Saturday is haunting me :)

This is my first time to work on a Saturday here in Manila. Even if I would love to spend the weekends just watching any movie or reading a good book, I just can't. I'm here at the office trying to change all the build stuff of our project just for the modules that I am testing to be completed. I just wanted to get things done already and not cram on the final day I flee this company.

I wish I'd be out soon and go somewhere like Glorieta or Greenbelt (sigh). My housemate went to Manila Ocean Park and my other housemates are having some fun at home. I wish I'm in the comforts of my room and play the very old StarCraft.

I know I have to do this because it felt uneasy knowing that Dec 2 is really fast approaching. Or am I just a worry freak again?

Anyway I am blogging while waiting for the builds to finish after wiring all the module dependencies. I really like Apache Ant (sigh). I hope Apache Ant will prove useful in my future projects because if not, I will be very disappointed why did I have to delve Apache Ant from the ancient scrolls.

Got to sign off here, the builds are making a good progress. Ciao!

Barack Obama wins, so what's the score?

I was not really that much of an election frenzied as I am situated away from the USA, nor an American. But think about this. USA is such a huge and powerful country. It's decision can make or break the world into rubbles. It's power is vast. Why should I not give a damn?

I myself have likened the speeches of Obama and it moves me specially when I was attentively listening and watching over them at where else? Youtube.com! The moment he stands there on the stage, firm and full of conviction, until he closes his harangue, it's just so full of strength and rage for change. His messages to the millions of Americans and to the world watching, were really effectively delivered. His gestures and his facials were totally convincing. But, what's the score now that he has won the first leg of the race?

Well, he has managed to win the nods of the majority. He deserves to be there as I see it. To those opposed, let us give him a chance to do what he has got to do. I think in a scoring from one to ten, he has already a point - securing the seat in the White House that is. He has still a long way to go and prove himself with what he has had in his harangues. Every American and anyone who are in dire need of change can support him. The call is to support and put aside the bickering and political issues.

So what's the score? As I have said, it's a point. What about you? Do you have already a score for yourself?

Three Pre-requisites Of My Resignation, Blessing or Curse?

Just this morning, I gave my resignation letter to my manager. But prior to that, he talked to me about things and asked me if my decision was final. I replied to him, "yes". He then asked me of three things. First, he wanted me to finish all of the assigned tasks. Second he does not want me to be absent like do unnecessary leaves. Third, he wanted me to help RDI for their recruitment of new software engineers in Cebu. I don't know why they love Cebu.

I honestly was not sure of those things. The first condition was a little difficult because of the fact that the tasks he is giving me keeps coming. I just thought that he could lessen the load and focus more on the transition phase. Well anyway, I have to do what I have to do. For the second part, I will be absent if it is really necessary. In my almost one year of my stay in the company, I only had availed for two sick leaves when I got really sick because of the drastic change in weather and had availed for four vacation leaves. I even got a perfect attendance in my first six months. Basically, being absent for no good reason is totally out of question. On the third part, I honestly did not promise him anything but I will try to ask around. I just felt that I have no credibility at convincing other people to work at the company that I am going to leave soon. And personally, I cannot recommend the company simply because of my personal reasons which are private and confidential.

Anyway, I ended up my day at the office with a little delay in my work because our server computer which is our database server where I was connecting my desktop, was not working and so my work did not progress a lot. I just managed to do some code re-factoring or re-implementation by changing some algorithmns in our code and doing a technical analysis in our end-to-end system tests.

If you asked me of what lessons I had with today? They are:

1.) Don't commit yourself to something you aren't sure you can do.
2.) Don't promise if you can't at least be responsible about it.

I just felt I am still blessed even if I have lots of things to do and I thank my family, friends and most of all our God for everything. I know I will learn a lot from this.

P.S.
The stuff toys on the picture above are: Pong the turtle, Rich the cow which looks like a pig to me, Bench the cute bear with the heart and Scare the cute bear with really coarse covering which what could be the fur. My condo mates and I own those cute toys.

Au revoir, French for farewell.

The reason why I got that weird feeling when our CTO called me up, I mean the reason why it felt uneasy when they gave me a pay raise was because I have decided that I will be leaving the company. I have been thinking about what's good for my life and my family lately, and an opportunity came knocking on my door. I was accepted for a job in Singapore. I believe that the hands of the Great Divine has made the map for me already.

To elaborate, what really happened goes like this.

I was really super busy with work. I remembered that I wrote in my facebook account the words, "kagibunshin no jutsu". I took these words from Naruto, a Japanese anime which means, a thousand clones. I had to virtually tell my self to be cloned so there will be plenty of hands that would be doing the programming adventure.

Anyway it was a Friday and as I have mentioned, everyone was silently working a hard labor. You could hear no murmurs or any voice except the continues taps on the keyboard. People were programming so busily and at 3 PM, there was a brownout in our office and not just the office but the entire building. A water pipe in the building was broken and it has affected the power supply. The management or RDI(company name) decided that everyone be dismissed early from work. After our manager dismissed the teams, a meeting was conducted. After that seemingly caucus, our manager who happens to be the lead in my new project asked me to work on a Saturday. He proposed that he will pay for it. I got confused of the proposal or was I maybe, just maybe did not hear him correctly, and just said that I don't like to work on a Saturday. There was no taking it back as I had made a stupid facial expression and a firm no. Though my head was joggling still the thought of what I heard, it was still a "NO".

When Saturday came, my condominium mate's boyfriend, who came from Cebu had an interview for an employer in Singapore. Well, I woke up around 10 AM and my condo mates were playing the idea of going to the interview as walk-in applicants. Upon knowing what they were up to, I have spoken out that I want to go and told them that we can go. There were discussions but no need to write all the details here, because there were information which might be self incriminatory. Wahahaha. So off we went to Mandarin Oriental Hotel located at Makati Avenue. We came there with a pen and our curriculum vitae (CV). We were excited and kind of not prepared, but, with high hopes. We had brunch by the way to fill our empty stomach before we actually went to the venue. When we came to the hotel, we looked lost and I felt lost and good enough the girl asked as if we were walk-ins. And so a smile was drawn in our faces because we were not even sure if they are going to allow us to hop in. They got our CV, gave us some sheets containing information of available positions to choose. I chose "server applications engineer" and "tools and applications engineer" using Java. It was 1PM already and they were interviewing us one by one initially before we will be interviewed and be subjected to a battery of tests by the technical panel. Mandarin Hotel was cozy and we were hungry. Good thing there was food being served. So we eate there and told ourselves that we need to fill our stomachs because, just what if we won't be accepted at least we were filled. I ate three or four pieces of uber delicious small sized siopao. Well, it was 3PM and were still waiting or should I say queuing and the lobby was filled with more applicants and all of them were not walk-ins. We thought that were not going to be interviewed but we were wrong. At around 5PM my mates were called and lastly it was me. The interviewers were two French guys, an Indian HR Manager and one Singaporean guy. Ofcourse I can't spill out the names because it's confidential or I just thought it is. Hehehehehe. So I got up my seat and shook the hands of the French guy who has a weird English accent. I was having difficulty talking to him and I just put up a smile on my face even if I looked dumb already. Anyway the other interviewers were okay and I understood them. The first part was a practical exam. Prior to that he asked me if I know SQL. I told him I do but I am not an expert. He was going to give me Java threading but he decided to give me Java SQL. He showed me the Java codes and good thing I knew how to solve it. So I filled the missing snippets and explained to him why's. Good thing I got it right. The next one was he let me solved the fibonnacci problem :) I got it right as well. By the way you can't say it was easy because the set-up was weird. While you were actually answering the technical question or solving the problems someone on the panel would radomly throw questions at you from personal to something anything which was confusing and weird. Anyway it was a little stressful as they were bugging your focus. But I tried harder not to lose it and got the idea that it was their way of interviewing. After a few moments intense pressure, the HR manager tapped my back and he told me to go with him on the next room. He then shook my hand and gave me a job offer. I was happy, really happy. When I got out of the room, my mates were there smiling as they had their offers as well. So that was what happened and the rest is history as they say.

Last Friday, October 3, 2008, I talked to my manager privately and told him of my plans. It was not an easy day for me. I just thought that things will be alright and things will be better. And yes Cashmere was right in her predictions.

Au revoir!

Blogging : Award and Friendship

It's always good to share and give back. It's even greater when it comes from the heart. A thank you note is more than enough to give a smile and it makes a difference. Well, there are those who made me smile, some made me see things differently, others entertained me, and a few made friendships blossom. In a way, it has created an impact.

I would like to make mention the blogs and their amazing creators who just well fit this theme. Drum rolling ... Here they are:

Hugo and Roxanne - http://believeachievesucceed.blogspot.com/

Angie Atkinson - http://angieatkinson.blogspot.com/

Johayra - http://letmeplaythemusic.blogspot.com/

Shiera - http://bisdakbabbles.com/

Wen - http://scribble-and-scribble.blogspot.com/

JM - http://webofthought.blogspot.com/

atenean101 - http://insearch4you.blogspot.com/

Cashmere - http://purple-cashmere.com/blog/













Hope you guys continue the great job. There's a lot to do but we can do it. Happy blogging to everyone and continue to make a statement and continue the great works.

And oh, just like Hugo and Roxanne has coined, "pay it forward".