We had a workshop last May 1 (yeah! You read it right. Workshop on Labor Day, huh.) It was held at Astoria Hotel in Pasig City. It was a one-day event where we, in our division - the Technical and IT Operation Division, discussed and evaluated each department's mandates, processes, goals, and  areas of responsibility. It was a looong and tiring day. If not with the good camaraderie of our group and the ice-breaker activity that HR prepared for us, that day will be a torture.

Speaking of the ice-breaker activity that we had, it was fun to do it. So, I would like to share it with you (you might want to do this someday with your own group of people who know almost everyone.) Here's the detail...

Material:

Cartolina - cut into bond-pape-size pieces with string attached at both ends at the top.

Mechanics:

• Each member shall be given the material with his/her name written at the top.
• Members shall hang the string around his/her neck so that the cartolina can be displayed at his/her own back. 
• One shall mingle the crowd and everyone is free to write the person's good traits in cartolina.
• After some time (e.g. after 5/10 minutes), you may ask a volunteer or call someone to read what he got. You may also ask few questions like what struck him most or what surprise him with what other's think about him.

That's all! And, here's what I got. Nice, huh?

This activity is somewhat similar with Johari Window (for full data, please click here) that I had done before (except that the traits here were freely written.) It is a self-assessment activity (you may click the links to try this out.)

Alright! I admit that I neglect my blog for some time not because I'm too busy with my work but because of something else. I was hooked in watching 24 - the American action drama TV series which stars Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer - a Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) agent.  I marathoned in watching the five (5) seasons and, now, I am about to start the season 6 (one season to go! )

Yup! I am now a TV Series addict as aside from 24, I always looked forward watching the Prison Break, Heroes, Smallville, etc. and had plan to include the Alias, X Files, Grey's Anatomy, Kyle XY, et al in the list.

But don't worry! I will not abandon my blog. I will do my best to update it daily from now on. To those who does not fail visiting this place and even take time to leave messages, despite of knowing that it was not updated as before, THANK YOU. Promise, I'll make it up to you...  

Name 11 people you can think of right off the top of your head. Don't read the questions underneath until you write the names of all 11 people. This is a lot funnier if you actually randomly list the names first.. No cheating.

1. Let
2. Lanie
3. Aileen
4. Alice
5. Ryn
6. Melina
7. Ed
8. Susan
9. Cynthia
10. Rose
11. Jaycille

1.HOW DID YOU MEET #4? I met her in my previous job at Malaysia. She's one of the senior there. Though, we did not work on the same project, we became friends when we got to know each other.

2.WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITHOUT # 6? The listing of my loyal friends will not be complete. And worse, the president of my "fan club" will be missing. Hehe. 

3.WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF #2 AND # 6 WERE GOING OUT? No problem as that would be a friendly date. I will be more than glad for that to happen as they were my friends from different group (different set of friends).

4.WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF #5 CONFESSED HE/SHE LOVES YOU ?  Haha! What a coincidence! I think, this is very unlikely to happen.

5.WHO'S #10'S BEST FRIEND? Don't know, really. But, for sure, am not that one. Though we're not best of friends, we enjoyed each others company when we work together for our Singapore projects. She's like an elder sister to me.

6.HAVE YOU EVER EATEN AROUND #1? Yup! A day will not pass without eating with her. She's my younger sister, you know, and we live in the same house.

7.DO YOU MISS #2? Nah! We meet each other everyday at the office. She's one of my frequent companions. She's my best friend at the office. 

8.WHO IS #11 DATING? If she's telling the truth, none as of the moment.

9.WHAT DO YOU THINK OF #3? She's a purposeful person.

10.WHAT DO YOU THINK OF #9? She claimed she's weak but I think otherwise.

11.WHAT WOULD U DO IF #4 AND #7 were dating? What? Impossible! They do not know each other. But, just in case... no comment. 

12.WOULD YOU MARRY #8? No. She's a friend.

13.DO YOU LOVE #10? Of course!

14.EVER SLEPT IN THE SAME ROOM AS ANY OF THE NUMBERS? Yup!

Tagging:

I was in a training these past two weeks. During the first entire week, I was literally "weak". It seems that my different body systems were not functioning well. At first, my stomach did not want to accept enough food to give me strength. Then, my nerves were aching and slightly ill at the end of the day. I also got colds. My hearing seems impaired. My heart seems beating faster at certain times. Etc. Etc. Am not sure if these manifestations in my body were just a psychological effect of apprehensions, uncertainties, expectations and pressure in my work. Or, maybe, I just need a rest.

Now, the training is over. And, I am now ok. Just a coincidence, eh!  

We had been in Batangas City for our Regional Briefing for Region IV-B which is the MIMAROPA Region (composed of Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan.) The briefing was held at Hotel Pontefino - a first class hotel somewhere in Gulod Labac, Batangas City. Eventhough, we left early Friday, we find no time to visit a particular beaches or any tourist attractions near the place. We just stayed in the hotel, eat dinner at one place where we met Joko Diaz, and watch the ending of MariMar. Hence, I got no pictures to show off but the front of view of Hotel Pontefino where we stayed. Hehe.

During the briefing, I got the chance to browse my accounts in yahoo, friendster, and bravenet, while awaiting for my turn. I even got the chance to compose one entry for my blog. Unfortunately, I was not able to publish it due to some errands that I had to do.

This is the last briefing that we were conducting. Thankful and grateful that everything ends well. Now, my next Saturdays will be free for other activities. I can't wait to make some plans.

•  Sin will make you focus on your sin and on your guilt. Instead of succumbing into that, we should FOCUS ON GOD'S LOVE. God loves us despite of our weaknesses and sinfulness. He knows that we are not perfect nor unblemished until we get there. His love for us in unconditional and cannot be measured. So, everytime we fall into sin, don't think that it is already over. As long as we live, the fight is not yet over.
• Sin will make you focus on your weaknesses and addictions. Hence, we should FOCUS ON OUR INNER GREATNESS. We are created by God in his own image. Hence, we are great! We just forget this thing and not use the greatness in us. We should remember this greatness within us to overcome temptations and be great in His eyes.
• Sin will make you focus on your past. Instead of doing that, we should FOCUS ON OUR FUTURE. The past is past. After recognizing our wrongdoings, repenting on our sins, and making amends of our mistakes; we should go on living. There is no point in crying over spilled milk.
  
• Sin will make you focus on yourself. You should FOCUS ON LOVING OTHERS. By focusing on the needs of others instead of our own problems, we will discover that we are more blessed than the others. And also, helping others will eventually heal our own woundedness, fill the emptiness within us, and feel that we are indeed loved and blessed.

We had a meeting with the Assistant Vice President for Human Resource Division in our company this morning. It is actually a “dialogue” between our department’s representatives and HR regarding the issue in changing the “flexi-time” working hours. Currently, we are enjoying a “super-flexi” working schedule wherein we just had to complete the 90 total working hours required per pay period and need to come to work not later than 11am. Now, they were constructing a new policy wherein we have to come to work not later than 10am and have to complete a 9 working hours in a day. There is a resistance in a planned change of policy, as expected. We managed to negotiate it to at least consider the extra working hours rendered in previous day to be able to offset it on the next day since there is no OT pay in our level. Likewise, extra work rendered during weekends can be converted to leave though not convertible to cash. The dialogue ends well… both parties were happy with the agreement.

That’s the beauty of open communication. Involved parties can come with an agreement that is acceptable to both of them. That way, resistance, discontentment, and resentment can be avoided. In our case, HR can actually come up with new policy and implement it without consulting us. We can do nothing about that. But, the result might be non-favorable to the company in the end - employees might leave or their work might not be that productive. We are grateful that we are now under a new HR management which is more competent than the previous one. That one change is a fresh good start for implementing change.