And they say I’m a geek… JUST a geek!!!
[Thanks, Pat, for the link I found in your blog]
Seriously, if you’re a big Star Trek Fan (and still one despite what has happened to the franchise lately), you automatically ARE a geek. The answers to the test seem to just add to my geekiness and I scored a little over 25%.
Here’s another quiz; got the link from Nina:
You Are 3: The Achiever |
 You’re confident and competent – with a lot of energy. Eager to reach your goals, you are ambitious and competitive. You are good at motivating yourself and motivating others. You’re also a charmer, with a great sense of humor. At Your Best: You are kind, confident, and completely authentic. You are witty and full of life. At Your Worst: You are insecure, narcissistic, and jealous. Your Fixation: Vanity Your Primary Fear: Being worthless. Your Primary Desire: To be important and valuable. Other Number 3’s: Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone, Michael Jordan, Madonna, and Shania Twain. |
2008.
Thirty years after John Paul II became Pope.
Thirty Years.
Lots of things in store
…a Major Project in March to April (argh! Time away from my family again!)
… payments for a Major Investment begins
… planning for New Company Equipment begins
…. Matt will be in Nursery
… and I’m turniing 3 decades old…
But here’s somethin’ to look forward to in the coming days…
… space for me and my family to grow and play in! Will keep you posted for updates!
On searching through ranking.pinoyblogosphere.com (i recently joined Pinoy Blogosphere… wala lang), I came across this blog from an engineering student (wonder if we come from the same university?). And then, thanks to his blog, I discovered my Visual DNA. You can check it out in my “About Me” page by clicking the link at the top part of this blog or on this link.
[Reading on, I found this guy to be a good writer. Easy reads and full of content. So, I hope he doesn't mind if I add him to my blogroll.]
I’ve also managed to update some of my pages, minor updates on my Travels page.
Weekend’s coming up. Let’s see what will brew in the couple of days to come…
Labor Day has been bleak this year. With re-hashed ‘benefits’, what’s the average Filipino worker going to look forward to?
I thought I’d give all those who are working hard and live from paycheck to paycheck a little boost by saying how proud I am of Filipinos when it comes to their profession. Filipinos have passion. They have what it takes to get the job done – sometimes at the cost of great personal sacrifice. Our OFWs are a testament to this. And this is what I attest to ever since I started working.
I’ve been working for the past 7 years of my life. Starting out at a semi-conductor plant in Carmona, I was exposed to the dedication of everybody in order for the company to reach its goals. It was a downturn for the industry back in 2000-2001, where there was a glut in supply of chips in the market due to the less-than-spectacular Millenium jitters. So everyone in production was hardpressed to minimize wastage and improve quality. being a cadet engineer, I regularly worked with the operators of the machines and the maintenance technicians. These people were fathers, mothers, husbands, wives. Yet when the need arises, there was little hesitation to go the extra mile – overtimes or just to stay behind a while longer to finish checking a batch.
When the industry was at its low point, I decided to move on and landed at an insurance company. Being a management trainee at a relatively medium-sized firm, I got to know the ins and outs of the insurance business. Here, dedication and care for customers was what I learned and what I observed to be a trait we Filipinos are good at. naturally malambing, although at times mambobola, we see to it that service is given to those who need it – from quotations to sample forms to the policies themselves, people would go out of their way to really finish a job.
Fast forward to today. I’m in the airline industry and have been exposed to the different cultures of Europeans and Americans. I have nothing against working with American firms – particularly because they have lots of Filipinos working for them too. Hmm, maybe that’s the reason why they’re succeeding…
But for Europeans, that’s another matter. I just can’t believe their arrogance and utter lack of concern.
Here’s the scenario: A European company is now late with their deliverables with our project, thus jeopardizing its on-time completion and ultimately cost our company millions of dollars. The only reason is that the Euro company can’t quite get the hang of the American company’s data transfer scheme. What do they tell us?
“I’m doing all I can in the 8 hours of work…”
“May is a vacation month here and it may be hard to get things done…”
BS. I can’t believe that some companies are still arrogant enough in a global environment.
You won’t expect to hear that from us Filipinos. Our passion to get things done will be our key to success.
Leave the old bone to the old dogs, I say.
Taas noo, Filipino!
It’s my tradition that, when a new hardware is installed for my desktop, I check up on the general condition of my computer again. After installing the software packaged in the LG DVD writier I bought yesterday (along with the AOC LCD monitor), I was surprised to find out that the Mother Console has less than a gigbyte of storage left! So I proceeded to weed the garden of files in my hard disk (which is a pathetically low 40 GB thing).
After uninstalling a few games, I stumbled upon the ‘relics’ of my old computer files. What’s more surprising is stumbling on a file titled ‘AR’s Journal 2003′. Whoa… and the memories came crashin’ again… [this was the time when either I was ignorant of blogs or the craze hasn't come on yet]
Diggin’ up through the small pile of about 5 entries from January to March 2003, I found this bit, which I’d like to share:
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March 16, 2003
Friday
3:46 am (our clock)
3:16 am (real time)
Project 6 apartment, after coming home from celebrating our 7th monthsary of being brought together by God
I felt the urge to write in my journal because I’ve had revelations recently – one was through a dream, the other was through a book.
On Cooking Sinangag
I dreamt that I was making fried rice for breakfast or lunch but instead of putting salt, I’ve put sugar in it. Sugar of course will make it sweet. But fried rice needs to be salty. Nina has always commented that I was always perky – that I lacked empathy, especially when at times she felt low. I tried to fight of the idea – that I wasn’t always perky or at least I knew how to empathize. But after considering, I think she was right.
That’s one of my characteristics. The way I coed with my life before was to always look at the brighter side of things when things were going wrong. In that manner, I negated whatever negative thing was happening and I think that’s when I lost my ability to empathize. When I had the dream, I shrugged it off as another spurt of my creative unconscious. but then, the meaning of the dream dawned on me this morning and I knew I had to write it down before I forget my lesson. As perky and positive as I was, I was always putting sugar on all things. And yes, even sinangag – which was supposed to be salty. I had to realize that God gave us humans a range of emotions for use in the proper way.
I shouldn’t feel that I always need to cheer up my wife or myself. I should realize that emotions need to be felt – and there’s nothing wrong with that. Salt adds flavor. In times when my wife or I am going through trials that bring about disappointment and a sense of being low, I need to realize that flavor means getting what the lesson is, and never to lose hope. That it’s ok to feel that way because of the events that happened. That I know how it feels in a parallel situation in my life. Fried rice isn’t just salt added to cold rice. It needs to be cooked and subjected to fire and a lot of tossing and turning to get it’s taste even and have the rice heated properly – much like how God cooks us to perfection with all the trials that come our way.
My Wife’s an Angel
I’m currently reading a book entitled ‘Soul Making’. It talks about the desert experience and is a fresh new way to believe in Christianity – a way of believing the hearkens back to the ancient Church Fathers. I’ve been a slow reader and I’m only at the first chapter (after a relatively long introduction). On page 48, the author Alan Jones gives path to the way of believing like the desert fathers and mothers:
1. the need for detachment
2. the belief that nothing is accidental
3. the fact that we are not as free as we think we are
4. the conviction that remembering is an important part of the process of growth
5. the belief that while we have to do much of what we do alone, companionship is essential
6. the necessity of contemplative commitment
7. an appreciation of our “fallenness”
8. the mystery of having to let go of the things and people we love most
I’m now reading a section on no. 5 on the 8 steps – that companionship is essential. It talks about the need for others to bring out revelations in ourselves. Alan Jones talks about these people as Angels of God. Much like his experience with desert monks in Egypt, where he stayed at a monastery and was treated nicely. Asked why the monks treated him well, the monk said ‘you might be an angel’. In fact, that’s the philosophy of the monks who lived in the desert – that all who come their way might be angels of God. He sights three examples on angels in different people. One excerpt was in Franny and Zooey where he talks about the Fat Lady as an angel.
Angels bring about revelations that, without which, would hinder our full potential for growth. Now I truly believe that God has sent my wife as my angel. She has brought me to many revelations about myself. She has made me realize, as in the first revelation I talked about, that I have to come to terms with who I really am. She has made me realize how I’ve let myself be stupid for other people and that in turn has led to them taking advantage of me. But with those revelations, she has come to inspire me to become the person I am meant to be. The Inner Self whom God has created from the beginning. A person who will stand up for the right principles, uphold it with courage, and look through the eyes of love.
I know it’s a continuing process and revelations often shock and are initially rejected. I’m learning.
They say that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God (one of the Wisdom books in the Bible, I think it’s in Sirach…). The second step is admitting “I don’t know”. That’s when we are open. That’s when God can mould us and teach us our true worth.
Thank God He led me to my angel. And now, She’s my wife – whom I love very much.
———————————-
March 29, 2003
Saturday
6:16 am (our clock)
5:46 am (real time)
Project 6 apartment, after coming home from Nina’s workplace due to an overtime
“The believer is concerned with life. Why, then, all this talk of death and pits of terror? We all have to be – indeed, the believer is convinced that this is what God wants for us. The message is unambiguous: If you want to live life to the full, you must surrender life. What a paradox!”
- p. 72, Death in the Desert, Soulmaking: The Desert Way of Spirituality. Alan Jones. Harper Collins. 1989
“To come to this place where one is truly alive, one must hit rock-bottom. There must be a breakthrough to the place of deepest helplessness, ‘Then at last,’ writes Andre’ Louf, ‘a beginning can be made.’”
- p. 83, The Gift of Tears, Soulmaking: The Desert Way of Spirituality. Alan Jones. Harper Collins. 1989
Holy Week is upon us. To get into the mood of the season, I decided to buckle down and continue reading ‘Crossing the Threshold of Hope’ by the late Pope John Paul the Great. As I have mentioned in my previous post, his book is a treasure trove of insights into the Christian, Catholic Faith.
So before I forget these insights, I’d like to share them with you, even if we belong to different faiths. Some points are universal and we can all agree on these.
John Paul the Great and His Conviction
I’ve come to realize one more thing about his work – he brings to life Jesus, God, and makes you realize how intimate he knows Him. John Paul’s passion is to let us know the Love of the Father through His begotten Son. It’s his personal knowledge, personal love, of God that permeates the book and give it its convincing power.
John Paul the Great is our Pope – my wife and I. He was the pope for almost 27 years of our lives, and he became pope on our birth year. His life and mission has come to portray his love for the Father and for sharing the Father’s love for humanity. He advocated social justice in the countries he visited and was instrumental in leading the world to prayer. These two works I suspect aided in the downfall of communism.
He was a man with unwavering conviction and during the times that he lived, became one of humanity’s greatest Guidestone* in an era of great uncertainty.
Read the book. I recommend that you don’t go through it in one sitting. It’s a relatively easy read (thoguh a Latin dictionary may come in handy).
Salvation = Love
In a couple of chapters in his book, John Paul the Great expounds on the centrality of salvation in the Christian Faith. That this salvation comes from love, of God wanting to commune with his creation, and uniting it back to Him. Salvation can not come without Love. It is not enough to detach yourself from the world and seek out a personal salvation apart from everything. It is completed in seeking out to commune with the Creator.
Today, on Good Friday, we commemorate this act of salvation – an act that culminates in the sacrifice of a Life, that all others may live. Jesus, in His total obedience to the Father, became subject to the mockery and injustice of this world. This world that he came to save, became the source of His suffering. But it did not deter Him from His mission of saving humanity. It did not extinguish His love for us.
Because humanity is worth saving. Because you are worth everything to Him.
Hope on the Youth
I love how John Paul the Great described youth:
“What is youth? it is not only a period of time that corresponds to a certain number of years, it is also a time given by Providence to every person and given to him as a responsibility. During that time, he searches, like the young man in the Gospel, for answers to the basic questions; he searches not only for the meaning of life but also for a concrete way to go about living his life.” – p.120-121
I’m now 29 (argh!). and I feel so old. Tired, perhaps worn out from the constant day-to-day battle of living. But reflecting on where I am now, I smile. Yes, this has been where I wanted to be, to live – with a loving wife and kid, with the necessities to live by, and even a wee bit more to enjoy some of life’s pleasures. But I cannnot credit all that I have become to my own efforts. For back then, when I was younger, I’ve made a choice to allow God to work into my life.
What was my tipping point? World Youth Day, 1995. In the presence of Pope John Paul and in communion with all the other young people of the Philippines and the World, I saw hope. Hope that there can be a better furutre. Hope that springs eternal, as tenacious as life itself. From then on, I knew God has led me – led me to a community of believers, The Lord’s Flock Catholic Charismatic Community, and then, led me on to discover life, and have it abundantly; Of joy in finding my soulmate where He had appointed it to be**. And of knowing that yes, He is there – by your side, ready to talk whenever you need a companion, a guide.
Pope John Paul the Great is the Pope of the Youth. His ability to reach out to the youth is explained by his approach. He is more interested in what the youth has to say to him, rather than what he has to say to them. Isn’t this what we always wanted when we were young? TO be listened to and believed. To know someone was there to consider your thoughts and views, instead of imposing their own ideas. To let you explore yourself, find out who you really are, and celebrate that.
Wow.
I can’t claim I’m still in that time period. Maybe it has passed, and I hope I’ve taken account of that resposibility. There is but one goal now – to know this truth about youth, and to be guided by it, to realize it in others, and to know how to cultivate it and share its passion so that once again, we can be young.
That’s the task I now have for our young Matthew. It’ll be a couple of years more… I’ll try – we’ll try - to prepare for it the best we can.
A Blessed Holy Week to everyone!
——–
* In reference also to the 3-D strategy game Homeworld from Sierra and Relic Entertainment. The Guidestone was instrumental in guiding the Exiles back to their Homeworld. (okay, so the gamer in me tries to come out once in a while…)
** At the UP Chapel, at or near the Blessed Scrament, my hiding place with God. (It was then located at the left side of the altar, now it has been moved to a level below).
Nina and I have established a tradition during Vaentine’s. It started during our first V-Day in Project 6. We were married by that time and began living by our own little selves, away from our respective families. Well, ok, not that ‘away’. My side of the family stayed in Tandang Sora and hers stayed at Speaker Perez, near Welcome Rotonda. Our own little rented apartment was somewhere inbetween these two locales.
She had to stay home instead of going to work because she had a cold and a slight cough. I told her to rest up (besides, this also gave me time to shop for a gift). I remember giving her a card in the morning, which I left on the dinner table, along with a rose I bought the previous day and hid in the washing machine first, then in the crisper of the fridge while Nina slept in the night. Then, when I came back from work, I passed by Tokyo Tokyo and bought a Sushi Sampler and her favorite Beef Misono. We ate heartily that day, because the food at Tokyo Tokyo was always great.
The next Valentine’s Day, we opted were able to eat out and ate at…. Tokyo Tokyo. This time, at Shangri-La Mall, Edsa. Nina is pregnant with Matt and we just strolled by through the Mall and enjoyed ourselves.
And the third Happy Hearts day, we spent here in our Parañaque sanctuary, eating Tokyo Tokyo from nearby SM Sucat. Matt was still too young to eat the food I bought home.
Now, I did just that – bought home Tokyo Tokyo. It’s a little bit different now since I bought for us three. Matt usually eats a lot of Tuna Misono, but that night, he stayed away from the food. We ended up ordering a Quarter Pounder and Chicken Nuggets for Matt, which he gladly ate after Nina and I finished our Tokyo Tokyo Dinner.
I would’ve hidden the 3 pink roses I bought at SM Sucat, but Nina was the one who opened the front door. Oh, and the washing machine had clothes in them too.
These are the roses I bought, with my post-facto dedication. Sorry, no photo of the food [we ate it na... =) ]
A simple tradition, but something that establishes the occasion and engraves it dearly in our minds and hearts.
In the course of researching things about MyToy (Blue Radon W310), I stumbled upon a Filipino community of traders, mostly, and other tech geeks. I was glad to find a home-grown community that shares its know-how with anybody who asks nicely – TipidPC.com. This is where I got to connect with a few Blue-blooded laptop owners (people who own Blue brand Notebook PCs). I simply signed on, posted about MyToy and got feedback in no time. Now I’m more confident about MyToy since the other owners don’t seem to have any problems with their respective Gizmos.
And it was perfectly OK to post stupid questions like “can you upgrade a laptop videocard?” (the answer is no, unless your lappie sports the Nvidia’s MXM technology which, I suspect the Blue Cerium and Cobalt have). I had a bad experience using Yahoo! Answers. People don’t actually answer the questions you pose, or at least they do in a, um, not-so-intelligently kind of way, to put it mildly (suggest you look for a relevant forum if you’re looking for answers to your questions). Nina also found her community through the internet, by first participating in a forum, and then finding her Yahoo! Groups of scrapbookers!
Aside from techie stuff, TipidPC aso has a Lounge where anyone can post non-computer-related stuff. I’ve just discovered a fellow TipidPCer who’s a UP PSME Student unit member who’s one batch older than me. And I’ve learned that there are people from UP that use the site as well. it made me feel old, though. Most of their student numbers started with 0X-XXXXX! But there are a few 9X-XXXXXers around.
Another thread I frequent is the “God exists” thread. I never thought there were a lot of atheists in the Philippines! Please don’t get confused. The thread was started by believers who want to express their belief in God. And then, atheists started to enter the thread and started to question the existence of God…. you probably know where it gets to, right?
heated debates, skewed arguments, doubtful proofs, personalan…. the works! I posted something like this:
“Um, makikisali lang po… I found this thread to be quite my kind since I too am a believer.
I know how passionate either believers or unbelievers are about the reality of God, but to expound on the proof through these words will not be sufficient.
We are called to LIVE our faith or reason and ultimately, it is in our lives that we prove whether or not there is proof of a God.
Ako? Ang dami ko ng beses na napatunayan sa aking buhay na mayrong Diyos. One who loves me and ultimately cares for me enough to find me my life’s mission and goal. He led me to my wife, and now, we have a miracle who is our son.
Science can explain how life is created, but ultimately, deep down inside, there is that feeling of awe when you see the first signs of life stirring in the womb. Reason may offer an explanation as to how me and my wife got along, but it can never express the wonder of the love that went between us and how it seems that the whole universe conspires to provide everything we need.
(Di ba’t mas masaya ang buhay pag kilala niyo ang Diyos?)
…. which goes back to my point at the start…. Live it. Experience it. It’s not enough to just talk about it….
pero andito ako at nagpopost…. hehehe….”
I also posted a sort of challenge that all believers pray for unbelievers so that they may know God. If you’re a believer, please pray for those who have yet to experience God’s love.
Thanks!
Hi!
I know it’s late in the new year to be starting a blog (I’m probably the gazillionth blogger who started 2007 with a new blog), but I guess it’s better than not starting at all…
I made a commitmment to myself to start a new blog this year. My previous blog was for my travels. it hasn’t been updated since March last year. Now, this blog is something different. It’s more about me:
Also, I’ve admired my wife, Nina, for coming up with her beautiful blog about her passions for scrapbooking and altered art. Now, it’s my turn to create something that I hope will parallel what she has come up with. (oh no, I’m aiming at a pretty high standard!)
But there is something more… I want to be an instrument of change.
C-H-A-N-G-E
Such a big word. It isn’t always comfortable, but a necessity. Often, these days call for the honing of skills in adapting to change rather than simply being more knowledgeable or being a specialist.
How? I’m still figuring that one out… could you help me?
Post comments. About anything of interest. Let’s talk about change and hopefully, one spark may trigger the embers, the embers into flames, flames into the wildfire that will usher in a new era of CHANGE!
