First Day of School Blues

I started my day early yesterday and had my whole day planned out. I realized when Miguel's classes started that it would be best for me to stay up after the school bus picks him up at 5:30 in the morning. Finish chores and other stuff by 7 and then start work at that time as well. I am also more productive in the morning especially when I need to do some pencil pushing.

My day was going on well and I managed to finish more tasks since both the boys were out. It was a really great idea to start things early. Nothing was going to spoil my perfectly planned day. I was dead wrong. I forgot that it was the first day of school for most schools and EDSA was like a parking lot (again). I always leave for meetings an hour ahead of time since I hate being late.

I told my appointment 15 minutes before our scheduled time that I was running late. He said it was fine. Thirty minutes later I was still stuck in traffic and I felt that it was going to take another 45 minutes before I would reach his office (what a shame!). I called him up, hung my head in shame, and requested to re-schedule our meeting. Good thing he was really gracious about it. Whew!

Gee... so much for economic growth no thanks to EDSA's epic heavy traffic. I do certainly hope that whoever sits as MMDA head would have an iron hand and implement the law.

On Philippine IT News

I was chatting earlier with one of our Philippine internet icons, Migs Paraz (I think he's going to kill me for coining him as an icon LOL). Anyway, I was ranting about the lack of Philippine internet news. I read a lot of local tech blogs and news, but there are just aren't any stuff about local IT stuff. How come?

I asked the same question with other tech bloggers last weekend and the indomitable Mon Lizardo of Inquirer.net, they all said the same thing - there's not much local IT news. (Yes, I could be really that kulit when I'm curious about something.)

I don't think so. I go around a lot. I must've met at least a thousand people in the last 6 months and I know there is so much stuff ongoing in the IT scene. Like I know Migs and his colleagues work on many things in the news but they don't claim that they did it.

Will the Pinoy techie be relegated to the behind the scenes na lang?

I think we should continuously challenge ourselves and help push forward and promote our talents and skills - especially in the IT scene. Aside from Yehey.com did you guys know about Davao based Andrew's local search engine Alleba.com? Or that Titikpilipino.com is now on its tenth year and going strong? Or that Pinoydelikasi.com now has offices abroad? That Chikka.com is spreading its technology worldwide? That local mobile technologies produced locally are far more advanced than those in other countries? That foreign companies are coming here to get their products coded/programmed here?

Migs said maybe I should write for PTB. I gracefully declined and said I'm no tech blogger. I just like reading about it and that my work blog is more of a way for me to explain techie stuff to non-techie people. And, besides, that will ruin my galawgaw, simple lang image LOL.

I am sure there are a lot of tech news out there that aren't getting any mileage. If the people behind it had a chance to speak out (remember geeks/nerds are usually really shy), then we can get things going around.

What say you?

And, yes, this is a challenge for you tech bloggers and journalists :)

*Photo by Sasha Manuel

Customer Care, I Just Don't Care!

I was telling a colleague that perhaps it's Asian culture that we aren't "ranters". We aren't straightforward and we never really say what we mean. We are such "yes" people and we usually end up just mumbling and keeping complaints to ourselves. It's quite rare that you would find somebody making a scene at a restaurant or a shop. Hmmm... that's probably why blogs have the power to make or break a product/service.

I've experienced quite a number of bad customer service. And I've just had more than enough of it. So allow me to blog about it a bit. I won't be naming the companies because I am not out to "break" them, I hope they or similar companies would just take a hint.

• This company is a well-known courier worldwide whose local HQ is somewhere along Pasong Tamo. I had quite a lot to say when I complained about their service. And I got a very arrogant reply, "We're the best here, maghanap kayo ng ibang mas magaling sa amin." (find someone who's better than us).
  

• This resto is named after a day in a week. I think they cannot keep up with the demand when they are full. My friend had to wait about 20 minutes just to get his extra rice. We also had to wait more than 15 minutes just to get our beverages served.

I've been seriously canvassing the past few days for a laptop and this is what I could say about the bad service I've been getting:

• This PC shop is known for express service. They'll tell you they can build up your PC in 2 hours, 2 hours to the second power and they'll show you how annoyed they are when you follow-up with them. Yeah, express indeed, I had to have my PC revived 4 times in less than a year. I met the owner of this chain of stores and realized that the saying, "The root becomes the fruit" is very true indeed. After buying 1 PC from them and spending again just to keep it up and running, I won't consider buying from them ever again.
  

• I was very much disappointed in the leading competitor of the PC shop mentioned above. I couldn't understand why the salesperson seemed hesitant to bring out the laptop from the shelf. Maybe he thought I couldn't afford to buy one because I was just wearing a white Bohol t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. What made it worse, one of their staff kept bumping into me without even saying sorry. I know your shop is just like an eskinita in Park Square, but hey you can always say excuse me if you need to pass. Disappointed, I headed over to Octagon (right in front of you) and got much better service and attention. Electroworld, which is beside you, gives much better service as well. Sayang, mabait pa naman your owners.
  

• Another PC shop which I think needs to improve their customer service is a shop named after the seat of technology in California. It may not be an actual city, but it's where Mountain View is located and where a lot of new technologies were born. I wanted to check out a Compaq laptop in that shop and the salesman told me, "Naka-lock po eh." Isn't that why you have keys to open it? I'm not going to ran out of you shop with it. Hay nako.

Yes, it's really annoying. In the US you get automatically greeted by shop attendants when you enter a store, any kind of store. Sometimes it could get quite disconcerting, but eventually you get the hang of it and you just happily greet them back. Everybody there asks, "How are you today?" - even in the cafeteria pila.

Oh well, the quest for the best laptop continues. Have you ever experienced such atrocities? Forgive me for ranting :p

Saturdays and Color me Black

Saturdays are for sleeping in and snuggling in bed.

I wish I was still in bed. Am at work. Hohumm.

Last night I had fab time with Anne scouting for the following:

Black turtleneck
Black bootleg pants
Black boots
Black trench coat
Black shades

You must be wondering where I’m going to wear it and what for. Anyway, you gotta see me live at the National Marketing Conference next week. I have yet to decide whether I’m going to post a photo. Gawd, the things I get myself into.

I was actually quite freaked out over the “costume” I have to wear. Why? I’m really a t-shirt girl. I don’t really like dressing up, much less fixing my hair and wearing make-up to look really spiffy! Ask Sasha, she had quite a hard time fixing me up during the Philippine Blog Awards.

Black turtleneck – my hidden tummy!
Black bootleg pants – my pata!










Black boots – I’ve never worn boots in my entire life!











Black trench coat – uh, I live in a tropical country! Good thing my Tita just arrived from the US and has one. (I'm still looking for it in her balikbayan boxes).

Black shades – I can live with this one, I love going to the beach anyway.

Sasha told me that I have to put my hair up and put goo, I mean gel, all over it. Grrrrr!

Considering the fact that I have to deliver a “talk”, I hope I don’t mess up either.

So help me God.



Translations

Pata – thighs
Tita - Aunt

The Unimportant Me: On Personal Missions

A few weeks ago I said I was going offline to do some thinking. Not that I was emo-ing, but I felt I needed to do some planning about where I am headed. And this was brought about by Bo Sanchez' line in a mailing list I signed up for:

"God insists on choosing the most unimportant people to do His work."

One of the things that I learned through the years and from my parents is humility, especially at work. They said God gives you talent to be used for a mission. It shouldn't be used to further your own personal motives, but for the greater good.

And when a huge responsibility was dropped on my lap, I hyperventilated. Not only for one day, but for three months. And as my Kuya told me before I got in, "If it is meant for you, it will be yours."

In the last few weeks I've thought about why I am at this point in my life. I' about to make a major decision and my Kuya said, "How does this fit in with your objectives and goals in the next 5 years?" Uh, I wasn't able to answer him because I realized I've been taking things one week at a time since I met all my goals last year.

Well, the sun isn't shining that much today, but my sunshine is because I know what I'll be doing in the next few years and what God's mission is for me (well, more or less).

My best friend warned me about some potholes and perils I might meet along the way. And I've met them and continue to meet them. But, at the end of the day, the measure of your success shouldn't be based on other people, but your own mission. And you should always remember that to get there you should hold on God's hand to bring you there and work not for personal gain, but for service.

Have you ever thought about why you are doing what you are doing? What is your personal mission?

*Photo by Abe Olandres