2010 Reckoning

It was another "full" year for me. So much had happen. As expected some of the things I planned worked, other failed miserably and a few surprises did happen. I made friends, a lot of acquaintances, maybe a few enemies, zilch lovelife, multiple jobs, travels, botched plans, a few gadgets, and I can say overall a good year!

I will not enumerate one by one what happened in the 12 months of 2010, that would be too exhausting and boring. A few events do stand out out of the rest, and let me start last summer.

Honestly, I was not prepared for what is to come on May of 2010. I wasn't exactly happy in my job but it was, as I say to myself better than nothing - and for that period of time I was also experiencing a detached feeling on what I do best (or so I think I do best which involves tinkering computer codes). I wasn't exactly happy but settled and I was not looking for anything to spike my interest either.

Looking at it now, in retrospect, I guess it was time for me to rev up my skills. I was axed - almost a year after I was hired. I was shocked at first, may have undergone the 5 stages of grief.

Denial. "It is good and besides I don't need this company".
Anger. "The company's profit is on the high! Why us?! Management should be at fault!"
Bargaining. "I know I will be out of work, can I at least have this monitor?"
Depression. "Im useless, my skills are all worn out. I will not get any good jobs now. Sleep. Laze around. 3 months of being unproductive."
Acceptance. "I will pass my resume around and apply for that programmer job. Review."

Yes, I have undergone all those emotions, it was a roller-coaster ride so to speak. But August 2010 tote a light in the darkened tunnel brought about by the business decision of my previous employer that made me and 80+ co employees jobless.

The summer of 2010 also brought me to new places. Let's start with the undeniable "it" place for summer beach getaway - BORACAY!

My Ideyatech friends bought our tickets month prior due to a SALE promo from PAL. Boracay has always been in my bucket list of places to visit - but is not a priority since I imagine it as super expensive because of all the hype and the press it gets and how luxurious it is.

And yes, luxurious it is! The perfect natural white sand shore that stretches island-long. The beauty and the scene of it is just completely paradise here on earth. I enjoyed my stay in Bora. Not to mention that I spent not a great deal, thanks to my frugal friends who doesn't surrender in finding the best deals for a cheap spend.

At the tail end of the summer, I went out with multiple groups. I only know one or two persons from each of these groups because I was just so eager to go to the places they are going to visit that I risk being "OP (out of place)". But I managed, and instead become "FC (feeling close)" to them.

Camotes with the Tamiya peeps. Camotes is another popular destination that is so near home that I always put it at the back of my head. I was just so happy to be invited by my former highschool classmate. The beaches there, I can say hold a lot of potential, is maybe at par with Boracay's if it is to be developed and maintained properly. There are many attractions and sites that can be explored - caves, the different resorts, souvenirs, lakes - to name some.

Bohol with MTM peeps. I was invited by another former classmate from highschool. She was also invited by her friend, whose boyfriend works at MTM (technically I am a 3rd degree invitee). But my the powers of FC with me, it was a nice and memorable experience. I've been to Bohol many times, but my goal for this particular visit is not to tour but to experience the extreme! Zipline and Plunge at Danao Bohol adventure park.

The experience of being dropped 200 meters down a cliff is just so mind blowing and scary that I just have to do it - one tick off from my bucket list. One minute ride on the zipline feels like an eternity when you look down and feel like you are going to fall with just a small movement made. It is a hair raising experience so to speak.

Snorkeling and island hopping with Wipro. The only thing that I love being with this group is that they are so into accounting and always looking for the best deals without compromising the experience.

The rainy days came, but the heat didn't really disappear. It's always sunny and the rainy days that did came was forgettable. Nothing Ondoy worthy to remember about and Im not complaining.

With the rain came rejuvenation.
Renewed hope.
Great potential to be someone I used to know.

The Gadgets.
Buying gadgets that I like is not an easy task. For me with a limited financial resources I have to think twice, thrice, a multitude of times before deciding that I will buy such gadgets.

Because I was hooked to running this year, I bought an ipod touch 4th gen with the Nike+ sensor. It records the distance ran and also saves the history of my runs and I can upload my records to their website. It's a nice feeling to view the history ran overtime. Also this gadget is good for reading ebooks and listening to audiobook and music. It has many purpose except for a cellphone - we have an iphone for that (but I dont have it, its way to expensive for me).

My canon ixus has been with me for 3 years and it served me well. I need to upgrade from a point and shoot camera to something with more manual controls. I was initially looking at the micro four thirds system dSLR but was taken away by Sony's NEX5 system. It may not have all the dSLR functionality but it does have what I need. It takes better pictures too compared to my point and shoot, and has interchangeable lens.

Family.
It was me who left for a year to Manila in 2008, now my sister left for Australia. We may have lost a sister but we also welcomed a new member of our family, my niece Chacha born October 3. We are a growing family if I may say so. My youngest sister is having her husband and 2 children stay at our house. I may not agree with that setup but I am not in the position to say anything since I am not the owner of this house, my parents are.

Family drama is kept to a minimum this year because everyone is busy with their day to day affairs and leaves little time for each member of the family to really get together and speak their minds or air their issues towards the other members. It is good if not bland.

To end this rather long blog, is a prayer.

Lord, thank you for being with me and my family and friends this year as you always do each and every year. I just want to thank you for all the blessings especially the learning that you showered to us. It is with great humility to ask, but what I do ask is that you will continue to bless us and protect us, Lord.

P.S I completed the 9 Misa de Gallo this year! Cheers!

The Day After Christmas

In 2010, the day after Christmas is a Sunday, 25th being a Saturday. It's also a four-day weekend which starts on the 24th and ends on the 27th. The holiday on the 27th is originally a holiday on the 30th which was moved to promote local tourism within the country.

Anyways, Christmas techically has passed and we are now waiting for the New Year! For this Christmas I gave some of my stuffs as gifts- I was short of cash. 

First off for my youngest sis is my Canon digicam I have for 3 years. Its LCD screen may already have sunspots, but it still takes good pictures. Besides I also bought a new cam, a sony nex 5. 

Next was my ipod shuffle 3rd gen. I already bought an ipod touch which makes it a redundancy and a dust collector. Better given than to sit there and rot or rust. This one is given to my cousin Kynji.

Since Clyde is such a reader, I gave him a boxed set of Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials. This collection includes The Golden Compass. I bought this set 3 years ago through Amazon site.

For the rest of my "inaanaks" I just gave them 5 super crispy 20 peso bills.

As for me, I was given a polo shirt from mama.

This Christmas is definitely better than last years'.

A New Season Begins

Yes.
New Year brings with it a rejuvenation kind of feeling that makes me feel and think that I can do anything!
Basing from previous years of life reflection it's better to feel this kind of feeling once in a while than feel hopeless and weary all year long. Even if, basing from the past, this feeling is like an itch - once scratched and in due time will fade - it's better than feel nothing.

So it is with great joy and jubilation that I will continue to write the next chapter of my life. It is not that I was not active in posting pictures, thoughts and even nonsense to this blog - but what Im aiming is to make my writing not just ranting or stress reliever but also something that I can read in the future and will make me understand myself better.

Welcome 2011,Goodbye 2010!

2010 Round-up

2010 is fast approaching to a close and it's time to have a summary of what went well, wrong, awesome, cool, disappointing...etc

But you have to wait because that's about 26 days from now.

I'm getting it ready and I'm contemplating on buying a new domain for my blog, or move my blog somewhere else.

The Villain in Me

I cant contain much longer my anger with my B-i-L. Recently I've heard from the careless whispers of our commune that he is a cheater.

Last night, even in my dreams I wander how to physically, or psychologically torture that bastard. If only in real life I can pull that stunt off.

Maybe I will just burst with the slightest provocation, time will tell.

Christmas Party 2010

Company Christmas Party

Tomorrow, Dec 4 or techically later at 6pm, will be my first ever Christmas party with my new company - let's call company N. I've been with company N for almost four months now, and I can say that I have made acquintances with the other employees.

It's just dissappointing to witness these really skilled people leaving the company. But I guess that's the nature of this job because I may still be jobless had no one ever resigned. 

Anyways back to the event. All I know is that this year's event is bigger than the previous years. There are items to be raffled out and Im secretly praying to win some, since I am quite lucky with raffle draws. 

Im wearing the maroon long sleeves I bought back in Christmas party 2008 - also worn in Christmas party 2008 - when I was still in Manila. I will not wear the tux with it since nobody's wearing a tux anyway (I guess).

Im also part of the group presentation. Woe will be rendering the hand sign interpretation of the hugely popular Christian song "I am yours".

And who would forget the food? There has been many testimonies that the food in Marco Polo is good! - but I will rest my case in the momwnt I have tasted them.

Nex-5 will be usable for tomorrow's event!

That's all and I will sleep.

The Holiday

Yes, an unexpected holiday is coming this Tuesday.

"Al Adha" is one of the greatest feast of the Islam community and since the president signed it already it means - NO WORK for the most of us!

December is quickly coming and our company is "forcing" us to render vacation leaves starting December 22  (and for those who doesn't yet have VL, credits are given which will be paid when you have VL credits available).

Also on December 11 onwards, up until January of 2011 will be a BIG test on my capability to handle this project on my own since my partner and expert on this project will be having her vacation in Europe. Good luck to me (and I need it!).

Company Christmas party will be on Dec. 4, a non-working Saturday, and I will be part of IDLE HANDZ group that will present on a Showtime-like program along with my POSI teammates.

Dec 10 overnight until Dec 11 noon, will be the Christmas party of the POSI team.
Dec 11 will be the Christmas party with my SPEDmates.

Wow I think I need to jog twice as much with all those food coming!

November Mid-month

It's not yet technically the mid-month day, but its 2 days near it.

Anyways, our house smells paint.
The color my mother decided to paint the front of our house is a bright pink and blue, essentially making our house look like a preschool.

Im supposed to do some extra programming for my part time job, which I lately ignored (and I know I will be sorry for this in the future), but I cant work, didn't, because of the paint smell and it was unusually HOT today. November is supposed to be windy or a stormy month, but today it is cloudless blue super hot day.

On the upside though, I ran (more aptly slow jog) because my left knee injury is still making me uncomfortable. Also I feel pain on my lower right chest, or  sometimes on my left abdomen when I push myself to not slow down after 3 rounds of the oval (one round is approx. 400m). I walk when I feel pain and continue a jogging pace after the pain subsides.

It seems that the next few remaining days of November will quickly unravel as most people anticipate Christmas.

Random

Performed code coverage using DevPartner on our project. It's a nifty tool to know what parts of your code is frequently being accessed. We are doing this for documentation purposes on our project.

Another officemate's last day, and she only stayed for 5 months.

Invited by Leigh for a free dinner at Mooon cafe IT Park. It's a little treat and I ordered pork sisig! Yummy!

I went to SM to supposedly buy the case for my iPod touch, but when I got to the store, there's no more stocks. So I went on and bought the multiple audio out extension, so that many earphones can plugin on my iPod at once. Also bought some jogging shorts and dri-fit shirt.

As I was going home, when I stepped down from the jeep near the capitol area, it rained!
Good that there was a taxi and I was able to come home wet-free.

What a long day.

2011 It's Going to Happen!

I've had a blog entry before (I'm too lazy to look it up) where I posted the places I wanted to visit and I think I've been to most of those places.

Now a new year is coming, and it's coming fast, I want to list things that I wanted to have, and places I wanted to visit, and other things I can think of, for the next year (or if promos permits, sooner).

Places:
Tuguegarao-Banaue (Sagada)
Batanes
HK/Macau
SG

Things:
dSLR
PC/23-inch LED monitor
Smartphone

Skills:
programming (become better in any languages I know)
enterpreneurial (business!!!, I've had an idea but I dont know if its viable)
natural language (Japanese?)

And it seemed I have a wishlist ready for 2011. Yay!

Baranggay Election 2010

No work today, baranggay elections. 
I did not cast my vote, it seemed useless.
I dont have any particular candidate I like and it seemed, at least to me, that this ruckus is just a waste of our taxes.

More politicians, less to no service.

Fatalistic? Yes.
Hopeless? Quite.
Solutions? Can't think of any.

Untitled

I have a major major problem right now. It's not really my problem because Im not directly involved, but since its somewhat connected to me, Im bothered.

That son of a b*tch brother-in-law of mine! The nerve! He had done absolutely minimal supervision in the raising of his son, and now that they have a newly born daughter doesn't even, in my opinion, give effort in helping take care of her, raises my blood pressure.

I must say time is ticking fast when I will be confronting him, so please help me God.

The Birthday Blog 10202010

Before I start this year, you maybe interested to read last year's birthday blog here: http://dwightto.blogspot.com/2009/10/27.html

So first things first, I've scrapped the how old (or young) I am from the title. Maybe its not about adding one to your years but adding a multitude of experiences to yourself which is important. 

The next thing I realized is that this is the 3rd year that Im celebrating it with new officemates, 2 yrs ago it was with Ideyatech, last year with Playtech and now with NCR. Which is to say that I've been in 3 companies for the past 3 years! It's not like I'm job hopping, circumstances beyond my control is mainly the reason for such jumps. But I'm not complaining universe! I'm just stating a fact.

Aside from new work, studies are not progressing yet. Ive delayed to fulfill my masters in education because of financial matters. I may continue it next year if I have the chance, the time and the money.

Family is ok, though we are not anymore complete because my sister has left for Australia to get married and live there for good. But we welcomed a new member of our family, a new baby girl from my youngest sister. Aren't babies the cutest beings of all (and also smells good).

Even though I was laid off from work this year (my first ever) it's still a good year. I paid my insurance, bills, and most important of all gone to Bora! Yes the most popular island in the Philippines-checked!

Ahh,this fact just springs to mind, most of my batcmates in highschool and in college are either in a committed (and hopefully loving) relationship or married (or those states past marriage), or have babies. Im just totally happy for them for their courage to take on new roles and responsibility, kudos to them!

Celebration? I didn't treat my officemates because I am still shy and doesnt have that rapport to all of them save a few. At home, I asked my aunt to cook buttered chicken and sweet and sour pork for dinner. I also bought ice cream.

I also attended Epson's web team farewell party at Zao and met my previous bridge engineer to say my thanks in the years that I was working in Epson. 

Well I guess that's it for now. Maybe next year the universe will cook up something good for me.

Enjoying my day, ahhh it's already night.

The Day After Tomorrow

Finally was able to create my first build! For those who doesn't know what a build is and cares, it's packaging your sourcodes or updates thereof for delivery to your clients as a fix to discovered bugs (or tars as they are referred to here).

It was not perfect, I have to perform it as many as three times because there were errors that I encountered along the way. And building the source code takes an enormous amount of time because it is a really big system.

I was not able to jog because my computer teased me, and I need to reboot it twice because the POS software won't start correctly. The weather is also gloomy with hints that at any moment rain will fell in torrents.

Just when I was leaving, we had conversation with some officemates and I realized in retrospect that for every company I've been, there are pros and cons. You either have a good salary but high expenses, or too much work. In the end we came to agree that it is important to have even little incentives just to make people anticipate and not think of living leaving the company.

But it all boils down that the day after tomorrow is my natal day.

The Jogs

Recently I have been committing myself to jog at least every Saturday, and if schedule and weather permits also on Wednesdays. I also try to walk the one and a half kilometer distance from the capitol to our house instead of riding the jeepney.

The reason is because I wanted to have endurance. To have the lung power to withstand long aerobic activities such as long distance walking, jogging, running and a flight of stairs. Even if I'm relatively skinny, I easily tire and caught myself catching my breath.

That was the motivating factor why I now placed priority to this jogging activity weekly. So far so good, I haven't yet skipped a single Saturday since I started. Having a gadget to track your workout distance, pace and time adds motivation to not skip the activity.

It's only been half a month since I started and I can already feel the difference. I feel lighter, in posture, and most importantly feels happy because of all those endorphines the body supposedly releases everytime you exercise.

I hope that I can keep up with this activity for a long time since I really like to be in the healthier side of things.

This Sunday

Don't expect rewards on doing things you are intended to do.

The priest continued his sermon telling the parents not to treat their children as a piece of investment. Raising your children, sending them to school, feeding them are things that are expected to be done by parents and should not be treated as sort of debt to be repaid by their children in the future.

This also goes to the children, that doing household chores - that they should not charge for those things as it should be their share of responsibility.

That's what the priest said in his sermon.

In my mind comes another realization. Everything we do, it should come as an internal decision. We help not because it is expected for us, but because deep inside we want to help. We do things that are interesting to us. There is no greater motivation than doing things you like to begin with - save the illegal things.

God bless peeps.

Quick

Because I had a beer on a Thursday, and went late.
Friday comes and I woke up at 8.
It's automatic, the reflexes, to wake.
Dress up, brush, no bathe.

Another Sunday

From Evernote:
Another Sunday
I'm early today at church, in my mind the mass starts at 9 but it starts at 9:30. This is not my first time to attend to this schedule but I seemed to forgot the exact time, maybe because in the past I'm always running late.

On my things to do, I've got 2 weeks worth of website update that are just hanging and add to it the recent suspension of our account because I forgot to pay the monthly subscription fee.

However, on my work at NCR, I'm still officially on training but I'm now looking at the systems behavior. It really is a complicated systsm with, Im guessing, a thousand classes and how many thousand thousand lines of codes.

But it looks so unintimidating and simple on the user's perspective, they just scan their items, follow the voice prompts, bag their items, select their type of payment and voila, humanless cashier!

I'm still on my way of understanding how the different components fit together. Maybe sometime next week I'll be tinkering with the codes.

Well that leaves another week full of something worthwhile to do and I guess that's fine.

Saturday Jog 09.25.2010

From Evernote:

I tried to use the nike plus sensor by putting it on the "tongue" of the shoe and supported by the shoelaces. I think that it actually work since when I checked the distance after I made a single round of the oval it registered a .4 kilometer.

However when I started to run, it dropped on the track. I fit it inside my shoe, feeling a little bit uncomfortable and tried to run. I doubt the result of the sensor since aftet a whole circuit when I checked it, it only registered a 0.2 kilometers.

I will have to try another antic on how to put that sensor securely on my shoe since buying a new nike free plus is not possible as of the moment.

After jogging, myk, chery and jade and I went to robinsons and ate mang inasal. It's one of mybest times for a long time.

The Dreaded Tuesday Meetings

It's Tuesday once again.

I have a new reason why I hate Tuesdays as of late.
I've been included in this weekly meeting update about my project, it's not a bad thing though. However, I'm still not meshed into the project that all I know is just superficial things about it. I say it's not my fault, I'm not guided as to what nook or cranny to inspect. I'm just left there to rot on pdf files and more pdf files to read.

I'm dreading the idea of one day being thrown into the fire and will just stare them back with a blank teary eyed gaze.

I keep saying it's not my fault, "it's not my fault". I've asked them the roadmap and all I get is a delay because they're busy with work, and I know that there's a point in the future that I will be the delay they'll be concerned about.

I hope I'm not prophetic though, I don't want to be the cause of failure or be the failure for that matter. I want to be useful not an added weight into their already heavy workload. That's the reason I was hired, to lighten their loads.

It's still early to tell my fate, I still have a full six months, already five months, probationary period and there's a planned big activity next month that maybe will test my usefulness. Until then.