If you’re not having fun, it’s not worth doing
Jeff Atwood, a distinguished software developer, writes about the early days of his career without a direction, finding the career that he loves, and having fun while doing his job. :
Like my Dad, I spent many years after college flitting from job to job. I had nothing to complain about. I was making a great living. I was never on the market for particularly long before some new opportunity would come up. I enjoyed my work. But I wasn’t choosing a career path. I was letting happenstance determine what I was, and what I was becoming. [Coding Horror]
I found it amusing because I can relate to it. For the most part of my career (although I did stick to software development) I was also flitting like a feather, and I have been with five different companies in as many years. I was even struck more when Jeff stated his frustrations with his work environment, a frustration I shared back when I was working in Philippine National Bank:
The work was interesting, but it was abundantly clear that software was not the lifeblood of this organization. Outsourcing was in the air. Although my coworkers were competent, nobody was quite as obsessed with the software as I was. My passion for software, and everything around it, was clearly not shared. [Coding Horror]
While I was at PNB, I could count on my fingers how many of my colleagues see software development as a craft and skill that has to be improved upon and learned, while the rest merely see it as a means to an end; just another profession that comes with a check to pay the bills. I hope I am wrong about them though.
Jeff Atwood’s post is devoid of techie jargon his blog is often about so please do take time to read it; I’m sure you’ll find it quite insightful, even if you’re non-techie.
How do you feel when you burn your money?
Earlier this year a lot of us received forwarded images of a Ferrari F430 on fire. It was later posted as a video by a guy who’s part of the Ferrari’s convoy:
While seeing a car burn to the ground is shocking enough for most people, a Ferrari F430 is worth a staggering 12 million pesos, sans excise tax, which goes at 100% the car’s value. If you’ve watched the video, you have just seen 24 million pesos burn to the ground.
Racial slur on Filipino med staff? Throw them to the gators!
Carlos Celdran’s latest post on the Desperate Housewive’s issue (which comically morphed into the “Cory Aquino as ’slut’” issue) led me to the news of how five Filipino nurses saved a man whose arm was bitten off by an alligator in South Carolina.The man, who was snorkeling in a lake adjacent to where the Filipino nurses were picnicking, stumbled up to shore crying for help. The nurses worked to stop his bleeding and kept him awake until paramedics arrived.
Sci-fi: Lose a job, get a job
Have you ever been fired because of boredom?I have, and I’m not proud of it, and that’s a story that I’d talk about some other day. But I can relate with these Japanese guys who have been reprimanded for contributing to Gundam’s wikipedia entry. 260 times. Using the Japanese ministry of agriculture’s computers.
Reminds me of the memo the DENR issued to their employees. The subject? Accessing Friendster during office hours.
Fortunately sometimes both sci-fi and Friendster have their legitimate uses in business. Some businesses actually use Friendster (or more commonly, MySpace, and more recently, Facebook) to market their products. And a guy actually used his obsession for Star Wars costumes to get a job:
Problems of context and the oversensitivity of the Desperate
This morning, Reynz and I were talking over GTalk about the Desperate Housewives brouhaha when the topic led me to ask about the Bikolano term “uragon”.
Over the comments at the blog post linked above, I saw her say something about being called “uragon” as an insult when I had the impression that it had a positive connotation. See, the Legaspi chapter of IPMS Philippines – Bert Anido calls itself the Uragon chapter, and that made me think that “uragon” was actually positive thru-and-thru.
Reynz explained that, if a person close to her called her “uragon”, it may sound positive and treated like a term of endearment, but if it was someone else, “uragon” would actually be an insult.
The Philippine reproductive health policy: a loosely guarded secret?
My daughter CJ will turn three this December, and increasingly, the most usual question that people pop when we talk about kids is “wala pa bang kasunod yan?” I usually laugh it off, but sometimes it becomes irritating when the questions grow in number. I mean, sometimes the way the question is asked almost sounds like insinuating the lack of sexual activity.So for the record, yes, my wife and I have a wonderful sex life. I wonder if knowing that will make them happy. 
Of course I digress.
When they prod further, I usually just say that “birth control works”, but what I fail to say is that our chosen birth control method is courtesy of the government. And we got it for a very low cost.
Yes — the government actually has an effective birth control policy, at least for our case. But it’s a loosely guarded secret.
Filipino culture and economic malaise
The Doing Business 2008 report, an annual study conducted by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation, states that the Philippines ranked 133rd out of 178 economies surveyed in terms of ease of putting up and doing business in the country:
Regulations affecting 10 stages of a business life are measured from the perspective of the entrepreneur. The stages are: Starting a business, dealing with licenses, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business.
According to the survey, the Philippines is lagging behind other Asian markets, including India (120th) and China (83th) whose phenomenal growth has made Asia the fastest growing region in the world. [Inquirer.net]
Any local businessman would affirm the findings of the study; the plethora of requirements and paperwork and the inefficiency of the bureaucracy will squeeze too much available capital and occupy too long a time that many entrepreneurs, including budding ones, consider quitting before day one.
It appears though, that it is even worse when one decides to close a business:
PLDT sucks
Replace the “S” with an “F” on the title and you’ll know how I really feel.
Our phone line died last Tuesday. People could hear the number ringing but there’s no dial tone at our end of the line. We immediately reported it to PLDT’s 173, but as usual they give all kinds of excuses for not scheduling a lineman to go to your area immediately.
A few hours ago we called again. They said that it would take 2 to 3 weeks to repair the problem.
The god of realpolitik
The news this past week amuses me, in the sense that it appears that god (or at least, as interpreted by man) in all forms and religions has been too getting too many headlines in different parts of the world for different reasons — enough perhaps for atheists to take notice. And be amused as well.
In the West, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest official of the Church of England, held closed door negotiations with its US branch, the Episcopal Church. The point of contention: the Episcopal Church’s liberal stance with regards to homosexuality, and a moratorium on same-sex marriage and consecrating openly gay bishops.
Makes me wonder if the Anglican God has homophobia, despite all His might and power. We will see.
Call me apathetic
I made the following comment on Torn And Frayed in Manila’s post, Erap: It never happened:
Nothing surprises me in Philippine politics anymore, torn. I think you should get used to it — in a morbid kind of way — like a coroner getting used to the dead.
and it irked a fellow named Cogs:
That’s the spirit, Jon boy! Show ‘em that nothing can tame that great Philippine apathy.
I wonder, have I really become apathetic?
It’s not the first time I was told that. A few years ago I had a few dates with a girl who was an activist, and a staunch believer of the Leftist movement.
