Meeting de Avance

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!

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Happy birthday to Jon and Jason Gonzales

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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...

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:

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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

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...