Back to the boondocks

The Outdoor org in our office has been approved and so, we can now officially start with our activities.

First Activity: Akyat bundok
Where: Mt. Gulugod Baboy
When: February 23-24, 2008

Can’t wait to be back in the mountains!

Done!

Yes, I’m finally done with PMPs for end of year. I’ll just be waiting for the D’s verdict. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I don’t want to entertain his questions (Where’s your data? Where’s your evidence?!) wahaha. Really, I just wish for this to end. It’s so draining already. I’d like to focus on other things for the team.

Techfest{2008}

Our team was lucky enough to sign up for Microsoft’s Techfest{2008} last January 22, 2008, held at Rizal Ballroom, Shangri-la Makati. The event started with a registration followed by 6Cyclemind’s performance. Pampagising daw hehe. The morning session was basically a short discussion on the new releases. A more detailed discussion followed in the afternoon. We attended the following:

• Microsoft Silverlight By: Tim Vergel de Dios, Academic Developer Evangelist
• What's New in SQL Server 2008? By: Nicholas Dristas, Principal Program Manager SQL
• Server What's New in Visual Studio 2008? By: Warren Yu, MVP for Visual Tools

The event concluded with a Raffle. Unfortunately, no one from our team won wahuhu.

Here are some links for the event:

• Techfest{2008} blog
• Techfest{2008} Presentation slides

To be updated with Microsoft's upcoming events, visit their events site.

After the event, syempre picture taking sa labas hehe. Pictures to follow.

Non-tech note: Ang Filipino term pala ng beans ay bitsuelas haha. Nagduda pa ako nung una kasi ang nasa menu ng hotel, guinisang bitsuelas pero nung sinerver, sweet peas naman. Pagkatapos ng maraming beses na pagtatanong, ang bitsuelas nga ay beans at ang sweet peas ay chicharo. Misleading lang yung menu.

Objective vs. Subjective statements

What’s the difference between the two?

Subjective is reported that you cannot observe. I tell you that I have pain that is 8 on a 1-10 scale. Can you observe my pain? No, you can observe my response to the pain, but not my pain.

Your subjective statement here would be: Patient reports pain in lower left quadrant of 8 out of 10.

Objective is something that you can see/observe. While you cannot see my pain, you can observe my responses: moaning, crying, grimacing, contorting, etc...

Your objective statement here is patient reports pain in lower left quadrant of 8 out of 10. Patient is tearful during and moaning during repositioning. Additionally, patient guards this area upon examination and grimaces.

Soruce: http://au.answers.yahoo.com/answers2/frontend.php/question?qid=20071204235255AANuk3t

Anyway, I just wish I did some practice with those statements before attacking the evaluations for my subordinates. It might have helped a bit. I did not know until now how challenging it is to construct statements that are objective (as advised by HR) not subjective.

On other things, the tool that I’m using is taking oh so very, very, very long to load and I am getting errors for the past 30 minutes. Want proof? I’m doing this while waiting for the form to load! I am already pressured since the director will be checking these tomorrow, and that he might be passing by our area anytime today. Hayz. I have 6 PMPs to do (wherein 1 profile is missing as it’s not yet fixed by HR). Unfortunately, I cannot find the first PMP I encoded so I have to redo it again. The system is acting up. It sucks. On top of that, I’m not yet done with my own PMP. Ngrsh!

Bohol

We're booked for Bohol from March 14-17, 2008. Yiffeee!

Next thing to do: itinerary!

Ang katuparan ng wish list

• Another mug for water in the office. -- But I already got one from HR-Payroll. Thanks HR. :)
• Evans rubber shoes pang-uwi sa Baguio -- meron na at gamit na gamit na rin hehe
• Office shoes, black -- tinamad na ako maghanap. this year na lang.
• Any book on finance and investment -- la pa. hanap muna ako ng magandang book.
• Ipod Nano 3rd gen black. -- Already bought one for myself. Budget curtesy of my 13th month pay hihi.
• Portable DVD. Para di boring pag long trips. -- may budget na (galing sa pinagbentahan ko ng Canon digicam na napanalunan ko sa raffle hekhekhek). bili na lang yippee. layo nga lang ng Raon hehe.
• Victoria’s Secret Honeysuckle belle, sweet temptation, secret crush (body wash, lotion and body spray) -- i got Romantic Wish and Love Spell (salamat Emie! :))
• Learn to speak in Spanish CD -- di na ako nakahanap. this year na lang. mahal CD :p
• A clone of ... hihihi! -- they say nothing is impossible under the sun. so posible ba talaga 'to?! wahahaha

Early Birthday gift?

Break muna.

May mga expected changes especially on my birth month. Parang early birthday gift nga. Pero nung una medyo natakot ako kasi exploration of the semi-unknown ‘to. But after much deliberation, it turns out na mukhang ok naman and it’s an opportunity to look forward to. Yun nga lang, panibagong adjustment na naman. Sana lang makayanan ko. I’ll just make the most out of it and enjoy the journey.

So long 2007, hello 2008

I would say it had been a blessed year. It was a mixture of fun, a new and challenging role and once again, trying out a business, and a closure to a chapter of my life.

First off, I was greeted by the New Year with a new role. It was frightening at first but I had to just make the best out of it and enjoy the journey. And I did hehe, with a bonus of new learnings pa.

In November, my brother and I started a piggery business. We are only starting out but we are optimistic about it. I didn’t know that feeds were THAT expensive haha.

Also in November, I can honestly say I finally closed something. I had been working on it since November 2006. Yes, that long. It was a hard and sometimes painful process but just one morning in November, it was over. Whew! It was a very liberating experience. Freedom! Hehe. Now, I can look forward to other things.

In between work, we also had out of town trips to our friends’ places. Some friends decided to leave the company and the country, but I’ve met new friends along the way.

And now, I am welcoming 2008 with wide open arms. :D I promise that it would be more fruitful and I’ll enjoy and explore more. I’m pretty much excited because of the anticipated events, which includes some travels, moving to a new house nearer to my workplace (sana!), and starting on a major goal.

Some resolutions for this year:

• Hear mass regularly
• Keep my office inbox clean and free of SPAM! Ngrsh ngrsh ngrhs!
• Save, save and save more
• Travel a little
• Finish at least 2 cross stitch projects
• Read more books (in any genre)
• Spend more time with family (so more uwi this year hehe)
• Study and practice the art of people management

Cheers for 2008!