May 02
ErinGarbage, Work communication, Garbage, Leadership, life, people management, Work
Holding a ball in one hand in front of you illustrates the common fact that two or more sides of the truth can exist without negating other truths. This boils down to perception; and managing the perception of the other viewers.
My co-lead in the project was getting some reputation flak for his leadership style. When we talked about it he raised a good question: “I used the same tone and method you used a few days ago when you addressed the team. What makes my delivery different (and unacceptable)?”
It was good question because I agree that our leadership styles have a lot of similarities. How come one can get away with using that style while other people have a negative reaction? Is it the context/personality of the person using the style and the preconceived notion of the audience about the person that makes a difference? This makes me think of the social experiment wherein random people were made to taste cakes. In one experiment there was a tag price in front of the cake where the slice came from and one is expensive while the other is affordable. In one variation there are no price tags but one of the cakes were placed in a plain platter while one was in an ornately gilded tray. A lot of the people said they preferred the more expensive cake (or the one in the more expensive looking tray) better stating that it is finer and has a more chocolaty taste. The catch is that all cakes used in the social experiment were IDENTICAL.
Presentation and context may be the critical factor in play here.
Nov 17
ErinGarbage, Work Garbage, interview, recruitment, Work
It is common to see in the IT industry people trumpet how many years of experience they have for certain technology or skills. The practice is one of the cheapest form of self-advertisement. The problem is that experience doesn’t always equate to expertise.
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Jul 31
ErinGarbage Garbage, Manila, musing
Stuck in a normal Manila morning to traffic
A slight drizzle hitting the windshield
Steely gray skies providing a backdrop to the Guadalupe bridge
Trees showing off freshly washed leaves swaying to a strong breeze.
I can stay in this spot for a long time.
Jul 06
ErinGarbage Garbage, status
I am definitely entering the cycle where I am burned out. This is actually surprising as it came a couple of months earlier.
I am too mentally tired to be excited in trying a couple of tech that i thought was cool.
I need to get myself out of bed and hack at something. It is easier said than done though.
Feb 15
ErinGarbage Garbage
Yesterday, February 14th, my wife and I ate dinner at home which subsisted of grilled rib-eye steaks, a bowl of marble potatoes in honey mustard dressing, and we actually finished a bottle of White Zinfadel. This morning we had a fairly standard fried breakfast: sunny side up eggs, sauteed corned beef, home-made bacon slices and fried rice with bacon bits. Was it a good Valentine’s day celebration? NOPE.
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Dec 31
ErinGarbage Garbage, pragmatism
The pragmatic in me kicked in and I realized again that problems are what defines our existence. Only the dead are free of them.
With that said I wish your problems will be sur mount able, your challenges manageable, trespasses against you forgivable, and your heartaches forgettable.
Year 2013, bring your best and worst. We already have gone through the millennium bug and the mayan calendar end. We are as ready as we are going to be for the next round. 🙂
ciao!
Nov 07
ErinGarbage, Top of my head Garbage, house, musings
Since we moved to Pasig to cut down our daily commute time we have decided to offer our house in Binangonan for rent. Most if not all who inquires keeps on asking if we want to sell it instead.
My wife says its the aura. Some houses have this light and welcoming aura while some would imbibe a dark and heavy feeling. Ours belong to the first category but I think it also has something to do with the people who live there. 🙂
More “as-is” pictures here.
Aug 15
ErinTop of my head Garbage, Work
I hail from a middle-class family but I was able to play in the houses and offices of our more well-off relatives. During those times I always associated the “table” as a symbol of power and success. My mother is a public school teacher and I attributed her position with her photo clippings and plastic covered wooden table. I dreamed that someday I would have a table of my own that would bear the title of supervisor, manager, or simply put a boss.
In the childish view of somebody who have observed how hard it is to do manual labor, the “table” espouses a position of power; a capacity to make other people follow my whim. I would sometimes pantomime signing papers and giving people tongue lashings. It seemed like an easy life wherein my job entails sitting on a chair and transforming pieces of paper to near priceless artifacts with the simple flick of the pen in my hand.
Fast forward 25 years or so later and I can only shake my head on the foolishness of that dream. I could say that I am a supervisor but my work has not gone lighter than when I started. I am writing this piece after taking a break on my 15th hour since I started working. Those who are higher than me work more hours than I do as they seemingly take on a lot of tasks and projects. If I could talk to my past self I would have said: your dream is good my so innocent friend, but you do not understand the gravity of the responsibility that comes with that luxurious job. Tasks do not come easier as you progress your career. On second thought, jobs worth keeping become more complex and more frustrating.
Salut to all who thinks moving up the ranks mean less work. Cherish your innocence while it lasts.
Btw, I heard CEO jobs are actually easier… 😉
Jul 22
ErinGarbage Garbage
Hailing from a rural area, my family never had a credit card. In fact hearing all the horror stories with its abuse, our view of its use borders in calling it as the spawn of the devil. After I graduated in college and started working I pretty much stuck with the “cash only” principle. That principle could not go wrong as it forces one to live by one’s own means, dispensing only cash that is available to you. That in itself is a fallacy that I will touch on later.
The company I worked for issued me an American Express gold card when I was assigned to Finland. The card remained largely unused as charging something on a plastic is a very alien principle to me. I even made it a sport heckling those call center agents who hawked pre-approved cards. However a couple of years ago I gave in and got my own credit card (with an extension to my wife who also dislikes using credit cards because of her own personal reasons).
What happened? My reasons were actually simple when you think about it:
- The argument of keeping within the “cash only” transactions will result to living within your means is definitely not true. It can help if you don’t have the necessary willpower to known when you can and cannot afford an item but its not enough. Even without credit cards one can easily fall into deep debts. I have seen that happen. Any vice and addiction can turn around one’s fortune as quick as a stock market crash.
- Living within your means can extend to credit card use, with the bonus of having the convenience of plastic. I don’t charge anything to my card that I cannot pay the next day. The next day, not the next payday. This is where willpower comes into play.
- Credit card allows me to pay the exact amount. Unlike in the US where every penny counts, the Philippine centavo has fallen away into obscurity. How many people today can say they still have seen what a centavo looks like (yes the one with Lapu-lapu). Groceries and department stores are rampant in specifying amounts to the lowly centavo but does not have any change to spare that they round off the amount to the nearest 25 centavos. My credit card is from my bank so I can pay the exact amount down to the centavo when I settle my bills online. Every centavo counts, right?
- Ease of accounting. My online statement allows me to keep track of my expenditures. I use Budget Pulse to keep track of my liquid finances and even if I miss entering my expenses daily I can always fall back on the bank statements to keep my accounting sane.
- Freebies. My credit card has some nifty freebies every 3 months; may it be free pizza, frozen delights, pulvoron or fast food goodies. The amounts needed to avail these have gone up but if I total all the freebies my wife and I have availed then they would have already paid for the yearly membership fee of our credit card. Which brings us to…
- Almost free membership. Well I still need to pay Php1500 per year but for the last 2 of the 3 years I have been using the points earned by my credit card to pay for that yearly membership fee. This year the rep waived the membership fee and reversed the charge on my credit card because of my good standing, and also because I called. 🙂
I only maintain 2 credit cards: the one from the company which I dont use and the one I have now. Overall its a good deal as long I keep on minding how I use our credit cards.
ciao!
Jun 12
ErinTop of my head Garbage
That feeling of waking up after a short afternoon nap, alone and with the light of the room slowly being rescinded as day turns to night.
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