Stressed yet?

A new thought on the idea of "Stress". It's not rocket science. Most people, including myself, think that to relieve stress you should go on a vacation, free your mind off of work, watch a movie every week, and so on, and so forth.

We cannot just go to our "little place" every time we're stressed. In my case, if I would task myself to go to Hong Kong each time I feel stressed then 1, I would be out of a job and 2, I would be broke-ass poor.

My sister, Chezka, said something last night over dinner that really made sense; She quoted it off a doctor she and Jay have been visiting. What we do not realize is it's not the work that causes the stress but the decision to make that stress-stimulant affect you.

A trick to make a stress-stimulant not affect you is PREPARATION. Never wait for the last minute.

In one of the Management training courses I've attended, it was discussed that our everyday tasks and duties can be categorized in 4 quadrants:
Q1: Important and Immediate
Q2: Important yet Not Immediate
Q3: Not Important yet Immediate
Q4: Not Important and Not Immediate

These 4 quadrants and how you use them when categorizing your daily tasks can and will define you as a person. In a perfect world, we would want to have all of our tasks categorized under Quadrant 2 yet we know that it is never always the case.

Think about it, if we keep on procrastinating, then we will be stuck at Quadrant 1 forever.

Try using this table when doing your daily tasks and see if this makes any form of improvement.

Domain Shopping

To date, I have purhcased 5 domain names:
www.pedeliandbarkley.com (business)
www.citygatecm.com (church)
www.shekinahctc.com (alma mater)
www.eboybautista.com (personal)
www.ebzster.com (personal)

Finding the urge to get one was just an accident. A few months back I was selling C2 Green Tea to the employees of Sykes Asia, Inc for a good price. I wanted to get the prices lower so I decided to look at the Universal Robina website to inquire if it is possible. Instead, it brought me to the employees' webmail page of UR. To my surprise, it was powered by Google Apps.

Upon research, it turns out that Google gives out free mail, document, and calendar hosting to people. If you have a domain name, you can sign up with them. If you don't have one yet, you can buy directly from them and sign in automatically with Google Apps.

Jay said that $10.00 for a domain name is pretty expensive because he knows of cheaper alternatives but I didn't care. Google is Google and the free service, you cannot get that anywhere else (as far as I know).

So it started with my company. Then with my Church, Then with my school, then I bought two for myself. Jay said that it is better that way than eventually having someone else buy it ahead of you.

Will this end? I hope not... hehehe... as of this writing, I am already thinking of buying two more... Habang mura pa ang dolyar...

Questions about Google Apps? Go to http://www.google.com/a/...

Wishlist...Re-revisited

I took a look at my posts and found out that my Wishlist needs to be updated, again...

1. An Apple Airport Extreme. (para maging Wireless hotspot bahay ko... pang Wii, PSP, at Laptops ni Jay at ni Chez)
2. An Apple iPod Classic, 120GB
3. An XBOX 360 Elite Edition Console
4. A second (3rd or even 4th) Samsung Syncmaster 225BW LCD Monitor
5. A Canon EOS 450D (Or Rebel XSi).

So here it is:
1. An Apple Airport Extreme. (para maging Wireless hotspot bahay ko... pang Wii, PSP, at Laptops ni Jay at ni Chez) <- well, Chezka and Jay moved out BUT my mom wants to have a laptop and I'm saving up to get a MacBook so this still stands. 2. An Apple iPod Classic, 120GB <- though my 60GB is still alive and still has sh*tloads of space left. So this is not a priority. 3. An XBOX 360 Elite Edition Console <- I'm happy with my Wii so this goes off the list. 4. A second (3rd or even 4th) Samsung Syncmaster 225BW LCD Monitor. <- My videocard can support up to 4 displays so why not get the most out of it, right? 5. A Canon EOS 450D (Or Rebel XSi). <- I already got this last Christmas.. YEAH BOI!!!

12 Workplace Phrases You Probably Don't Know ... But Should

By Christine Lambden and Casey Conner, authors of "Everyday Practices of Extraordinary Consultants" msn.careerbuilder.com


Getting along with people sometimes requires speaking their language, especially in the workplace. One of the ways employees try to emphasize their smartness is with specialized vocabulary.

Due to the nature of a lot of people's work, technical language and terminology is often necessary, but buzzwords can make you sound pretentious. On the other hand, if you are working on a team full of buzzword-addicted co-workers, you'll need to fit in. Learning and properly using the latest buzzwords and TLAs ( three-letter abbreviations) can help you create high-bandwidth communication with your colleagues.

Here are 12 of today's hottest workplace phrases:
Boil the ocean
Definition: The scope is too big to do in one project. Break it up into more than one. We often hear, "We're not trying to boil the ocean here. We just need to," when the client is trying to keep costs down and avoid an overly ambitious project scope.

Drink the Kool-Aid
Definition: To enthusiastically perform a task or follow a leader without knowing how this may affect you or to buy the "company line" without question. In business, you may hear someone say, "He drank the Kool-Aid," when he means, "He has been thoroughly trained in the program and we have his unconditional support," or "He is on board with our strategy." In political commentary, it is used to imply that people who disagree with you have been brainwashed or are under the influence of drugs.

Going native
Definition: This is what happens when a consultant stops acting like a consultant and starts thinking he is part of the client organization. If you aren't willing to go somewhere else, go ahead and apply for a permanent job. You aren't providing the same value you were in the beginning.

Greenfield instance
Definition: Clean, new installation of an application without customizations, configuration or data. When a brand-new application is installed, it is a "greenfield instance" until the consultants and programmers go in and start messing it up with configurations and code changes.

Holistic
Definition: A big-picture view or a solution that includes upstream and downstream impacts. Whatever it means, it's a great consulting word and we use it a lot.
Paradigm Definition: The perspective or view you have of a situation. For example, "When ownership of our order fulfillment project moved from operations to sales, it caused a paradigm shift that resulted in a whole new project strategy and approach."

Running in parallel
Definition: Processing normal operating data through two systems simultaneously to compare performance and output. When a client is feeling particularly paranoid about a new system that his consultants have developed or implemented, even after exhaustive testing and training, we will sometimes recommend running the new system in parallel with the old for a short period.

Straw man
Definition: First draft of a solution or proposal intended to provoke discussion. It is an object, document, person or argument that temporarily stands in for and is intended to be "knocked down" by something more substantial.

Talking to the dog
Definition: Thinking it through by talking it through out loud. You'll often hear engineers and programmers say that they finally solved a problem by talking to the dog.

Use case
Definition: A particular circumstance or situation in which the solution would be used. For example, when designing a system, the engineer will refer to all the use cases that have been documented to determine if his solution would be effective in each situation.

White paper
Definition: An authoritative report or guide published to share technical or business information, particularly related to solving common problems. Writing white papers is a great way for consultants to get exposure in their industry and develop a reputation for expertise.

Wireframe
Definition: Simple pictures that show a proposed user interface, often used by business analysts to communicate expectations to users and developers.

The "I" and "ME" Confusion

We get this so often.. I read this on social networking sites where they post dozens of pictures of them with someone else.. And then, tragedy strikes... They post the comment... "Sam and I".. Huwat!!!???? Yeah, yeah.. back in high school we were taught to use I when joining it with another noun or pronoun and "AND" but the lesson does not just end there.

The concept of a conjunction is to join two of the similar idea. Case and point.
He and I are going to the beach. (correct)
Separate the two:
He is going to the beach.
I am going to the beach.

This was written by John and I. (incorrect)
Separate the two:
This was written by John.
This was written by I (?!?!?!)
You'd, then, write it this way:
This was written by ME.
ergo.. the sentence would then become:
This was written by John and me.

Think about it... it's a peeve of mine and it starts to get irritating when you a whole lot of people doing it.

Same as for comments under pictures... It's not "___ and I" but, "___ and me."

Iobi visits Hong Kong (part 4)

Last week, my mom, Chez, Jay and I decided to go visit kuya Reggie and his family in Hong Kong. It's been a year and 5 months since I've been there and to tell you frankly, that last trip, though it has some good memories, was my dad's last trip before he died. So going there now kinda got me a little giddy; I honestly didn't know what to expect now that this trip didn't include dad.

I even asked my mom if it were going to be an emotional trip for me since I am the only family member left who hasn't been to Hong Kong after dad died. (Mom went there on Jinggay's graduation while Chezka and Jay spent their honeymoon there) So they, pretty much, know what to expect this time around.

Praise be to God that it wasn't that emotional for me. Yeah, every once in a while someone would blurt out, "I miss dad" but what can you do? Everybody did and does still miss dad.

But we managed to make this trip memorable. We went to Macau and stayed at the Venetian for measly pennies and went to Disneyland two days after. We had a blast in both places. Even though 75% of the Macau trip was spent walking around looking for restaurants and our room, it was so worth it.

Disneyland naman we had to go through that place under the rain. That was the only day we could go so sumugod kami.

On both those trips, we thought of dad again and I told mom that at least now, he is resting and that mom is finally maximizing her vacation and having fun with us.

So overall, the trip was the bomb. Yeah, it would have been much better with dad around but God does know what is best and we could not go against that.

And I couldn't have wanted it any other way.

Remorse

I must be getting old. I easily get peeved at every little thing. The worse part is that my mind starts wandering off to different conclusions making me hate the person(s) eventually. Something as simple as texting or even calling someone over the phone. It burns me up not getting a reply from them but they would text you in a flash when they need something. Then when you try to text back after a few days, nada, ziltch.

It then gets to the point where I assume that these people don't want to talk to me because they don't see me as any kind of use anymore. Which then causes me not to like them and eventually hate them and delete them off my phonebook. Like the other day, I was speaking to one of the backup trainers at work who I've been texting for a while. When we were texting one day, she suddenly got to a certain tone that I didn't like. It was rude. I immediately deleted her number. Months passed and we saw each other at work. We said our pleasantries and she blurted out, "hindi ka na nagte-text ah.". My mind screamed, "BITCH!!!!!".

Then it's happening again to other friends. I don't like it one bit. I don't like being looked down at. I texted a friend about it and the following day, when we saw each other, she simply hugged me. What a relief. At least one less person to suspect and hate. hehe

It kinda reminds me of my other post about Success being the sweetest revenge.

Life goes on. ..

How Green Are You?

I got this off JR Jacinto's Facebook Profile. I just thought of sharing this with y'all:

1. ANONG ID NUMBER MO?
9437908 (Main), 9678484 (Benilde)

2. NAG-APPLY KA BA SA ATENEO?
Nope.

3. ANONG CAMPUS NG LASALLE ANG PINASUKAN MO?
DLSU-Manila

4. SAN KA KUMUHA NG ENTRANCE EXAM?
Sa DLSU

5. SINONG ORIENTOR MO? I don't remember basta bumubula gilid ng lips nya habang nagsasalita sya.

6. ANO ANG FIRST CHOICE MO NA COURSE?
Mass Comm (Yun lang alam kong course nun eh)

7. ANONG FROSH BLOCK MO?
EE75??

8. ANO COURSE NATAPOS MO?
BSBA-CA

9. NAG-SHIFT KA BA?
Yup. No choice

10. ILANG YEARS MO KINUHA COURSE MO?
3 years then 3 years sa Benilde. Ehehehe

11. CHINITO/CHINITA KA BA?
Chinito-chinito-han

12. MAY KA-BATCH KA BANG CELEBRITY?
Roselle Nava, Barbie Almabis

13. TUWING ANONG ARAW KA NAG-UULIT NG DAMIT? [para sa mga walang uniform na campus]
once a week. Lalo na kung Giordano Classic. Uso yun nun eh

14. NAKAPAG-DORM KA BA?
No. Pero tumambay ako sa dorn ng friend ko na may isang floppy disk syang puno ng GIF files (old school porn, baybee)

15. NAKA 4.0 KA BA?
Yes

16. NAGKA- 1.0?
Yes

17. LAGI KA BANG NANONOOD NG LIVE UAAP BASKETBALL GAMES?
Live sa TV. Lalo na yung huling Term ko when Aldeguer threw the final shot (hindi sa ring kundi sa crowd)

18. KILALA MO BA SI JENNY?
Jenny ng La Salle scandal?? heheh... oo

19. ALAM MO BA KUNG BAKIT GREEN ANG COLOR NG LA SALLE?
Kasi di bagay ang "Las Salle Blue Archers"?

20. NANGARAP KA BANG MAGING CUM LAUDE?
Pasa lang masya nako

21. KELAN KA NAGTAPOS?
Sa Benilde na, October 1999

22. FAVE PROF
Martin Ilao: "Hang on guys!" and Victor Gojoco

23. LEAST FAVE TEACHER:
Hector Cham!!!

24. FAVE SUBJECT:
Lahat ng Eng'g subjects na mas mataas grade ko kela Peter.

25. LEAST FAVE SUBJECT:
Chemistry 2. I took it thrise and still didn't pass the damn thing.

26. FAVE BUILDING:
wala

27. PABORITONG KAINAN SA LABAS NG CAMPUS:
Lumang Chowking (Before sya binili ng Jollibee foods)

28. TUMAMBAY KA NA BA SA UM?
Nung lumipat nako sa Benilde.

30. LAGI KA BA SA LIBRARY?
Yup.. sa CyberNook. Para magchat

31. VALID PA BA ANG ALUMNI CARD MO?
I didn't sign up

32. MAY CRUSH KA BA SA CAMPUS?
Oo naman.. Si Tine Sicangco (tama ba spelling??)

33. ANU-ANO ANG MGA NAGING PE MO?
Physical Fitness, Table-Tennis

34. SANG ORG KA ACTIVE?
DLSU Concert Band (NKA. Pops Orchestra), CORO (Sa Benilde)

35. SANTUGON O TAPAT?
SANTUGON!!

36. MEMORIZE MO BA ANG ALMA MATER SONG?
Oo naman. Tinakot ako ni Larry Mendoza nung Freshman ako eh. First day na first day going to school minimemorize ko Alma Mater.

37. FAVE TAMBAYAN?
Minanang tambayan sa tapat ng entrance ng College Canteen

38. TUMATAMBAY KA BA SA MAY AGNO?
Nope..

39. NAKAPAGLARO KA BA NG CHESS SA CHESS PLAZA?
No. Mababa IQ ko eh

40. NAHULI KA BA NI MANG JACK O NG D.O.?
Hindi. Kasaludo ko siya eh.

41. SAAN ANG PINAKAMASARAP NA SISIG?
Sa Kaibigan, Kolehiyo, at yung bar sa tapat ng Eng'g Gate.

42. NAG ROTC KA BA?
Oo naman. At naging Line Officer pa ako. Guidon Bearer ng Alpha Platoon!!

43. ANO ANG PABORITO MONG PAGKAIN SA DLSU?
Lamp Chops ni Ate Em sa Beach

44. NAIKOT MO NA BA ANG CAMPUS?
Yup. When it was half it's current size.

45. NA-STRANDED KA NA BA SA CAMPUS?
Di pa naman. Sumusugod kami nila Peter sa bagyo eh

46. ANO ANG PINAKAGRABENG PILA NA NARANASAN MO?
Enrollment

47. ANO MASASABI MO KAPAG SINASABI NG IBA NA "BOBO LASALLE"?
Bitter ka lang kasi di ka pumasa

48. SANG GATE KA MADALAS PUMASOK?
Eng'g Gate

49. MAY ALAM KA BANG CHEERS NG LASALLE?
Lahat pati sa Benilde

50. MASAYA KA BA SA DLSU?
Oo naman!

Thought Patterns

Things that I would want to have right now.

I wanna have the company I planned with Peter

I wanna have the shop I'm planning with Lia

I wanna put up a band with Rani, Nino, Leo, Pao Pangan, and Jay

I wanna write a comedy script for GMA7

I wanna star in that comedy spot with GMA7

I wanna produce an album for Nikki Gil

I wanna produce an album for my band

I wanna produce an album for Church

I wanna live on my own for a while and then have my mom live with me and my family

I wanna be in a place where people understand me... currently, that's not happening

Oh well...

A Random List of What I may really Want or Not Want

1. I wanna get closer to God.
2. I want a high paying day job. (not going below P30,000 net at least)
3. I wanna be a script writer for a witty comedy show for GMA7. (when I say witty I do not mean slapstick)
4. I wanna star in that comedy show for GMA7.
5. I want to put up all three businesses that I've been planning with Peter, Wowoo, and Paolo.
6. I want to put up a family business with Chezka and K. Reggie.
7. I want a laptop.. a MacBook Pro 17".
8. I want an Airport Extreme.
9. I want a 120GB iPod Classic.
10. I want a Canon EF Fisheye lens.
11. I wanna have $80,000,000.00.
12. I wanna get married in 2010.
13. I want a rockin' hard body.
14. Well... kahit mapayat nalang.
15. I wanna buy my mom a nice house in the South.
16. I wanna buy a 2-br Condo in Alabang where I can chill and have a family in.
17. I wanna buy a 2-br Condo in the Fort where I can rent it out and have my utility bills and other expenses paid off of it.
18. I wanna buy a 2-br Condo in Pasig for Chezka and Jay.
19. I wanna buy a 3-br Condo in Sucat for Kuya Reggie and his family.
20. I want a battery grip for my EOS 450D.
21. I want a 12Mbps Broadband speed. (not "up to 12" but, "12")
22. I wanna work in marketing.
23. I wanna work in advertising.
24. I wanna produce my own album.
25. I wanna work in music.
26. I wanna work in any Ayala-owned company. Not just because I want to, but because I know I can succeed.
27. I wanna work for Google.
28. I wanna work for Apple.
29. I wanna Palm Pre.
30. I wanna find "her".

E-Tools Must Haves...

Being on the net virtually everyday makes you try out tons of stuff, rejecting or deleting the ones you don't see the need or use anymore or simply holding on to something until you think you can suddenly let go of.

So I figured that in order to you to survive in the Internet, you should have these two accounts and you are set for life:

A Google Account and a Yahoo Account.

Yahoo has Flickr and YM. Google has a whole shebang of tools and applications that are useful when you need to do stuff: There's Gmail, YouTube, Picasa. I would rather hold on to Gmail than YMail. For one, YMail is pretty easy to hack into and Gmail gives you the chance to set your mail for IMAP; an option that Yahoo only reserves to its premium subscribers.

I figured that if you have at least these two, you are set to explore the web.

How about Hotmail/MSN/Live? Well, you can get Live Access with any non-MSN email address so why get an additional?

Yun lang... back to work...

Moody's Mood For Love - Take 6, Brian McKnight, Patti Austin

I so love this song. I heard this being sung by my cousin Joyce San Mateo. As in... You gotta love it.

RSVP

Répondez, s'il vous plaît... a french phrase which simply means "please reply". It is often printed and seen in invitations especially in Weddings or big formal events but a lot of us Filipinos do not fully understand the concept of RSVP.

I learned the idea way back in college when a friend asked me if I were going to his birthday. As for any other Filipino, you would immediately -- without batting an eyelash -- respond with, "of course" but often times forget or intentionally not go. Upon giving that response, the one who invited me, turned around and started going to each of our friends and ask the same thing. Some would say, "yes", others would beg off while others would give a straight, "no, I can't."

Peter, one of my good friends in college approached me and indirectly confirmed if I were really going to the party. Since it wasn't his party, I said, "I'm not sure, probably not." He scolded me and explained to me that when you tell someone that you are going, that person is expecting that you show up and on extreme cases they would accept a valid back out excuse if either you died or have a bad illness. (of course I am just exaggerating)

Upon that realization, I learned to say YES or NO to an invite. If I said YES, regardless if it were raining or what not, I would move heaven and earth to show up. It is very important to the one who invited that you show up when you said you would.

Though I was aware of the concept and am trying my best to comply whenever given the chance to, I was only able to fully understand it on two occasions last year; my dad's funeral and my sister's wedding day. It hurts pala when the people you expected to show up didn't. Masakit sya kasi you so wanted them to share your joy only to find out they can't even if they said YES to you months before and even confirmed it on 3-4 separate occasions.

Not only is it expensive if you said you'd go and not show up, it is the fact that the person counted on you to show up to celebrate whatever it is they are celebrating and they would want you to share that experience with them.

It really sucks when some people would say they would go but back out on the last minute and, even worse, would simply not show up and not tell you about it.

Goodbye, "Nanay"

My "Nanay" Sally died a little over an hour before New Year's. Mixed emotions. I just saw her on Christmas day and she seemed fine then. I received the text from my mom and I have to admit that I am quite shocked. Though after dad died everybody else who died is not that painful lalo na kasi alam kong naghirap din si Nanay before she died.

Nanghihingalo daw sya pero ayaw magpadala sa ospital. Probably sensed that she'd go soon. She had a full life anyway.

Say "hi" to lolo and dad for me. I love you.