7 Reasons Why I Haven't Been Blogging Recently

7. PLAY: It's October! Daming Octoberfest gimiks!

6. FRIENDS: Been very busy with coaching and coercing MJ on her first official blind date! Wahoo, it's the end of the world!

5. LIFE: Badminton. The Shell Chairman's Cup is upcoming, and I'm sort of re-training.

4. LIFE: Gym. I had to shave off those pounds that I'm gaining in the wrong places because of all the business trips and company-sponsored lunches/dinners.

3. WORK: Short-staffed. Several of my colleagues are on business-travel recently, so I had to cover for some of them.

2. WORK: Review review review. I personally want to make sure that I understand all the premises in the 1+ billion-dollar-project that I'm participating in.

1. PLAY: This is called an XBOX LIVE gamertag. =) As of Oct 14 2006, I'm part of the XBOX LIVE community.

Rainy Day Thoughts

I was thinking, what do people need on a rainy day?

Something to keep them warm and dry
and something for them to indulge in,
Maybe something to let idle moments pass by
and something perhaps that's good for cuddling?

Something perhaps that elicit smiles
or something that could make them cry in surprise?

It's raining today, so I wonder
will I get any of these when the shower's over?

Or will it just rain forever?

=)

You're So Special

Mad was right. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed, banks announced bank holdiays, and about 11 million people had dinner by candlelight last night.

What a way to celebrate your birthday!

Since you love the rain so much, nature decided to let everyone in the mainland experience rain. =)

Belated happy birthday greetings, Ube!

What's On My Mind

It's not super-dry beer.

LEADERSHIP vs AUTHORITY

In my mental dictionary, leadership is the quality to influence people's actions, thoughts and behavior towards a set goal or vision. Authority is a power of rank to dictate one's expectations and actions to an individual or group of individuals.

What I look for in my workplace's management team is leadership, not authority. It seems that recently, most of them have lost their sense of leadership because one has decided to exercise authority, in my opinion, frivolously.

Senior colleagues at work whom I looked up to before as role models seems to have lost their balls. Their sense of leadership is only one of the few things that make me look forward to working every day and under current circumstances, it's in dire need of a defibrillator. Or a Doctor Frankenstein.


CAR PROBLEMS

Speaking of Doctor Frankenstein, my car decided to play dead on me last Thursday night. I arrived at a new bar in Batangas (San Mig Station, quite a good place) and as soon as I turned off the engine, there was no juice! No courtesy lights, no cabin lights, no indicator lights at the dashboard. Fortunately, Ferdie and Jun Z. were around and did some tweaking here and there. Soon, we got lights back on the car.

On Friday night while stuck in traffic along EDSA, my car almost stalled on me. Got scared at that point.

On Saturday morning, I stripped off the car battery, cleaned all the contacts and re-installed everything. The cause of my problems: a loose connection on my electrical system's grounding.


PERSONAL TIME
After three weeks of absence from the gym (because of business travel and an injury to my left hand), I dropped by at Ponte Fino on Saturday night. I've gained about 3 pounds from my business travels, so I hit the treadmill and stationary bike for half-an-hour each. After that I did 45 reps each of cruches, leg raises and oblique twists for my midsection and proceeded with 45 reps each for leg curls, dumbbell squats, calf-raises and fisherman's walk.

When I got back to my pad, I rested a bit and decided to take a very long hot shower. Feeling the need for relaxation, I turned off all the lights, lit some candles in my bathroom and turned on my iPod to play acoustic music. For over an hour, I did a body scrub, foot soak, shampooed and conditioned my hair and rinsed.


XBOX 360

To buy or not to buy, that is the question. And the answer is: I'm buying an XBOX-360 next week. Wahooo!

I'm ditching PC-gaming (and probably retire my PS2-gaming) in favor of the XBOX-360 and its LIVE capability. I miss the days when video games had to be played cooperatively or against another human being --- playing with/against the A.I. is too anti-social.

The irony in this is I'm getting an XBOX-360 to socialize my video gaming world at the expense of my social life. =)


...ad infinitum

1) I lost a couple of bets to Rhichie two weeks ago, so I owe him dinner AND a venti coffee frappe. I need to invite another guy or girl for this, lest the two of us might be mistaken for a couple of males on a date.
2) Emer, Jherae, and others (colleagues at work) in their band group will be performing at a local bar here this coming Wednesday.
3) Marijo, Blossom and Kat will be taking up street-dancing lessons next month.
4) Tin and Buddy are attending boxing classes, in preparation for their upcoming wedding (intended for physical fitness and for Tin to be in shape for her wedding dress fitting, but the skills can also be used when they're already married hehe...)
5) Maqui: Happy birthday! Ninong will take you out this Saturday for toy shopping. Then ninong and your dad will go drinking in the evening.
6) Marge is due to give birth on the last week of October.

U'd be happy to know that...

I gave in to my personal whims.

It was raining heavily in Kuala Lumpur tonight when I checked out of the office.
Taxis were scarce.
The hotel where I'm staying at is a 20-minute walk.
I didn't have an umbrella.
So guess what?

I walked in the rain. Dressed in business attire. With an occasional jig here and there. =)

Half an hour later, I was inside the hotel lobby with my shirt all wet.

Happy rainy Thursday!

P.S.

I'd dare you that you the same. =)

Pseudo-SGSI

People here at the Kuala Lumpur office of Shell Global Solutions are saying that if I can survive my two-week stint with them, it would be a great achievement for me.

I flew here last Tuesday to join the project group and assist in making the Basis of Design for one of the project's key areas. You see, we're trying to design a new refinery. Actually, just a preliminary design and scope. In half the time that is normally required.

Normally, a 6-month time frame is needed for the preliminary design of a refinery. But since SGS is a service-provider, and their client wants the preliminary design in 3 months.

This week, I've been pushing 12-14 hours of work. Technical work. Very technical work. Very technical geeky work. The type of work that I need to make use of all sort of charts and graphs and do engineering calculations and triple-check everything. The type of work that requires me to visualize abstract concepts of flow across several piping routes to aid in solving a puzzle of logic. The type of work that requires me to test every sort of permutation in an array of equipment to make sure that it's economical but robust.

UGH!

But hell, I'm enjoying it despite the pain. I must be getting crazy.

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Something of a confidence booster for me (also gives me a good start in the morning):

Wout, the section head of the group I'm assisting, is about 25 years my senior. Every morning since Wednesday, he'd pass by my temporary desk and ask me smiling: "Are you sure you don't want to work for us here at Shell Global Solutions?"

Hahaha... thanks Wout. Now if only my company will release me to SGS...

---------------------------------

Benny, Erick and Ronn tagged me along for lunch at what they call a 'chipipay' food stall. It's a stall in an old building just across Petronas Towers. They serve food carinderia style. Hallelujah, there's pork!

The next day, Cris tagged me there for lunch. Hahaha... I don't mind.

Thursday night was dinner at Benny's place with Ronn and Lorelei, Erick and Cong, and Sam. Dyaske, andito lang din pala sa KL si Sam, hindi ko man lang alam. As usual, we talked about the inadequacies of Tabangao in terms of management and training. What's mentioned at that dinner table is best left there. Ngapala, Benny's pork binagoongan was good! After dinner we went to Hard Rock to escort Sam buy a Hard Rock shirt, and had a round of beer.

Friday, Cris and I were last to leave the office (Friday night, and we're still working). Cris suggested a break at around 730pm and have a quick bite to eat. We had dinner at a cafe outside of the building, and a 'kabayan' was our waiter. Very friendly and professional, but he knows when to be personal to us. Good food, good service, and a hearty discussion with Taga regarding the project and the career.

Much as I wouldn't like to admit it, I've enjoyed Cris' company and his mentorship. I wouldn't have thought of that situation years back when he was still with us in Tabangao. Benny's a superb mentor and great company too. But they are as different as a good book and a pistol, yet I enjoy both.

-----------------------

If this is life as SGSI, despite the hard stuff, I'm confident I can conquer AND enjoy it.

Need a Laugh?

The following in their virgin form (not corrected for grammar or spell-checked) are scribbled on the whiteboard at Julie and Maimai's office:

Yellow rule: Do not do unto others what you can't do.
Red rule: Do unto others, before they do it unto you.
Blue rule: You do not need to do unto others what they can do to themselves.

If things get tight, kelangan mo nang mag-diet.
..... If things get tight, sit next to a fatter ass and feel sexy.

If others can do it, don't help.

Ang ilog na tahimik ay malalim, ang ilog na maingay may naglalaba.

Oilyness is next to ugliness.

Kung maigsi ang kumot, punda yun.

What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger. RAAR!

Pag nahuli, wag aamin. Pag huling-huli na, mandamay.

J1: Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.
...... J2: BADING! Anong dancing?? Di ka marunong sumayaw!!
..........J3: Bakit ako ba ang tinutukoy ko? Baka ikaw ang bading? Iyakin pa!!!

Ahihihihi... I think there's a case of craziness inflicting my workplace. =)

Saturday Socials

The nature of my current work has deprived me substantially of socializing with my peers outside of the workplace. The last time I played airsoft was sometime in March, I think, at the Steel Mill. The last time I climbed at Power-up Pasig was October last year! My present life priorities are skewed and needs normalization. It's work first, followed by family, church, personal health, and lastly friends and leisure.

Despite my very tight schedule, I decided to make a day-trip to Manila (yiiii...me talking about 'day trips' to Manila is so low for me).

A. Climb at Power-up

Blossom and Kat gave me a default invitation to join them in their wall-climbing training for the month of September. I joined them yesterday and found myself a bit overwhelmed by Power-up Pasig. It's been almost a year since my last visit there. Kat tagged along her pamangkins and guy named Sam.

Dong was there too. Ha, he still remembers me from the days when I join up with Chie and Mad for the regular Tuesday climbs a year ago.

Anyway, I climbed walls 3 and 4 flawlessly, had a bit of difficulty at wall 5 (my pinky finger is still giving me grip problems), and traversed the whole length of the wall including the bouldering section. And I thought I wouldn't finish it, because my arms were already pumped towards the end of the afternoon.

Kat's endurance has very much improved, and her techniques have upped a level. Blos has also shown improvement but needs to focus more on twisting and weight shifting (or lose some weight hahaha -- just kidding, Blos).

B. Starbucks at Power Plant Mall

Blossom hitched a ride with me going to Power Plant Mall (well, I had to get a haircut at Bruno's Barbers anyway). She invited me to have coffee with her and I agreed.

We talked about furnishing her pad, Marijo's sluggish lovelife, siblings Chard and Mond, and her and Kat's plans to study street dancing versus Marijo's preference for ballroom dancing.

We parted after our coffee socials. On my way to Bruno's, I met Tito Gabs (Papa Hondo) of RBG at the escalator. We exchanged warm handshakes when we were both level at our opposite escalators. RBG was having a team dinner at Dencio's.

C. TMS Dinner at Saisaki

The most 'cozy' team dinner I've attended, it was a night of revelations. Hahaha.

It was just Nikko, Dee, Kara and Mikko at Saisaki G3 when I arrived. And I was 40 minutes late even!

I haven't seen Kara since our team's Christmas party at their residence. She's still the same bad-ass girl I know, sporting her trademark Gothic fashion. She's the only girl I know personally who's comfortable with the Gothic look, and has the attitude to look good in it (probably I've been watching too much anime lately hahaha).

Nikko and Dee are looking more and more as a couple. Blooming people. Niks needs to go on a diet really soon; their wedding date is near already and the pictures won't look that great if his tummy shows. =D

Mikko is still the funny man. As usual, he's got plenty of stories to tell. He's so good at telling stories that sometimes I find myself at a doubt -- whether or not to believe his narrative -- when he's telling something serious.

And the revelations? I'll have to be cryptic about it. Hehehe.

1) "It's because our schedules won't match."
2) "The 'It's not you, it's me' speech is actually good, but because of the movies it now seems lame."
3) "Number two."
4) "Custody-battle for a 10-month old..."
5) "May sinapak akong lalake..."



Tin and Buddy joined us late in the night.
Anyway, hanging out with TMS was a welcome thing for me. Sa uulitin.

Fishyfishy Chronicles 24531: The Davao Incidents

Sorry for the late post. Doing so many things at the office recently. Photo attachments to be done later.

--------------------------

Hayaaaa... Fishyfishy availed of the 10-peso flights from Cebu Pacific and we were lucky to get travel dates for Davao's Kadayawan Festival (Festival of Festivals). For 4 days, I, Richard, Marijo, Tin and Buddy checked out what Davao has to offer at its peak tourist season.

Well, yun yung official 'reason' nung trip. But underneath that, the trip in itself is another junket session to (1) humorously torture Marijo and (2) get to know Buddy better (aba! eh pakakasalan nya si Tinters next year so kelangan ma-scrutinize siya ng malapitan at matagalan!).

If this were a traveler's diary, I'd simply say that we:
1) Spent the first two nights at the Marco Polo hotel
2) Dinner in Davao City's street party scene(which looks more like an open-air booze-and-barbeque tiangge)
3) Went to Paradise resort for a day at the beach
4) Went white-water rafting
5) Watched the Kadayawan festival dancing
6) Shopping for souvenirs and durian
7) Spent one night at Eden Nature park

But there's nothing exciting in that, right?

So here's a list of the exciting and memorable incidents.

1. As usual, the group sticked together --- nasa isang hotel room lang kaya kaming 5 (officially checked-in 3, yung 2 itinakas!). May target budget kasi for the trip e. So everybody had to bear with MJ's no-lights policy, hilik ni Stip at kakulitan ni Chard. Si Tin and Buddy... hmmm... wala e, ang tahimik nila. *hehe*

2. Eating durian is an acquired taste. Eto proof. Does it look like that we're saying 'yummy, ang sarap ng durian!'?



3. Football catching at the beach (Paradise resort). Okay sana, except nag-fumble si Stip on one of Chard's throws. Ayun, he got his finger forked. Kelangan tuloy i-splint yung pinky finger nya.

4. White-water rafting! Enjoy kami sobra! It's an exciting activity. Buddy, Chard and Stip also went drifting. At the last section of the rapids, they were 'encouraged' to get off the raft and drift in the last section of the rapids with just their lifevests and helmets on. Safe naman daw e. End-result: lahat sila maraming nainom na tubig, got near-death experiences (that almost-drowning-and-i-can't-hold-my-breath-underwater-any-longer trauma), bumped into rocks underwater, that washing-machine-tumble-dry feeling. The three boys agreed that it was exciting but doing it once in their lifetime is good enough for them.

Question: Sino sa kanila ang naiiba at bakit? :D



5. Kadayawan Festival. The street dance performers were very entertaining. Daming pa-cute na kuha si MJ and Tin with the dancers.

6. Shopping at Aldevinco. We bought a lot of shirts. And, magaling pumili si MJ ng blouses para sa mga nanay nila Chard and Stip. (Actually, si MJ yung pinapasukat nung mga blouse --- so mala-mommy pala yung appeal/projection ni MJ).

7. Kwentuhan sa Eden Park. Spent the night there. Over beer, pringles and snickers, we got to know everyone better specially MJ (tungkol sa automatic rejection nya sa mga suitors nya) and Buddy.

8. Fishy-fishy goes fishing. Ni-science ni Stip yung fishing dahil sya yung unang nakahuli ng isda using worm bait lang (no aid of fish food pellets while fishing). Chard insists na chamba lang daw yun. Hahaha.

Davao's been fun. Have to do that again in the future, or something like that.

-------------------------------------------

OUr official travel itinerary: 2 nights booking at Marco Polo hotel, 1 night booking at Eden Nature Park, day trip to Paradise Beach resort, dinners at the following places: Kaan Dawet, Inihaw sa Flyover, white water rafting (jump-off fro Crocodile farm), shopping at Aldevinco, durian hunting at Magsaysay, watch Kadayawan at Roxas avenue.

Climbing with the Charmed Ones

Blossom invited me to join her, Val, Kat and Agnes in wall-climbing at Play Underground in Power Plant Mall last Saturday. I met them at three in the afternoon.

Here's my assessment of their climbing skills:

Kat: Has highest potential. She managed to do some twists (I think it comes naturally to her), and almost conquered her first overhang. And her competitive nature is a plus.

Blos: Okay for a beginner. She knows how to shift her weight and use that to get a better hold. She also has some of the basics right (see Val).

Val: She has the basics right. She extends her arms fully and at least one of her legs. Both Val and Blos breezed through the beginner walls.

Agnes: The ultimate beginner! Hehe... Okay, Agnes needs to avoid being in a squat position while climbing (hence her legs become shaky). She also has the tendency to lean into the wall (trying to keep her body as close to the wall as possible) which is a bit demanding to the forearms. Lastly, she settles in grabbing the next nearest hold (when there are better holds a bit farther off) and rarely tries to extend her arms fully.

As for me, I was really surprised in discovering that I managed to climb on my first attempts walls number 5 and 6 (intermediate) with ease. Wall number 5 had an overhang, while wall number 6 had a negative gradient. At least my climbing skills haven't disappeared yet despite my 10-month absence from the wall-climbing scene.

Anyway, I had fun with you girls! Hoping that there's a next time! =)

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After the climg, we rested a 'bit' at Starbucks and the girls grilled me on my lovelife. Hahaha!

Getting My Blood Boiling

A high school acquaintance of mine recently contacted me insisting on meeting up with me. Honestly, I don't know him with enough familiarity so I naturally have some hesitation on his request.

I found out from some of my friends that he's been asking almost everyone for money, even small amounts will do. Most (if not all) of them declined, citing financial obligations and their personal fiscal statuses. And none of them were able to elicit information from him on the purpose of his money-borrowing spree.

Anyway, when he contacted me last Friday night via SMS, I asked him blatantly what's the money for. I told him to lay out his cards and that there's no sense in giving me vague stories.

And the only thing he told me is that he needed the money to (1) avoid a court hearing and (2) finance his niece's education. He was hoping to meet up with me to help him out and discuss a payment scheme, granting that I'll agree to it.

That got me thinking and my blood boiling.

Charity is a virtue, but helping out someone on his fiscal problems due to his personal/business activities does not merit charity. I believe in the saying that 'you reap what you sow'. I deduced that he must have involved himself in some 'get-rich-quick' scheme (which I very much disapprove of) like those multi-level marketing scams.

But his is a business proposition. Too bad that I have an occassional business frame-of-mind.

If he's resorted to borrowing from friends (and to some people that he doesn't know well), then clearly his credit is already bad that formal credit institutions are not keen on providing him credit.

The fact that he's soon to be undergoing litigation also points out that his fiscal problems have been around for quite some time. And I presume that it must involve a fairly large amount in order for it to be presented for litigation. Under these circumstances, a gentleman's agreement will not suffice. Business controls will need to be set-up and observed.

How much does he need?
How much does he owe?
How much does he regularly earn?
How much does he regularly spends?
What payment scheme do you propose?
Will you agree to surrendering all your financial controls to another person so they can monitor and control your financial activity?
Will you agree to meeting with your creditors once every two months to update them on your financial status and capability?
...
..
.
and so on and so forth.

And using his niece as an excuse is very lame.

He'll need to pass through a needle's eye before I lend him any amount.

Again, the reason for all these scrutiny on my part is that he's just an acquaintance.

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If there's one thing I hate, it's those pesky telemarketers who are very insistent despite me politely declining to whatever promo or product they are pushing. I understand that everyone has to make a decent and honorable living, but everyone has to have some sort of respect to whomever they're dealing with.

So after burning out my limited patience nowadays, I thought I'd give them a lesson.

Last week for five straight days I've been receiving calls at my mobile phone AND my office phone AND my residential phone from telemarketers (let's see, their names are Nicole, Samantha, Rachelle, Grace and Angie so far). Suppossedly I won a 2-night-3-day stay at any of the Days Hotel. All I needed to do was just go to a nearby Days Hotel and attend a product presentation for 90 minutes. No financial obligations for the prize, they added.

I politely declined, saying that I'm not interested and that my schedule has been very busy with work recently. They'll probe and probe, and I'll say that I'm not really interested. Finally, I'll manage to say 'Goodbye and thanks'. I thought that was the end of it.

But nope, another telemarketer would ring my mobile a couple of hours later and we'll go through the same routine again.

And then another one would call my office phone and repeat the process.

And they repeated everything the following day.

By Friday, I was already pissed off that I decided to spend my lunch break by surprising them. I trooped over to Days Hotel in Batangas. Boy, I've got everything ready. I was actually pumped up in delivering an ultimatum to them.

"Hi Sir, what I may do for you?"

"My name is Stephen Cruz. I'm here for the product presentation that your telemarketers have informed me about."

"Right this way, sir."

I was directed to a function room full of people, tables arranged in such a way that there's one agent for each prospective customer. Some tables were already midway the presentations.

"Hi Sir. I'm Samantha and I'll be orienting you on our product offer. blah blah blah blah.... Before we begin, is there something you'd like to ask?"

Bingo. That's the opening that I was waiting for.

"Now that you mentioned it," I stood up and said in a loud voice, "I have a brief announcement to make."

"The only reason why I came here is that for the last 4 days, I've been spending nearly an hour every day on the phone talking with one of your telemarketers. I have politely indicated that I am not interested in your product or service that you're offering. Despite that, they'll still call the following day and we'll go through the same routine again."

"Seeing that your telemarketers seem not to understand the meaning of the word 'NO', I am here in person to say that I am clearly not interested in your product or service. Am I clear?"

No reaction from Samantha. Her mouth was hanging a bit.

"Can I talk to the manager?"

Manager whatsisname raised his hand in acknowledgment.

"Sir, as manager, I suppose that you're capable of understanding what I mentioned earlier."

"I understand, sir."

"Thank you. And if any of your telemarketers call me again, I will personally talk with the hotel's manager and express my dissatisfaction with the operations that you're conducting. Shame on them for partnering with your group which currently rates zero in terms of customer service. I hope there are no questions for I have no intentions of entertaining them."

Saying that, I walked out. Smiling.

And so far, I haven't received any phone call from them.

ANNOUNCEMENT

I am pleased to announce that Glenn Pamplona

-- rotating engineer, casanova-in-disguise (like a wolf in sheep's clothing), armchair warrior, diver-in-hibernation, occasional athlete, movie addict (including those cheesy Tagalog movies that go well with popcorn) and football fanatic --

is now 30 years old.

With regards to Glennski's future plans on the termination of his bachelorhood, that will be the subject of a separate announcement. Hehehe.. =)

Happy birthday bro!