Showing posts with label professional work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label professional work. Show all posts

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Down South

Thursday, February 26, 2009
I had an official trip to the southern Philippines last week (Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon) for our supply chain mapping of 'Solo' papaya. It was my second time in Cagayan de Oro City and my first time in Bukidnon. This trip has been very tiresome yet enjoyable and my most adventurous so far. I had several "first times" during the trip!
  • It was my first time to go to Bukidnon. I knew from my grade-school books that pineapple was the main commodity of this province. True enough, I saw hectares and hectares of pineapple farms. Those farms were contract-grown by Del Monte Philippines. It's also called the Baguio of the south because of it's also an upland province and it's cold climate.
  • While on our way to Bukidnon, there was a place where we are to go through a quarantine "pond," i don't know what it's really called (I had something like that also in one of my undergrad subjects but whatever, I forgot). All who pass through that place have to be 'quarantined.' It's the first province I went to with that quarantine thingy.
  • First time to eat "binaki." Out of curiousity, in one of our stop overs going to Bukidnon, I bought this local delicacy sold in the sidewalk. My guess is it's made of ground corn mixed with milk, wrapped in corn husk and then steamed. I think it's similar to "suman" only that "suman" is made from ground rice.
  • My first time to see a rubber plantation. I was facinated by the row of rubber trees because they look so the same (of course!) and they were of the same height. There was a little black thing attached to each tree that catches the latex.
  • I've never been to a cave before until the Makahambus Cave which is just a few minute ride from the airport (we went there before going back to Manila). The cave served as a hiding place of Filipino Soldiers during the war. The end of this cave is a cliff and down you'll see the river where white water rafters pass. White water rafting is one of the main attractions in Cagayan de Oro.

Click Here to Read More..

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Closing Spiel

Thursday, February 5, 2009
I got this from my old old blog that I have made private. I wrote it before I left my work as a technical support representative in a call center. Good times...

MY CLOSING SPIEL

To graveyard shifts...
To bottomless ice tea, juice and coffee...
To queuing season...
To daily spams...
To "petix" modes...
To critical work weeks...
To ever-changing metrics...
To kickbacks and fines...
To out-of-this-world computer issues...
To Cable Car nights...
To the Geebras...
To my new friends, and I mean friends...
To my teammates...
To my CNB ("crush ng bayan") Team Leader...
To my headset...
To Indian and Chinese callers...
To irate customers...

This has been Man, have a great day!!



Click Here to Read More..

Friday, January 30, 2009

Change is ought

Friday, January 30, 2009
Tomorrow is the first day of the second month of the year. January passed like a forgotten dream of an afternoon nap. I was right when I thought that 2009 will come like a postman. Quick and brief.

Yesterday was the deadline of submission of applications for graduate school. Yesterday I decided to get an application form for my Master's Degree. The deadline was extended til next week. Things are going to my favor.

I know I have to make a big decision before January ends. I did. I have been itching for a change to happen in my so-called career and I am making a defining move. When you grow old, choices and decisions are inevitable and they don't usually come in easy.

I'll be applying for a scholarship that's offered only to full-time students. That means I'll have to resign in my current job. I'm sort of prepared with that though. My 8:00 AM-5:00 PM routine is going to change and old habits must be undone.

What I'm looking forward the most though, is what's gonna happen to me in the next four years. I have to admit that the decisions I'm making from this year on has a lot to do with building a family and part of it is to establish myself as a man with a stable career. When one grows old, he has to grow up. I'm trying now.

Click Here to Read More..

Monday, January 12, 2009

Tag Bug

Monday, January 12, 2009
I have been recently tagged by a fellow blogger, Scott (my first time, actually) so I'm giving it a shot. I'm supposed to reveal six things about me and I have to tag other six fellows to do the same. I'm not really fan of chain mails but I think this one's interesting. Besides, I haven't been posting for almost a week, so now I have something to write about.


Here are six random facts about ManÜ:
  1. I was born with a tooth. Yup! And I myself am amazed and amused. According to my Mom, it was lower middle tooth. How did it happen? I don't know. Can somebody give me an explanation behind this rare phenomenon?
  2. I am living away from my hometown for almost a decade now. From the time I went to college, my longest stay home was about two weeks. Now that I am working, the vacation becomes shorter and lesser. My hometown by the way is Aroroy, Masbate. Probably one of the remotest places in the face of the earth. But there's a gold mine there.
  3. My mother was supposed to name me Ceazar because I came into this world by caesarian birth. I'm the first child of three and all of us were born in that way. I'm also the third Manuel in the family. My grandfather, my father and me... That makes me Manuel III. According to my mother, I was named after my grandfather because at the time that she was about to give birth to me, my Lolo (that's how we call our grandfathers here in the Philippines) had a stroke and few weeks after that, he died. So I was kind of a replacement.
  4. I love to cook! I had this thought after cooking a menu for some hundred hungry bellies, that maybe I'm born to feed people. Haha! Fortunately, most of the time, they appreciate my cooking. I'm famous for my barbecue. I have been giving out my recipe but people just can't make it taste like mine. Haha!
  5. I used to work in a call center for about a year and a quarter. For two months, I spent my nights activating gift cards of people from the other side of the planet. After that, I was a technical support representative. I dealt with various computer (desktop and notebooks) issues -- from turning on a PC to formatting the hard drive. I spent two Christmases taking in calls. I enjoyed the job, though.
  6. I did not take the licensure exam for the degree I finished. I'm an Agricultural Engineering graduate but I chose not to take the board exam because I couldn't see myself enjoying the profession and I couldn't see an agricultural engineer me for another 20 years, not even 10. My rationale is that, so what if I have a title attached to my name if I'm not really practicing it. There's no use. It would just be a title.
Now my turn to tag...


Click Here to Read More..

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Templates

Wednesday, December 3, 2008
I need to make 14 PowerPoint presentations for my boss. She will be a resource person for an APO (Asian Productivity Organization) training to be held in Cambodia next week. This is one of my favorite things to do (I mean doing PowerPoint presentations), especially the part I design the backgrounds myself. Digital editing fascinates me so much. In fact, the day I learned to Photoshop was one of my happiest (I still have a lot to learn though). My Photoshop know-how are very basic and self-taught. I plan to take a short course on multimedia graphics in the future. Later, I will be posting some of my digitally-created/edited artworks. In the mean time, take a look at some of the powerpoint backgrounds I made. I'm open for comments and suggestions.


And I have to take turns doing that and my labwork. Not to mention blogging on the side. Talk about multi-tasking!
Click Here to Read More..