Counseling

 

Yesterday I attended another Leadership Enhancement Program and the recent trainings we had are tailor made for us to cope up with the soon-to-be closure of our company. Yesterday’s topic was about career opportunities and career counseling.

 

I was actually enjoying the whole training and find it very interactive and informative when it came to one of the foils. The first line of it read:

 

“Career Counseling is NOT…

·         Giving advice.

·         ….”

 

Hmmm. “That isn’t right”, was my immediate thought. I know that deep in my vocabulary the word counsel is for sure synonymous to advice. So I raised my hand to clarify if I’m reading it right and our trainer without batting an eyelash emphasized, “Career counseling is not giving an advice.”

 

The training ended by noon time and my colleagues and I went on with our kill-time activities disguised in the term WLE (Work Life Effectiveness) activities. Some did basketball, while we did a good badminton right after until past 7pm. But those positive stress activities didn’t shake off the “counseling” thing in my gray matter. In fact, while driving my wife to work this morning, I still kept on thinking about it.

 

Instinctively, while preparing breakfast for myself, I juggled with the plates and our trusty Merriam-Webster dictionary and there it was printed on one of the pages – to counsel is to give advice. I was so excited that I eagerly finish my bread, egg and meat loaf meal. I was in front of our PC after I gobbled the last piece of the processed meat.

 

In order to confirm if our Merriam-Webster hardcopy isn’t obsolete yet, I browsed through their internet site – www.m-w.com .

 

The following entries appeared:

 

Main Entry: ²counsel

Function: verb

Inflected Form(s): counseled or counselled; counsel·ing or counsel·ling \-s(ə-)liŋ\

Date: 14th century

transitive verb : advise <counseled them to avoid rash actions — George Orwell> intransitive verb : consult <counseled with her husband>

Main Entry: counseling

Variant(s): or counselling

Function: noun

Date: 1927

: professional guidance of the individual by utilizing psychological methods especially in collecting case history data, using various techniques of the personal interview, and testing interests and aptitudes

Main Entry: ad·vise

Pronunciation: \əd-ˈvīz\

Function: verb

Inflected Form(s): ad·vised; ad·vis·ing

transitive verb1 a: to give advice to : counsel <advise her to try a drier climate> b: caution, warn <advise them of the consequences> c: recommend <advise prudence>2: to give information or notice to : inform <advise them of their rights>intransitive verb1: to give advice <advise on legal matters>2: to take counsel : consult <advise with friends>

 

Main Entry: ad·vice

Pronunciation: \əd-ˈvīs\

Function: noun

1 : recommendation regarding a decision or course of conduct : counsel <he shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties — United States Constitution> 2 : information or notice given —usually used in plural 3 : an official notice concerning a business transaction

With those results and the fact that this top semiconductor company have some managers whom to my shock have normally pronounced words such as Freight like Fright, Sub- like Sob and my favorite irritation, Z like Zay, I wasn’t surprised that one foil in the training material may be erroneous.

 

Like a fighter aiming to finish off a sprawling and bloodied adversary, I type “Career Counseling” in the browser’s search field expecting something that will back up my vocabulary. In a matter of seconds, several results appeared and I eagerly click into each one of it and prepared to celebrate my victory over the foil item in question.

 

 

To my dismay, not one of the sites shows a bit of “Career Counseling IS about giving advice…” to support my argument. Instead it listed common words such as assessment, aptitude tests, planning, decision making, development, research. It was almost about everything related but advice. That left me raising my white flag on this subject matter.

 

As much as I hate defeat, I come to realize that Career Counseling is not just two words that can be discussed over a one-on-one meeting which in our case would only last from 15 – 30 minutes every 3 months (grin). If one staff gets lucky (or not) enough at all he’ll be into one of it at least 3 times in a quarter. Career Counseling is actually a task to be handled by a professional Career Counselor and if you’re not one of them (like me), most likely, you can only advise. Come to think of it, I might as well consider a career as a Career Counselor. Ti abi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rubik’s Cube

What is fast becoming as common as potholes on the road, skin heads, motorcycles, street children, unemployed person or grandstanding Philippine politicians? You guessed right, it’s the mind boggling Rubik’s Cube.

Little did I know that this 6-colored-swiveling-cube will once again haunt me at this age, and with guilt, became one of my interests while on a week long wedding anniversary celebration. Ti abi.

I have fond memories of this toy. When we were peskly little kids, our mother used to bring me and my sis to work as it was just a few kilometers away from where we live and during the times when she felt like it we tag along with her. While in the office I get to bug her boss, well, just like any kid. It’s a good thing though that her boss happens to be a relative and somehow bugging him isn’t much of a big thing and besides, he loves to show me how good he is with the then novel Rubik’s Cube – that time, he can do two colors.

My mother later on got to give us our own cube and I got hooked to it since then. Unfortunately, I can only do 1 color at a time. I never got close to 2 just like my uncle does. I’m so proud of him that I always brag, “My tito can do 2 colors!” I’d always tell my grade school classmates. Those whom I’ve seen complete all six (only on TV) were my idol and I consider them a either a hoax or not from this world.

Years passed and I fully forgot my fascination and frustration with this puzzle until the fad returned once again.  At first I just shrug off the urge to buy thinking that I’ve passed that stage already and have surrendered it to be solved by the young geeks. It seems though that my attraction to it cannot be denied. More people seem to have mastered it and every time I see one, I secretly envied them. Enough is enough.

I eventually bought myself another cube and grabbed the opportunity to fill in the gaps during my one week vacation to learn it. I printed tips from colleagues, searched the web for more instructions and like one student trying to make up for bad grades, I spent extra time studying how it really works. Within 3 days, I got it at last! The next days I can do it without looking at the guide and I was timing how long it takes for me to complete it – I may not in the league of the speed cubers, but who cares? A 5-minute average is good for me.

Now I’m very thankful that I did not include acquiring this skill among the 100-things-to-do-before-I-die list or I could be counting down just 99 more. Whew. I never really knew that the day will come, when I’d lift my head high and say, “Tito Joe, who?” Hahahaha.

Taken by my ever supportive wifey. State 2.

 

 

Lucky 9 Movies

Our week together turned out to be quite good despite not going farther than Festival Mall Alabang or Tagaytay. To make up with the cancelled road trip I played some make believe situation by considering our own home as a hotel as if being out of town and staying in a comfy hotel room. To make it a bit more realistic I let the air-conditioning turned on every night, woke up late, ate without counting calories and going out of the “hotel” any time we like.

After celebrating our exact wedding date with the rest of my wife’s team members, the other days of the week were spent mall hopping, window shopping and of course watching movies. And since we’re celebrating our 9^th year, I will do a brief review of the 9 movies we’ve seen recently - not necessarily within the anniversary week. By the way, I’ll rate the movie from 1(poor) to 5(great) stars just like my wife and I do in our individual diaries (which reminds me that I haven’t updated mine for a long time).

9.  Forbidden Kingdom (Jet Li. Jackie Chan). I’m not so sure if I enjoyed this movie or not. It may have something to do with too much exposure to MMA especially UFC on TV that I’m not buying the flying kung fu stunts anymore. What I like about it is seeing both actors back in business and being together in one film I think is a good way to do just that. 3 Stars.

 

8. Kung Fu Panda (Jack Black. Jackie Chan. Lucy Liu. Angelina Jolie). Being a fan of cartoons, I can immerse myself into it in no time every time I see one. Frankly speaking, I find this Kung Fu movie better than Forbidden Kingdom due to the fact that I have no reason to question once I see the characters, like the bulky panda, float in the air to do gravity defying stunts. It’s not impossible. Why? Because it’s cartoons. Duh. Po rules!  4 Stars.

 

7. Get Smart (Steve Carell. Anne Hathaway). There’s always anxiousness inside me whenever I get to watch a film that is closely similar to previous movie. I have some reservations that this stupid-field agent-comedy movie will be a letdown. Thankfully, it wasn’t the case. The casts (and characters) and story of this film are a great combination. The comic scenes are so hilarious that I was either laughing or giggling from the start until the end of the film. Jim Carey beware. 5 Stars.

 

6. Evan Almighty (Steve Carell). We caught this one on TV while lazily channel surfing one afternoon. It was just a couple of days after we watched Get Smart and my interest to see another version of the famous ark story grew with the fact that Steve Carell is portraying as Noah.  I was fascinated with the idea of mixing a biblical story to a modern setting but I don’t know if my mother would have been laughing as I find some of the exchanges blasphemous. Anyway, I did have a good laugh from majority of the scenes and more importantly I think that the same moral of the story is conveyed as intended in the bible. I’m becoming a Steve Carell fan. 4 Stars.

 

5. Letters from Iwo Jima (Ken Watanabe). This one was from the DVD - another Clint Eastwood film to complement his Flags of Our Fathers movie. I always wonder if there are good people on both sides of the war and this movie helped prove that. The Iwo Jima story reminds me that most soldiers fight with what they believe is right regardless what side they’re in.  In a sense, one you consider a foe is actually a hero of the other side. Comparing the two war films, Letters from Iwo Jima is better than Flags of Our Fathers.  Additionally, dubbing the film in Japanese with English subtitles created a more genuine experience to it.  5 Stars.

 

4. The Happening (Mark Wahlberg).  This film is like some of the dreams I had. It starts with something so interesting that no matter how frightening it was, I forced myself to stay in it in order to find out how it will end.  It’s like a nightmare that you have no control over what you’d see next and every scene makes you curse and jump out of your bed and find yourself sweating from the excitement and/or fear.  At the end of this movie my wife and I were staring at each other still with lots of unanswered questions but being an M. Night Shyamalan flick the end is no surprise – and I love it. 4 Stars.

 

3. Wanted (Angelina Jolie. Morgan Freeman).  Have you ever had a time when you felt like they cast a well known celebrity to compensate with the movie’s poor story? In my opinion, this movie is one of those. Angeline Jolie was like an a wriggling bait so irresistible to an unsuspecting fish like me that despite having seen the trailers with bullets circling its way to find its intended target I still got to watch it in the end. I could have give in to the idea of the intelligent bullets but I called it enough when the story came to be about killing individuals as dictated by a loom supposedly started by weavers from long time ago. To me that’s just crap (pardon the word). 4 Stars – for casting Angelina. 2 Stars for the whole story.

 

2. Incredible Hulk (Edward Norton). Other than fearing lightning, I fear that I might see another lousy Incredible Hulk movie once again. I wisely skipped the first version of this marvel comic character but unfortunately watched it either on a pirated copy of the public buses or from friends’ houses (also pirated, I suspect). But having watched almost all film being shown this week, I hesitatingly agreed to see the new Hulk movie with my wife. Good thing this new version erased all my doubts as the movie progresses. I was awed by the actions scenes, I find the CGIs are not exaggerated and the actors are convincingly good. Lastly, having an unexpected twist in the end makes it more interesting. See for yourself. 4 Stars.

 

1. Made of Honor (Patrick Dempsey. Michelle Monaghan). What better way to cap a week of wedding anniversary celebration, than to end it by watching what else? A wedding movie of course! The movie is about a platonic (or more aptly, hypothetical) relationship which led to a crazy love story. What sets this movie apart from other romantic movies is the idea of having one man being tagged and eventually agreeing to be the bride’s maid of honor.  Although come to think of it, IF I were in the shoes of the male character, I can’t imagine myself to last that long as just being a friend with a lady as lovely as Hannah.  4 Stars.

 

Don’t get me wrong, but whether I enjoyed the movies we’ve watched or not, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy the company of my dearest (wink!) wife. We’ve been in the movies 11 years ago (wink again) and hopefully we’d still be together to see more of it even if we’re as wrinkled as English bulldogs.

 

Wedding Anniversary

This week is our week…as husband and wife, that is. Initially planned to be celebrated as a road trip going farther north of the country but due to unforeseen factors from work and the weather, I welcomed the cancellation with less resistance. So goodbye SCTEX drive-by. Goodbye Cagayan.  Goodbye Ilocos. Goodbye Pagudpud. Welcome Dasmarinas – just where we actually live.

The series of events at work added with the fact that majority of us are trying to make every bit of last celebration worthwhile made me finally give in to my wife’s request to allow her to have their area’s summer outing fall on the exact date of our wedding anniversary. And so instead of driving hundreds of kilometers north I find myself driving just around ten kilometers south from our home to the resort of their choice.

By 8 AM, June 26, we were both already at Qubo Qabana resort which is a just few minutes’ drive.  We actually scouted this place just a couple of days prior and it was a bit of surprise finding it better than expected. The area has good facilities. There’s a pool for both kids and adult. There’s an activity area readily available for large group of people and event. More importantly their rate is affordable. So it’s no wonder that it immediately got everyone’s approval just by looking at the pictures I took. Besides, it is just halfway along the way to work and settled strategically near Magdaragat (sea foods restaurants) and Quinta Court motel.  It’s so easy to spot that one won’t need Google Earth to find it.

Most of the group arrived later but by then those who came earlier were already very busy preparing the food which seems to be overwhelming the grilling area and the people in it. Being a bad cook, I was helping out in keeping the charcoal aglow and it kept me occupied for hours. There were enormous squids, tahong (sea shells), fishes, chickens and hot dogs queuing to be cooked that even Bobby Flay could have been busy with it.

Thankfully by noon most of her team had arrived already and all foods have been prepared. Other than the grilled meats, there were also a variety of menu contributed by the rest of the group which made lunch time a feast. On the table are chicken curry, shanghai rolls, salads and one of my favorites – bicol express. Too bad the alcoholic drinks came later in the afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the heavy meal, everyone picked their own activity. Some played cards. Some played bingo. Others opted to check the pool out – I was one of them.

The pool’s design is good but at first glance the flooring appears to be a disappointment because it was made only of white concrete. Surprisingly, upon closer inspection it is not mossy, it is not slippery, and it is clean. An improvement on safety may be needed though by posting a depth guide as it has deep part at the center that could have caught novice swimmers unguarded.

Before 6 PM came, some of the attendees had already left and those who remained - – both sober and drunk - were already starting to pack up.  From the looks of it, everyone seems to have enjoyed the picnic. And obviously at the end of the day my wife and I were neither in a resort in Ilocos nor in a nice beach somewhere in Pagudgud; nevertheless, we both enjoyed our 9^th anniversary by celebrating it somewhere near together  with friends and colleagues – next year, I’m sure it will just be us or probably with another set of colleagues.

 

 

 

 

Too Much Hollywood

“Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction…” – Bad Religion

 

Who can accept that one way or another, Hollywood has made an impact in their lives? I for one am raising both hands. Don’t get me wrong, but needless to say, I have neither been near Hollywood nor ever have seen in person even one Oscar’s nominee or awardee.  I’m not even an actor material (reminds me to check heritage.com).  As much as I’d like to, I was never that close.

Just like everyone else I get my daily dose of it out of the boob tube if not from the giant silver screen. And as far as I can recall I’ve been watching a bit of it almost every day even since I was kid. Heck, that may even be the reason why I started telling fabricated stories when I was yet in grade school. Just like any kid does. Remarkably better than an embedded chip, Hollywood movies or TV shows really know how to find their place in our mind, stay there for good and eventually affecting our daily lives – whether we like it or not.

Moreover, with the steady influx of technological advancement  that is getting affordable or at least accessible to the masses (at a rate that’s quicker than most people can get their salary increases) blurs the line between real and reel life every time. From cable TV, the internet, mobile TV, virtual reality and my favorite – High Definition audio (e.g., Surround sound system, SDDS, THX) and/or video (HDTV, Blue Rays, etc.),  one’s senses and imagination gets treated better than it was before. Each sensory experience is getting more surreal and it felt usually so satisfying that often times creating a make believe environment just like in the movies is as easy as closing one’s eyes.

Not trying to sound psychotic or one who has taken a good dose of hallucinogens and brandishing the peace sign, I love to entertain myself by superimposing some sort of “Hollywood-ish” flavor into my reality – as often as I please.

Like a couple of weeks ago until today, the weather has been harsh in our part of the globe. Mornings would usually come with bright orange dawn and would continue to become a very sunny, warm and humid noontime. In a matter of minutes though, as if on cue, AND as if a scene coming right out of Tom Cruise’s War of the Worlds, the sky would be overcast and the dreaded lightning flashes streaks across the black backdrop. What follows next is a thunder roaring like something out of an Armageddon setting. During these times, I can beat Dash’s speed 10 times. Trust me.

To keep reality in check, I always appreciate the presence of shows such as my favorite Mythbusters and when I get the chance or when my remote fingers stray away, I like watching Nat Geo’s “What Happens If?” and Mad Labs. These are shows which remind me that Hollywood will never be equals to reality (at least for now). It reminds me that cars falling off the cliff won’t normally explode, a piercing bullet in a gas tank doesn’t mean an instant kaboom, sticking a knife on a ship’s sail won’t cushion or slow down your fall and many more fallacies being obviously exposed that every time I get to watch a movie makes me a bad viewer – just waiting for mistakes to happen. It takes one good movie to make me switch from a pesky critic to an all-adoring fan.

But my love-hate relationship with the weather always fascinates me that I can easily relate either a blue sky day or a cumulus laden heaven from a scene out of the movie world. For example, waking up this afternoon I saw that my wife eagerly waited to show me an animation of the typhoon Fengshen (local name, Frank). Although this typhoon is nowhere near a super storm, the rotating mass at the center which covers a great part of Luzon switched my neurons into role-playing time. I immediately heard a clapper sounding inside my head and saw a camera crane panning from behind me to my left showing just the glowing monitor which became a perfect backlight to emphasize my profile. If I could have lifted the mouse anywhere near my mouth, I could have uttered the words, “…Andrea Gail…there’s a storm coming your way…”

As much as I find reality annoying and most of the days it is just tempting to surrender myself to our coach, grab one tube of Pringles, a bottle of ice cold beer and complemented by a good DVD movie and an ever sympathetic wife just by my side, having a grasp of the concrete life along with its demanding goals remains a test of our true character. A character that plays its part unconditionally even without the luxury that its reel counterpart enjoys but with the assurance that every well-played part in the real world will have its real rewards and hopefully will have its own happy finale. But then again, I’d appreciate it a lot if our lives can readily have an alternate ending. Ti abi.

***

It appears like the cancellation of our Ilocos trip which was supposed to happen next week is a blessing in disguise. From wunderground.com, it shows that typhoon Frank seems to be planning to go along with our road trip. Hahaha. The price we have to pay for celebrating our wedding anniversary every June.

 

 

*Weather Images from Wunderground.com

Ride Of My Life

Prelude:

 

I’m trying to do a blog this week with the pressure coming from my publisher/editor-in-chief…errr, my wife but with me having a flu (which I haven’t had for almost a year) my lazy bones took over. My mind stopped functioning, grammars in my composition worsen and my gray matter preferred holding the TV’s remote instead. I tried to fight back by starting to read a book - Digital Fortress - but every time I sniff I get distracted and left me no choice but to put it down often. I had to cancel badminton and gym sessions as well and confined my activity within our sofa, bed, sofa, bed - all of which puts me in front of the TV most of the time if not in front of the PC.

 

Luckily, TV shows lately are quite new (at least to me) and I enjoyed most of it. Last night Amazing Video’s episode: Stunts Gone Bad had my sadistic side pumped up as I was laughing my heart out while skateboarders and BMX’ers crash and burn. And just before I went into deep sleep, I heard David Letterman mentioning that Kevin Robinson achieved a 27 feet ramp flight. I know he must have been clueless who first set the 25 feet mark. Only an avid BMX’er knew about that - and I was one of them. Shhhh.

 

So today I tried to go back to a book review on Mat Hoffman’s book which I’m very sure I posted; however, I almost freaked out when I can’t find it in my multipy site, blogspot and even here in wordpress. I don’t know, but I got quite confused and began to suspect if the TRANSLTR really existed. Hahahaha. I got it all mixed up now. TRANSLTR is a fictional (is it really?) powerful machine capable of intercepting emails (or blogs?) and other electronic signals that may have the sinister intention towards Uncle Joe’s government. Thankfully that’s fiction and that’s from Digital Fortress by the way.

 

Intercepted by TRANSLTR or just stuck in my files, here’s the book review.

 

 ***

 

“Once a _____, always a _____”. Almost anyone can fill in these blanks. Well in my case, it’s “Once a rider, always a rider”.

 

Back in the old school days as they call it, everyone in our group knows at least one bit of Mat Hoffman. We were a bunch of BMX flatlanders back then and despite Mat being famous in the vert sessions, no one really cared. Anybody who is “rad“, we idolize.

 

My wife got this book for me from a book sale section at SM while I was busy filling my need for caffeine in the donut shop. Little did I know that the espresso load will somewhat become a warm up in preparation for what I’d be reading for the next hours until a few days more. The book sent adrenalin rush all over my body. It was as if I’m just in front of Mat Hoffman’s life as it unfolds. If I could haven gotten myself on a BMX at that moment, I could have delivered a couple of my favorite old school routines just like I did way back in high school. Perfect trick execution or not, it wouldn’t have mattered to me.

 

It is that good. The energy it brings is infectious. Reading Mat Hoffman Ride of My Life (with Mark Lewman) from start to finish sent me cringing, smiling, sighing or just plainly amazed…no, actually very amazed. Of course, nostalgic BMX daydreams came in every now and then in between pages. It just can’t be avoided by ex-BMXers like me.

 

Needless to say, my BMX experience wasn’t even near Mat’s. In his ramp scale, mine will just be a mere curve past flat bottom. Yes, it was just that. Even then, those riding years gave me great memories, not to mention bruises and the shame that usually comes with it. “No pain, No gain” as we always used to say. And yet again, it just doesn’t come any near Mat’s.

 

The 311-page, hardbound book comes with a great compilation of great photos (just in case one would wonder what in the world a can-can is) which covered almost every aspect of Mat’s life. It was here that I learned he was just a five year old kid when he started riding - horses just yet. And in no time his need for speed and especially flight started in quick succession. Mat was destined to be known as the Condor.

 

With influence from his older brother he soon got introduced to motorbikes, ramps and their roof. Yes, you read it right, roof.  Riders, or riders in the making, have different perspectives of the common everyday things: A roof is to “air time” - I remembered I jumped a couple of times from our roof top and landing on piles of leaves. If only I had a bike at that time. Hmmm; an innocent hand rail is to grinds; plywood is to ramps; a dry swimming pool is to jam sessions and the list can go on. And Mat’s list is one that most of us just can’t predict or let alone imagine.

 

Mat’s skills eventually got him into a manufacturer-sponsored team and went into either doing demo (read: show-off sessions) or competition, starting as an amateur. I was surprised to learn that during this time Dennis McCoy (another BMX icon) was already doing pro.

 

Of course his honeymoon with the bicycle scene didn’t come without any hitch. And this is when the BMX recession happened. It was during this time that Mat proved his love and passion for the sport. Instead of just quitting like everyone did, he founded his own Hoffman Bikes so he could manufacture bikes at his own specification (and his own backyard). He was just 17 years old then.  Eventually this backyard industry grew and become one of the biggest in the BMX business.

 

As his riding skills and confidence progresses he started inventing (no, this doesn’t involve lab work) sick and original tricks. And one of which was the famous 900 - think of it as two and a half bike turns while on vertical flight. (Just one turn or a 360 by the way, would take a lot of skills already). Another thing that no one can take away from Mat is his famous, over spec ramp and the amazing height that it got him into. That ramp was 21 feet high and he was able to achieve another 25 feet of vertical flight from it, which made more believers and lesser skeptics – mostly, I guess were just green with envy. Until now, no one has come close to that feat. No one even dared.

 

By the way, an advice to non-riders: avoid randomly picking and reading the pages as one might end up thinking that he’s reading a medical book (or a maniac’s death wish). The long list of Mat’s injury, mostly from doing his bike stunts, is enough for this book to be mistakenly placed by anyone alongside the surgeon or nurses’ reviewers section of the bookstore. And lastly, while reading this book having an air sickness bag right behind you may be a good idea as well.

 

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is (or was) into bikes (esp. BMX. as one will surely love to read about most of BMX history’s evolution of tricks, bikes, apparel and riders’ skills) or just loves to watch the Extreme Games , Bike Stunts contest or the TV show, Jackass .

 

Until now I can still smell the scent of our favorite bike shop. Ahhh, I just love the smell of tires and scuffed shoes. Thankfully I got this wonderful book for me to remember those good old carefree riding days.

 

 

Postscript:

Now I remember, I sent this review as an entry in Philstar’s My Favorite Book, but it looks like they wanted it to remain just my favorite. Grrr. I’m thinking though that not much people can relate to this book anyway. Besides BMX riders prefer the streets and I bet seldom they’ll pick and read the Philippine Star. And that makes me a “Has Been”. Ti abi.

 

book cover credit: http://www.bikemag.com/news/hoffman_book/

 

 

 

Something Looks Familiar

This afternoon I was once again in the waves of ennui and surfing the internet trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my Sunday while feeling guilty of having to skip mass again and while also waiting for my wife to come home.

Emails checked. Multiply.com updates checked. Friendster.com scanned – not much friends in friendster (isn’t that an irony?). Favorites list scanned back and forth. Lurked forums done. Emails rechecked again for the nth time in just a couple of hours. Thankfully I’m free from mouse to keyboard ratio recording or I could be sending red signals to the ergonomics guru of our company.

Not really knowing how to bail out of my PC’s chair which is getting claustrophobic and butt-hot while I move the mouse aimlessly, I suddenly realized I was looking at Formula1.com’s interview with the recent winner of the Canadian grand prix, Robert Kubica. Having watched this last race’s replay (I was at work when it was shown live), I must admit that it was one of the most exciting I’ve seen so far this year. It was one for the books of fame and for the books of unfortunate events, which by the way F1 races will always be – even the famous Michael Schumacher has its own share of fame and shame.  This is the race wherein Lewis Hamilton rear-ended Kimi while on their way out of the pit lane - which brings the conspiracy theorists like me raise an eyebrow out of suspicion.  Hmmm.

Robert Kubica of course wasn’t one hypocrite not to accept the fact that he felt more hope when these two leading drivers crashed. It was not only his day to win but it was his day to lead the drivers’ championship with 42 points. After all, his consistency during the past races eventually paid off and June 08, 2008 became the day for him to be in the middle of the two drivers in the podium for the first time. It was the day BMW claimed the most coveted win of every races. It’s the day their sponsors have been waiting for…and wait, something looks familiar in the picture. Ahhhh…our company’s logo.

I’ve got used to seeing Mclarens and Ferraris (Renault, of course included) exchanging top positions for years that it took me until now to realize that right beside BMW’s logo is Intel’s. It may have something to do with the fact that Intel’s Philippine site is closing this year that I forgot to cheer my heart out when the whole BMW team was cheering and savoring the huge champagne during the awarding ceremony.

BMW and Intel’s win may have been late to be fully relished especially for us working for the latter, but as they always say, “A win is a win”. Now I don’t know if I’d be celebrating next time if BMW takes the 1-2 position once again. Hopefully yes.

Go BMW. Go Intel. Greetings coming from a Ferrari fan.

***

Frankly speaking, i never thought the BMW guys behind have any chances of winning a 1-2. Now, I stand corrected. Taken on April 2007 in Suria KLCC.

F*** You

Be calm.No need to censor. But I’m trying not to say this dreaded F word – FATS; because right now I’m facing a tough problem. Tougher than the impending unemployment and tougher than facing an unending oil price hike. It has something to do with my weight. And the horrifying number is Seventy pounds. That’s how heavy I am right now. And that’s seven pounds more than my required weight.

In gym lingo I’ve reached the hated plateau. It’s no matter how much I do the tread mills, do weight training and perform hopeless crunch and abs work out, my body just got bored with these routines. And like an employer running out of manpower, my body has posted a vacancy sign outside its doorstep. It’s accepting fats and calories like Vietnam is accepting all the multinational companies.

I know I can’t do anything about Vietnam but I’m sure I can do something about this weight. A battle must take place though to achieve once again my ideal weight as I don’t find it amusing anymore seeing our bathroom scale displaying a value higher than the last time I stepped on it. So instead of crying over spilled beer…I mean milk, I’d like to write about this new weight goal so I can get back to it soon and feel good about losing – weight, that is.

For me to be back on track, a re-assessment has to be done like anything that has gone awry or in this case what I’d call SNAFU – Situation Normal All Fat’s Up. Got to go back to monitoring what I eat and when I eat. I have to say goodbye to Jollibee breakfast, goodbye to Burger King Whopper, goodbye to heavy dinner, goodbye to beer…ooopps, let me recall the latter.

As part of my reflection, I’m wondering what I have done recently that made me accumulate such weight. So let me focus at least on this past week’s activity.

Monday. As scheduled, I played badminton with a couple of colleagues. Although known as the fastest game and tagged by some as a good cardiovascular workout, I find this game as a false sense of exercise to complement a diet.  Why? Normally, the heart-pounding and blood-pumping game for the whole day will bring us to a fast food restaurant to recover what we skipped during lunch. This last game, we found ourselves eating spaghetti and having a couple of beer in The Old Spaghetti House.

Fats – 1. Diet – 0.

Sunday. I was in Batangas with wifey to attend a birthday and a farewell party. The Red Ribbon chocolate cake and the predictable spaghetti were there and were looking mouth-watering as ever. I must have blacked out in front of the table but I found my stomach bulging and my lips colored brown and red.

Fats – 2. Diet – 0.

Saturday.  Finally, I attended my first TUP-V summer outing after several postponed dates with my batch mates. So right after a hard day’s work (at least I believe so), I find myself worthy of rewarding myself with good food and good company.  Without wasting time, I excitedly drove my way from Cavite to Sta. Rosa Laguna; and a hundred wrong turns  and a couple of hours later (thanks to the perfect map), I eventually located Dictado Resort where most of the attendees also got lost which is probably the reason why the program started late. Despite the exhausting drive it was fulfilling to meet long lost friends, schoolmates and other new alumni. It was also nice seeing some of the faces behind the aliases in the Tup-Vian’s yahoogroups. It was a “tagalog-free” night and it was like being home in Bacolod with everyone around speaking Ilonggo.  The feeling of nostalgia is of course never complete without guess what? Beer. Lots of it. Ti abi.

Fats – 3. Diet 0.

Friday. Coming from work, I picked my wife at home and went back to SM to watch the most anticipated movie of this year – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I don’t know if the peanuts we brought inside was responsible for my calorie pile up that night OR was it the film being the MOST boring (sorry, I can’t help but emphasize) Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg film I’ve ever seen – it was so boring, my metabolism almost stopped working.  If I haven’t seen any of their previous works, I could have included them in my “never-to-watch-films” list. Watching Indiana Jones is like watching a chopsuey of films such as X-files, Tomb Raider, Alien vs. Predator, Armageddon all rolled into one. And that’s not a compliment either.  Anyway, peanuts or this B-movie film, Fats – 4. Diet – 0.

Thursday. Failing to bring home something to eat after my shift ended, I asked my wife for a dinner at the nearby David’s Tea House. Meal was picked to have the least calorie content that we can think of. I ended consuming the dumplings that my wife did not eat. By the way, did I mention I had beer that night? Well, I did.

Fats – 5. Diet – 0.

As much as I’d like to add more days in this list, it’s becoming more obvious that my Diet is losing the battle. I can imagine a fictional referee raising the Fats’ hands after winning the unanimous decision for the 5-rounder battle. But the fight is not yet over, my Diet is calling for a rematch and I’m making sure we will win next time.

Beer and Gym

Spending Wisely

They say there are only two things in life that’s certain – these are death and taxes. But come to think of it spending may be added as well. Besides, it is where taxes will come from.

Since the dawn of civilization or at least when people started using money, spending by people for things they both need and want has been as predictable as clock work. Of course with the infamous wealth distribution pyramid, the outflow of money differs from one social class order to another. Fairly, everyone (i.e., rich, middle or lower class) has their own set of financial worries – The Ayalas may worry what Cadillac color to get, The average Juan Dela Cruzes worry which one is a good bang for the buck – Vios or City, while the less privilege worry when the next jeepney fair price hike will happen. All are worries nevertheless. Parang patas, pero hindi (Looks fair yet not).

But before I fully transform (though I truly wish) my blog into something like Francis Kong’s business article, I’d like to share some of my tips with regards to spending wisely – at least I believe so.

·         Obsolete items have to go. The unstoppable electricity bill made me decide to sell (another of my online selling adventure) our old air conditioner and replace it with a new one that has a timer so it can switch the electric fan at a specified time without me having to perform a half-sleepwalk just to reach and turn the air con off.

·         Be on the lookout for best 2^nd hand (used) deals. My wife showed her haggling talent and got a 5-month old Canon IXUS 70 at 25 percent less than the original price - Not bad. But I banned her on my ebay’s buyers list – I can’t handle such hagglers.

·         Drive as if you’re participating in Petron’s Extra Mile challenge. Been doing it lately and I’m seeing an improvement both to my sanity and fuel economy. It’s also one way to discourage your friends from riding with you – who wants to be in a new car without an air conditioning on? Hahaha. Just kidding.

·         Watch only good movies (Catch the bad ones in HBO). Last week we watched “What Happens in Vegas” and we quite had a good laugh at it. Cinema: P240, Watching Aston Kutcher and Cameron Diaz: Priceless.  

·         Read restaurant reviews before dining in. This is what we learned with Fish & Co. where I read in some forums that even those known rich people find it overpriced. Too bad I read about it late enough. Last week was a different story; we had our sweet revenge in Bollywood. I enjoyed our dinner (but my wife didn’t) in this Indian cuisine restaurant and that made me dream of going to India to savor more of their foods. I’m wondering if there’s any other way we can commute there other than their trains – I have some “issues” with it. If there is, Bombay, count me in.

·         Pay and download only the music you like.  When I heard about it from my wife, I immediately agree with the idea; rather than buying a full CD (single artist) and feeling shortchanged later on after learning that your favorite artist himself has actually only one favorite song in his own album. Ti abi. But then again, I’d like to emphasize that this is not a reason to patronize pirated music. Buying pirated materials is not spending wisely. It is stealing. Period.

·         Grab every chance to join a raffle or contest. My wife got her pair of limited edition Havaianas 7 Waves for free after being included in the first 70 entries for their contest.  That will keep her from buying another Spartan enemy…for now. I’m thinking if I can sell this pair in ebay. Shhh.

 

There’s a rule to having a successful diet – do not deny yourself of your cravings as doing so will just make you binge in the end. Instead, eat everything (those obviously not hazardous) in moderation. Spending is no different. Cutting every expense out at once will have its repercussion. It is better to moderate it at first and depending on the availability of resources – i.e., money – try eliminating the unnecessary ones one at a time. Good luck.

 

 

Busting Smash Lab

If there’s one cable TV channel I instinctively choose to partner with our couch (and my unconscious effort to gain weight), it would be The Discovery Channel. Over the years, I’ve come to love the programs it has been showing.  I can even endure re-runs played the nth time and still get awed and surprised every time I see it. I don’t call it short memory retention; I just consider it both an entertaining and learning experience.

Discovery has been like a drive-thru movie (we see of course only in the movies)that my wife and I loves whenever we’re home. It’s like a subliminal message has been planted over our brains that whatever mood (yes! Whatever) we’re in, we just appreciate the fact that we’re in front of the boob tube absorbing whatever show it feeds us. It is in this channel that we come to love the mood swings of the Teutuls of the Orange County Choppers, learned the art of survival with Bear Gryll’s Man vs. Wild, realized why the king crabs are such pricey meals after watching Deadliest Catch, understand how ordinary things came to be in How It’s Made and of course, how can I forget the Mythbusters.

Considering me as a fan of conspiracy theories, urban legends and of any myths around, the Mythbusters has been like a How-To book to me. It is TV’s version of howstuffworks – you watch it when you want to confirm something. You watch it when you want to know if one myth is plausible or busted. I once told my wife that I’d prefer it as my background while at home over the FM radio stations. MB is just like music to my ears.

And finally after weeks of anticipation, after all the hype and the wait for another new Discovery channel show that will complement my favorites, Smash Lab debuted this week.  And despite still lacking sleep (coming from a graveyard shift) together with the cool rainy weather outside, I was able to resist the call of our comfy bed to stay stuck to it. Instead I glued myself in front of the TV to welcome the show Smash Lab.

But like any myths in Mythbusters, I was soon like Adam calling it busted just as the myth is told. I was nowhere in the middle of Smash Lab premier when I saw myself in the mirror yawning not because of the lack of sleep, but because of sudden realization that the show is a total bore. Other similarly predictable boring series suddenly began playing inside my mind:

·         Lost – what do you expect but lost people who get to wear new set of clothes every episode.

·         Prison Break – want a clue what this is all about? Duh!

·         Numbers – I hate this show just as I hate math. I would even kneel wherever I am if I one day I will read in the papers an FBI/NBI investigator plotting complex mathematical calculations to pin point a criminal. Until that time comes, this show for me is Zero.

·         Sex and the City – It’s nothing but promiscuity advertised. (But frankly, I get turned on just by the sight of Sarah Jessica Parker.)

So that’s how I got lost in Smash Lab – watching it reminded me of the other shows I hated and it reminded me to include it in that list. I find it a total waste of budget, talent and not to mention concrete. The premier episode is about stopping cars using aerated concrete added to existing barriers and lane dividers – which all of the experiments ended in a pathetic and pretentious shout of success. The show just fall short of convincing Mythbusters fans (like me) to pack up and let Adam, Jamie, Grant, Kari and Tory be a thing of the past. As for first impressions, which could last, this show is BUSTED.