Sarah and Jaypee

I know it's kinda late na, coz this all happened last week. Pero I just wanna express how proud I am of my peeps. Two more people from my former team, got promoted again. Congratulations Mami Sarah for being a Coach track trainee and for Jaypee for being and SME track trainee. I'm so proud of you!

I wanna take credit, pero I can't. Hehe! They deserve the promotion coz they really worked very hard, (teka, mukhang di yata bagay kay Jaypee, hehe!). O well, tapos na mga petiks moments mo Jaypee, pero all the same, I'm so happy for you. At last, natupad na ang mga plano natin for you.


Mami Sarah, sometimes when I see you swamped with work, medyo nagi-guilty ako kasi parang lalo kang nahirapan... pero I know that you can handle all the workload, and I know that you'll be one of the best coaches in the company. You had it in you all along. I'm here to support you all the way!

Congrats again! Big Mama proud!

FGIF

TGIF!

I've never really dwelled on what these 4 letters really mean before. But today, I finally understood why so many people use them.

Thank God It's Friday...

For one thing, I'm finally on a Mon-Fri schedule. So my last day falls on a Friday. This Friday, I spent the whole day cooped up in meeting, trainings and meeting report deadlines. What a relief! I'm glad the week is over.

The morning sky agreed with me and put on a dramatic light show in purple and pink hues. This is the view from the front lobby of the office.

By the end of the day, I was SOO ready to go home. I couldn't wait! Some of my teammates hitched a ride with me in the van, equally happy that the stressful week was over.

Again, TGIF.

not so nerdy

KOTZ ZWEET! Here's looking at you with your new glasses.

The purple frames with crystal accents are so cute!!! Not so nerdy at all.

Halloween is near

It's that time of the year again.

Weird though.

Halloween is the most festive time of the year in the office. The whole floor is decked in cobwebs, bats and vines, everyone participates and simply tries to have fun.

For the past 3 years, all the teams have been so competitive in designing their stations with macabre and ghoulish decor. This year, we'll continue the tradition, only more challenging. We can't use paper. Hehe!

The Aardvarks need to defend their crown! And we're all pumped and ready to win!

Congrats to my gerls!

I'm so proud of these two girls!

Congratulations BRYCE!

How many times have I said those two words? Last January, you won AGENT OF THE YEAR!

Now, I heard that you passed the BEAT Assessment. I had no doubts at all that you'll ace that. You're on your way to becoming a trainer or coach. Stay focused and keep up the good work!

Congratulations LUI!

You really deserve to get the Product Specialist position. All that hard work and determination finally paid off. Not to mention the sacrifice of getting low scores as an L5 (and all the petiks time) were all worth it. I'm very confident that you'll be a good and effective PS for your team, wag ka lang nila gugutumin. Wahehehe!


These pictures really show your real personalities.

All of Bryce's pictures, you can see (be blinded by) her forehead first, then you'll see her fingers do the peace sign... in every single picture!

Si Lui naman, people would not be fooled anymore, mas malupet pa sakin kumain yan! She's in her element in this picture, with food!

Big Mama proud, very proud of my gerls!

Sad Day

It's a sad day in the office today.

Only because of a simple mistake in judgement, it made a HUGE impact on a lot of things...

One of them is losing 2 very good friends.

I understand what happened and why it had to happen.

I'm still sad.

Havin' Fun in the office

I'm back in the night shift. It's noisier, busier, more chaotic and on certain days, more fun! Just like last night, we had a contest on designing our own headsets.

I put fake hair on my headset, with a magnetized Shamu whale sticking to it.

I don't know who won, but we sure had fun!

Coach Neil, bagay sa yo! Wahehehe!

I hate the printer

I'm getting a lot of exercise in the night shift. My new station is on the exact opposite side of the building from the one and only printer in the office!!!

I had to walk around 60 meters to the printer, and I went there more than 5 times today.

If I don't lose weight doing this, I don't know what else will!

I hate going to the printer area now...

last day on day shift

goodbye daylight, goodbye morning traffic,
farewell to blogging and to piracy,
goodbye to my morning tropa, coach she, coach ron, coach jezer and coach zweet
goodbye to the cocks and crows.
i'll say goodbye to the sound of Lee's shouting and yelling.
goodbye morning shift... sniff!... i'll miss you.

jerome, i'll miss your noise
ge, i'll miss your questions
tay, i'll miss your mahiwagang bigote
rod, i'll miss your daily pizza request
mar, i'll miss your fossil watch (pwedeng arbor, remembrance?)
caz, i'll miss our comics conversation
elmer, i'll miss your spelling... quicking sound and hippotaus
julz, i'll miss your blog tutorials.
jovs, i'll miss your cool and calm advices.

i won't miss you guys punching my arm, though.

so long scorpions! it was a blast! you guys are the best!

Whew!

I came in at 10am so that I can catch up on my work.

I started reading my emails and I only finished reading them at 2:00pm!

This is definitely NOT an ordinary day in the office.

I heard you were leaving

Even though I'm stuck at home struck down by fever... I still heard the news.

I heard you were leaving. Shaks, the dreaded day has finally arrived. We're crossing the bridge now... what are we going to do without you?

I heard you'll just be moving to the next building, where you'll work with new people.

Lucky bastards!

I'm not really sure if I'm happy or sad today. Happy that you finally got the job you wanted. Sad that you're leaving your Sony family.

One thing is for sure... We'll all miss you Sir Johnny!!!

Good luck! Congratulations!

Oktoberfest Tragedy

I was cursing the Oktoberfest party last Friday night for causing such heavy traffic in the area. From the office window, we could see the erected tents along the corner of Julia Vargas and San Miguel ave which pretty much blocked all incoming traffic into the area.


I heard that many people were either late for work that night (call centers operate at night) or didn't come to work at all (maybe that's them under the tents).

My usual 40 min trip home extended to 1 hour 20mins. Grrr!

Today my mom told me that there was an incident during the Oktoberfest event. There was 1 dead and 20 others electrocuted after dismantling the tents after the Oktoberfest Party in Ortigas.

Read full story here.

I realize now that the cursing might have been too harsh...

O2

Normally, people would be concerned, but I had a great time in the office clinic today. I got to try on a new "gadget".

They (powers that be) turn off the aircon every Saturday in the office. The sudden change in temperature and the dank, stale air felt very heavy. I started feeling pain in my chest, but no feeling at all on my left arm.

It must have been the eggs I ate for lunch. Or the strong Benguet coffee I had for breakfast. Whichever it was, I started to feel very woozy.

The nurse took my blood pressure through my wrist. The BP app's velcro couldn't fit my arms. But she still managed to get an accurate reading. 150/90. Shoot!

I took a pill and rested a bit. Then she hooked me up to the Oxygen tank, put a mask on my face and told me to sit still.

Cool!

I thought, hey, don't they have one of these in some hip L.A. club?


The oxygen smelled clean and fresh, with a tint of sweetness. It was my first time to try one of these medical gadgets. Again, cool!

The hissing sound of my breath was oddly familiar. I was instinctively expecting the gurgling sound of my exhale, looking for bubbles around my mask. It was similar to SCUBA diving, except that I was surrounded by white walls instead of coral ones.

After 20 mins of being hooked up to the tank, my head started to clear and I was feeling better. My arms were back and my blood pressures normal. That was fast!

Now that I think about it, was it really the oxygen, or was it the forced relaxed breathing that cured me? Hmmm...

Envy

The agents nowadays are SOOO lucky! Nakakaingget.

When I was an agent, the only prizes and incentives we received were star-shaped plastic trophies with our names printed with typos in front or gift certificates from Sodexo worth 500 bucks. Sheesh!

In the last year alone, the agents received digicams, Bravia tvs, PSPs, boomboxes, Walkmans, Nike bags, Fossil watches, Lacoste shoes, and recently a laptop! For October, their incentive are 2 Sony Ericsson K770i cellphones.

Some agents even have the gall to complain that they're not "appreciated" for their work. Some would say that they're not compensated well.

Excuse me!

My gulay! If only they know how lucky they are!

Habhab in the Office

Since the team had perfect FCR (first call resolution) for August, I promised them I'd feed them again. And since naghihirap nako sa kaka-treat sa kanila, I decided to buy pancit for the team.

This is not an ordinary pancit, of course kailangan special pa rin. We had Buddy's Pancit Lucban delivered. I first tasted this during the Pahiyas Festival last May when I traveled all the way to Lucban Quezon. This is the authentic pancit habhab!

It's a good thing they have a branch near the office, along Pearl Drive in Ortigas.

Look at the portions! Mura pa! There were 10 people who dove in but there are still lots of left-over. Mostly puro sayote ang natira. But it was yummy!

The scorpions were finally sated! Happiness!!!

Once again, good job guys! Let's keep our September stats afloat as well! Go Go Go!!!

A Day With the Fishes

Had a wonderful day with the coaches, QS and trainers yesterday at the Manila Ocean Park. We were the first to arrive, good thing coz we had the best parking space! While waiting for the rest of the gang to arrive, I spent a good hour taking pictures of everyone by the welcome sign.

Bad trip lang, my camera ran out of battery juice so soon. We haven't even started the tour yet! I found out later that the battery compartment was just loose, thank goodness... so I ventured on.

Although, may mga Injans na hindi nakasama, I'm glad madami ring nakarating.

So finally we were complete. It was a good thing it was a cloudy morning, kaya we were all cool outside waiting by the steps. For the record, sila Lyn and Madz and last dumating at around 9:40 am!

So inside sobrang sabik sa camera mga tao! Even though the sign says No Flash Fotos, some people still had theirs on... including me. In fairness, my camera's flash turns on automatically, not my fault!

Here Coaches Ervin and Ron measure up against my 8-year old nephew Kyle, trying desperately to get a discount. Yeah, keep dreaming!

The underwater tunnel was great, I would say better than the one in Sentosa. Although not as long, it was brightly lit, there were more animals in the tank and they were more hyperactive. The rays were definetely putting on a show for us!

It's only 10:45am but we were all famished by the time we finished the tour. Actually, mas napagod ako chasing after the fish with my lens rather than walking inside the vast aquarium. E lecheng mga isda, ayaw tumigil for a pose!

We had buffet lunch at Tamayo's Ozeana Restaurant on the 2nd floor. Hard to miss, the exit pathway goes through the resto, teasing passersby with its beautifully laid buffet and flowing chocolate fountain. We stuffed ourselves with fresh salmon sashimi, sushi, siomai, roasted chicken and halo-halo.

Bakit tuwing lalapit ako sa buffet, nakatingin sila Ervin? Are they counting my trips to the buffet? Excuse me, I'm just getting a spoon! The nerve! Wahehe!

After dessert, we burped and belched and held in our stomachs while we were serenaded by 3 guitarists, to the tune of Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours". Walang may birthday, so we just dedicated the song to Coach Anne, who paid! Wuv you coachie! Chenks for the food!

Needless to say, we had a great time watching the fish, taking pictures of the fish, and of course, EATING the FISH!

*more pictures available here.

*coach sheryl also posted pictures from her camera on her multiply account, see here.

Big slice of cake

These pictures were taken last Tuesday. Took me a few days to finally post them, kasalanan ng lecheng blogger templates yun.

Anyhoo, ang sweet naman ni Coach Ron kasi pinagtabi niya ako ng Conti's cake na Choco Overload... 1/4 of the cake pa! kayang kayang ubusin!

The coaches had cake that morning during our regular All-Hands meeting every Tuesday. Thanks to Coach Ron who passed his OM interview in Pioneer and Coach Neil who wore jeans! Sharap!

Of course I shared the cake with other people, hello high blood!



What a way to start the work week! Look at Lyn, relax na relax lang!

Thanks again Coach Ron!!!