RSSOld age
May 01
Top of my head Garbage No Comments
A few posts in my newsfeed made me think about this.
Growing old is a given.
Being old is an accomplishment.
And my personal corollary: acting your age is not in my vocabulary. 😛
ciao!
[BftP] Deductive Reasoning FTW!
Apr 14
Fun Stuff, Garbage Fun Stuff, humor, rubbish No Comments
I am lifting the image below that I sent to some colleagues to highlight the power of deductive reasoning. The image originally came from 9gag.com but I am hosting a copy since this blog has been littered with broken links.
The comment that I sent to accompany the email message has already been gone from the site. It explained the comics so I replicating it below for archiving purposes, with typos and all.
It’s quite easy, my dear watson.
It is Apparant that the mask is used to disguie a well-known identity from society. a man using a double life is most clearly a famous person, most possibly a rich man who can use an expensive Cavlar suit and quirky gadgets. the square jaw indicates a good lineage, perhaps a doctor’s son. the bat-motif is most likely from a childhood trauma that branded into the man’s mind as a great truth in the power that chiroptophobia has on the common man… *puff* *puff*
Mob mentality
Mar 24
Garbage general, opinion No Comments
The mob mentality negates the basic premise that two wrongs doesnt make a right. Being part of a mob grants both a sense of power and a degree of anonymity by blending with the crowd. The combination of both can imbue a euphoria that overrides the normal and logical reasoning, enabling a person to do things they won’t normally be expected to do.
Once a mob is fired up, it will either take a lot to subdue it. Most of the time, it will simmer down but only after leaving a lot of damage in its path. The participants of the mob usually doesn’t feel any remorse as they justify their actions as both “right” and “acceptable” since it was the actions of the mob and not their own.
The best time to stop a mob is when it is just starting up. That is easier said than done though. The best way to handle a mob is get out of its way and just hope that there is still something left in its wake.
I have to let it out
Mar 19
Rubbish general politics No Comments
This will be a voice in the wilderness post.
To my friends and acquaintances from both sides of the Filipino political arena: if you want to post anything related to the current pandemic, may it be a public service announcement, a morale booster, or a gratitude post then please do so. However, take your political slant out of it. Here is the reality: YOU are NOT helping.
The government is doing what it can to stop the spread. Organizing and mobilizing a country is not easy. If you have the experience and willingness that you can do something better then go to your govt office and volunteer. Otherwise STFU.
The decisions of the government are based on a compromise. There will always be somebody affected. The best option is a compromise, not a win-win. If you have a win-win option, go talk to your elected govt official. Otherwise STFU.
If your argument is your heart goes for those unable to stock up supplies because of poverty or lack of opportunity, then go improve a few lives and share what you have. Your bickering doesnt help get them fed or assured. You are only fanning their fears with yours. If you cannot help directly, STFU.
If you are clamoring for businesses and enterprises for benefits and advance payrolls for those affected by the quarantine/lockdown,they are already evaluating that and trying to figure out where the money will come from. Do that if you have a business but don’t assume others can easily do the same. The owners and managers are already losing sleep and getting stressed trying to protect their employees and their business. If you have a seat in the managing table then I know you will go with the best option. To the others, STFU.
I can go on but you should already see where I am going. This is the point where I need to heed my own request and STFU.
BftP : Passing vs Working
Dec 26
Garbage, Work delivery, scavenge, Work No Comments
[Lifted from an old email I sent to my previous project mates.]
This is an email to remind about wantonly tweaking configuration settings in the Oracle Fusion Middleware stack to make the code work. Wantonly in this case means it did not go through the official change management process as the members in question wanted to quickly solve an issue that was first encountered in the UAT environment.
E2 is supposed to mirror the E3 environment to catch any problem that could happen in E3, or replicate an ongoing issue.
Our goal is not to make our deliverables pass UAT, but to provide deliverables that will not malfunction in production.
Any setting that needs to be changed needs to be evaluated properly to ensure it doesn’t affect the other applications in the environment. Each setting change is always a compromise between two conflicting scenarios (e.g. performance vs scalability, traceability vs resource management, etc.). We need to understand what we are exchanging for each setting update. The E2 settings change needs to be propagated to E3 afterwards.
For the nomenclature:
- E2 is the User Acceptance environment, and
- E3 is the Production environment.
Unchained melody
Nov 03
Top of my head life, musings No Comments
For sometime now I have opted to play with my responses to the mundane question of “how are you doing (today)?” in the office. My response admittedly has turned dark lately but the canned response usually are:
- Better than I deserve! (credits to Dave Ramsey)
- Same-old, same-old.
- SSDD 😉
- Can’t wait for the week to be over.
- Looking forward to the weekend.
- Still breathing.
- Dying a little bit every day.
The last one is a play in the saying that one of these days death will come to our doorstep. It is a reflection of the common reality that all of us will need to pass through that milestone in our lives. The question however is that given of that inevitable reality, how much of that time can we comfortably say we have lived; and not just along for the ride and surviving? Can we look back at the end of each day or week and say “it was worth it”?
My father’s son
Oct 06
Top of my head family, Garbage No Comments
I saw my father today
In fleeting moment he was dancing in our living room.
I was not hallucinating nor dreaming
But it took me a while to recognize him.
See, I got my pointer finger squeezed between the hinges of the portable dog fence.
The shock and adrenaline rush causing a familiar tirade. A wail of pain peppered with a self-directed admonishment:
“Ang tanga. Ang tanga-tangaaaa!” (“Dumb move. You d-dumbasssss!”)
While enveloped by a crimson pain for an eternity stretching few seconds that was when I saw him.
For that was exactly how he would react in situations like that. Reactions that I aways thought funny and, par for the course with my father, “eccentric”. I didn’t realize that I have appropriated it as well.
Ergo, I am my father’s son and a part of my father lives within me.
It comes like a cold virus
Sep 01
Top of my head reality bites, rubbish No Comments
For most, today marks the start of the Christmas season as the day one of the “BER” months . For me it unexpectedly announces the return of an old acquaintance that I hoped would never show its face again.
Hello D! I hope you dont stay. My Septembers had been fine without you and I dont look forward to you lurking around the corner. I am better than this.
Image sourced via www.publicdomainpictures.net/
Wake me up when September ends.
Business Optimism
May 30
Garbage, Work musings, Work No Comments
You probably have heard of “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade” or “you cannot make omelette without cracking eggs” but company business optimism is taking this a bit further. They are thinking ahead and in what I would assume to be pursuit of cost cutting the powers that be has shifted to “why bother making lemonades and omelette in the first place? let us take away the lemons and eggs so you wont have that problem” mentality.
Ingenious, yes.
Devilish, yes.
Practical? It depends on whose perspective.
I like lemonade and omelette. I also like having the choice whether I will or I will not have them.
ciao!
And the winner goes to…
May 16
Top of my head, Work humor, sentiments, Work No Comments
I am cleaning up my work inbox to free up some space and came across an email from the “enthusiastic” events committee of the UPEM team. This was about the awards they give out during the year-end party. Guess which one is perennially mine. 🙂
- Banksy Award – lives up freedom of expression via whiteboard graffiti
- Bleep Award – for having the most “colorful” vocabulary in the team
- Bully Award – do we even have to define this?
- Caffeine Addict Award – for someone who drinks the most coffee in a day even if not collecting stickers for a Starbucks Planner
- Call of Duty: Ghost Ops – for the one who stays longer than our core hours to fulfill duties
- Could Have Been Sweethearts – their chemistry is palpable that in another time, place, and lifetime they could have been… We can rename this to Popoy and Basha Award? May second chance! =))
- Duct Tape Award – for being able to fix issues, resourcefully
- Early Bird Award – for consistently being early in the office
- Fitness First Award – for someone who hits the gym regularly
- Food Basket Award – for being a saint in providing nutrition to the team
- Human Vulture Award – for eating anything found lying around
- Iron Chef Award – for the person who always packs a delicious looking lunch while everyone else gets Ministop’s Nuclear Chicken
- Keep Calm and Carry On Award – for being calm, cool, and collected on the highest severity of issues
- Man of Steel Award – for being thoroughly dedicated to his work that no disaster can stop him . This is given to the teammate who had no or the least number of SL’s/EL’s for the year.
- Megaphone Award – for actively voicing out (sometimes louder than necessary) his opinions to the team
- Most Bromantic Couple – for living up The Bro Code
- Mr./Ms.Seenzone Award – for someone who turns the Lync taskbar icon into a blinking light, and prefers the old fashioned way of one on one interaction
- Neatest Nook Award – for having the cleanest cube in the office
- One More Thing Award – most likely to extend meetings
- Papa/Mama Bear Award – for someone who takes care of the team
- Pig Pen Award – for someone who has the messiest cube in the office
- Six-pack Award – for someone so funny, he can give you a six-pack just by laughing
- Social Butterfly Award – for someone you are always up to date with due to his/her social media posts
- Stuck Thread King/Queen – for consistently causing downtime in any of our environments
- TMNT Award – for the one who demonstrates proficiency and skill in the art of stealth
- UPEM Fashionista (female) – for consistently dressing extraordinary in an ordinary day in the office
- UPEM Fashionisto (male) – for consistently dressing extraordinary in an ordinary day in the office
Quoting Robert: “Good Times!”
ciao!