February 2009
Inferring How People Are Smart from a Distance →
Definite must read.
It’s no wonder why Erap won in the Philippine election. It doesn’t matter if the masses who voted for him were stupid or uneducated because studies have shown that both kids and adults can’t tell the difference based on the face!
Dear Mr. President, With All Due Respect →
A criticism of Obama’s failure to change the budget. Very right in a lot of sense. I don’t see much change.
Furthermore, the transparency that his administration has promised is not being delivered. I don’t care if he has Bush administration people as part of the show. Bailouts here and there and inflated budgets that are not very direct in where the money will be put in.
The 25 Riskiest Outsourcing Hubs in the World
(Rankings based on mean scores in ten areas of risk as reported by The Brown-Wilson Group’s “2009: The Year of Outsourcing Dangerously”.)
Bogota, Columbia
Bangkok, Thailand
Johannesburg, South Africa
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Kingston, Jamaica
Delhi/Noida/Gurgaon, India
Manila/Cebu/Makita, Philippines
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Mumbai, India
Jerusalem, Israel
Curitiba,...
Contemplating...
I’m contemplating to start a blog on the ins and outs of the business intelligence industry here in the Philippines.
I’m accepting ideas for blog names but most likely I won’t announce it here if I have started it. =)
A People's Level of Maturity
The Philippines is vastly immature with regards to its level of thinking and priorities.
1. Sports and entertainment icons are more popular than people involved in business. 2. Business people remain closed.
I don’t understand why we put so much emphasis on the likes of Manny Pacquiao on TV and the newspapers. Yes, he is a money maker. Yes, people like him. My point is that we rarely see...
TechCrunch are Full of Shit →
Haven’t been paying much attention to TechCrunch recently. Their credibility just took a nosedive with this one. John Gruber of Daring Fireball thinks so too.
Boracay Company Vacation!
That’s what I like about small companies. It’s business as usual. It’s not failing and we don’t really mind the recession. =)
My ITEO Test Results
I never expected that DLSU would also evaluate their part time teachers. I didn’t pay particular attention to the quantitative score because we all know how that is being done by the students.
I paid more attention to the qualitative feedback the students gave. They are as follows:
Strengths:
1. “creative slide presentation” 2. “good professor” 3. “well...
“Merchant and pirate were for a long period one and the same person. Even today...”
– Friedrich Nietzsche, Maxims. (via dailymeh)
Because It's Your Class, Sir
I am holding a class at my alma mater and one of the features of this class is to pass the top students onto to an internship.
One of the things I did at the start of the class is tell them the rules that I live by. One of them is:
“Be professional. Look and act respectful.”
I didn’t say that I would give bonuses to those that “look and act respectful”. Neither did...
“Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their...”
– Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (via skysignal) (via myserendipities) (via cafe)
Microsoft Finally Found a Group They Can Impress →
Excerpt:
They tried getting teens and 20-somethings with “The Social,” and failed.
They tried getting young adults with “Wow!”, and failed.
They tried getting older adults with Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates, and failed.
They tried getting non-technical adults with “Mojave Experiment,” and failed.
They tried getting any adults with the initial volley of “I’m a PC,” and failed since a) they’ve...
More Travelling This Year
My company is partnering with companies around the region and another country has been added to my travel itinerary this year: Thailand.
I’m not overly excited as Thailand is just another Southeast Asian country that is so similar to the Philippines.
Another conference is expected to happen in Australia towards the end of the year and that’s pretty much in the pipeline as well.
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in...”
– Churchill (via beverlyhasablog) (via taters) (via cafe)
Salsa Thursdays
Tina and I just recently started joining my bosses every Thursday for some salsa lessons. We danced the Salsa Rueda towards the end. It is a verson of salsa that hails from Havana, Cuba and is characterized by switching partners. The ladies traverse the entire circle but the men stay in place. Something fun and different every week.
Btw, couples are welcome to join. =)
Finally
Finally a student in my BIZINTL class walked up to me and asked me about transitioning from a technical role to a sales role if she gets employed in our company. Hearing that sorta made my day.
Planning my pre-extended trip to Barcelona
I’m going to the lovely city of Barcelona, Spain in April and I’m planning ahead my pre-extended trip. I say pre-extended because I am arriving ahead of my boss to see the sights prior to attending the event which is the main reason why I am going there.
I am planning to get there 2 days ahead so I have a full 2 days to explore the city and do some shopping - financial situation...
What Fresh Grads Want
I’ve interviewed a couple of students applying for OJT before and I have come to the following conclusion:
The majority of fresh grads want to feel safe by choosing a job in a field they know well.
Most of them do not want to take a risk and join a company where the work would make them feel insecure. In other words, “if I’m not familiar with this, I’d rather not work...
The Right Suit: Fitting →
Been doing more research and a charcoal grey suit would definitely suit me.
The Mentality of Small Businesses
I met a prospect this afternoon and I couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. This guy was very well-educated, yet I couldn’t understand why he had this mentality. According to him, he doesn’t get it why POS vendors do not customize their POS offerings. He was saying that they should customize their offerings more for each type of business. What he doesn’t...
Recruiters/Headhunters Are Funny
They’re so keen on getting my attention that they resort to personally sending me an email (getting it via LinkedIn).
I tell them that before I want to add them to my network, they need to tell me first if there’s something worth my attention. I mean, why add them to my network if they’re not going to provide anything valuable?
There were two of them who did that.
One...
“Users really respond to speed.”
– Marissa Mayer, Google VP for Search Products & User Experience
Marissa Mayer at Web 2.0 →
Being really fast matters. That’s what I like about the Business Intelligence product I’m working with, QlikView.
iBook G4 benchmarked against hackintosh netbook,... →
I now understand why Apple doesn’t want to make netbooks. It’s a step backwards!
China Puts Joblessness for Migrants at 20 Million →
I don’t know if all this stimulus is working, but if China has 20 million jobless, then I guess it’s that bad.
How to Drill Concrete →
More DIY work for me tomorrow morning before going to work! =)
Finally Got My New Contract
I finally got my new contract with my company today and signed it. It wasn’t a huge gross increase like I expected, but nonetheless I was able to prove my value and squeeze out what my bosses were willing to pay me (given the current economic conditions). On the bright side, I am now able to get commission from the deals I seal and from existing clients and a few additional allowances to...
