Facebook dilemma; to be or not to be...

Over a year ago, I enjoyed posting my thoughts through blogs. Ever since I got my wedding proposals, perhaps I stopped and got busy with my wedding preparations. Over 5 months since our wedding day and I never had a chance still to write blogs. Did I get pre-occupied with something again? Perhaps no, instead of my mind boggling over writing, I got pre-occupied with chismis over facebook. Duh! Yeah really!

Truthfully, Facebook is really not a good influence. Okay, upon logging in, the newsfeed shows up. While navigating on the page, I scroll down, clicks “older post” and never noticed that I am not reaching towards the end of the page. Then I felt my back aches, I reach on my wrist watch, I am surprised that I have spent non-productive hours just sitting and checking other facebook’s account instead of reading and feeding my mind with a more sensible topic from news and other intellectual blogs. What the??!!?

In the coming days, I promise to be more productive… hope I could. This is my first blog of 2011 and looking forward to have more to come.

Asia's rice research is the top rice import

While waiting for LA last Saturday in Gateway, I decided to drop by to Fullybooked. The China Magazine caught my attention as the topic interest me about Importing Rice in Asia. LA arrived and saw me reading the magazine so he bought it for me (to make up for being late J). While reading the topic, I was dying to write it on my blog so here I am.

In the Philippines, rice import is one of the major problems that the government should have to prioritize. The supply of rice in the Philippines is not sufficient enough for the people that we need to import rice from other countries like China and Vietnam. Note that our major importers have studied Agriculture and done their research here in the Philippines. It’s really odd that Philippines has sufficient knowledge about this field but cannot produce its own crop.

Last year, scarcity in rice production has been one of the major problems we are facing. It was also grim that even the Agriculture secretary has appealed to fast-food chain in national television to serve half servings of their rice since many are light eaters anyway. A Chinese Filipino cabinet member even commented, “It would be a waste giving them the regular amount if they could not finish it all”. Our population is increasing and yet the land allotted for the rice production is getting smaller. Most land converted into subdivision, golf courses, buildings etc. In China Business Magazine, it mentioned that the primary reason the Philippines is not sufficient in rice is the irrigation and we do not have big river system that could sustained water during the dry season. Some expert said that it is very expensive to solve the issue that is why rice import became the solution.

Being said that, I do not know why the government cannot allot a budget into this major problem, which in time will all benefit the Filipino people. I was even crying knowing the conditions of our farmers like how painful for them also to sell their own lands. Sometimes, I even regret why I took up course in Computer Science instead of Agricultural. My heart is tearing apart when I saw in news that the government often neglected our farmer’s needs. Do they not know that the sacrifice they endure under the heat of the sun is not even equal to the money they profit from it? Some even joked that what farmers sow is what others reap. Yes, literally speaking, they do not sow what they reap. Yet a simple help they were asking from the government often neglected. I wonder if this is because official could only profit a little from them compare to the profit they will get in bidding rice import from the officials of the other country? I would like to share the answer of Romeo Royandoyan (Philippine Center for Rural Development Studies executive director) to an interview in China Business Magazine. He was asked from a businessperson’s standpoint, why is it in his interest that we become self-sufficient in rice instead of importing. This is his answer.

To be honest with you, these businessman have nothing to do with rice production. Their interest is in trading, not in whether we’re self-sufficient or we’re importing. They’re in it for profit. Last year, during the crisis, these rice traders hoarded supplies, while the masses were lining up for rice. They hoarded rice because they knew, at a certain point, prices would go up. They should reexamine their priorities and responsibilities to the country. It’s shameful!

That was mouthful and yet true. We just had our garden landscaped recently. During the negotiations, the gardener said that we could choose the plant that we wanted within the price range that we agreed to. My mom and I went to his garden and then I saw the calamansi plant. I immediately collected two of them. I thought to myself that this would benefit us because aside from the plant takes a little space in our garden, it is also one of our basic needs in cooking and beautifying. When this fruit is also not in season, its price strikes high in the market. The gardener also said that plant would bear fruit already in just a few months. I felt so excited when he told me that, imagining that one of our basic needs is just around the corner of our garden to sustain us everyday. Just like in our country, it felt secure to know that we are self-sufficient of our own food security.

I always pray that every Filipino will be awaken and instill to their children the love to their country and care of its natural resources. Let’s not forget that we are the government and not only the officials leading the country. Each of us should have a share of love if we wanted to make things happen. Like the quote “Do what you can do to your country [I would also like to add -fellowmen] instead of what your country can do for you”.

Two weeks ago, I was contemplating of buying a new laptop. The laptop I wanted to buy was on sale for 0% interest in 12 months, original price is slash up to 5k plus freebies (additional 1 gig ram, mouse, USB prepaid kid for wireless connection). If I add 3k or 5k, I would get a vista basic or home OS included in the package. Good thing, LA got a free trial of Windows Seven from a Microsoft seminar so I could use it instead of buying a new OS. Okay then, everything is set so I decided to buy after the cut-off of my credit card. To make the story short, something came up and I decided not to hehe. Although the offer is good, I told myself that there would be future offers, which might be much favorable. In fact, laptop is not my necessity for now and I still have my desktop computer working properly.

Being an impulsive buyer, I tend to buy things that are not important. I was once a shopaholic who cannot resist if I pass by on a stall offering a product that are on 50% off (believe me even 5% off I sometimes gave in) or tagged with a buy 1 take 1 promo. I rarely go to Greenhills or Tiangge. Why? Because every time I see the word SALE flashing, I would end up buying on that stall. I know that this is already a sickness. Everything that is excessive is sickness and I really wanted to get over it especially when I run out of my budget hehehe. I did not come to a point yet where I can no longer pay my bills because of dept but I wanted to get a cure before it can happen.

One day, I have made a list of those items that are important and needed on my monthly expenses. For example, I decided to stick to one brand of facial wash, soap, lotion and etc. I have two to three brands of facial wash before when I only use one. The excess just clutters my bathroom and expires after a year or so. I also made a list of my monthly payables so I will know where my money goes and how much money I could save. This helps me a lot especially when going to the groceries. I only buy those that are only on my lists. If it is not on my lists, I ask these questions:

1. Do I really need it? (It also helps me to decide when I walk away from the area where the item is on sale.)
2. Am I still within my budget if I buy it? (or if I really need to buy it, I checked if I could tap the cheaper ones instead of the expensive brand)

It really helps me save when I analyze the items that I need to buy and not being blinded of those that are on bargain. This is more of a SELF-CONROL and MIND OVER MATTER attitude that I need to practice. I read this from one of the money wise books “It isn’t a bargain if you don’t need it”. Very true and this becomes my shield whenever I saw the word “SALE”, “Buy 1 take 1” flashing on me. It did not change me in a day but it did change me little by little.

Now, I am learning to save for the future. I am trying the formula of 70-20-10. Living within the 70% of my income, 20% goes to the savings and 10% belongs to God as tithe to the church. Someone says that if you invest on bank, you get 2 to 5% interest annually but if you give to God, He promises a hundred fold blessing.

3/23/2008 - Idle time

After 4 months, here I am again. I was planning to post my new years resolution last January but due to lack of time, I wasn't able to. Yeah! I am so much busier now. The task I have with IT Helpdesk is entirely different as I am more hands-on with the issues I am handling now. I'm enjoying it that I no longer noticed the time passes by and it's to go home. I still miss my old colleagues though :-( But, sometimes, I have to accept the fact that you cannot have the whole package perfect. Sometimes, you like your work but not the environment and sometimes, your environment is good but not your work. I like my work now and the environment but my shift is a challenge. This is the first time I worked in night shift for 3 months straight and I don't know until when. The longest time I've been with night shift before was 1 month. Glad though that I'm coping up and I have no late compare to when I'm in the morning shift.


For the past 4 months, here's what I have been thankful:

1. Job Offer as IT Associate (lateral transfer but the assigned task are promising)
2. won 2nd Price raffle washing Machine from the IT/IS Xmas Party (last 2006, I won 21" inch TV)
3. won major price raffle Laptop bag from ITHD/SITC IT Xmas Party
4. won major raffle - 400 gift check from KPT IT Xmas party

Just got lucky.. hehe I'd rather use the word "blessed" as I don't believe in luck :-D

4. LA proposed wahehe.. yeah I'm engaged since Feb 14! (Mark that! I never thought that someone will propose to me on valentines day)
5. Turn-over of my housing loan with Pag-ibig. We moved last March 20 :-)
6. My BDO loan was already finished last Feb 28 (what a relief! I thought it will be finished by end of March)

Apart from being blessed, of course, there are also downside that are unexpected to happen but I don't want to dwell on it anymore. Since I was a child, I already learned not trust anyone especially when it comes to money but I still risk it. Maybe this is just to test my character but I know that God has always a purpose. God has blessed me so much so I just want to count it all joy even there are obstacles/betrayal that comes my way. God is ssooooo good.... :-D

11/15/2008

Yeah!.I'm blogging again. It took me so long to post as I'm busy with my studies and am also preparing for the certification exam. Good thing everything went well. It was really a big relief to pass after a year of studying and mastering the Cisco networking staff :-) Though, I also felt disappointed to find out that the reviewer alone could help me pass it. I even realize that I should have enrolled in the fast track training (1week) compare to the modular training (almost a year). I can’t believe that 100% of the theories questions were all in the reviewer I downloaded; even the order of multiple choices, and that alone could help me pass the exam. The lab exams were actually very basic. I got a score of 883/1000 versus the passing score of 824/1000. Not bad, but I was too confident to answer the CDP lab that I missed to enter the configuration on one of the routers (hehe). I came across a blog site after my exam and found similar lab that I had during my exam. That is when I realized that the lab has additional configuration where I missed to do (grr…). Lesson learned for students like me who is too much confident with the downloaded reviewer. I tend to overlook additional questions/task. I was even surprised that my score is not perfect haha…

What’s new to me aside from passing the CCNA? I’ll be moving to a different team but still the same department. The decision I made was really mind blogging as I am weighing if I will be in the right track towards the path I wanted to be. Honestly, I still don’t know if the answer is a YES. I’m again taking risk this time. But whatever consequences it may bring, it’s still my decision and I have to live with it. I learned so much from my ITHD team. My mentors in ITHD really helped me gained my confidence, I was able to do exemplary tasks which I never thought I could :-) I can’t thank those people enough :-) I was so blessed to be part of the TEAM and it’s one of the main reasons I had difficult time accepting the offer. I will really missed every second, every minute of the day that we spent time together… having fun telling stories, laughing at each other’s call…especially the bad ones and telling who got the most rude caller of the day and when you encounter that caller you will act rude to make a revenge for your colleague (haha). I’m not moving far but the day-to-day usual encounter I spent with the team will surely be missed :-).

Condolences to Eric Pagdanganan's family.

My mom and I went to grocery last Sunday and while we're at it, we also decided to visit Kuya Eric in the hospital and buy something for him. I would want to buy him fruits but my mother insists to buy a cracker instead since his digestive system is not receptive due to liver cancer. In the hospital, we headed to the 3rd floor. We saw some of his relatives outside and they invited us to go in. Upon entering the room, his wife, daughter and his youngest brother were standing beside his bed crying. I was dumbfounded as I know what is already happening. I saw kuya eric already had difficulty breathing. My mom began to cry also, me still confused, I can't even cry. The first thing I did is pray. I can’t accept it because weeks ago, he’s just there in front of our house to fetch me up when I’m in the morning shift. I also lend him my books. 5 mins of waiting, the nurse came in to get his blood pressure. The nurse was hesitant to give the result so she asked what was the reading before. His wife responded 50/40 so she nodded and said just the same. Kuya eric is still awake but as I see it, he can no longer recognize everyone around him until his father came inside. His father take a glance on him, could hardly believe also what he is seeing. He goes straight ahead to the restroom. I could hear him coughing, once, twice, very loud. And then when he came back to bed, he spoke to kuya eric in very clear voice:

"Eric, Anak, kilala mo pa ba si Tatay" (Eric, son, do you still recognize me your father?)
"Kung kilala mo pa ako, pisilin mo kamay ko" (If you can still recognize me, pressed my hands tight)
kuya eric pressed his hands...
"Kilala mo pa si tatay anak..." (ok son you still recognize me)
... in a tone like he is talking to a 7 year old son.

This time my tears began to fall. This is the scene I will not forget for the rest of my life. This is the scene that even the best actress or actor who won in OSCARS would not be able to portray the emotions. This is the first time I saw a bedridden man catching up from his breathe in order to live. Immediate families are crying and couldn’t choose whether they would prefer him to live more or let him rest for eternity. I’ve been there already but on a different situation when my father died. My father was not sick and not even in my slightest thought it would enter to me that he will die early. The wound cause by the lost of our love ones are really deep but for sure it will heal in time.

Double-time!

I really can't wait to finish my cisco class and take the exam. Not because I already wanted to have the Cisco certification but I really soooo excited to start reading books again. For the life of me, since I enrolled to cisco class i got to read one book only during my two-weeks vacation. grrr...

Last saturday, I met up with my book buddy - Ems. She also enrolled to review center to prepare for the ECE licensensure exam and since then she stopped reading fiction/novel books. We share the same sentiments that everytime we start reading, we felt guilty for the fact that instead of reviewing, we burned our noses on novels/literature. We'd rather read than eat or take a bath hahaha or I can live without music but not books. I consider it one of my essentials:-D I had my first interest in reading books in HS, from Sweet Valley High to Nancy Drew series. Light reading and entertaining. Oh!I already forgot the first Novel I read after those.

So going back to Ems, since we already missed reading, we stopped by at national bookstore. There are bunch of books on sale but we're not familiar with the authors so we end up taking the buy-one-take-one August issue of Reader's digest. For me, I don't risk on buying books if I'm not familiar with the author or if that is the case I might consider checking the reviews first before buying.

Here are some of my recommended fiction books:

For Novels -

*Sophie Kinsella
(Shopaholic series, Can you keep a secret? - this is so funny)
*Paolo Coehlo
(Alchemist, By the river of Piedra, Veronika decides to die)
*Nicholas Sparks
(Message in a bottle - well-written messages inside the bottle)
*John Grishan
(I only read Street Lawyer, will also try other books)
*Mitch Albom
(Tuesdays with Morrie, 5 people you meet in heaven)
*Neil Gaiman
(I read Coraline only, looking forward to read Stardust)

Self Help - favorite author -

- John Maxwell
- Eric and Leslie Ludy
- Elisabeth Eliot
- Stephen Covey
- Joshua Harris

I also saw Haruki Murakami's book, sounds new to me. I read the reviews and they're ok, his writings focus more on communism. Am also looking forward reading his books one of these days.