Release Deployment

aka "Fire in the Hole!" or "Thar she blows!"

I was in a support team for my first two years in the company. My third team (technically) is a development team which was a welcome change since the last time I developed something was back in college which was practically a ticking bomb called "Work purchase order Online Expert Information System Millenium Edition (WOE IS ME)". catchy name eh? :)

I've never been on a dev team before in this company so most of the things except for the text book terms were new to me. It started this January and was finally deployed this weekend. Yea yea that explains why there wasn't any entry during that time. I was up almost the entire weekend working through unusual time shifts - just like my thesis days. I also did a drunk Billy Joel impersonation - nothing serious though. Wobs will be undergoing some repairs in the upcoming weeks anyway.

But finally it's there already. No explosions. No chaos. Issues? well there are a few but nothing that critical (compared to the worst ones i handled in support). Then came the emails from the top brass. Wow! I've never seen so many people use the word "Kudos" before. What does that mean anyway? (Hmmm... it reminds me of that oya joke... maybe ill post that some time)

ku·dos n. Acclaim or praise for exceptional achievement.

Am glad to be with great teammates and for me the team does deserve these praises. They've earned it. We may not look like those hardcore geeks individually (hmmm.. maybe that dude named "Destry" is...) but we're very much effective as a team.

Just like Dubya Bush, The thing I wasn't prepared for was the post deployment - the big "Now what?" question after deploying. Some are leaving, some will be assigned to other teams, some will stay. Basically starting tomorrow, the team will be defunct, will probably take on a new team name (change "dev" to "support") with new tasks and will start to lose members. Shades of the Bulls and Lakers?

I'll miss all the work and non-work related activities we did. It's like breaking up with eight girlfriends. and obviously I wouldn't say that... I wouldn't feel like that if they weren't great friends and co-workers, if I didn't have a good time and if given the chance I wouldn't do it over again.

But I did.

Thanks guys! :)

Just Not Funny Anymore

Yesterday, I was laughing at something very simple
Enjoying the moment and making light of it
Then suddenly you get hit by something
And now the world becomes upside down
You see things differently
Good becomes bad
White becomes black
Confusion
Wasn't that good yesterday?
Why is it black now?
To turn it around, you go back to your roots
Your training
Your experience
The people you trust
Then you realize what's wrong
So you stand up
And turn it around
Confusion again but it's shorter
Then everything settles down
But how come it's not funny anymore?

Put the Glass Down

I got this 1 - 2 years ago from a friend and it's been sitting in my inbox since. You must have received or read this somewhere... :)

A professor began his class by holding up a glass with some water in it. He held it up for all to see & asked the students,' How much do you think this glass weighs?' '50gms!' .... '100gms!' ......'125gms' ......?

The students answered. 'I really don't know unless I weigh it,'. Said the professor, 'but, my question is: What would happen if I held it up like this for a few minutes?'

Nothing' the students said.

'OK what would happen if I held it up like this for an hour?' the professor asked.

'Your arm would begin to ache' said one of the students.

'You're right, now what would happen if I held it for a day?'

'Your arm could go numb, you might have severe muscle stress & paralysis & have to go to hospital for sure!' ventured another student & all the students laughed.

'Very good. But during all this, did the weight of the glass change?' asked the professor.

'No'

Then what caused the arm ache & the muscle stress?' The students were puzzled. 'Put the glass down!' said one of the students.

Exactly!' said the professor.' Life's problems are something like this. Hold it for a few minutes in your head & they seem OK. Think of them for a long time & they begin to ache. Hold it even longer & they begin to paralyze You will not be able to do anything.

It's important to think of the challenges (problems) in your life, but EVEN MORE IMPORTANT to 'put them down' at the end of every day before you go to sleep. That way, you are not stressed, you wake up every day fresh & strong & can handle any issue, any challenge that comes your way!' So, as it becomes time for you to leave office today, Remember friend to 'PUT THE GLASS DOWN TODAY!

When Kneecaps Go "Pop!"

As requested by Pamie...:D

My last visit to my orthopedist didn't do well. I was asking for clearance for me to return to basketball and sports overall but I was denied. I was looking for a loophole ("what if I wear a really heavy brace?" "what if I'm really really careful?") but had no luck. The message was clear: Wait. You're not ready yet. The whole scene was like some old kung fu movie where the student wants to beat up the villain who beat up his master but is stopped by his master because "you're not ready, there's too much hatred in you, the butterfly must fly at the right time lest it be attacked and eaten by birds...". (...yes, I'm using the chinese movie dubbing voice hehe)


281 days ago (fine, if tamad kayo magbukas ng calendar at magbilang, that will take you back to Sept 2004 :p), I dislocated my kneecap - tearing out two ligaments while playing badminton. I had to hobble around the office (no, i did not miss work hehe) and even drive in crutches (hey that takes skill!). The injuries have already healed though there's concern if it healed properly and how strong is my knee now after months and months of inactivity. Doc targets end of year this year then maybe I can start joining scrimmages. I dunno... wait and see. I can do some shooting but I move around like Chris Webber.

Obviously, I'm still injury prone. In addition to my bum knee, I also have a sprained ankle, a sore shoulder and 8 puncture wounds in my hands after being attacked by African lovebirds just this weekend (long story... maybe ill post something in the future about that hehe!)

When's the right time for a butterfly to fly anyway? That's a lousy proverb in my opinion :p

Thanks thanks!

Wow, I just found out that there are more people checking out my blog than I expected. Thanks so much for dropping by and thanks for the compliments! :D You can leave a message in the tagboard if you want so I'll know you visited. If you're starting a blog yourself and encountering some problems just let me know. I'll be glad to help you guys out. :)

(Belated) Happy Birthday Karlene!

(Belated) Happy birthday Karlene!

Btw, my gift is in our Yahoo groups ;)

Wow, she treated us at Masas (thanks talaga!). The same place my officemates vowed never to come back to because the last time we ate there, we each had to shell out 500 bucks and I ended eating siomai for breakfast and lunch for the rest of the week. The place is nice... food is great... the prices are just too high :(

Some side thoughts for that night:

- I hate making detours in Makati. They closed down Makati avenue near Greenbelt and so I can't turn left. I can't turn left on the next road because there's no left turn. I took a right instead then got myself lost around the Valero Leviste area. Damn those one way roads! Oh well, I just ignored one of those one way only / no entry signs and finally I was able to reach Greenbelt. It's like removing one of the pieces of a Rubik's cube with a screwdriver and "solving" the puzzle hehe.

- I love parking at Greenbelt 3! There are plenty of cool cars parked there and walking around that place is like going to a Transport Show. Last time I was there, my bro and I were drooling over cars like Mitsubishi Evos (my dream car), Subaru Impreza, BM's and Porsches. This time I parked beside my bro's dream car. Cool!



- As soon as I stepped of my car, I was ambushed by one of those car wash dudes and kept yacking about how cheap their car wash service is, how good their wax is and how i will benefit the car's paint job in the long run. Kulit! grrrrr... Kung wala silang magawa, i-wax na lang nila yung mga poste dun! Maybe i shouldn't have parked beside that car. Made my BMW look bad (and needs washing).

Presentation Workshop

I've been to a few "how to do a presentation" lectures before in addition to my speech class (ENGCOMP) back in college but this is without a doubt the most helpful and effective one I've attended. I guess it's because this time, it wasn't a class or a brownbag, it was a workshop (which by definition, is a more detailed and interactive version of a class). Thrown in a very good lecturer and great workshopmates and I knew I was in for a good time.

What also helped is the freedom to use any topic. Five weeks ago, I was presenting the entire backend design to three new joiners, three weeks ago, I was presenting an entire release effort to a team and last week, at the workshop, I was presenting my bum knee, my hamsters, my blog, Star Wars and the NBA finals. Typical Arnold topics - absolute nonsense.

We were able to see how we did since all of the presentations were video taped. Yikes! Yes, I am still (video) camera shy and I did my best not to get nervous. I also did my best to take the presentations seriously but well... I made fun of everything as usual. The topics weren't serious anyway! Besides, this will probably be the only venue I can get away with that sort of crap.

It's funny viewing yourself in a monitor. You know how it is when you think you voice sounds ok or when you think you sing great but when you finally hear yourself you just can't believe that that was your voice? Same thing. I never realized I was moving too much on stage - typical comedian.

Oh well... but I agree with out lecturer's advice: prepare, prepare and prepare :)

There was of course free food - breakfast, lunch and merienda. The breakfast for day 1 was weird. I called it an "H and cheese sandwich". Why "H"? There was ham alright but it was sliced in such a way that there will only be ham on the edge of the sandwich. From the side, it looked like a normal sandwich but remove the top bread and you'll see only a third of it has ham. I've heard of unusual cost cutting measures but why the ham? This is the second time I've encountered food like this. Back in Angeles a few years ago, we ordered this big bilao of fried food. Ah, I saw calamares and tempura but when I started eating, the calamares were actually onion rings... and the "tempura" was just kamote (shaped like a tempura). Damn!

Side notes:
- I wrote this a few days ago but didn't publish it yet because I'm waiting for the pictures to be sent. I guess I'll just post another entry for that (told ya I'm impatient).

Venz Diesel

Here's another pic I took while driving (hey, what else is there to do while stuck in traffic?). I love stores/shops with clever names...


"Venz Diesel Calibration Center"

Cursed Right Ear

I was taking this multimedia training in my PC when suddenly the right earphone of my cheapo Somic backphones conked out. No idea why.

I also realized that the foam padding on this right earphone is almost completely torn off already while the left one is still in good condition.

Anyways, good thing I had another earphones that I use with my PDA and I replaced my backphones with it. After a few minutes, the right earphone again was busted. This time, the speaker was separated from the plastic thingie the held the wire thingie because the adhesive thingie... a basta sira sya...

...and this was the right ear that I had Tinnitus with. I got that while watching the Sugarfree/Kitchie/Rivermaya concert at the NBC tent. All I heard was a high pitched "heeeeeeeeeeeeee".

Looks like my right ear is rebelling against the rest of head.

weird.

Start the Week Right

Just some quick random thoughts. I'm still not in a work mood. :S

Cool Album Names

I bought Bamboo's new album "Light Peace Love" last night. I also came across Gwen's (close kami) new album "Love. Angel. Music. Baby.". The last album that I know of that also used 3 or 4 unconnected words as their album name was RHCP's "Blood Sugar Sex Magik".

Now that our application will be deploying a second release soon, I wonder if we can market it this way:

Release 2 - Enhance. Deploy. Pray. Kaboom.

Isn't It Ironic?

Saw this in CNN today -> "Climber dies on Everest testing safety technology". Poor dude died while testing some safety equipment in the mountains. How sad. How ironic.

One Sign for the 1st Day of School

How do you know when it's really the first day of school already? It used to take me just an hour to get to work. Now it takes 1.5 to 2 hours. Hey PGMA, more power, less traffic.

House of 1000 Mirrors

Here's a good read. Especially on a Monday morning. =)

Long ago in a small, far away village, there was place known as the House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit. When he arrived, he bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the House, he thought to himself, "This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often."

In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, "That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again."

All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections do you see in the faces of the people you meet?