Wow, its been a while

hey! It's been a while. I haven't posted something on his blog, more than a year, wow. I've been busy and been involved with to much work make you forget other stuff you have. Well, to be honest I migrated my personal blog to HostWoot, a free domain hosting company, but you have to register to a forum and get a specific number of post before you can get your free hosting. It's has a nice community and I like it there.

So my blog can now be located here --> http://mikegaven.hostwoot.com/blog

I will still keep this blog and occasionally post some articles here. See you on the other side!!!!

THE LASER TEST ("HUWAG HAYAANG LUMUSOT KANDIDATUNG SHABURAKOT")

We will soon be voting for senators, provincial, and local officials. There
are candidates who deserve a second look and eventually our vote. Yet for
many of us it seems like a choice of the lesser evil.

But we do not have to fall into this trap. We can still choose the good and
avoid evil. We are not powerless. Our votes still have meaning.

³Dilaab² (³conflagration² or ³tongues of fire²), a volunteer-driven,
church-based movement for a transformed Filipino nation through heroic
Christian citizenship calls for a two-step action called the ³laser test.²

FIRST, apply the laser questions in addition to other voters¹ education
initiatives. LASER is: Lifestyle (unexplained wealth); Action (against
corruption); Supporters (people behind candidates); Election conduct (vote
buying/election rules); and Reputation (cases involving graft/corruption
and/or illegal drugs). The questions are meant to help people identify and
reject candidates engaged in graft/corruption and/or backed up by drug
lords.

But what if no candidate for a particular position can pass this initial
screening? What if the positions cannot be filled up by worthy candidates?
This brings us to the next phase.

SECOND, put a cross (circles or lines are also acceptable) on the spaces on
which the voter has not voted as signs indicating his or her desistance from
voting. This shall not invalidate the vote (Article xviii, sec. 211, par. 21
of the Omnibus Election Code)

Voters using this option can then declare that the candidate deserving their
votes have not yet been born or have not yet run for office. This option can
even be tied in with the voters¹ power of recall.

This two-step approach may yet help restore a sense of power among the
electorate. After all, public office is a public trust and power emanates
from the people.

Internet

After I went out of the office, I went directly to the Internet cafe, searching some videos in YouTube, I came across this beautiful video from Kansas University.



if you can comprehend what it means...then maybe you can understand who is using who.

We are the WEB, We are the machine or the other way around.

~ciao!

I miss my baby

Hmmm......after a tiring day in the office, I just want to go home and relax with my girlfriend...unfortunately, I can't! Because she has to go home early, and she had to work too you know, we both are busy with work, and are exhausted during the day.

We often see each other after work, just to unwind the workday, and eat our dinner together, then after that we hang out in my place. Spend some intimate time with each other, relaxing, watch a movie or what's on TV. After that, she would go home, and I let her ride on her way home. But today, we didn't see each other, we are so busy with office work and she has to go home early too. But I decided to stay in the office and finish the remaining jobs I had.

I will call her before I go out in the office.

I miss my baby!



~ciao!

Office Work, office work

Wow, I can't believe what I have done, I was productive today! I'm so proud of myself. Hehehe, just joking around really, but honestly I have done a lot today in the office.

1. CS160 Class, finished discussing, chapter 7 and five more chapters to go, and we are done! I also reminded them about the assignment due 6:00 in the evening. Another exam is on the way tomorrow, coverage chapter 5-7.
2. CS114 Class, I was about to begin discussing JavaScript, but I decided to let them finish the FORM and INPUT tag exercises. Discuss JavaScript tomorrow.
3. I had submitted my Lecturer's utilization for January to Karl, long overdue last Jan 31, but it was submitted nonetheless.
4. I gave the newly hired lecturers TNA(Traning Needs Analysis) an assessment of what subjects they can handle and capable of teaching, and needs more enhancement.
5. Assigned numerous lecturers, to upcoming ICL Courses this SAT and SUN, I had assigned a former Informatics student Abigail Mancelita to XP6MS Course(Basic Word, Excel, Internet & Email). At least she would have exposure to teaching, and I have to follow-up the teacher tomorrow for the MYOB course this coming sunday. And follow-up the lecturer for Advance Excel.
6. Updated the Part-time Lecturer's List for list of courses they can teach, contact numbers and merge them with Mam Lyn's list of part time lecturer. Tomorrow, I'm gonna assess the newly hired lecturers, so that I can post them on the list. This list is needed by the Course Consulting Department so that they would know what courses to offer, depending on the availability of the lecturers and their respective field of expertise.
7. I had to clean and organize the installers, used last week during the installation of ROOM A.

Wow, that's a lot, it consumed my whole day doing those stuff. It may not be that many in terms of numbers, but it took me the whole day just to achieved those!

Plans for tomorrow:

• Conduct CS160 Exam, Coverage: Chapters 5-7
• Lunch Break @12nn!
• Discuss JavaScript on CS114
• After my CS114 Class, assess newly hired lecturers, and assign possible course to teach/handle
  
• Follow up MYOB Lecturer for sunday.
• Talk to Jay regarding, Advance Excel Lecturer
• Give Lecturer's Manual to XP6MS lecturer
• Discuss Arrays/Structures/File Handling to CS115 Students
• Finish organizing the Installers in the drawer.
  
• update List of Lecturers both for part-time and full time
• update to do list!

Hmmm.....that's it for now....I have to go home and eat my chow! Im starving.!


~ciao

Suddenly I'm thinking of $iomai

Late last year, I have been contemplating on selling "siomai" one of my favorite snacks to eat, just thinking about it makes my mouth to water! *YUM*

I got this idea, from the place where me and my girlfriend eats siomai in Labangon. The name of the place is "Way Tugpahay", it's a place in Tisa, Labangon, Cebu where siomai is the main menu. As I have observed, many of the customers there eat siomai everyday. From snacks to dinner, many customers buy siomai at the same place.

My girlfriend suggested, "Why don't you sell siomai in your place". Hmm...what a good idea, and from that it give me inspiration to make business of selling Siomai! First off, let's get some recipe to get us started...wait, what's a "SIOMAI"??

Siomai is a dimsum of Chinese origin which is also quite common in the Philippines. One can order different kinds of siomai but the base is always pork. The ground meat should have some fat otherwise the cooked siomai will be too tough. I tried to experiment on chicken siomai some years back and made the mistake of taking out the skin and fat and it turned out to be tough. Prawns or shrimps can be substituted for part of the pork if desired. For the binder, some use flour or corn starch but I find it to leave a raw taste so I use egg instead (proportion is 1 egg to 1 kg pork).

Siomai Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped shrimps
1/4 cup ground pork
1 cup chopped singkamas
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 onion, finely chopped,

1egg, beaten
1 teaspoon soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1 pack siomai wrapper
oil for brushing



more to come....


Recipe and Images Courtesy of:
http://recipes.com.ph/show/siomai/
http://pinoyfood.nimrodel.net/2006/08/08/pork-siomai-steamed-pork-dumplings/
http://karen.mychronicles.net/?p=6

a day in the office

Yesterday, I arrived in the office early. I turned on my PC, check my todo list, had to follow up some paper works from a colleague, made a couple of calls, and viola, im done. I checked my mails, updated my todo list, checked a couple of schedules, and open my mobile phone to transfer some old message on my PC. My inbox is getting clogged up with messages from a person I don't really know of personally, and keeps on sending me defamatory and unkind words. Pretty ironic, because I know for a fact this person is a devout in thier chosen relegion.

Anyways, after transferring a few messages, I noticed that students are arriving in to their respective rooms, and inquiring here and there about thier classes. I went out of my office, and began my rounds to check every classes if it's intact and going without any delays. After my round, I went back to my office, checked my email again, and continued to transfer messages from my phone. After a while I saw one of my faculty who just arrived, I checked the time, it's around 10:15am-10:30am.

I just went on with my transferring of messages. After a while a knock came on my door, one of the faculty came storming to my office with looks of frustration and/or anger(?). The frist words that I heard was an apology for not report for work a day before, and then the word I dreaded the most "RESIGNATION". I ask to talk about it, I asked why, the answer came to me just as I suspected. It was about the conflict that has been brewing for some time now, between a superior and another employee. She said that she feels pressured whenever the other person is around, and she doesn't like the way the Superior is treating the employee. In as much that I wan't to disclose the details between the argument between the superior and the employee, I rather not, it's getting personal already and I can sense that the superior is getting very very personal.

My poor colleague is so pressured that she wants to resign within 15 days. She doesnt want to be in a hostile working environment. After the details of our personal talk(which I will not disclose here), I adviced her that it would take around 30 days for the effectivity of the resignation, that is the mandate of the HR manual and we are bound to follow it. I advised her just to hang on a little bit, for the reason that if she would resign, she has no company to transfer to, second, most of the companies during the last quarter of the year stops hiring additional personnel, and alots funds for the upcoming Christmas Party and employee bonuses. I told her just to stay put for a while, just hang on a little longer, and just don't think about the pressure coz it's not her thats at fault.

We also talked about how the company is turning around from the previous manager's mess, I also emphasized that as of now, the company is gaining revenue and the company is getting positive revenues every month. I don't know if I am wrong or right in my advices, all I know is that when we talked, I didn't have to think of what words to say regarding the company, and her performance, and brewing conflict....it was spontaneous....it came from my heart.

Deep inside me I was saddened and troubled. I was saddened because my team was getting agitated as the result of the conflict and they are now expressing thier intention to resign, albiet in a form of a joke or in a serious talk like we had with my colleague. I came to realize that all their troubles roots to the conflict between the superior and the employee, and it is affecting their performance in the office, and it is affecting them as a person. What can I do? We can't tell our superior to be professional or to stop doing what they might be doing wrong. They are our boss, we don't have the right to tell them that they are wrong nor we can't order them to stop pressuring other employees, and we don't have the courage to go against them.

The same day also, I received the letter of explanation from the two of my team members from the NTE(notice to explain) letter I gave them last saturday regarding their violation. After reading their response, I gave the letter to my immediate supervisor and reviewed them, he advised me to schedule their respective suspension without affecting their classes. I went back to my room and checked the calendar, and decided that it would be best to serve their suspension next week, during midterm exams. They would just leave the questionaires to other faculty.

This is the first time I have to give a faculty member a suspension, not just one, but two. The fact that I'm their immediate head, and issuing them suspension coming from the orders of a another superior, makes me question myself. Why would I issue suspension to my faculty, they have not directly violated any rules of the company. I don't wan't to talk about it. Maybe, there will come a time that I will understand why I did what I did. I felt guilt deep inside when I issued the suspension.

*Sigh* Just another day in the office.

Back from Down Under

It's been awhile, and I haven't updated my blog for a very long time. It's been stagnant for months, and a lot has happened since then...I got a lot of catching up to do. But with my busy schedule in the office my only chance to catch up is to write small doses of my blog whenever I can have a free time.

Well, I'm back fresh and new...with the old/new me. ^^

If you've missed me....I missed you too.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I have this poem in a poster in vacant room in our house and I've been wanting to copy it and post it in my office for inspiration. But the poster has partly been covered by the closet, I wasn't able to copy it whole. I've been scouring the net in the past few days but fail, and I tried again and succeeded. Well, thanks for posting this poem, to whoever you are, Turtle Princess.

Read below:
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Love Your Work

if you don't like your work,
you'll need three times the energy:
to force yourself to work,
to resist the force,
and finally to work.

if you love your work,
your desire to do it
will be like a wind
to propel your ship
with much less fuel.

if you like your work,
you work no more -
for work, when you like it,
is work no longer,
but sheer enjoyment!

if you enjoy your work,
you'll work and work
without counting the hours -
and you'll reap and enjoy
more earnings as well.


- H.L. Neri
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Thanks Turtle Princess

Positive Outlook in Life

I am thankful:
For the wife
Who says it's hot dogs tonight,
Because she is home with me,
And not out with someone else.

For the husband
Who is on the sofa
Being a couch potato,
Because he is home with me
And not out at the bars.

For the teenager
Who is complaining about doing dishes
Because it means she is at home,
Not on the streets.

For the taxes i pay
Because it means
I am employed.

For the mess to clean after a party
Because it means i have
Been surrounded by friends.

For the clothes that fit a little too snug
Because it means
I have enough to eat.

For my shadow that watches me work
Because it means
I am out in the sunshine

For a lawn that needs mowing,
Windows that need cleaning,
And gutters that need fixing
Because it means i have a home.

For all the complaining
I hear about the government
Because it means
We have freedom of speech..

For the parking spot
I find at the far end of the parking lot
Because it means i am capable of walking
And i have been blessed with transportation.

For my huge heating bill
Because it means
I am warm.

For the lady behind me in church
Who sings off key because it means
I can hear.

For the pile of laundry and ironing
Because it means
I have clothes to wear.

For weariness and aching muscles
At the end of the day
Because it means i have been
Capable of working hard.

For the alarm that goes off
In the early morning hours
Because it means i am alive.

And finally, for too much e-mail
Because it means i have
Friends who are thinking of me.

Live well, laugh often, & love with all of your heart!
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Today, before you think of saying any unkind word
Think of someone who can't speak.
Before you complain about the food that you eat
Think of those who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about life,
Think of someone who went early to heaven.
And when you are tired and complaining about your job,
Think of the unemployed, the disabled and
Those who wished they had your job

And when depressing thoughts seems to get you down
Put on a smile on your face,
And thank God you're alive and still around.
Life is a gift. Live it well.

Worthy Risk

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
There is a risk involved in everything
Every time you share a smile
Every time you shed a tear
You are opening yourself up to hurt.

Some people tread slowly through life,
Avoiding the closeness risk brings,
Sidestepping the things they can not understand
Turning away from those who care too much-
Those who care stay too long,
Those who hold too tightly.

There is never an easy way to love
You cannot approach it cautiously
It will not wait for you to arm yourself.

It does not care if you turn away
It is everywhere, it is everything.
Love is the greatest of all risks.

It is not reliable, it is not cautious,
It is not sympathetic
It is unprejudiced and unmerciful.
It strikes the strongest of mind,
And brings them to their knees in one blow.

Even in the best of times, love hurts.
It hurts to need, it hurts to belong,
It hurts to be the other part of someone else,
Without either of your consent.

But, from the moment it overtakes you,
It hurts worse to be all alone.
The risk of love never depletes;
It grows stronger and more dangerous with time.
But, it is in the total surrender of all defense,
That we, no matter weak or strong,
No matter willing or captive,
No matter what, we truly experience love.

Despite the many things love is not,
Outweighing it all are the things that love is.
Love is surrender without a loss.
It is a gift without the cost.
It consumes your every thought and desire,
Every breath you take.
It is the fire that fuels you
To do more than pass through life;
It urges you, instead, to live.

No matter the outcome, having felt love,
You will never be the same.
It may scar your heart and soul
And leave you only memories of forever.
Or, it may cause every day of your life
To feel like there is no need for tomorrow.
But, love is worth it. It is worth the risk...

For in all of life,
Love is truly the only risk worth taking.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
from a very close friend. Richie.