The Ergonomic Quotient

Teachers do have the right stuff!

2009-04-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

congratulations to my friends in the IE Faculty for getting recognitions during the Eng'g Recognition Rites 2009

Prof. Amado "Lolo Madz" San Mateo - Lifetime Achievement Award
Michelle "Mickey" Mancenido - Limcauco Instructor Award for Teaching Innovation
Jonas Gonzales - Limcauco Award for Teaching Technology Entrepreneurship

A Trolley Token for Ronald

2009-01-15T06:18:00.000-08:00

A few hours ago, my Mom gave me an advanced birthday gift. She said it was a surprise and even told me to close my eyes. With bated breath, I waited, hoping for a Wii.

Much better.

She gave me a trolley token.

What?

Anyway, it's a trolley token for Ronald. Yup, for me and me alone. Along with it came a list of attributes associated with "Ronald"...

ORIGIN: Scottish
DERIVATION: From Reginald meaning "power force"
STRENGTHS: Makes new friends easily, values those of old
CHARACTER: Energetic
EMOTIONAL: Knows how to build relationships that last
PHYSICAL: Perpetual motion personified

Whatcha think?

Nga pala, thanks for the gift Ma! :-)

What Grinds My Gears (WGMG) Post #1: What's the problem with wannabe sports reporters?

2008-12-06T17:32:00.000-08:00

Usually, I reserve my rants for my close friends' ears. But, given the nature of today's events, I was starkly reminded of how people can be so misguided in their use of time and (possibly) money. I am starting a (hopefully infrequent) series of posts that I would like to call WGMG, or What Grinds My Gears. Sa madaling salita, ito'y mga bagay na sadyang nakakairita at dapat kong ilabas sa aking saloobin.

Today is a historic day. Our very own Manny Pacquiao battled it out against unarguably one of the most famous boxers of our time, Oscar dela Hoya. It's a fight that, as my good friend Jonas estimated, will earn Pacquiao 8-figure dollars net of taxes. It's also a fight that every Filipino should be proud of, even if you're not a big fan of boxing (i'm only a casual fan, at best).

With the growing popularity of boxing in the country, lots of establishments are offering pay-per-view (PPV) screenings to cater to avid boxing fans so as the will not be a slave to the slew of commercials that local TV inserts in between rounds. Sadly, these establishments cater to a certain group of annoying people who want to be sports reporters. Since PPV finishes waaaay earlier than local TV, results of the fight are known as early as a little after noon. And what do these morons do? They take it upon themselves to send you updates and even the result of the match. Now, the people they send the message to fall under these categories: (a) interested with the match but is not willing to pay 500-800 pesos to see it in real time (b) not interested whatever the result is (c) would have wanted to see it real time but didn't have money. Now, do you know anyone who would be not watching PPV, is interested in the match (and its result), and would like to know the result before the actual match begins on local TV? Ayun.

For me, these messages go straight to the trash.

I would like to say a lot more but it might get me into trouble or I might have a long argument with the morons who are the harbingers of these shit.

Advice na lang I guess: Be a bit more sensitive (and less moronic??). The person you are sending it to is either not that interested with the result, or will get bummed knowing the result of the match he has yet to see. Common sense will tell you that your message is not solicited and it could probably even ruin someone's day...

I can finally retire from UP

2008-11-06T00:44:00.000-08:00

How do you know you can retire from UP?

Your name is mentioned in Pinoy Exchange!

Happy Second Sem guys!

it's 3 AM

2008-10-26T08:02:00.001-07:00

Loving the call center hours...

Busy preparing for THE thesis defense. Long overdue if you ask me.

In the meantime, you can reach me at my newest email address...

WTF! Don't judge me!

it's 3 AM

2008-10-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

Loving the call center hours...

Busy preparing for THE thesis defense. Long overdue if you ask me.

In the meantime, you can reach me at my newest email address...

WTF! Don't judge me!

TV Time

2008-09-09T04:17:00.000-07:00

While I should be busy finishing my thesis, I can't help but resist downloading TV shows that began their new seasons.

A few that I'm watching now:

New Seasons of Old Shows
Prison Break S4
Greek S2
Gossip Girl S2
Entourage S5

New Shows
Samurai Girl
90210 (Where Kelly and Brenda make apperances that are more than cameo)

Upcoming Seasons
Heroes S2
Big Bang Theory S2
Supernatural S4
Chuck S2

Did I miss anything?

Coming Home, Successfully

2008-09-08T21:11:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, Pisay held its annual Alumni Homecoming and 2008 was our batch's 10th year anniversary. As such, we were one of the Jubilarian Celebrants. I had the privilege of serving in the Homecoming Committee and I got to meet a lot of very interesting people from other batches such as:

Gina and Yto Eubanas '83: for future plastic surgery and catering needs
'83 people such as the C/Karens, Gladys and Lilli Ann
Ana Chupungco, who relishes the thought of not being addressed Ma'am
Corey '93, who brought an interesting side to the HC meetings

and a bunch of others.

Of course, our batch got together again and the attendance during the night was impressive (we were almost equal the Silver Jubilarians).

While most of us have grown up, gained weight, got married, etc., we still shared the same silly stories like high school crushes, caf food, dorm life (for dormers), waiting in the front lobby (for us externs) and others. We also all wondered where in the world is Amado Villavicencio, Robert Umail and Orlando Liwag. We also celebrated our batch's ability to in-breed.

They say the best friends you can have in your life, you get during high school. Amen to that.

P.S. My career as a pimp began and ended that night.

DONE

2008-07-16T04:54:00.000-07:00

with my presentation. now, i can finally focus on more important things... hahaha.

personally, I think I did ok but I sorta missed some (relatively unimportant) talking points.

I know, POIDH (Pics, or it didn't happen).

Watch out for...

bad pics (badly taken)
Jubiliee review
Stratosphere review

/wrist v1.0

2008-07-07T08:09:00.000-07:00

How hard is it to ask people to go and see Wanted?

Very hard apparently.

Yet, I'm counting my blessings. Things turned around quick and I got waaay more out of it than expected. In the end, I should be happy how things turned out that night.

As Chester suggested, the blog should, among other things, serve as an emo outlet.

O.t.:

I'll be flying to Vegas (among other US stops) this coming Sunday already!

Wish me luck friends!

UP hosts UAAP

2008-07-06T07:22:00.000-07:00

so what?

reminds me of the jokes about school initials... :)

DLSU - Di Lumusot sa UPCAT
ADMU - Another Di Lumusot sa UPCAT or better yet And Daming Mali sa UPCAT
SLU - Sana Lang UP
FEU - Failed to Enter UP
MAPUA - Meron Akong Panaginip, UP Ako
PUP - Peeling UP (LOLZ!)

and, this one takes the CAKE

ST. PAUL - Sana Talaga Pumasa Ako sa UP Lord!

Happy 100 UP!!

What happens in Vegas

2008-06-18T04:09:00.000-07:00

Should be put on a blog!

lolz!

Need URGENT Las Vegas advice/tips.

Cheap (but quality) hotels, sights to see, etc.

feel free to post here or email me personally. thanks!

Waaaahhh

2008-05-07T16:24:00.000-07:00

I only got a C...

Thanks to Ayla "Deeyosah" for the link

My Lakbayan grade is C!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

Ten things I know about me (that I'd like people to know.. that's why I'm blogging about it)

2008-04-29T08:22:00.000-07:00

For posting my incriminating picture during the Eng'g Recog, I'm writing this blog entry Ji...
(FYI di ko pa na-copy)

Here are the rules:

–Then at the end you tag 10 other bloggers to keep the fun going.
– Each blogger must post these rules first.
– Each blogger starts with ten random facts/habits about themselves.
– Bloggers who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their ten things and post these rules.
– At the end of your blog, you need to choose ten people to get tagged and list their names.
– Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I love watching TV. Even in the internet era, I stil manage to watch at least 20 hours of TV a week (give or take 5). Recently, I managed to merge net surfing and TV by just downloading the shows I watch. Some of the shows/channels I watch are:

Big Bang Theory, Supernatural, South Park, Simpsons, Greek, Gossip Girl (guilty pleasure), Avatar, Kyle XY, My Name is Earl, Heroes, Prison Break, The Office (US), It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Ugly Betty, Chuck

I also watch a lot of CNN, ANC, Fox News (Destiny only haha!).

2. I am vigorously interested in US politics. Even before the Barack-Hillary hoopla, I was intimately following the stuff that goes on there. I always say, I know it doesn't count, but I know it matters. I can easily say I'm a better US political analyst than anyone who's been on TV here doing that. Haha. In fact, I even play a game called President Forever.

3. Speaking of games, I play DoTA a lot.

4. I'm currently an Instructor at the IE/OR Department of UP Diliman. IE/OR stands for Industrial Engineering and Operations Research. I'm on my fifth year of teaching. That's the reason why I wrote "Teachers have the write stuff" on my banner.

5. My first blog is entitled "The Ergonomic Quotient". For lack of a better title, I decided that I incorporate my field of interest (Ergonomics) and the word EQ since I just saw an infant formula commercial.

6. I have five siblings and I'm the youngest. Four studied in UST and two of us went to UP. Two are abroad now. Leslie is married in France while Lenard is (soon to be married) in Japan.

7. I was named after two people. Ronald after Pres. Reagan (whose politics I don't like) who recently got inaugurated when I was born and Aaron after (yep, you guessed it!) Elvis Aron Presley. The added A is for Christian name purposes (Aaron guy in the Bible). Brother Lenard also has an Aaron. Sister Priscilla was named after Elvis' slutty wife (hahaha!).

8. I went to Pisay for high school. It's where geeks are cool but some people are still considered nerds. Apparently, the stipends haven't changed since I was there (AY 1997-1998). I also went to the following schools: D. Tuazon Elementary school (2 years). PIQC (5 years), UPLB (2 years). After learning that I qualified for BS IE in UP Diliman, we (a bunch of my HS friends) gave up out slots in UPD to go to UPLB for a program that never really took off. That is a decision I have never regretted.

9. Taking my cue from Ji, I routinely look up (literally) during conversations. It's not because I'm a snob or anything but I have a hard time controlling my eyes (eyeballs in particular). Whenever I wear my contacts, my eyeballs run all over the place. A doctor before has told me that I have weak control over my eye muscles. In short, I can't control it.

10. I love Chinese food and have learned (from experience) that it's actually a dealbreaker for me, kahit cute/maganda pa siya. Define: Dealbreaker - it's a characteristic which, if found in some girl (or boy, whichever applies to you), would instantly turn you off no matter how attracted you were at the start. I thought my deal breakers were just cigarrette smoking and bad legs, now I have to add "does not eat Chinese food" to the list.

Ayan. I'm done.

Tagging (in alphabetical order chosen randomly):

Akemi, sister-in-law to be
Alekos, best vegitarian friend
Andrei, former student
Charlene Tan, future ex-fellow UP slave
Chico, good friend
Franz, former student and student assistant
Jorge, good friend from IE
Juju, Mafia and DoTA friend
Melai, ex-future colleague and friend from IE Dept
Prech/Mispo, sister

Sucker Friends...

2008-04-28T03:14:00.000-07:00

are the truest of friends!!

Two days before April 30, I managed to sell off my SIX (well five lang pala) Iron Man tickets to major suckers I call my dearest friends.

Thanks to Chester, Celsus, Pat & Chicks, and Ruben (in order of confirmed purchase). See you at the movie!

You guys very well know that you can sucker me anytime.

Pisay Homecoming - UPDATES

2008-04-20T00:00:00.001-07:00

Hey guys! Last Saturday, I attended a meeting of the Homecoming Jubilarians. I have a few updates that need our immediate attention:

PISAY '83 HOMECOMING MOVIE SCREENING: Iron Man

The movie screening is slated for April 30, 2008 @ SM Megamall Cinema 1. The tickets are priced at P350 pesos. Think of it as an additional contribution on top of the P1,000 since the tickets are obviously overpriced. However, there are a few freebies on that day such as Fit 'N Rite juices and chips (so, no more need for popcorn!) and there'll also be a few other giveaways and (possibly) a raffle. Guys, I was assigned SIX tickets only. I hope you can buy a few from me. Also, for those who will attend, an additional perk is also given. See next item.

FYI: Ticket remittance deadline is APR 23 (W)

SUN Cellular Major Sponsorship - Refer Line subscriptions

However, it's not upfront, it's sort of "de-metro" like a taxi. For the first 100 lines, they will give 20k and up to 100k for 500 lines. We need to contribute what we can here by making referrals. You may send referrals (name and contact number) for subcriptions to me. Only one agent (named Rachel) will handle all Pisay related line subscriptions to get the sponsorship. Sun Cellular has seen improved service over the years and they haven't reneged on any of their promos, unlike some greedy telcos. You may view their available plans here. Interesting plans are Plan 350, 999 and 899 (for lovers :D). They also have a plan you can give to your staff/secretaries that has a cap (350 yata) which reverts to prepaid when exceeded (and does not get cut, unlike some telcos I know of!).

As a perk to those who will attend the Iron Man screening, you may send me names (of referrals) and their name will be on a list of pre-approved subscribers. No more need for papers and documents! They're also working on the part to reduce the lock-in period for the nice Nokia 2630 handsets from 30 to the usual 24 months.

Looking for scriptwriters, segment producers, director for the Homecoming program

This is pretty much straightforward. They want to have, as much as possible, homegrown (read: libre) talent to be working on the show. They might be other forms of compensation like a box of shampoo and maybe free entrance *LoL* but I guess they will revert to looking for pro's when there are no takers.

Contribution of the Jubilarians

As mentioned waaay back after the first meeting, we're required to give a contribution to the jubilarian batch. The agreed amount was P50K. The first tranche of the 50K will be given on the next meeting (half). Apparently, from the last meeting, they agreed to give supposedly last meeting. Wala namang nagdala! *LoL*

I hope the P1k contributions can help here...

The jubilarians have promised that they will return unused money if the solicitations go well (so far, it's a roomful of shampoo, 100 boxes of juice, a ton of chips, and lots of aloe vera cream). Yet, we have committed to that 50k as mentioned before.

Publicity

To Toff and Becca, what's our promotion plan? I'll be given most info in a while (maybe by this week). We might have to try and use free press releases for this. We can have a budget but we have to completely outline what we need and present it to the meeting.

Sports

May 2 is the Pisay golf tee-off with the RP National Team and Coach Bong Lopez. For golf enthusiasts, you may contact me or Batch '83 if you wanna play.

The other sports will happen after the golf because harassed na daw yung '83 team with planning the golf event. Other sports include basketball, volleyball, badminton, bowling and others.

I hope you guys post your comments here or reply via the mailing list.

Regards to all!

Barack vs. Hillary

2008-03-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

The entire world is now enthralled with the US Presidential Election. It's been wild as no incumbent President or Vice-President is on the ballot for the first time since 1952.

I'm for Hillary (not that it counts for anything, but it does mean something), but it's gonna be uphill for her till the convention...

Found this bit on the fireside ...

Oddly enough, I'd say the usual Filipino is a Republican in terms of social issues and a Democrat in fiscal and economic issues. If that's the case, we have the worst possible molotov cocktail. HAHAHA...

BTW, a shout out to ABS-CBN or GMA (or any other station), if you need someone to give commentary on what's happening in US Politics, give me a ring. Your current crop of "experts" makes me squirm! They don't know what they're talking about!

Expect more posts on this topic!

Do you agree Chicks?

Big Brother, Po Family edition

2008-03-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

No, this is not a post about that retarded show in ABS-CBN. It's really about my big brother (we'll, I'm taller and better bult than him, haha!).

He's my older brother (full three years and change). He's actually an architect but stumbled into photography. With all our yabangans and squabbles at home (on top of the fact that he acts like a arr-tard sometimes), I guess deep inside he knows I'm proud of what he's achieved so far in his chosen career. He even had the guts to quit his day job and devote time to photography.

He got interviewed in a New York based web-zine called Project Three. Just follow the link and I hope you read the interview and view his pictures...

He also got featured on FTV's Photographer's segment. I guess its in his Flickr or Multiply...

Ayan, todo bola na... Iwan mo na iPhone mo sa akin!

Catching up

2007-07-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

I got a lot of catching up to do, as my hard drive crashed yet again! I was again caught without a backup. Well, I'm not giving up on Apple since it was the hard disk (Seagate) that failed. I requested for a brand that isn't Seagate but let's see. Right now, I'm resolved to buy a new drive (probably 120 GB so I can run Parallels or BootCamp) and use the 60 GB drive as a (gasp!) backup.

MOVIE UPDATE:

Among the movies I've listed, I failed to watch Ocean's 13 and Pirates 3 (DARN!)... FF2 sucked a lot (passable though I wanted some of my money back) while Transformers ROCKED!! I managed to also see the Harry Potter movie recently and it was a good extension of the fourth movie (which I managed to also see recently). While reviews for the shortest Potter movie were mixed, I think the book-to-film transition was one of the smoothest in the series.

While on the subject of HP, I managed to read a (what-turned-out-to-be-a-hoax) copy of Harry Potter that I downloaded on the eve of the supposed launch date of the 7th book. I read until about 100+ pages when I was informed that it might be a hoax copy/fanfic literature. WELL... after reading about 100+ pages of the (according to Chicks) real thing, the hoax compares very well. The hoax explores the possibility of Dudley being a wizard (because he was attacked by Dementors in book 5) and the libido-raged version of Harry and Ginny Weasley. It was right on at least two things (spoiler warning)...

It was right about the wedding of Bill and Fleur being attacked and on the real story behind the fake Horcrux with R.A.B. initials.

(end of spoiler)

Oh, and Hedwig dies...

ERGO

I read again that I promised to post about my Ergo lessons. Anyway, my classes now seem less animated than before but I can manage to get a few reactions especially with some funny anecdotes and their (sometimes pilit already) connection to the lesson. My first lecture explored the beginnings of ergonomics from its allied fields of psychology, scientific management, anthropology and sociology, among others. The next lectures would focus on the foundations of ergonomics.

We looked into the theory, concepts and principles of human error. Essentially, human error is the reason why we have ergonomics in the first place. The phrase "fool-proof" is essentially linked to ergonomics. One of the main foundations of ergonomics is information theory. Here, we talked about how humans receive and send information and learn how limited our perception is compared to the inflow of information that we receive and how even more limited is our processing capability. We also talked about population stereotypes and stimulus-response compatibilities. Think about a knob and a dial (for a radio). How do you move from 89.9 to 96.3?

The latest lesson was about anthropometry. What proved to be interesting was the discussion on brassieres and hipster jeans. Also, a possible correlation between hand/foot size and other body parts. Go figure.

A new addition to my IE 160 classes is the ErgoNewsNow (ENN) which features student reports on news items that have ergonomic significance.

OTHERS

Settlers of Catan has finally arrived! Thanks to Celsus for spending a small fortune so that the geeky gang can enjoy a board game that can possibly ruin friendships and temporarily sets aside marital vows.

The geek gang has also set aside DoTA for a while and focused on Catan and mafia. While I'm not at liberty to discuss the goings-on of the current game, I encourage groups to try this game out. It's free anyway!

I'm Back...

2007-06-10T21:00:00.002-07:00

to school! I can feel the glee and excitement of my eight readers right now...

Yep, it's June once again and the school year is about to start. I had one of the weirdest summers of my adult life. It was almost two months of bum-ness and now I'm ready to buckle down to work, harnessing the minds of youngsters in the field of Industrial Engineering.

This school year will be different than the past four years. My adviser, de facto parent/guardian and boss Ma'am Aura will be taking a sabbatical to write a book on Methods Engineering to be published by John Wiley. Three of my colleagues, Sir Erick, Norman and Melai, are leaving the department for greener pastures. The surprise of the school year however was the sudden decision of Jonas to join the faculty. He'll be joined by "Sir" Rex and Lo. Jon will be teaching IE 153 which I handled last year. Too bad for him, my hard drive crashed last February and thus, I lost my slides (which were in Keynote anyway). Long lost friend Chester Sy is also joining the ChE department.

What I'm excited about is that I'm again in-charge of the Ergonomics class (which I like way better than the Feasibility class) and I'm also handling the one-unit freshman IE class (IE 10). So right now, one day before classes, I'm trying to prepare a syllabus for the IE 10 class tomorrow.

I resolve to blog every week at least on what transpires from my ergonomics class. First day's on Thursday.

***
Movie to see list:
Pirates 3 (YES! hindi ko pa napapanood!)
Ocean's 13
FF2
Transformers

Poisson letters

2007-04-10T03:04:00.000-07:00

Yes, the title was intentionally misspelled. I will write some more when I get home...

***

Today is the deadline for grade submission. Hope I make it.
UPDATE: I made it, with a lot of time to spare!

**************

Before I submitted grades, I got this unusual poison letter from a student (I assume)...

from: dragon@axti.com

good day sir. won't you ask us to evaluate our groupmates according to their contribution to the project? i don't mean to bring anybody down or anything (and there's probably no way to say this without sounding like a tattletale) but it's unfair that members who didn't contribute much to the project will end up gettnig the same grade as the members who did their parts.

thank you sir.

Now, a few facts:

* - Yes, I don't ask for group evaluations under the assumption that everyone will contribute in their own fair way to the project. Not everyone will put in equal effort, but they should put in whatever is expected of them. Don't expect the average/below average student to come up with brilliant analysis. You can expect the usual (well-resourced) slacker to provide an overnight venue, unlimited food, snacks, ink and paper. Few are lucky to have good groupmates who can provide excellent input without really being a pain in the ass. In short, it is not expected that everyone will put in an equal amount of effort/work/resources but rather, it is expected that each member should contribute in the manner best suited to his/her capacity.

* - My policy is that group imbalances and snafus should be addressed at the group level. However, if something is brought to my attention, I will assume that they have tried to address it but my intervention is necessary.

* - I am not a firm believer of group evaluations per se, especially if this results in an "equal score" for everyone. Besides, the group slacker will more often than not, fail to recognize his/her own shortcomings and therefore, give a higher than actual grade for himself. Also, it would be very tedious to come up with a list of criteria that would be fair to all members in terms of what they can contribute to a project.

Having said that, I replied to my student codenamed "dragon" but alas, I got a Mail Delivery Subsystem failure message. I sent a shoutout to the student but he/she didn't approach me.

Poison letters have no use unless someone owns up to it. Until then, it will remain what it is, just a letter. I will simply reply, "Noted."

P.S.: Why Poisson letters? It was misspelled since I wanted to write about Poison letters and I got reminded of the Poisson distribution.

Multitasking and DoTA

2007-04-05T21:09:00.000-07:00

As of press time, I'm preparing to accommodate the dotagang for a day long session of DoTA. The significance of which is that it's Good Friday today and it seems that everyone else thought it would be a good idea to play today (when no one else is playing).

To compensate for this (probably) sinful act, I thought of fasting for the entire day. Of course, that's a bad idea. So, I just settled for serving pasta and seafood only. Yes, we are going to burn in hell for this.

***

In a totally unrelated topic, ErgoWeb, my weekly source of ergonomic news, recently posted an article that totally bashes the concept of multitasking. While I am not totally against everything the article wrote (e.g., texting and driving dangers), I'd like to say that I'm a fan of multitasking in specific instances. However, I've noticed a dip in my multitasking skills as of late, which I could probably attribute to lack of sleep.

Jeez, I need a Sleepasil...

A Weekend of Celebrations, and then some

2007-03-26T06:28:00.000-07:00

March has always been full of celebrations, especially graduations. This weekend was no exception.

Friday, 21st: Mark Monserrate celebrated his 25th birthday (actually last Wednesday) and the party was quite far from the house, around a couple of hundred... steps away! As expected, a few drinks, lots of pulutan, and a ton of stories. I got together with some of our former and current neighbors and his HS friends.

Saturday, 22nd: (Niccola) Tesla Manasan celebrated her 1st birthday at the sumptuous Luk Foo Cantonese Garden in Commonwealth Avenue. The usual kwento & lots of duck were the main courses. In attendance were Jon, Alekos, Jam, Oli, Ruben & Hiyas, and Mark & Hannah. Of course, the Gamises brought Sam...

Sam and I enjoy a moment

Jam got a group pic and I'm still waiting for it in the email.

Sunday, 25th: Off to Don Henrico's West Avenue for the baptismal party of Alfonso Miguel D. Guererro, son of Mylai Dimaculangan (Camia, Gluon'98). I was expecting some more Pisay batchmates, instead, we had a mini-Gluon reunion (sans Buan & Amado)... Hmm, whatever happened to those two anyway? Well, as most of my friends say, I should know (of all people)...

Gluon gang with their newest member

Don't forget to visit my Picasa site to see other pictures... :D

Monday, 26th: Birthday party (9th) of Bea Martinez, daughter of Prof. Iris Martinez. Was treated to a sumptuous meal of lasagna, chicken pastel, roast beef and potato salad. Yum...
I was there with Dean Ega and Mickey Mancenido.

***

On a slightly unrelated note, do we have an updated list of couples from Pisay and IE'98? I doubt such a list exists. If it did, then I'd easily answer everyone's questions about everyone else. Now, I'm trying to attempt to make this list (and I'm soliciting help from everyone to try and fill this up).

Well, I noticed (for a while now) that it seems that no IE'98 couple remained intact after our graduation. In fact, to put it as a stretch, most of the couples we know in IE (even if they had a relationship with someone not from IE) are no longer couples today*. Therefore, there's none to enumerate. Also, few IE'98 people read my blog anyway...

On the other hand, Pisay couples have enjoyed some success at relationships. Here are some of the Pisay success stories...

Pat and Chicks Manasan - Been married for a year and a half now and Tesla is as cute as the day she was born. Of course they're at the top of my list since I was the best man at their wedding.

Hannah and Mark Gamis - Has been married longer and has an adorable son in Sam (see pic above). Them and the Manasan's are actually Physics couples. Let's say they mastered the concepts of friction and attractive forces.

Ria and Frank Guevarra - recently married (January) and are expecting their first-born.

Dyan and Gary de Guzman - has also been married for some time now and they seem to be as happy as ever.

Andrea and Ramil Herrera - got married in UP the day we had our Christmas party back in 2005 I think (correct me if I'm wrong).

Elena Dacanay and Andrew Pinlac - easily Pisay's most recognizable (yet) unmarried couple, being almost, if not all, Pisay-related events.

Krishna and Darrell Cagalingan - okay, so they're not yet married. They're gonna be, very soon.

Charisse Siapno and Jayrus Soliman - am I allowed to even mention this?!?

So, there's your list. At least, when somebody asks you, "what's new," you can just direct them here. To my (few) readers, if I missed adding a couple, just paste a comment to add them up...

I wonder, may madadagdag pa kaya sa list na ito?

* - I'm not a all-knowing... Someone from IE might still be in a relationship that dates back to college.

PS: Congratulations to Faye and Herbie. I heard they're getting married soon!

Another 300 movie review...

2007-03-12T02:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, the gang watched 300 in Shangri-La. While we were used to catching either the last or second to the last screening, we ended up meeting at 11 AM and catching the first screening.

The movie is rated R-13 which seems to be a variant/combo of the R-18 and PG-13. While buying our tickets (pleasantly surprised to see Rheanna Go behind the counter), a group of kids were scrambling to buy tickets. I wonder how they passed the age requirement...

Personally, I think the movie started out slowly but there was action all throughout. It's definitely one of those testosterone-filled flicks that should be watched on the big screen...

The movie is based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller. The reason I'm telling this (considering that everyone who reads my blog knows the fact) is because of a particular quote from a New York Times review...

(Movie Director) Snyder is something of a dork. Only a dork--the finest, most discriminating of dorks--would have read 300 in the first place.

Tamaan na ang dapat tamaan... ;)

(Leks, this is your cue!! Three days na nakapost ito hindi ka pa nagrereact... I had to change the post title in deference to his intellectual ownership of the phrase Rated R for raaaarr...)

Rating: 4/5 whiteboard markers

PS:
Happy Birthday Joyce! Quarter-life na, if you expect to live to a hundred! ;)

PPS:
Incidentally, leonidas is indeed a brand of chocolate

Hello I'm a Mac, and You're likely a PC

2007-03-06T18:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, it seems 9 out of ten computer users operate Windows PC's*...

Even though I suffered some recent data loss, I'm still proud to be a Mac user. Actually, I'm treating it as a blessing in disguise since I got to upgrade for free (from 1.83 GHz to 2.0 GHz, from combo to super drive, and from white to black...)

However, the best page in the universe** has something else to say...

I'm sure you've seen the Apple ads, and the corresponding parodies (e.g., Christian vs. Christ-follower). I'm in UP now so I can't furnish the link, but if you have time, go to YouTube and search for Mac vs. PC ad parodies. There's one there that has a third player (Linux) referred to as something I'd rather not post here. I'll update this post when I get home later.

______________________
* - estimated statistic
** - thanks to Jem's WTF list

Meeting de Avance

2007-03-03T22:51:00.000-08:00

No, this is not an election-related post

Recently, the IE Department went to Leo's Garden Resort in Bacolor, Pampanga for a meeting of sorts... They joined us for that meeting...

They were late that's why they're in a hurry...

Ma'am Aura, Gina, Iris and Kats as well as Sir Ega, Melai and Norman were also in attendance. Food was potluck and Melai and I sponsored the California Maki (remember that Chicks?)

Among the highlights of the "meeting" is the fishing expedition...

I caught a rather small one

Norman and Melai each caught a fish too!

At some point, I got bored with the fishes and decided to feed the goose instead...

The goose at Leo's garden was more than willing to entertain for a few pinches of fishmeal

While feeding the goose, something from my HK trip flashed back into memory...

Yummy

That's all for now. Have a nice weekend!

******
Happy birthday to Jon and Jason Gonzales

******
Last night, we got to play dota again and this time, we managed a 4v4 group! Jem hit us with another spiral hook!

Looking forward to have Rolly Doolittle Marasigan on our future games...

Ergonomic Seating Guidelines and then some...

2007-02-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

Most of us working people can spend at least 5 focused hours a day in front of a computer. While it is obvious that this is necessary for our work, it doesn't necessarily mean that we have to suffer for it later on i our lives. Every now and then, I'll try to put a few ergonomic tips for safety at work and at home. As Alekos adequately puts it: literally kinareer ko ang ergonomics.

Today, I'm posting about seating guidelines. There are two important players, the worker's posture and the properties and characteristics of the seat.

He mentioned in his post something about natural positions. He is actually referring to neutral postures. These are body postures that put the least pressure and tension to your muscles and nerves. For example, the neck is at a neutral posture if the head is balanced on the spinal column. It is not tilted forward, back or to either side. It is not rotated to the left or right.

While seating, the spine should follow to its natural S curve (Shown above)

The buttocks should be fully supported by the seat pan with both feet planted on the ground. The angle between the trunk and thigh and the thigh and legs should be at least 90 and 60 degrees, respectively. Refer to the figure below.

Deviating from this can cause restricted flow of blood to your lower extremities that in the immediate term can cause numbness. Long term effects are too painful to describe.

In choosing your seat, keep one thing in mind: Everything should be adjustable: back rest, arm rest and seat height are among these. For the vertically challenged, if adjusting to the proper seat height causes your feet to hang in the air, use a footrest. A chair fitting this criterion would look like this:

***
In other news...

Does dating to you feel like a burned-out circuit? You might achieve more success if you actually treat your dating life as a circuit! Thanks to Jemai Ty for this link.
I now have a Multiply account (which I haven't fully configured yet) and a Flickr account for my photos. I've already uploaded some pics from my recent travels and then some. If you wanna see some pics from the HK and China legs of my trip, my mother's friend Tommy Ooi has uploaded the pictures he took. I spent my birthday in Shenzhen and Dongguan, China and it was my best birthday ever! Thanks for the wonderful time in HK and Shenzhen Tommy!

Also, thanks to those who greeted me that day!

Eight Months

2007-02-25T04:58:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's been eight months since my last post. Around that time, my white Macbook was spanking brand new, and I had a full year to finish my thesis...

Fast forward to February 2007:
- I sold my white Macbook and replaced her with Cara, a black Macbook
- I have less than a month to finish my thesis (or else!)

I won't even try to recall (in chronological order) the events that transpired in the last few months but I'll just make a list of some of the interesting (and not so interesting) things that I missed blogging about...

Feb was a busy month...

Feb 1: I left for a long planned trip to Macau and Hong Kong. Got a few pics to share too... Shenzhen and Dongguan where unplanned stops in the trip. Unplanned, but very welcome.

Feb. 6: The winds (with the help of an A320 aircraft) brought me to the Queen City of the South, this time for a seminar on Ergonomics for a multinational watch company. I extended a few days (Until Feb 11) so I could relax a bit. This one deserves another post...

Feb 15: Off to the pristine beaches of Boracay Island. Along with my sister and my friends and a faculty member in Eng'g (I'll ask for permission before naming her), we stayed 3 days in Boracay Terraces, one of the best places to stay in the island. This definitely deserves a post or two...

Also, met with the gang for a movie (from what I heard, we bought tickets to see Ghost Rider and wound up seeing a poor man's version of Narnia) and played a bit of Dota after (meaning, well into the morning)... It was Team Sentra versus Team City again and Team City won a "borrowed" victory, 2-1. Hmmm, I also heard that Nikki thought that I was pretty good, though he hates to admit it. If you ask Chico, praktisado lang daw ako...

Reunions and Parties

The holidays went by really fast. I went to a couple of parties. Party at Chico and Pat's new place was fun, and I think it was the first time Sam and Tesla interacted. I also went to the IEC 98's Christmas bash at Bikka's place. In the IE Department's Christmas party, Sir EGA showed us the Mentos-Coke trick. If I still have the video, I'll upload it to YouTube.

Doc Muriel and the Bagwis gang also had a reunion. Unfortunately, I lost all the pics I took that night, but it was fun seeing Doc and the Doctora again.

Also, after a long time, i got to meet up with my friends from PIQC. We had a reunion in Chilli's and we also had some teachers there too. One of them is my kumare.

Recently, got to meet up with Chester Sy. My, he hasn't changed a bit. Thought he'd be all American Pie-ish. But, I think that's a good thing kasi it seems that parang kailan lang kami hindi nagkita...

Tidbits

For what it seemed like only a while ago, Pat and Chicks celebrated one year of marriage na, and in a month's time, it's Tesla's turn to turn one.

A very good friend from college, Katy Tan, is getting married! I dunno if I'm at liberty to post details. Congrats Katy and Mike!

Also congrats to Frank and Ria Guevarra! I hope mapaparami niyo ang matatalino sa mundo! :D

Hmm, sounds like a tidbit lang. If I forgot anything, feel free to post it here... I will start posting within this week...

Coming up:

IE Department Planning Session (yun nga ba ang tawag?): Feb 28 @ SF, Pampanga
Last day of classes: Mar 21
Finish thesis: Mar 31 (duh?)

Birthdays:
Jonas, Jason Gonzales; Julian: Mar 4
Erika Oberio: Mar 5
Joyce: Mar 12
Katy Tan: Mar 19
Lenard: Mar 26

It's nice to be back...

Try to guess the songs playing in my ear...

2006-05-30T03:42:00.000-07:00

This post is actually from Jae's blog. Sorry I can't make the hyperlink, super tinatamad akong mag blog... Anyway, it's going to change soon'coz by tomorrow I'll be a proud owner of a... hmmm suspense muna (as if you guys didn't know...)

A peek into my shuffle playlist...
A testament to my weird taste in music...

Song meme

Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever music player you have on random.
Step 2: Post a line from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song. (Oh goodness! akala ko thirty songs!! Oh, btw, I took the liberty of putting in another line or two so the song would somehow make sense)
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Strike out the songs when someone guesses correctly. (Commas represent another line in the song, depending on how it was sang...)
Step 5: No cheating

1. Come on my friend and leave your caution to the wind
2. baby, baby I know baby I love you so
3. I don’t care what they say, I don’t care what they do
4. Tommys got his six string in hock
5. You make me feel like I am whole again
6. And love so distant and obscure remains the cure
7. I'd love to go out fishing on a river or on a creek
8. you gave me a reason for my being
9. I was a commuter on the 804, Work for a computer on the 19th floor and...
10. I've never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance
11. Can you take me higher? To a place where blind men see
12. If this world makes you crazy, and you've taken all you can bear
13. But maybe someday when my ship comes in, She'll understand what kind of guy I've been
14. When you kiss me, I close my eyes,I want you by my side
15. You would think my love was really something good
16. There's a room where the light won't find you
17. You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
18. Will I ever find a lover, Maybe she has found another
19. People always told me be careful of what you do, And don't go around breaking young girls' hearts
20. Whatever I do, I try to think about you. I seek the sympathy and I can't lie.
21. Every minute, every second of the day, i dream of you in the most special ways
22. You call me baby and I, just shrug my shoulders because there's, something important on my mind
23. Twice on the pipe, means you ain't gonna show.
24. I've had you so many times but somehow, I want more
25. A wounded heart you gave, My soul you took away
26. Slowly we begin to move, Every breath i'm deeper into you
27. I would die for you, Climb the highest mountain
28. I know the things that I am afraid of, I'm not afraid to tell
29. I know you're afraid of what you feel, You still need time to heal
30. Why must we hide emotions? Why must we never break down and cry?

and in true teacher fashion, a bonus!

31. I never thought through love we'd be, Making one as lovely as she

Commitment-Phobia

2006-03-07T19:17:00.000-08:00

Over the past few days and weeks, I've had the displeasure of hearing an earfull of the phrase "Mahirap mag-commit." In fact, I even threatened one of those who said this phrase that I will forward his message to his girlfriend (and see how she'll react). What's so hard with commitment anyway?

I will try to classify various types of commitment phobia (in no particular order)...

First, there's the type who can't commit even for something that's going to happen this weekend. Imagine, what's a few days going to do? Are people so busy nowadays that they can't commit a few hours in the weekend? Of course, if people were indeed busy, it would be understandable to get a negative reply. But how come even a "no" reply is so hard to come by?

And what's with being not sure if you're sure ("Baka hindi ako makapunta" or "I don't think I'll be able to go"). C'mon guys, if you're not going or nor free, just have enough balls and say it. Di ba ang labo nun? One thing I learned: "I will try" means "NO"

A different type of commitment phobia is when you don't want to commit to something even though you don't have anything better to do or you just think that something will come up. This one is really malabo... I mean you don't have anything to do (yet), you're offered something, and then you refuse just because you think you'll have something to do by then or you want to be free by then so that when something more interesting comes up, you're available. Of course, there's also the fact that you might not be interested at all, in which case, I will refer you to the previous paragraph.

Another thing I learned from organizing trips (local or out of town) is that people are really concerned on who's going, just as much as where. So when you ask "Punta tayo (somewhere)" they will ask "Cnong pnta?"... If everybody asked that question, then I would have to text them at least twice. WORSE, if everybody is asking if anybody or if somebody is going (or they're concered that nobody's going), then it will end up with nobody going. (I'm sure you've seen the poster with a similar tone). It's a vicious cycle.

While I'm at it, I guess I should also lash out at people who can't commit to a job. Whether its a small job (sending e-mails) or a job at a multinational, there are just some people who can't commit, ready to jump on the next good offer that comes by (even if the current one isn't that bad anyway).

Of course, there are a few exceptional instances where commitment is an expensive commodity, like when you're expecting both a kid and a change of career, or maybe when you expect to be out of a job for the next X months (where X is a random variable). Lack of commitment in these cases is completely acceptable. Otherwise, it's not.

Happy New Year

2006-02-11T06:21:00.000-08:00

*I realized that this is going to be my first post for the year of the Dog so I might as well write the appropriate title.

*Today is February 12, otherwise known as Lovapalooza Day. Now on my 26th consecutive "cold" Valentine's Day, wouldn't it be nice to watch all those couples kiss to break (yet again!) the world record...

*Ok, enough about that...

*Things are turning out in a mixed fashion this 2006. Some may say (after hearing the facts and happenings) that this will be a good year for me, while others may want to play devil's advocate and say otherwise. A couple of nice projects are in the offing this year, yet the it seems the price to pay for that would be another delay in my thesis. It will be almost one school year since I (would supposed to have) started my thesis, yet I've got nothing to show for it except for an expired library card...

*I read Alekos' blog on the Baguio trip and somehow also long for an elem reunion with my chinky eyed friends. I managed to stay close to a few but still I'd like to see how they are turning out (hopefully not as washed out as me). I heard some of them are filthy rich now (from their own businesses), some got married, some joined the band scene, while some are hardworking members of the Philippine labor force... I'd bet some of them turned out really pretty :) (love them chinky-eyed chicks)

*On the long book list, I realized I read either "girly" classics (like Pride and Prejudice) or just classics (like Les Mis). In my defense, these books were mostly the ones my much older sisters read. One was required (Kill a Mockingbird, are there others ba?). I read only a few of the more contemporary (like Alchemist and 100 years) but none of the Robert Jordan and JRR Tolkien stuff... How come no John Grisham book made the list? What about "Applied Probability and Statistics for Engineers" by Montgomery :D

Food Haven

2005-12-18T02:52:00.000-08:00

Iloilo City - The second stop of our consultations for a UP System-wide initiative brought us to this beautiful city in Western Visayas. Home to the UP in the Visayas, the province of Iloilo and its capital Iloilo City is the gateway to the entire region. A 15-minute outrigger boat ride brings you to the fabulous island of Guimaras, where the mangoes abound and where the beaches are fabulous. About 2-3 hours away is the province of Capiz and Roxas City, the seafood capital of the country. About a few hours away also is the province of Aklan and the pristine beaches of Boracay Island. Iloilo is the place to go for some of my most favorite gastronomical delights. A trip to Iloilo is never complete without the usual trip to Ted's Old Timer for their Extra Super Special (yes, it's that superlative) batchoy, complete with all the toppings (some of which are better eaten than described). Another place to go is the Biscocho House in Jaro, home of my super-ever all-time favorite butterscotch. The molo soup also originated in this wonderful place. Yummy! And how about Tatoy's, the place where beachside dining is at its finest. Atchara pa lang, ulam na! There was also a time that I ate enough talaba to last a lifetime.

Recently, Jonas informed me of his most recent venture (no, not his sleeping pills, though I'm desperate for some), The Mango Tree. I discovered that, at the time of my visit two weeks ago, The Mango Tree was in the 3rd week of its operations. With some expectations on the food (courtesy of taste-tested sisig while playing DoTA) and ambiance ("It's the most romantic date place in Iloilo City" boasts my friend), I invited Prof. Manegdeg of the ME Department to have dinner at The Mango Tree. Dr. Ricarte Nunez of WIT (I'm not so sure of this) joined us for dinner.

True enough, the ambiance at the entrance is impressive especially by the standards set by other restos in the city. Music was provided by a component system that I vaguely recognize from the Gonzales home in Capitol Homes. The restaurant had space to seat about 50 people but it can easily accomodate double or triple that. Upon entry, a huge MANGO TREE (thus the name) welcomes the casual diner (note to visitors: slippers and sando/sleeveless shirts aren't allowed, though I saw a group of teens wearing flip flops when we were about to leave).

Prof. Manegdeg, Dr. Nunez, and Mr. Po after dinner

The menu was printed on copy paper, cut into three. Hardly impressive, I thought, but maybe they're still developing the menu. I was remembering the instructions... try the sisig, don't forget the bulalo steak... I immediately asked for those, and then ordered some spicy gambas. I don't remember if they had mango shake but I do remember some kind of food with mango dressing or sauce. I may want to try that next time. Prof. Manegdeg ordered some molo soup, which arrived first. The molo actually tasted very ordinary, especially when compared to the ones from Molo (duh?!) but was heartily tasty nonetheless. The sisig was a tremedous improvement from what I tasted and I am now a bit more sure of backing Jonas' claim that it's the best sisig (the one from Razon's could compare but it's not fair to compare them because I ate the sisig with halohalo). It was very tasty, just a teeny bit spicy and the calamansi added a nice touch to the flavor. The spicy gambas was, well, spicy. But the shrimps were very fresh (dapat lang!) as they came right out of the shell. It was a perfect complement to the beer (oops, did I say beer??). The servings were paltry though as we had to order another plate. And, for the coup de grace, the bulalo steak was amazing (just don't think of heart disease). It was very tender and the grazy was smothering the steak in all the right places. I told Jason later that night that the bulalo steak looked very much like the one in the picture (a tarp outside). Few restos can boast of that.

**

Food Quality: 4 burps (I can make better adobong mani than that!)
Value for Money: 4 burps (considering its Iloilo, where the minimum wage is much lower)
Ambiance: 4 and a half burps (the music mix was quite ecletic; may nahahalong music na wala sa mood; the mango tree lighting was very well made)
Rest Room: 4 and a half burps (walang mirror! paano na pag magpapapogi yung nakikipagdate?! but the rest room itself was designed well and may soap)
Overall: 4 burps (may room for improvement pa)

I'm not dead

2005-11-27T19:30:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it's been almost two months since my last post. A lot has been happening lately. Consider yourself lucky you're reading this...

The main highlight for the month of has got to be the wedding of the decade. Pat and Chico's wedding was a successful bash (If I say so myself). The Best Man did a great job... oops ako pala ito. Well, all I really did was arrive very early at the bride's house (since the groom was busy confessing whatever) and then later on that day spoke of some funny, skewy, detailed anecdotes about my long affair with the bride and groom. I must admit a part of that speech was googled (gasp!) but the greater part of that speech came from the heart and I know the couple is very well aware of that. Of course, what would a wedding be without a wild bachelor's party?? Well, it wasn't exactly wild (Happened the week before the big day). We just drank a few beers and and shared funny/gross stories.

October 15, Oliver invited us to his newly built swank place smack right beside their old house. Of course, visions of Oli growing old with his brood of kids beside his parents' house is a mighty sight to behold. Overall a nice place, so nice it's gonna be the venue of our annual Christmas party. I remember the last one, conversations till the wee hours of the morning... without any alcohol. Of course, this year promises to be different with everything we've planned.

October also marks the frenzy of 1st sem grade submission. This is without a doubt my most pasaway sem, submitting grades a day late (gasp! again!). A funny anecdote could be told about our Chairman receiving a memo for late grades. She snickered at me, to which a replied with a wry smile. Shock overcame her upon reading HER name on the memo, and not mine.

Novermber (and late October) gave me a time for a short breather. However, unlike in previous terms, I didn't find the sembreak to be quite relaxing. I didn't actually have to go to a spa.

The start of classes have been a regular November thing for me (since I was a student in UP). Its quite different when you're on the other side of the fence. Teachers have to prepare more at the start (and the trend of preparation reverses significantly come finals time).

A whole lot is scheduled and slated for the coming weeks. Today marks the start of the 23rd SEA Games. Two good friends are competing for the country and from what I hear (and read), they're shoo-ins for the gold. Mickey (fencing, team foil and team epee, I think) and Sandra (triathlon), good luck and go for the gold (so cliche). In other matters, the usual end of the year signals the start of planning for next year. Being in some position (not necessarily of authority) I'm doing some planning myself. It's on top of teaching kids what happens when we reject the hypothesis and it turns out to be true.

Come December, it will be fast and furious. By Friday, I'll finally have a taste of The Mango Tree, Jonas' latest baby. With a sisig that's to die for (no pun intended, I hope), I can't wait to stretch my taste buds in Iloilo. Less than two weeks of classes, then the break. IE Club will be gunning for its 6th consecutive EWOC. Its likely they'll repeat. Balita ko ang pogi and charming nung adviser nila. Eng'g faculty and staff will also enjoy their own version of Eng'g Week albeit capped by a feast that's enough to feed half of the acad oval.

A couple of Christmas parties with friends are also scheduled. Regi should take care of us from IEC '98/'03. I'm looking forward to a reunion with some PIQC friends. Oh yeah, my only godchild's birthday is on December 19. Lucky ninong.

My thesis docket has been empty for quite some time. High time to get rolling on it.

No pics of my throat getting slashed or me hitching a ride in the wonderful roads of Oahu for now. Just a short update, much like CNN's breaking news. Nothing sensational.

A Best Man's Tale

2005-09-29T02:49:00.000-07:00

This should not come as a surprise to many of us, most especially me. However, when I got this bit of great news I will admit that I was indeed shocked to hear it. I will not go into the details of my reaction (though the bride will give you a vivid account upon request) but more importantly, we should look at how our lives are changing. Jonas predicted that in the next 2-4 years, we'll be going to about 4-10 weddings (lower number for me, higher for him). We were also discussing "sinong mauuna?" The guess was correct. Timing? Way off!!

She announced this with a dagger in-hand. Future husband took photo.

As their best man, I dedicate this blog post to my very good friends Chico and Pat! Best wishes!

The downside is that we won't be able to ask them to play dota a lot now, since they'd now have "bills" to pay... nyay!!

Looking at the bright side, at least they'll get an income tax exemption... :D

Productivity Lows

2005-08-25T01:36:00.000-07:00

I think I may be suffering my worst streak of low productivity... although a part of me thinks it's due to an immense workload never before seen in my two and a half year career.

***

After I finished printing my exam for today, I burned my time reading other people's blogs and following links everywhere. Got this from Jae... (this is probably more than two years old now!!)

50 more reasons why we love surfing the net

2005-08-19T22:58:00.000-07:00

Inasmuch as I wanted to work hard on a Saturday to finish a huge backlog of papers and commitments, Time Magazine's list of the 50 coolest websites gave my productivity a huge blow.

I've gone through the entire list and I've seen probably less than five of these sites. I've visited only a few and the sites were really good. The blogs are a new category this year and some of them are really hilarious. A sample quip (from Overheard in New York...)

Hobo #1: Do you know what time is it?
Hobo #2: Yeah I know.
Hobo #1: Thanks.

lab exercises and research in ergonomics

2005-08-18T03:15:00.000-07:00

One of my tasks in IE 134 (Ergonomics) is to come up with laboratory activities for our new equipment from Vernier (thanks to Angelica of Velca). My students were surprised to note that we were using the same stuff Physics 71.1 and 73.1 (lab courses on Mechanics and Thermodynamics) classes were using.

Most of the exercises I designed were really exercises, as in my students would have to do some sweating to get their project done. Research in this line of ergonomics would be allied with what they're doing down there at the CHK (Human Kinetics). We're trying to look at anthropometry, its applications, and its implications on human performance.

I hope we do some justice for our room's name, the Human Performance Laboratory.

***

I'm sort of disappointed to note that none of my students decided to conduct research in this field of ergonomics, preferring the safer route of ergonomic evaluation of everyday stuff. At least, there's a saving grace since some students decided to pursue research in the field of industrial ergonomics, or the ergonomics in the workplace. Since the IE program in UP Diliman is really manufacturing/industry oriented, we might as well focus our research in this area. Another area I find interesting is cognitive ergonomics.

More on my Hawaian adventure next week...

Aloha!

***
Happy Birthday
18 - Leks
22 - Pat aka Raven
23 - Wilbert P.
28 - Chewy

sorry tinamad maglagay ng links

delayed...

2005-08-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

For those whi didn't get to view this properly...
***

It seems that whenever I want to post something, a lot of things go wrong. As a colleague of mine would comment "Murphy is hard at work..."

For this post, I had lots of trouble posting pic on the web. I thought it was a prerequisite for posting pics on a blog (to have html tags on your pics). Well, I just learned that you can upload pics from your computer (Chico's voice saying COMPUTER!!). I was asking Jae how to upload pics and he gave some relevant advice. The saddest thing was I had to resize all my photos (for this set, thanks to Bern and Stenie!!) since each was about 1.5-3mb big!

I used my photobucket account for this but as of press time, most of the pics are loading. I'll post a link for all the pics in my next post.

Conference Stuff

I was sent to Hawaii for one main purpose, to present a paper on Probabilistic Dynamic Programming (try searching for this, hehehe). I was scheduled on a Thursday and that gave me lots of time to prepare for my presentation.

What's Ergo Boy doing in an OR conference??

Now I'm trying to stress a point. The "stressed" session chair seems to react positively to my inquisitive and highly intelluctual points.

My session included mostly maintenance stuff and there was more than enough for me to chew for that session.

The other sessions were very interesting.

DAY 1 - First session was the application of OR in the criminal justice system. Though the presentation was mostly for R&D allocation of high-tech police weapons, there are similar stuff that we can adopt in our SC project. I dunno if I can even mention it. Oops, I guess I just did... The next session for the day was the application of OR in healthcare. It included an assessment of Israeli hospitals and optimization strategies for NZ ambulances (interesting to note if they rescue sheep down there, which enjoys a huge numerical majority over humans). The day's last two sessions were on practical optimization applications and six sigma.

DAY 2 - I attended a session on recent advances in metaheuristics...

Uhh, ok. So I didn't. Sue me! Bern and I decided to cut the afternoon sessions and go to the mall. We went to Ala Moana Shopping Center (no pics... didn't feel like taking pics in the mall). The mall reminded me of SM Baguio. No A/C, nice surroundings. Went to Macy's and discovered that it's quite expensive there (but a sale was forthcoming). Less than a week later, AMSC would serve as my take-off point for my North Shore adventure (more on this in the succeeding posts)...

Waiting for a bus to the north shore just outside the Ala Moana shopping center... more pics and stories to come...

DAY 3 - Excursion day! Got some pics (in my kuya's iBook) and I'll post these pics from the Polynesian Cultural Center, Polynesia's equivalent to our Nayong Pilipino. As a side note, I actually asked my 19-early 20's students if they know about Nayong Pilipino and they all exclaimed "Syempre naman Sir!"

Maybe a post about this excursion??

I also had a sumptuous dinner at the house of Bern's Aunty Ala in the upper portions of Honolulu. The winds felt like a storm was brewing (in the middle of summer?!?) but they said it was normal.

DAY 4 - My big day!! Interestingly, I only attended my session and decided to go to Nordstrom later that day. It was also luau day. I got some pics from the luau but this is all I have now...

Me (Aloha shirt c/o Aunty Ala), Bern (in her lovely Aloha dress) and our Taiwanese friend Zhi Ping (fresh from Maui). I actually met Zhi Ping on the flight going to Honolulu from Taipei. Gumana ang nerd-dar ko, hahaha!

Oh, BTW... I have a pic with Frederick Hillier. You might not know him but I bet you Torveks knows. Also ask any IE you know. I'll post these as soon as I get a grip on my small photo collection...

Day 5 - Having spent Thursday night drinking at Planet Hollywood (with $5 beers!!), I woke up late on Friday and decided to just hit the beach instead. I went with some Italian economics professors to soak in the sun of Waikiki Beach. Later that afternoon, we (Bern, Stenie, Aunty Marge) went to Kuhio Beach Park. Pics below...

Hanging loose by the beach

It's 6pm but no sunset in sight... (Actually the sun doesn't set until 8pm. Wohoo!)

Nakapayong sa beach... Tsk...

Later that evening, I had another dinner at the Cua's. Moreover... I got to wear a grass skirt and dance Hula with Bern's niece...

Innocently watching the girls do Hula...

Innocently trying on the grass skirt...

Innocently trying to do my version of Hula... Parang kulang get-up ko???

Innocently trying on the coconut bra...

And to top it off... I innocently tried on some necklace adornments and a silk flower ala Jasmine Trias

Hmmm, did anybody notice my wonderful tan???

With that, I end this post...

WTF? I'm gone two weeks and Resurrect now costs mana??

2005-07-27T23:50:00.000-07:00

Aloha friends!

Yeah it's me. I didn't know the true extent of blog laziness until I saw that my last update was more than three months ago! Anyway I'm back and so so sad to hear that Resurrect now costs mana (now investing in some nulls doesn't sound that stupid). Buti na lang resurrecting one's blog costs much less.

Anyway, enough about dota. Got lots of stories from the Aloha State (yes, Hawaii). I was in Honolulu to attend the 17th Triennial IFORS Conference. Oddly enough, it's not a conference on ergonomics but rather a conference in operations research. But I reassured my boss/thesis adviser that I wouldn't flip flop on my thesis and still do one on ergonomics.

Some basics about Hawaii:
- Temperature is just one degree cooler than here but much less humid (around 60% lang)
- Made up of 8 islands, one of which is also named Hawai'i, erstwhile known as the Big Island; Honolulu is on the main island of Oahu
- A lot of Pinoys there, mostly working in the many hotels and restaurants. Many of them were glad to see another Pinoy, a "tourist" at that
- A lot of ergonomic stuff there (subject of another post)
- Living in Hawaii is so expensive!

Speaking of which, I also suffered from a different kind of lag, that of a "spending lag." When I arrived in Hawaii, I was so stingy with my money, thinking that $6 meals were outrageous. Of course as the days went by, I saw myself paying $6 or $5 per hour for internet and eating at $15 buffet places. When I came back, I was craving for some squidballs so I went out for some. To my surprise, my bill was P50 (with take home to boot!). Wow, less than a dollar, no tip required! When Pat, Chico and I went to dinner at TOSH Friday night, the P200 bill seemed so affordable. BTW, for those who are interested to know, network gaming is a hefty $6 per hour (plus tax!) and their engines are only 512MB RAM (but P-IV naman) compared to the monsters down there at skies! My cheapest meal (other than breakfast because I ate cup noodles and burritos for bfast) was a $4 6" sub at subway.

So, with this, I'd like to announce that I'm back. Some posts to look forward to in my blog:
- Conference report (which includes a couple of cut sessions) - could be boring if done wrong
- Ergo stuff in Hawaii
- North Shore adventure (where Blue Crush was shot)
- "Wild" girls of Waikiki
- Personalities I met

I learned that you shouldn't put one post after the other because the other one won't be read. Also, this should give me some stuff to write...

Aloha! Aloha all!

The Saturday Splash Adventure

2005-04-19T16:25:00.000-07:00

H E L P !

would be a more appropriate title for this post, as this is probably the quote of the day (heck, this early, even for 2005!).

The day started out pretty well for most of us. This outing yet again serves as a reminder to set a meeting time one hour earlier than planned. For example, if you want to leave at 8 AM, set a meeting time of 7 AM, which was what exactly happened.

Jam pretty much talked about most of the day's happenings therefore i'm gonna go behind the scenes.

After leaving UP at 8 AM, we went to Shell and met with the rest of the gang. Frank, Ria and Jasmin (belated!!) went to Jam's place.

TIP to the next batch of Splash goers (which would probably be us again): Make sure Jam and some other guys be some sort of advanced party to reserve cabanas because it was really hard to get those shaded areas.

FIRST STOP: Wave pool. Though we have a theory on why gerls take so much time to change, it's still a "robert umali" to us. I think it was Frank who first remarked that: "Nakakapagod naman ito, mag-lunch na tayo." Yes, dito rin naganap ang makasaysayang "help" ni Oliver. Jam said it best when he said that he finds it hard to believe that some mammals could possibly drown... The lifeguard couldn't drag Oli all the way to the shore so he just left him there in the shallower part of the pool "to dry", so to speak.

NEXT STOP: Lazy river. Dito kami nang-bubully ng mga bata just to get inflatable tubes (joking here...). The fun thing about Splash... You can be so lazy that you have to depend on the "Lazy River" to move around the park.

THIRD STOP: Slides!! The supposedly scariest slide will just give you bruises since you won't be using rubber tubes to move down. In the Rio Montañosa ride, only three of us would fit in the slide but back then, 4 of us would have fitted. Only 3 with Oli included.

LUNCH!! Much awaited. Literally. After falling in line for 30-45 minutes, the phrase that met our order was "Sir, around 30-45 minutes pa po, pero pwedeng mapadali..." Lunch courtesy of Chico "The Man" Asan.

AFTER LUNCH: Another round of sliding! Most thrilling ride is the big bamboo but done in reverse!! Yahoo!! Jon was too scared to try it though...

Voice over the PA System (restated in the best manner I could remember):
"Splash Island is open from 9 AM to 5 PM. We would like to inform you that all attractions are now closed. You may proceed to the changing area to avoid the rush. Thank you for coming... for a splashing good time..."

As a nightcap (or at least we thought it was), we went to Rico's to celebrate his graduation (again, congrats pare! you finally made it!). It also served as a belated party for the rest of the April Boys. The food was great (pork BBQ was the bomb), alcohol was overflowing (so overflowing, hindi naubos), and the conversations were the usual fun talk about lots of stuff. Maraming napagusapan but I would not rather publish it here, for fear of slander (btw, is slander necessarily false?). Hehehe. Jae also shared some pics of his fictional (no pun intended) GF. I was just wondering whether he had Angel pics in that skimpy red costume...

Ask me personally if you wanna get some of the juicier details... I actually can't wait until the next LB and frends parteh...

We left Rico's at around 12 MN to go to Bluskies and there was the real nightcap. A 5v5 game of DotA. New recruit Aidz "Japogs" Angeles didn't get owned that much as expected of a newb (or noob as I've recently learned). Overall, it would have to be one of the, if not the best DotA game I've ever been a part of.

My day ended at around 8 AM sunday, after a nice breakfast at the Manasan residence and a lengthy, hot bath at home...

H E L P !

The much awaited...

2005-04-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

Quoting from my previous post about a month ago...

Watch out for Part II, which will talk about what happened after the play.

I must have left everyone hanging (including myself). Now a lot of people are asking for the part deux. Well, here's the short version (since this is already stale news).

After the play, the gang went to eastwood to partake on some pizza. Succumbing to peer pressure, Joyce paid for the bill (since it was her birthday). And in a gesture that would make any penny pincher proud, Jonas made a masterstroke and offered to pay for half of the bill (reminding us that it WAS his birthday a week ago). Oh well, we enjoyed the pizza.

And, did I mention Jam brought a date.

Arriving at UP, we were informed that Faye G. (and her date) were having cake at Choc Kiss. We decided to follow them there and finish up what we started at eastwood. The piano music in the background reminded us that we were with Oliver (not that his presence would go unnoticed). With some minor prodding, we eventually succeeded in convincing Oli to play the piano. Of course, Jon needed no such prodding to sing... Somehow, for a moment, the usually chic Choc Kiss turned jologs.

A wonderful nightcap could have been:
a. joining what's left at pisay (Yes, I just recently learned that Christy dG is a DJ!)
b. drinks and conversation at City Jam Bar along Katipunan (shameless plug!)
c. DotA until dawn!

Ano kaya ang napili namin? By now, alam na natin ngayon kung sinong mga addict sa DotA...

Finding our way to the Caterpillar pillar (A Critique on "Hope for the Flowers")

2005-03-14T15:30:00.000-08:00

The Review

The following were some of my hypotheses regarding Chewy's role in the play Hope for the Flowers:

Flower/Tree trunk - with minimal speaking parts or worse, just standing there and blending in with the set
Caterpillar - crawling around, trying to walk with a thousand legs
Butterfly - sniffling around the flowers (see first hypothesis)
Cocoon - 'nga naman, kung walang piso, walang P100; kung walang cocoon, walang butterfly
Cogon grass - 'nuff said

Of course, she later told me she was playing the role of a caterpillar. One of a hundred, I thought. "Do you have a speaking part, you know, one that's not part of the chorus?" I asked. She nicely replied, "Yeah, I got a few." Well, at least meron I said to myself. So now, I got three good reasons to watch the play: 1. Chewy was on it 2. Kythe Foundation was a beneficiary 3. It's a nice venue to meet with friends (again!)

The group: Leks, (willing to miss work for obvious reasons), Joyce (birthday girl - happy birthday!), Oliburger (muntik na kaming ilaglag), Jogon, Jam (plus one, I mean Ann), Jem, Pat, Norman (fellow teacher at IE Department), and the late Jinko Misa (sorry, could not resist!)

The venue (Aldaba Hall) looked like the sari-sari store/canteen behind the UP theater. It was much better inside. The air-conditioning was a welcome change of temperature (it must have been 35 degrees outside!). Manila paper/cartolina was scattered all over the place (later realized it was for good reason). There was free coffee too and as expected, Oliver suddenly became a caffeine addict. As remarked by Jogon, the chairs were not ergonomic especially for people standing 6'2" and up (yeah, how many people do you know who's taller than that?). The chairs were fine though. It's no Eastwood Cinema though (what do you expect for a hundred bucks anyway).

As the lights turned dark, the actors came in. To my surprise, I didn't immediately find our Chewy. A few moments later, she came in. We had to adopt a very awkward posture just to see her (and this is bad as this leads to various cumulative trauma disorders or CTD's). To my pleasant surprise, I found a mic on Chewy's cheek. Hmm, malamang marami-raming linya to...

Putcha, 'bat walang nagsabi sakin na bida siya? Of course, Jam mentioned it, but I didn't read it.

She actually played Yellow, the female lead of the play opposite Stripe. Too bad, Leks wasn't wearing stripes. And she was good. I always thought she had a good voice, being in a "band" and all. I just never imagined her to be that good. She wowed the audience with her Broadway-like voice that seemed to be a perfect fit for the role of the caterpillar who was left by her BF (Leks wouldn't have left you for a freaking tower made of drums), made good and became a butterfly.

Like in any romantic play, there's bound to be some love scenes, where the characters show off the affection for each other. In this case, it elicited more than the usual "aww" as we had a stakeholder in the audience. I had to stop myself from making hirits as I was already affecting my seatmates' concentration.

Stripe was contemplating on a trek to the "top of the pillar," only to find out later that it was lonely at the top and it wasn't worth the climb. In the meantime, our girl Yellow's been left crying (abangan na natin sa labas si Stripe...). I wonder how would I have reacted to this play if I saw it when I was seven years old. Would I have gotten the message? Darn, it's supposed to be a children's book...

Pat had something to say about the costumes, but had to keep it to herself when she was introduced to the costume designer (by Cris Tanseco).

Overall, the play was good, but I honestly wouldn't have watched it if Chewy wasn't there.

Watching the play made me very proud. Kilala ko yung bida!

Let me end this review with what Tita Chato (Chewy's mom according to my phonebook) said after watching the play...

"...."*

*Portions of the statement were deleted.

Watch out for Part II, which will talk about what happened after the play.

Desperate American Race

2005-03-04T19:01:00.000-08:00

Watching TV is absolutely one of my favorite things to do. Jae mentioned that he was watching reruns of TGIS and I'd have to admit that naiinggit ako... wish ko lang 1990's ngayon...

Back to 2005. Two of my favorite shows are now on-air. American Idol and Amazing Race 7. I'm really excited about these shows. My take on these shows:

AI: It's such a joy to watch these fellas sing. The thing I mentioned about the judges: No matter how the contestants hate him, Simon's always right.
Favorites (F): Amanda Avila, Carrie Underwood (M): Scott Savol, Constantine

AR7: I find it weird that Rob and Amber joined the race. Oh, they want more money... I don't find it weird that the others really want to beat them. Oh, and I was almost disappointed when the roomates were coming in last...

Why desperate? 'coz i got my hands on a copy of Desperate Housewives' first three episodes. The first one had a lot of promise. The story is very much character driven. I hope this show hits Philippine TV screens soon...

School election fever in UP

2005-03-02T11:23:00.000-08:00

I've heard a lot of comments that UP is a microcosm of Philippine society. True enough, UP students (and faculty) can hardly be stereotyped. There's the pretty kolehiyala, the stud, the nerd, the 'tibak, the anak ng politiko, the working student. Heck, meron ding Lasalista at Atenista in UP.

One facet of UP life that mimics real life is politics. Politics suck here in the country and in UP there's no difference. There's the tarpaulin posters (who's paying?), walls plastered with tons of paper, constant protests, poll watchers (but they were nice), insincere handshaking, among others. As with Philippine elections, UP elections are counted manually. Not bad, you might think. But have you tried counting 386 ballots? It doesn't work out as easy as it sounds. Given my background as an IE, I could probably optimize the voting procedure (and hopefully make it more ergonomic).

I think we were the second to the last to finish in Eng'g (around 12MN). It was very tiring. Would I do it again? Absolutely.

Welcome (oh what a boring title!)

2005-02-28T13:51:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to start a blog as early as August last year, when I started writing for the Pisay 98 blog during the Volleyball tournament. Procrastination got the better of me, and it is only now (with enough prodding from my good friends pat and chico) that I am starting my own blog. This has been further delayed as I have have been meaning to launch this blog on my birthday.

In giving my blog an identity, the first thing that came to mind was a reference to my gameshow days. I thought that a blog entitled "Who wants to be the weakest link?" would stir enough interest to those who remembered. But clearly, I should get over my days as a gameshow contestant.

Though my blog would contain mostly my random thoughts, I figured that I could use it to inform my friends/fellow bloggers about one of my passions/interests. Ergonomics is a field of Industrial Engineering that focuses on the human aspect of various (everyday) systems. Derived from the Greek words ergon (work and effort) and nomos (law or surroundings). Fit the task to the worker (human), and not the other way around. Ergonomics isn't techie stuff. You have to deal with it in your daily grind. How many times have you noticed yourself stooping down just to get a more comfortable view of your PC monitor? Do you think the MRT handrail is too high for you? How about that pain in your neck and wrist after playing 6 hours of DotA? (ok, so I'm speaking from experience...)

Ergonomics is a word you usually associate with chairs, tables, and other office equipment. Well, believe it or not, most "ergonomic" equipment are not actually ergonomic. More on this as we go along...

what?! an "ergonomic" toilet?

the usual ergonomic keyboard