coffee break

seating here in a coffeeshop, life flashing and passing in front of me. i question my own mortality, when is my time? i won’t say that i’m ready to die, but i think about it. and if so, i’m ok with. if your definition of readiness to die is being at peace with the idea then you can say that i am ready. but i’m not. not for anything else, not spiritual or religious as i don’t believe in those shit.

i want to do more, a lot more. i want to live forever. for a man who said he’s ok to die, that’s a little contradicting. living forever is being immortalized, like jose rizal and big bird. i want to be remembered, in a good way of course, i may not be religious by i still believe in doing good. nobody wants to be remembered as the bitchy person who scrutinizes wardrobe and style from head to toe. rather, someone who influences and improved style and beauty of people and things around. it’s all in the sentence construct and perspective of the one writing… i want to be more, not just the enterprise architect that i am. a mentor, professor, designer, yogi, president.

that’s the problem. the problem of the guy who wants to be everything to everyone.

i will not attribute my non-blogging to a lack of tools, but tooling does help specially for a techy guy like me. nor will i try to blame work; as somebody wise had pointed out, work will always be there, it’s how we deal with it that matters. blogging had escaped me, my usual twice, minimum one blog a week is now a mere chance or even mandatory because i need to justify to myself why i’m paying for this url and hosting. but the thing is, i do love to rant, or rave. i do it all the time, but this time through twitter. twitter changed a lot for me, and its nifty feature and mobile apps made it a non-compete kind of thing. mobility is really taking over the lives of people, mine specially.

a lot has changed with me. my friend @yayiebuenviaje accuse me of being a mac fanboy. i maintain to this day that i’m not, i am a mainstream loving windows guy. but i do love their products. for me the difference of me liking the products against being a fanboy is that, i don’t like everything apple. take for instance the iphone 3gs and prior. i hated the form factor, its aesthetics, which is a big basis for me buying and/or liking a product. what made it worse for me is that my mom gave me a 3gs before, and it only lasted me less than 4 hours on full charge. i have to say that this is not a hand me down, this is a brand new, unopened and sealed phone. and what cemented my “hate” for apple is its ceo coupled with the release of iphone 4. for right after its release, it was plagued with the death grip. and for the longest time apple denied it, it’s just a rumor. then by some soul searching and truth serum they admitted that there’s a problem, but dragged everybody else by pointing fingers to other handsets saying that they too have the same problem. the ceo made an appearance in a song and dance publicity event if you will, being brazen and in your face as he’s known, saying, as i wittingly surmise, ‘yes there’s a problem, here’s a free bumper”. what the fuck?!? you have people line, push and upgrade their plan, wait for eternity, shell out php30,000-php40,000 (in this neck of the woods) for a faulty handset? are you screwing with me? (not the kind i like, nor that you’re my type). then again i like my macbook pro. the color, feel, build, sheer power and awesomeness makes me forget that apple screwed me with just 2 usb ports and nonstandard display output.

my introduction to ipad2 was rather an unusual one. to start with, i hated the ipad. being a proud owner of a galaxy tab, i was preaching left and right how impractical ipad is and great the 7″ of wonder that the tab is, please note the present tense. first is that i have to say that it’s a gift to have an account manager at apple is, taking care of your every whim. secondly, it doesn’t hurt that the product is very visually appealing. my account manager called that i can pickup the accessory i ordered for my macbook; a connector to the projector for presentation. ever so “discretely” during the launch of the ipad2 in manila, i found my way to the mac store to find a long line of people trying either to get their hands on the device or gawk at it. skimmed pass the line, i found my account manager to get my connector. she handed me my order and a demo unit of the ipad2. clever bitch. not to seem rude or a prude, i played a little with the device with no intention of purchasing, but the bitch knew me. while i was toying with it, she grabbed a smartcover and demoed how it works. and right then i purchased the ipad so that i can use the cover, less the waiting and the queue.

you see, i get why yayie thinks that i am a mac fanboy. i am apple’s target market. the techy guy who’s all about aesthetics and cool factor. the guy who wants to see how it all works, put together things, upgrade to the latest version of software and hardware. were mobility and accessibility is a requirement rather than a nice to have, that needs to be plugged-in 24/7 and will die of slow internet access. i am all of those things. i am also the guy that can’t understand why a brand secludes itself from the world. why it doesn’t support popular applications outside its platform. this is why i am not a mac fanboy. i can’t and won’t accept that i’m locked (commitment issues?) to any one thing even if it’s a pretty little aluminum unibody shell.

and lastly, would it hurt if windows live writer and mac os be friends?

This is not a typical Wednesday for me. A typical one would be, me in front of my tv, tuned in to etc watching the match airing of Glee. Instead I’m in a community owned coffee shop too far from home, waiting for the rain to stop for me to go home. Rain as always, brings not only flood but also stand still traffic. I just came off from a customer meeting discussing business process automation and poverty alleviation though different government channels like kalahi and conditional cash transfer. Thinking where I could help them improve as well as sell my wares.
It’s officially the rainy season on this part of Earth. @MMDA twitted that there’s a 10 inch flash flood on my way home and that the traffic is at best, 0 kph. I have yet to go to the beach this year. The closest I have been is at a hotel window in Marina Sands Bay Hotel in Singapore. This is the best this Filipino guy can do who lives in a country boasting the best beaches and one of the longest coast line in the world. I need to improve my working hours.
The worst part of this experience? There’s a big crowd in this coffee shop because there’s a movie shooting in this place. I hate crowds. Uncle Scrooge would be so proud of me.

just because…

So here’s the deal. BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) have recently reversed its ruling on companies and its employees on ROHQ (Regional Head Quarters) status. The new circular RMC 41-2009 states that the flat 15% preferential tax rate will only be applicable to employees doing both managerial and highly technical roles. As opposed to its previous ruling that all employees of an ROHQ company will enjoy the 15%.  For whatever reason, the BIR have changed its mind and it affected a lot of employees, including me.

The COMELEC rejected Ang Ladlad’s bid for a party list accreditation for the May 2010 election. From the definition of the party list, these organization should represent the minority. They represent the voice of the small people in the congress were congressmen represents the majority of the people that elected them. COMELEC have sited that the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender community that Ladlad represents promotes immorality. I being openly gay is affected by this blind judgment that my government have cast upon me.
Just recently, the Department of Justice (DOJ) ruled to clear the Ampatuans. Seeing 57 dead bodies in a dugout mass grave who wanted to bring change in the Autonomous Region of the country breaks my heart and spirit. My government not doing anything with this blatant display of arrogance and power affects me.

How can I in good conscience root for this government? A government who discriminates me because of my sexuality instead of protecting me. A government that calls me immoral yet takes my ‘immoral’ tax. A government who turns a blind eye on the arrogance of its official for favors and wealth.

My countrymen, I beg you this election to grab your concerns and your worries. Put it in your heart and mind. Take control of you future. I will not persuade you who to vote, but I implore you to vote according to your conscience. The future is upon us now, this May. Own it.

for me, the measure of a good government is not gnp, or increased export or number of jobs created. it’s simply how much trust its citizen has in the government, and right now i have too little respect more so trust to this government. i used to say better gma nd fpj. now i wonder how it would be if fpj won.

listening to:
The Soul Sessions – Joss Stone : Dirty Man (Live)