will be rescheduled from the start.

2. 2.If the game is stopped on the second half, scores, fouls, time remaining, time-outs, ball possession, will be carried over when the game is rescheduled. Only team members present on that particular game will be allowed to play.

3. 3.If the game is stopped within the last 2 minutes of the last quarter, the team leading by 20 pts or more will automatically win the game. If the game is stopped within the last 1 minute, the team leading by 11pts or more automatically wins the game.

Sanctions

1. 1. Every player is given 5 fouls , after the 5^th foul the player will be disqualified from the game.

2. 2. Two technical fouls will be an automatic ejection from the game.

3. 3. Technical fouls are not counted as personal fouls

4. 4. If a team is called for a technical, the opposing team is awarded 1 technical free throw, if a player is called for a technical, the opposing team is awarded 2 technical free throw plus ball possession.

5. 5. Unsportsmanlike foul will mean an automatic ejection from the game and a suspension for the next game.

Tournament Format

1. 1. 5-9 teams. Single round robin, top four teams with the best record will advance to the semifinal round.

2. 2. The top four teams will play a knock out match during the semifinal round. 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3. Winners will play in the championship game.

3. 3. 10 teams or more. There will be two groups. Single round robin, top two teams from their respective group will advance to the semifinal round.

4. 4. It will be a knock out cross over semifinals, No.1 team from group A will meet no.2 team from group B, No 2 team from group A will meet no 1 team from group B. Winners will play in the championship game.

5. 5. It will only be a knock out championship game.

6. 6. In case of a tie, we will observe the “winner of the other” rule.

7. 7. In case of a triple tie or more, we will use a quotient system.

8. 8. If in any case, a quotient is tied the two teams will play a knock out game.

Awards

1. 1. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) will be selected only from the two teams playing in the championship game.

2. 2. Mythical 5 members will be selected based on their statistical points.

3. 3. The champion team and runner up will receive an award. Awards to be determined.

Registration

1. 1. Teams who would like to join must pay their quota of 9000 pesos. Payment for the quota is on or before May 15, 2008

2. 2. Last day for submission of final line-up and payment for the quota is on May15, 2008.

*Kindly submit your line-up and pay your quota on time. This will allow us to reserve the venue without delay. It will also give us ample time to make the full schedule of games.

For more info’s

Proceed at DEEPARCTIC INC 2^nd floor Corinthian Plaza and look for Leo or Mac or

Email us: kofamac@yahoo.com, leo_camalig@yahoo.com or

Text us: 09154835619, 09233460771.

The Concept of Choosing

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 15:53:00 +0000

Just choose one! Don't choose both!

1. Elementary,highschool or college

life?

High School!

2. Mcdo, Jollibee, KFC?

Ano pa nga ba! McDO

3.Globe, Smart or Sun?

Globe

4. SM, Robinson's or Ayala malls?

5. Coffee, milk or juice in the

morning?

Milk

6. Frosty, Mcflurry, Swirlybitz?

McFlurry

7. Friendster, Myspace, Multiply?

Wala! Blogger pwede pa!

8. Pants, shorts, skirts?

Pants

9. On a Saturday: go to malls, stay at

home,go to the spa, do some sports?

Para sa mga manginginom! itaguyod natin! INUMAN!!

10. Alternative, r&b, hiphop, rock,

goth, death metal or house music?

Death Metal!

11. Local bands:

Anong name nung banda na nangaroling samin nung pasko?

12. Japanese, Italian, Chinese,

Filipino, Thai, Vietnamese, American

food?

Pinoy!

13. Emperador, Red horse, Sanmig?

Si mang gener! GENEROSO

14. Libis, The Fort,or Baywalk?

Timog!

15. Night or day?

Night

16. Math, English, Science?

Math!??

17. Introvert or extrovert?

Extrovert

18. For opposite sex: Asian, American,

Latin?

Lahat pwede!

19. Spring, summer, winter, fall?

winter!

20. Cats or dogs?

Pussy!

21. To say 'iloveyou'or 'mahal kita'?

haha.. I HATE YOU

22. Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung or

Motorola?

Nokia

23. White skin, beige, or tanned?

Tanned!

24. Credit card or cash?

Cash!

25. Red Ribbon or Goldilocks?

Red Ribbon!

26. Friends or lovers?

Friends! tska na yun, lahat friends muna!

27. MTV or MYX?

NBA!!!!

28. Touring: European tour, Asian tour,

American tour?

Asian!

29. Angel Locsin or Katrina Halili?

POKWANG!

30. Plain or printed?

Printed!

31. Black or white?

Black!

32. Starbucks, Coffee Bean and Tea

Leaf?

Ang walang kamatayang 3 in 1!

33. Movie or dinner date?

Movie!

34. FX or jeep?

Kung madami lang FX, e wala! JEEP tayo!

35. Sing or dance?

O sige, Partida! Sing and Dance!(Simple follow cannot Instruction!)

36. Church or garden wedding?

Gusto ko sa barko ikasal eh, o kaya sa tangke, o kaya sa eroplano! sayang wala sa choice!

Two boys were placed in a room, one of them was blindfolded. They were given two boxes full of folded papers where their prize are written. The boy who is not blindfolded was to pick first. He was able to pick a grocery package. The other one who is blindfolded, placed his hand in the box, then held on to a piece of paper allowing him to win a round trip for two to Manila.

See the difference?

Whatever choice you made, decisions you take. Some of it are influenced by our past experiences. We always tend to look back before making any steps for our future. It's a good thing that we are learning from those. But remember we are also changing, Our personality a year ago may be different from what we are now.

The Quest for the SAN MIG Bucket!

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:36:00 +0000

After 8 hours of pure determination, concentration, focus, perseverance, hard work and pretention. I joined my officemates for a Friday night out. We ate first, I had the taste of the very special Beef Steak that was prepared by a not well-known cook. But it was very good! Way beyond the usual taste of any Beef Steak at Jolly Jeep or at any other fast food.

After eating, we settled down and prepared ourselves for a drinking session. After a few minutes of successfully digesting some of the food we finally decided to go to our destination, The Sizzling Stop. We rode a CRV on our way to it but unfortunately for me, I hurt my head while trying to board on it, I did not notice the ceiling of the parking lot was not that high, for short "tatanga-tanga".

After a few minutes of enduring the pain and letting it subside. We finally arrived at the Sizzling Stop. It was very surprising that the place was not that congested considering it was Friday night. We ordered their very tempting promo, 15 bottles of beer + 2 Sisig for only 525 Pesos, which is very affordable. We then ordered 15 bottles of Coors beer. They even told us a trivia that the mountain(the design at the back of the bottle) is changing it's color depending upon the temperature. They showed us that the mountain will turn into color blue and it did! (claps hands)

While waiting, we watched NBA Basketball that is being shown on their television. After a few minutes of waiting. We were amazed of how beautiful the buckets were. We were welcomed by two gorgeous buckets, one is the Coors bucket and the other one, the SAN MIG bucket. As usual, one of my officemates, who likes having a little momento on every place that "she" has beeen turned his attention on that very attractive bucket.

She even dared me to ask the waiters or shall I say the waitress if we could take home with us the "SAN MIG" bucket. An opportunity came, I asked one the waiter, I'm sorry, the waitress if I could take the SAN MIG BUCKET with us. "O sige po sir! Itatanong ko po sa manager namin". It somehow gave light and hope to us.

After a few more hours of pouring alcohol and repleneshing our lost energy with the aid of sisig. Jen lost his patience and decided to talk directly to the store manager. He told the manager about the bucket. "Pasensiya na po, konti pa lang po kasi bucket namen eh. Pero balikan niyo na lang po next week" replied by the store manager. Then they offered us two jigger shots of vodka instead, so us not to make us frustrated.

We finally decided to call it a day, we went back to one of our officemates place for us to pick up our things. We all went home thinking about our bucket that we expect to have on our next visit.

The Kingdom of PeeGees Strikes Back: OODY'S INVATION

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:30:00 +0000

The pressure continues to live on as Lorenz watch every single treat pass by. After the very surprising treat by Niko, followed by Rein, then by Jayson 2. It was Paul's turn to show Lorenz how to follow the tradition.

Immediately after checking their emails on MSOutlook about the lunch out, winks and evil grins spread throughout. A law was immediately passed on by messengers refraining the whole kingdom from ordering their favorite lunch sponsored by JollyJeep(Bida ang Saya) and the newly discovered land of spices, The Garden. Good thing for one of the Knights because he sent a text message to the prince and asked a favor to order him lunch. The prince immediately informed him that there was a temporary restraining order regarding the ordering of lunch and instead informed him where the celebration would be held.

Everyone was busy doing their tasks and preparing themselves for another extravagant celebration. Everyone was so focused on their work hoping they would get very hungry in anticipation of the upcoming event. They wanted to make sure that there would be plenty of space for food. At last, the moment that the Kingdom has been waiting for has come.

At exactly 12 noon, Paul (the birthday celebrant) went out of his office and informed everyone to be ready to leave at once (cheers and chants were heard). Everyone was nervously locking their laptops, fixing their things and making the final touches. Excitement and anticipation filled the air.

The Kingdom started their very long journey along the very familiar Paseo de Roxas and battled their way through the crowded GreenBelt. They passed by MASAS, still having the "THE KINGDOM OF PEEGEES WAS HERE" banner on it's front door as their way of attracting customers. Then at last to OODY's, to the surprise of the whole kingdom, a knight was already there standing through its heavenly gates waiting for us as if he was surveying and scouting the area.

We entered OODY's and on their very historical wall we sprayed "THE KINGDOM OF PEEGEES WAS HERE!" signed by the birthday celebrant with its special guest, the Queen.

We immediately sat down after the vandalism ceremony. Girls sat separately from the boys as ordered by the very strict Queen because of the very loud rumors regarding a blossoming loveteam. Who wouldn't know about it.

We ordered drinks first, most of the knights ordered the bottomless Pandan Iced Tea that contributed to the dismay of others. "Parang sago lang na binebenta na tiglilimang piso" Commented by one of the Knights. Then we ordered food. Chicken, BBQ, Liempo, Shrimp, Squid and the Fish Fillet overwhelmed much of the Knights for it's superbly amazing taste. It didn't even last for 10 mins. To the surprise of many, the amount of Rice that was served went way beyond expectations considering the Rice crisis the Philippines is experiencing. Many encountered difficulties in finishing it. But of course, just like on movie films Protagonist always wins.

After the very stomach-filling and breath-taking lunch, we settled down for a while. Hoping that our digestive system could do the rest because we really did our best in eating.

We left the tribe of OODY's full and satisfied. Thanks for that wonderful treat and thanks for being a good example to Lorenz.

Boston visits Heat,Battle for position in a tight playoff spot

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:02:00 +0000

Caloocan 9th Ave. - Holding a 3-1 record, Boston will try to jockey for position as playoffs is just around the corner. With Madcats in front with a 4-1 record tied with F.Roxas. Boston will try to battle for a very rare triple tie for the number 1 spot.

"Iba ang feeling kapag number ka pagpasok ng playoffs. Talagang kelangan naming makuha tong larong ito." Coach Arnie Sermino commented right after Boston's practice last wednesday night. With the odds going against them, their 6'4" center Reid will likely miss the game with a sore right hand. He suffered it after a street riot(nak ng, nakipagrambulan pa kasi eh) he encountered at around 2 am yesterday.

We were able to interview the team's leading scorer PJ and asked for his comments about their situation coming into tonights game. "Malaking kawalang yun, malalaki ang kalaban mamya. Ayaw namin na magkaron ng rason pag natalo kami. Laban kung laban pa din." Boston will likely be shorthanded for tonights game against the Heat.

"Naku, wala na nga kayong malaki lulutuin pa kayo mamya!" We heard this from a Boston fan. That added to the free falling confidence of the whole team. Reports said that one of the players of Heat is a member of Caloocan Police and most likely will use his influence on the two referees. It will be another 5 vs 7 on the court for the lowly Boston. Heat will really try to grab this game, they have a shot to be the number 4 spot holding a 2-2 record tied with WakWak. It's really a tight race going into the playoffs and every game really counts.

Expect for a very tight and highly contested game later as BTV(Bisyo TV) covers the game Live at 7pm. Tickets are still available at the courtside venue. Hurry, you don't want to miss this game.

The Kingdom of PeeGees meets JP Rizal

noreply@blogger.com (Mac) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 09:46:00 +0000

Marketing gimmiks? Creative Advertisements? Mind Boggling Promotions? Move over guys! I'd like to introduce a new Marketing style authored by the famous JP Rizal.

We went to the beach and had the pleasure of experiencing the waters of Morong Bataan. The group were together near the shore, telling stories of oooppppsss... (boys talk!, i might jeopardize any future plans regarding it) anyway, we were having a very fruitful and meaningful conversation. Funny ideas and jokes came around also (you know, typical boys talk). We were in the middle of our very inspiring conversation suddenly this guys were coming near us. They did not look suspicious, they were wearing goggles and they were pretty good in swimming.

There came along their sales talk(follow the story closely marketing pips). The one wearing the goggles suddenly looked for fishes near us. Fortunately for him, he was able to find one. "Ayun isda! anlaki oh. Ganito(tila baga dinadangkal ni manong sa kanyang mga kamay)" .He was amazed of what he saw and eventually his friend moved towards him to see if there was really a fish. "OO nga noh!" (wika ng kasama niya). What they saw raised the curiosity of the group. Leo even borrowed the goggles to see for himself. He was surprised to see the fish!

More sales talk happened. "Madaming malalaki sa may bandang gitna" (hirit ni manong). "Mura lang yun pag samin kayo kumuha, kumpara pag sa palengke pa kayo bibili" (ayun na, nagsisimula na!). For the sake of the kwentong "barbero", we asked how much per kilo if we are going to buy from him. "Meron pa nga po kaming lobster sir! mura lang din kung mag-iinuman kayo"(kita niyo na, mga mukha tayong manginginom, inuman agad inisip) We became furious for we thought for a while that drinks were not allowed in the resort. We asked that guy if what we are thinking was true. "Manong, bawal ba alak dito?"(tanong ng isa naming kasamahan) "Pwede yan basta ako nagpasok, Kilala naman ako dito eh" (CONFIDENT! Bravo!)

Good for us we did not fall into the trap. We asked how much will it cost to have a case of beer, he anwered "300 lang sir" (Confident na naman! eh hello mga manginginom ata to, lam nila magkano sang case!). From then on, we knew he was just doing his style of what we call "sales talk". We were kind enough to ask for his name. "Manong anong pangalan niyo" (tanong ni marvin), "JP po" (sagot ni Manong), "JP Rizal!" (malakas na dugtong ni Leon). From then on, he was called JP Rizal. Thanks to Leon for that wonderful idea he gave us.

We started drinking beer, tequila and vodka at around 9pm. Of course we were right about the price of the beer. It is allowed in the resort and it costs us a lot less than what JPRizal offered.

Morning came and we planned on taking a boat to the next island where they say there is a white sand. To our surprise we saw JP, whew, he's an all around salesman. From seafoods, to beer and up to boat rentals. Nice try dude but better luck next time!