tag-oodling...

I've been tagged by Mai. Let's get started, shall we? :)

A - Available/single or taken: single
B - Best friend: bec and pam, my bestfriends for 14 years :)
C - Cake or pie: cake
D - Drink of choice: kool aid, milk tea (naicha!), hazelnut and caramel macchiato, raspberry frap
E - Essential item you use everyday: cellphone, face powder, lighter
F - Favorite color: black, red, pink, green
G - Gummy bears or worms: worms
H - Hometown: pacita, san pedro, laguna
I – Indulgence: on foods: chocolates, anything with caramel other: perfumes
J - January or February: january
K - Kids & names: not applicable, but i would like to have french names for my future kids
L - Life is incomplete without? family, friends
M - Marriage date: not applicable
N - Number of siblings: 2 (1 sister and 1 bro)
O - Oranges or apples: oranges
P - Phobias or fears: nada(?)
Q - Fave quote: "life is a highway, i wanna ride it all night long" hehe!
R - Reason to smile: knowing that i have my family and friends and i am having the best time of life (shampoo commercial ba to?)
S - Season: summer
T - Tag 5 people: diane, rhea, ote, yna, bang
U - Unknown fact about me: i'm a crybaby
V - Vegetable you don’t like: ampalaya
W - Worst habit: every saturday, i sleep until 5pm
X - Xrays you've had: thrice, 2 for pre-employment exam and 1 for the annual medical exam
Y - Your fave foods: the good earth's lily on the pond, jollibee's mango caramel sundae, recipe's gising gising amd generals chicken, sbarro's stuffed supreme pizza, max's caramel bar, bangus/tuna sisig, pinoy adobo, kenny roger's ribs, goldilock's choco rumble
Z - Zodiac sign: scorpio

food quality or grammar and spelling?

i was about to create an entry on my fave foodies and i thought that it'll be more interesting if i include some pictures. and so i googled "good earth alabang" (love their dimsum "lily on the pond") and came across this post on Yahoo! Answers.
i don’t know if i should be more concerned on the food served at The Good Earth (because i often eat there) or on her grammar, spelling and punctuation. hmmm… inday, is that you??

nonetheless, thanks to her, i'll be more cautious next time i go there.

another one leaves augusta

instead of explicitly saying this news, i'll be singing this with the beat of queen's hit "another one bites the dust". :) note: augusta was my previous project at acn.

----- walks warily down the aisle
with her head held down low
aint no sound but the sound of her feet
resignation on the go
are you ready, are you ready for this
are you hanging on the edge of your seat
out of the doorway ms. a appears
with the sound of her screech

another one leaves augusta
another one leaves augusta
and another one gone, and another one gone
another one leaves augusta
hey, ----- gonna be outta here
another one leaves augusta

how do you think augusta’s going to get along
without you, when you’re gone
you took every SAP thing you know
and kicked augusta out of their own

are you happy, are you satisfied
how long can you stand the thrill
out of the doorway ms. a appears
with the sound of her screech

Chorus

another one leaves augusta
another one leaves augusta
another one leaves augusta
another one leaves augusta
there are plenty of ways you can hurt an org
and bring them down the ground
you can beat them
you can leave them
you can treat them bad and leave them when their down
but -----‘s ready, yes she’s ready for them
-----‘s standing on her own two feet
out of the doorway ms. a appears
repeating and repeating her screech

Updated: Oooppsss, make it "another 5 leave augusta"...i still remember the feeling of resigning. made me feel queasy, lonely and in high spirits, all at the same time...

test your knowledge on SAP BI/BW

Data warehousing is the foundation for all business intelligence (BI) solutions, and SAP BW is no exception. If you're an aspiring SAP BI/BW consultant, it is important to have extensive knowledge and experience with SAP BW. - SearchSAP.com

want to test your knowledge on SAP BI/BW? check out this BI/BW Quiz. this is an intermediate-level quiz which covers SAP BI/BW architecture, modeling, extraction and information retrieval.

click...click...

sadly, i still don't have the time and enough resources to capture some shots and see how creative i can be.

for now, i'm just posting the pictures that i really admire, jesse , angie i'm your no. 1 fan. ;P

'ookies' (hehe) was taken by jessemonggo.

"among the red" (photo below) was captured by angie of norway, a friend/co-w@wie of my sister.
for more photography techniques, visit this site.

potakteng pc to

"potakteng pc to" -- this has been my ym status for this week. my temporary workstation is giving me a stroke! i'm using this bloody pc which looks like it hasn't been reblasted for 48 years, low virtual memory and all! and would you believe that i even brought my own optical mouse?!! they have no sunrise/sunset here (like that of acn's IT hotline). poor me.

and i think that this status was read by my technical manager, sir ric, hehehe, that's why he emailed me:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Ric Carlo Adajar
To: Christian Dee Medina
Subject: Thinkpad

Hello,

They are purchasing your IBM Thinkpad. I will keep you posted on the status.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Christian Dee Medina
To: Ric Carlo Adajar
Subject: Re: Thinkpad

Thanks Sir. Hope it'll be soon, can't stand the poor performance of my current pc. :(
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Christian Dee Medina
To: Ric Carlo Adajar
Subject: Re: Thinkpad

Oo nga, e. Pinagsabay-sabay kasi yung mga requests for new laptops. Will keep you posted on the delivery schedule.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

thinkpad??? hmmmm...shala?! :) i'm aware of the notebook term, but thinkpad? hmmmm...i just wish that my "thinkpad" will be delivered soon before this fucker jurassic pc becomes the trigger of my resignation. hehe!

Updated:
i googled IBM thinkpad and here it is. Nyehehe, it's just another trademark for IBM computer models. stupid me.

Shake It Off And Step Up

this is an interesting read, sent by an officemate in amkor.

A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard the mule 'braying' - or - whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened...and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back...a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back...HE SHOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP! This he did, blow after blow.

"Shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up!" he repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or distressing the situation seemed the old mule fought "panic" and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP!

You're right! It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, STEPPED TRIUMPHANTLY OVER THE WALL OF THAT WELL! What seemed like it would bury him, actually blessed him...all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

THAT'S LIFE! If we face our problems and respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity...THE ADVERSITIES THAT COME ALONG TO BURY US USUALLY HAVE WITHIN THEM THE POTENTIAL TO BENEFIT AND BLESS US! Remember that FORGIVENESS--FAITH--PRAYER-- PRAISE and HOPE...all are excellent ways to "SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP" out of the wells in which we find ourselves!

- Author Unknown

the reason why i always miss the 6:40 amkor shuttle

every time the clock strikes 1am, that means it's time for me to watch the ellen degeneres show at 2nd avenue. i really love ellen's show. she's the one who lent her voice for dory in finding nemo---thanks to disney/pixar, she has a fabulous car. :P
she's also an actress and a stand-up comedian, a very good one actually, that's why she was voted as the 16th on comedy central's list of 100 greatest stand-ups of all time.

her show is very entertaining and they always come up with various segments like:

1. "best pictures ever" - funny pictures sent by the audience, these pictures are sometimes being enhanced by the show's graphic artists so ellen can come up with hilarious punchlines
2. "too cute ever" - shows pictures of cute animals, sent by the audience as well
3. "look at what i found in the drugstore" - ellen makes fun with the weirdest stuffs that she purchased in a drugstore
4. "look at you" - this is usually a reenactment of jokey scenes. an example of this is when she dressed again on her prom gown in highschool (fyi, ellen is a lesbian who came out of the closet in national television last april '97, Oprah played as her therapist)

i used to think that the show's title was "the ellen the generous". hehe! why? because the show gives a lot of freebies to their audience. there was one time when all of the people in the audience received "prada sunnies" (or was it ck or dkny?), also free tickets for gwen stefani's concert. coolness huh?!

ellen's trademark, dancing on her show and the coffee table everyday stunt. :)

lalen's sunset

grabbed this pic from lalen's multiply.
this was taken at ligpo island.

the sunset was amazingly captured in this shot.

blog and earn some extra moolah baby...

i've been wanting to earn extra cash since march for me to pay off all my outstanding bills and to open a bank account. in spite of this frugal attempt, the globe's loyalty reward enticed me to upgrade my plan to 1800 so as i can avail the blackberry phone. another impulsive move bebe!

i've also thought of selling my old clothes when i used to be slim slimmer (hehe), my collection of chic lits and my precious havaianas slippers. oh no!! a friend even suggested of selling my stuffs via ebay -- my treasures, oh no no!!

and when i put up this blog, i came across auction.ph ads. you just have to post their ads on your site and when the buyer purchased an item which he/she saw on your blog, you get to win some electronic money that you can use to buy items at auction.ph. easy e-money huh?!

another thing that i'm planning to venture on is the payperpost. saw this thing on the blog of my sister's friend Mai. you can earn dollars here baby! what you just have to do is to blog about products, services and companies of the sponsors. but but but --- you have to be a good writer as they will be evaluating your posts first!

i still have to muster the courage before embarking on this opportunity coz i'm not much of a writer really.

bad karma vs money: oswald and danny got both!

oswald and danny had to face their bad karma on this week's leg of the race. they started the race with a limited amount of money, why? during the previous leg, danny did the road block where he must solicit old newspapers around the neighborhood while driving a bicycle. due to exhaustion, he decided to use all their budget to buy new newspapers instead. wrong strategy danny!!!

and now, since they're the leading team and they have the choice to yield other teams, they bargained with the beauty queens to yield eric and daniel in exchange for money. unfortunately, during the detour, they chose the dragon task where they got lost and they had a hard time finding the lake. as expected, they were the last team to check in to the pitstop.

luckily, since that was the last non-elimination round, they are still on the race but then, they are marked for elimination. they have to be the team no. 1 on the next pitstop, otherwise they incur a 30-minute penalty.

my bets to win this amazing race all stars:

1. oswald and danny - love them! they are nice people and very kikays din!
2. dustin and kandice - they've been very consistent in their place in the race, even though they're beauty queens, nde sila maarte.
3. eric and daniel - consistent din ang LQ nila..hehehe! eric always loses his temper...
4. charla and mirna - hate them! they can be very good in interacting with people but they can be very rude talaga.

bored to death

we've been using kproxy, kilotomic and flyproxy here in the office to access internet sites which are blocked by the fucking websense. and now, looks like the IT people have detected our illegal activities. :S we're doomed (almost all of the proxy sites have been blocked! grr..)and what's only left is the bloody flyproxy which doesn't function properly in terms of uploading pix at multiply and posting entries on blog sites.

calling the attention of proxy experts!!! do you have any other proxy sites to suggest? pretty please...

blogging in the wee hours of the morning

finally, i was able to organize my blog template. i was trying to add more elements, since this is not a standard blogger template, they are being placed on the footer and not on the sidebar. i really don't know xml, but then, they're just codes and i can deal with them. i even added site meter. learned this from jesse (i don't know him, his blog is interesting though). site meter is not just a counter, it has stats and tracking features as well. you may read jesse's entry to further know what features site meter has to offer.

note: the location tracker depends on where the servers are. so if you're working in makati, but your server is in ohio, then you'll be tagged as a visitor from the latter location.

"perfect", so what?

i was watching PBB and got a little annoyed when the hosts kept on mentioning that tina's favorite expression is "perfect!". haller?? if a simple "ok" is to pinoys Ü and "fantastic" is to americans and "excellent" is to oz people, then "perfect" is to europeans. aren't they aware of that? get it, it's not just tina, french, british and even turkish people are always using that expression. god!

one more thing, lagi ba talagang baduy magdamit si bianca? harhar!

is inday for real?

i was blog hopping and saw that mandy had posted an entry about inday's blog. i checked it out and guess what, from the subtitle pa lang, hilarious talaga!Ü

is inday for real? seeing the comments on her entries, dang it, she really has a lot of fans. Ü

do i have the talent?

here's another photo that i love. taken by erwin at pagudpud, ilocos norte.



i'm beginning to appreciate photography. might try capturing some shots kaya? may talent kaya ako? Ü


blogs of photog-inclined peeps which i often visit.

rhea
erwin
jesse

hu u? are we close?

kumusta naman, kinacareer ko na ang pagiging resignation consultant. after talking with ----- aka mr. proccopio, one of his team mates called me,

"haller, sino to?"

"si (forgot his name..Ü) to! remember sa starbucks you told me that you'll send me an excel file of SAP headhunters and firms?"

hehehe. turned out, we've been yosi buddies once at starbucks pioneer and naaalala ko pa naman na sinabi ko un. hehehe. hala, kelangan na ata magcharge ako ng consulting fee nito ha! Ü

resignation consultant

ms. consultant(03:07 pm): oh musta? nagkaron ka na ng lakas ng loob? 
mr. proccopio(03:12 pm): hahaha di ko pa nasasabi. pero nagpaalam na ako kay ---…kay ms. - di ko alam pano ko sasabhin eh…paano nga ba?
ms. consultant(03:12 pm): sabi ko nga magpop ka "ms. -?? can i talk to you po?” hehehe…ganun lang lam na nya un…hahaha.. or else, sabak ka kagad logica
mr. proccopio(03:14 pm): hehe pero pano ko sasabhin na magreresign ako?
ms. consultant(03:15 pm): puntahan mo sha personally
mr. proccopio(03:16 pm): hahaha di ba pwede sa pop na lng?
ms. consultant(03:16 pm): wag maging discrete naman…para wala sha masabi pag nagresign ka na
mr. proccopio(03:17 pm): hahaha natatakot ako kaharap sya eh… hahahaha…no sasabhin sa kanya?
ms. consultant(03:18 pm): sabihin mo na lang like “ms. -, i am about to file my resignation by next week…" tapos magtatanong na un
mr. proccopio(03:20 pm): ano tatanong nya?
ms. consultant(03:20 pm): o cge practice tau…hahaha
mr. proccopio(03:21 pm): cge game hehehehe
ms. consultant(03:22 pm): what is it -----?...hehehe
mr. proccopio(03:23 pm): hahahahaha ntatakot ako pag nai-imagine ko hahahahaha…game game
ms. consultant(03:23 pm): hahaha
mr. proccopio(03:23 pm): ms.- magfi-file na po kasi ako ng resignation ko… ---> sabay ngiti
ms. consultant(03:24 pm): hmmmmm? why?>:O (joke) do you have any concerns about the management here? …i would like to know the reason... i was not expecting this since you did not mention that you have plans during the objectives setting
ms. consultant(03:27 pm): hahaha! yan na yan un!
mr. proccopio(03:49 pm): ano yung objectives setting?
ms. consultant(03:49 pm): objectives settings, bago mag-development plan and PFF
mr. proccopio(03:50 pm): ano yung dev plan?
ms. consultant(03:51 pm): ay nde kau gumagawa nun? anu vah?
mr. proccopio(03:51 pm): ahhh naalala ko na
mr. proccopio(03:51 pm): eh di nmn si ms. - manager nmin nun eh
ms. consultant(03:51 pm): hmmm… sa bagay…cge na kaya mo na yan
mr. proccopio(03:52 pm): hehehehe tpos sasabihin ko, kasi better opportunities po kaya ako alis,tama?
ms. consultant(04:35 pm): yes, ok lang maging honest…hahaha
mr. proccopio(04:35 pm): pero di ba magsasabi sya ng mga things para di ka resign
mr. proccopio(04:36 pm): ano ba sabi nya syo nung nagpaalam ka?
ms. consultant(04:36 pm): oo, sasabihin nila na they can negotiate with your demands like onshore opps…pero sa salary, wag ka umasa
mr. proccopio(04:36 pm): ano sinabi mo nung sinabi syo yun?
mr. proccopio(04:37 pm): ano ba bingay mo na reason mo?
ms. consultant(04:37 pm): uhmmm, i am decided na to leave the company

Updated: Nde pa nakontento si mr. proccopio, he called me minutes prior to their meeting...haha! Baka ma-stroke ka or itapon ni ms. - sa bintana ng cybergate...hehe

picturesque view of grand baie in mauritius

love love this shot which was taken by my friend rhea na inclined na ata ngayon sa photography.hehehe...influenced by "e" ata. miss you madz, see you when you get back from mauritius.

my passion for job seeking

i've just resigned from acn a month ago. i've been there for 2 years and i can say that i've learned a lot from that company. it is a great training ground for newbies who wanted to pursue a career in IT especially in SAP. but for some reasons, i decided to move on and explore other opportunities. that was really THE PLAN.

JOB HUNTING AGENDA

+ set a target date to leave the company: between march to april '07
+ started packing up things in the office as early as december '06 (harhar!)
+ cv preparation started during the first week of january
+ created about 5-6 online resume...hehe, this is for real (here's a tip: make sure to upload your cv at monster, jobsdb and devbistro, for sure a lot of employers, both local and abroad, will contact you)
+ diskarteng takas: filed a 2-week VL to attend interviews, job offers and walk-ins; maging discrete na after ng VL ay mag-allot ng around 1-2 weeks before you give your execs a heads up on your plans to leave the company)
+ chinika ang mga contractors and experienced colleagues and asked for company and headhunter contact details
+ did a research on the most feasible salary expectation (note: this is crucial, if mababa ang asking mo, they will give you the minimum amount, if mashadong malaki naman, there are chances that HRs will not exert their efforts to contact you for a job offer as they will assume that you'll turn them down)
+ learned how to negotiate wisely with headhunters and recruitment agents
+ pasimpleng nag-KT na to handover my current responsibilities to my probable successors
+ after all the interviews, i've come to realize that the SAP market is very ripe...gahd, napakaraming openings at naglalakihan ang offers. until now, from time to time ay nanjan pa rin ang pagbabasa at pagrereply ko sa mga "late" employers who are asking for my availability. :) nakakatuwang isipin that even if i didn't pursue my course, i was able to have the most in demand profession.

for now, i am working hard to serve amkor well. ok na siguro ang 6 months? hahaha. job hunting keeps me going!

Oz land: good news...errr, bad news....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
from Manna Maniago
to christian.dee.medina@gmail.com
date Apr 16, 2007 1:20 PM
subject Australian migration

Dear Christian Dee,

Good news!

We have evaluated your resume and as per the the criteria of migration rules of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural affairs of Australia, there's a possible chance that we can help you with your plans to migrate to Australia.

I've passed your resume to Ms. Clara Suasin, our registered migration agent. She will be in direct contact with you with regards to the procedure.

Should you need any information, please do not hesitate to email me

Regards,
Manna Maniago

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
from Clara Suasin
to christian.dee.medina@gmail.com
cc manna.maniago@jmantravel.com
date Apr 17, 2007 10:13 AM
subject skills migration

Hi Christian,

I had a close look at your resume and note that the length of your work experience is not enough to merit a successful skills assessment for the reason that the minimum requirement by the Australian Computer Society is four years.

I suggest that you wait until you have accumulated enough years then we will be able to apply for "Computing Professionals-Systems Programmer" or what ever position you may fall under.

Other options may be available to you like student visa, etc.
Thanks.

Clara Suasin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

oh well, the bottomline is to just take my time for now and perhaps explore the ripe SAP market in Singapore.

Updated: Oo nga pala, I can only apply for work abroad once my birth certificate correction has been processed. Please pass me the tissue...

what's in the title?

crazy blogger? that must be me! i've been creating blogs for the past 2 years and all of them are crap. let's go through my blogs:

+ lj
+ multiply
+ friendster (don't mind the link, it'll take us 48 years)
+ i.ph
+ youblog.be

my lj has the most entries. the multiply account, well i only use that for pictures talaga. friendster and i.ph have only 1 entry each, i think. youblog.be has nada. goodluck na lang talaga sa akin if i can maintain this one. i'll try. Ü

let's see, i'm wasting my time to create/design my blogs but by the end of the day wala na. care ko. hehe. but since i have all the time in the office dahil petix at walang implementation work (btw, i'm an ABAP programmer), i guess i can manage to upload some entries. wish me luck!