The Small Plan

I really hoped the coming year would be good to me and my work. I was actually planning to take down few more projects and train one extended family member to be an apprentice. It truly always feels good to help others especially during these times of difficulties.

What do you think? I was planning to train him for two months the skills necessary for this trade and I’ll see if he can take off with little tasks from there on. Hmmm… The attitude, I can handle that. The aptitude, above average. The drive, I highly admire. The spirit, I have yet to test.

The roadblocks. Yes, these things - I don’t always ran out of. I’m going to need one more equipment; a faster internet and a room to soaked ourselves with work on. I always wish these things would always come in handy for me next year.

Just this one wish list – on building fortune for the whole family. Who knows. These could become an enterprise.

UAE National ID Program Proposed to Seize

A Federal National Council committee has recommended that identity cards be issued only to Emiratis only. Not to include the general expatriate population of UAE. The Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA) have been struggling its efforts to issue cards to all of the five million population that is currently and legally living inside the UAE. Thus came this recommendation that the program shall be applied just for all the national citizens instead.

There had been a surmountable panic in the UAE this past few months because of the mandatory ID system that will supposedly contain all the individuals personal information. It was said that failure to compliance would result to salary bank accounts being freezed among other sanctions.

Just recently came this news about the program to be altered. The FNC committee has suggested that the Government should only issue Labor Cards to foreign workers and individuals living in the country for an expireable two years as reported in the local news paper, the National last Thursday.

According to the paper, the committee members wrote a brief report regarding the change of plan to push the ID program. To wit:

"The goal is to have a comprehensive database about those who work in the country. The ID card should only be given to citizens," said Mohammed al Zaabi, a member of the specialised labour committee.

The FNC is expected to take up the recommendation at its next meeting in January. If the FNC, which is an advisory body, passes the committee recommendation, it will be submitted to the Cabinet. They will then decide whether to adopt it or not.

Now this is important, EIDA on Tuesday released a new definitive time guideline in a bid to avoid confusion for ID card registration in the UAE during 2009. UAE residents and professionals working in the government and private sectors will have until Feb. 28, 2009 to apply for the card, it said.

According to the schedule, residents working in the federal and local government sector, and professional residents including their family members can register for the new national ID card from this month to the
end of February.

This news is still not certain since the issue is at its proposal period only so lets be guided accordingly.

Technorati Tags: UAE and Labor Laws,Pinoy Expatriates,Career Guidelines,UAE National ID System

Tai Chi - A Way of Life

For quite some time now, I've been an avid reader of the Dynamic Balancing Tai Chi blog. I discovered the site few years back - just as I surf my way through the lists of blogs in Blogger_Com. Their messages convey the serenely strong and yet simple principles of Tai Chi. I think it's beautiful and will be such a waste not to share with you and explore it with me.

Since I used to be a martial arts enthusiast, that is of course before the bulging tummies, I stopped and read few posts and been a regular visitor since then. I learned that basic principle of the Tai Chi is acceptance and the power to seize an opposing force by means of a peaceful retaliation or better, avoidance. It is pushing the principle that you can not always fight violence with violence but rather use the opposing force against itself. It is I guess the most basic and fundamental of all forms of martial arts.

Like language, Tai Chi becomes a poetry of motion. Not merely a symphony of muscles and bones but is a principle of self-defense. A principle not just against a violent oppressor but against issues implicating one's life. One example is marriage, my old grandparents, they told me when I got married, 'this has been an age old advise for your marriage to work: in cases you and your wife need to argue something, like the river that flows freely towards the ocean, so should both of you accept and listen to each other's heart and work hand in hand towards a resolution.

As Confucius had said, "Like the water that fits itself into the vessel, so should one fits himself into any circumstances".

Allow me to give you a glimpse further into Tai Chi from one of the teacher's 2001 posts:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, 14 December 2001

Yes

Try being accommodating and receptive for a day. Say "Yes!" to everything: agree, accept, approve, receive. Yield and yield and yield. Let those barriers soften and fade. Be fearless.
(From http://dynamicbalancingtaichi.blogspot.com)

I encourage you to visit the site as well. They might enlighten your thoughts and spirit.

 

Technorati Tags: Tai Chi,Aikido,Way of Life,Life Style,Life Principle

My Pay for an Unpaid Evening

Again we were slaves doing the thing we weren't supposed to do or might have done voluntarily do ourselves if we were only given the respect due to us. Mentality of slavery! Although I'm a strong believer that nothing pays more strongly than the respect of your people to do you more extra jobs. A little respect, surmountable motivation and even just a little penny compensate a huge hours of work will matter a lot.

Out of frustration, I among others in my office who were obliged to do work overtime without pay, was a bit desperate for a little recreation. Anything just to get it even with the eye that was probably been staring at us. Remotely, from a security camera the whole night from his comfortable abode.

It's unusual during this time of the night, this exotic and extremely lovely lady came walking towards my post. Two huge guys, probably a brother and a husband behind her back were scanning the displays to purchase. I immediately grabbed my camera and asked her politely if I could make a picture shot at her hand. She was undeniably beautiful and kind. The ones you see in those Hollywood movies about Persian women.

The moment there I was hesitant whether to take a head-shot or not. Slightly lifted my camera up or down, twice or more. Then, I forgot I should have asked permission from the men as well. So I did. Two guys smiled and kindly exclaimed, 'Yes, of course, please do!'. So I did take a picture of her beautiful Henna tattoo - a poetry painted on the hands. And thus, the picture I've attached to this post.

I considered it a privilege of the evening. My pay for an unpaid evening.

(Last photo credits to http://media.collegepublisher.com)

LiveJournal Tags: Asia,Culture,Dubai,Ettiquettes,Poetry,Rant,Work,UAE,Henna Arts

Congratulations UAE - It's 37th National Day

Congratulations UAE for the 37th Anniversary as a nation of peace and prosperity.

However difficult it is living alone here in the UAE, I am still thankful for the opportunity of work and for the chance of better life for my family back home.

UAE, despite few problems the expatriates are facing, is still truly a country of equal opportunity and growth for as long as you have the guts to grab your heart's desire. People have many problems here, I'm no exception, but I always examine the condition back home before I begin to think or become vocal about it. Like for example, before I even begin to complain about the traffic condition, I always remember the condition of my own home-town's roads and streets. And, hopeful the same condition will happen one day in the Philippines.

This country is beautiful. And, many of its locals are respectable and honest. I think honestly and respecting one's belief and principles is the key to a nations growth and peace. One principle UAE is modeled. Wherever you go, you will still face problems anyway.

Everywhere or whichever company you will go, there will always be antagonists and challenges around. And, one sure way to make expatriate's stay worthwhile, endure homesickness is to find all possible ways to enjoy your self with the camaraderie of others. Might it be a fellow Filipino or not, there are good sides of people too.

I am sure the Filipino community of UAE is ever thankful and as well sharing the pride this nation has achieved for thirty-seven years of challenges and opportunities.

Well, at least I got a day holiday off to relax and contemplate my plans in the coming seasons. Government offices are entitled fifteen-days off and other private offices will have a two day's off in the coming days.

(Photos credits to http://fiveprime.org, http://experiencingtheemirates.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html & http://ofwzone.com

Technorati Tags: Career,Dubai,Home,Party,Patriotism,Philippines,Pinoy in UAE,Work,Opportunities,Living,OFW

Coherence

Because I am lazy, I always missed out coherence in writing sometimes leading to my own confusion. I usually had to reread several times my posted blogs before I will realize my writing is like an uneven painted wall. I always have a habit of firing words and forget nevertheless, I am comfortable doing it that way. It is the coming back that I always feel awful reading it because I knew then I was not doing a good job. But, rather forgetting the discipline of a writer - coherence.

My mistakes too were attributed to not having observed to select the right words for what I meant. I knew selecting the right words for the things I needed to say has to be precise - giving the correct meaning to my thoughts. Why is the English language not so convenient to use sometimes but rather, how do you call it, meticulously necessary?

Coherence is I think the soul of what we are trying to write. While you give your readers a chance to breath through paragraphing, we make sense through it all by observing coherence. Imagine a torso of a man whose spinal chords are weak, they would appear bendy and the threat that they would fall off. All writing must be in harmony with nature. Breathing like a free flowing water.

I've heard this a millionth of times since my school days. Well, I had few literature teachers, having to speak Carabao English most of the time, is very aware of the coherence in writing. I haven't mastered this technique though. And, I continuously committed the mistake of not having to observe this.

So from definition by ANSWERS.COM:

It is the way a writing is logically layed out and connected. If it was an essay, one thing leads on to another, for example one paragraph leads on to another-the main ideas of each paragraph seem to connect but still make sense. this makes the reader feel that your writing is constantly flowing.

It also means you are very consistent in your writing. consistently and continuously through your writing you can connect each paragraph some how, that you can consistently write concisely as well. You can also consistently write in formal English. You can express yourself clearly and continuously through your essay for example.

Technorati Tags: philippines,Lingua Franca,IELTS,Blogging,Language,Rant,Work,Opinions,Lingua,Stress-out,English

A Not So Ideal Place to Stay

 

HEHEHEHE!

Tell me if you're interested. You'll never know you might end up in a place like this. It's a headache finding accommodation in Dubai. Rents are rising up annually.

Finding a good company is tough. Many people would like to play important. Few think they're the only people having real problems. Few people would like to use other people. And few likes to be used. There are a-holes and there are those sloppy. Some people are show-offs and arrogance is a culture. Life always stinks!

Nevertheless, earning a living is better here than home but few things are obviously tough. Three things are so tough here. Health insurance, hospitalization, education for children and housing are just so difficult and expensive here.

Everywhere you go, there are problems. Whichever company you work with, there are politics. The locals were oftentimes right; the expatriates never runs out of things to complain about. Something they brought with them from their mother countries. Approach life with less complaints. These kind of things, like opportunities, always has brother of misfortunes. One need just to be content. Never forget what he is back home.

Responsibility and accountability of your actions always pays off. It will always put you on the safe zone. So when trouble is on its way, you'll see it coming. Thus, avoiding it easily. After all, running away from trouble is the best self defense. I'm saying this because messing with the law here is the deepest predicament you could be in.

Try to be content with what you might have already which others are struggling to achieve. Truly, poverty is one's state of being. One should count his blessings everyday. So even if life in Dubai is tough, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. And, learn to coil in bed when blankets were short off inches.

Stop Gap

 

Days have been so unproductive for three and a half months now. Days when a balloon message "DOWNLOAD IS COMPLETE" from my torrent application is sweet to see in my desktop.

My department is currently having setbacks implementing ERP. What is the hold up? Well, this department just don't have the support we needed. Moral support at least. This organization is problematic. Now the people at the bottom of the shit-chain are left on their own - doing nothing.

People on top demanded a nice and beefy ERP system. No way an in-house IT department can do in such a short time. So we opted for an ERP IT companies. So, there they are flooding from our RFPs. People on top doesn't seem to understand these people of what they're doing. Trust is a fundamental requirement for an IT department from the management when it will try to inject solution to the problem. But here, nobody wants to listen - nobody wants to trust - from on high. They ended up hiring more consultants from INDIA. For TWO days! As a consultant what are you going to do for two days. My department ended up doing the assessment for them - the consultants which we could have done ourselves few months back if we weren't halted doing our s--t for them.

Funny. To fill a gap, I'm just about to finish my DTR program. How did I ended up doing this stop-gap instead? Well, out of desperation I approach my boss one day. What would I do as of the moment. I was expecting a 'get lost' reply. Well, the reply was somewhat the same - do an HR DTR program. So I went, never care to start a documentation and do the code immediately.

I kind of enhanced what I was doing a little bit. I added a biometric approach to it. People would have to scan their bar-coded ID in the machine and they have to show-up their faces on a camera so a little piece of picture of themselves will be sent to the HR department. I thinks it's cool. It'd be a contribution at least to the company since they might be able to use the old bar-code scanners and cameras lying somewhere the stock rooms.

Everybody likes a job that not only provides income but gives purpose and passion for what they do in life.

Typical for an IT Company

"To be the leading local software development company that highly provides in its products the essence of reliability, security, integration, speed, customization and easy user Interface."

-- Painful to achieve but glorious...

LiveJournal Tags: IT,Company

To Say the Least

Once again I had this rush for posting something about a feeling of helplessness so I said something like this on post to the other blog I had that was quite just an emotional dump site really. So I said, "My thoughts once again or always has been like a river of a never ending first sentences. The words get jammed in the sinkhole until no good phrases is good enough to utter. I'm convinced silence is the best talking which is of course not always an ideal companion.

I always tried to write a story but they either end up like my own life story, which I really don't like talking. They either end up emotional or trying hard to be funny.

Humid Daylight

  

I know why. I myself has to be blamed for yawning several times and falling into sleep while holding the laptop keyboards today. While I lack the discipline, I lack the convenience of going home every day. The climate is overwhelming outside and for people with my built, water is pouring out of me. I don't missed headaches(heat stress)and sticky underarms. Thanks to ever handy Deodorants.

 I always imagined it this way when I was still home. I always imagined the stressful life in this city while I dreamed of putting up my own software outsourcing business back there but I lack the skill of the trade. So what I got to do? I must scope some handful of experience of how to do the business the right way. Who knows? I might tag some people's business along on the way home. But not just yet.

I was walking on my way to my bus stop this afternoon. It seemed like four o'clock still in the afternoon but its not - it's already seven o'clock. This summer heat is just so wearying and tiring. And the humidity is high. I think 37 degrees up in scale.

So today I went home by Bus 19 which routes its way from Al Karama , Bur Dubai and Diera. Went off the office at 6:16PM and arrived home at 9:00 PM. So you can just imagine what I'm going through every day.  The trip with so much traffic is that terrible here. On the way to the office is same as worse.

• Tinawagan n'yo ako this morning, nirecord ko dialog natin with the girls, ngkakagulo at ang sayang-saya nyo.
• On the way outside ng office, treneat ko muna si Humam ng malamig na Mango Juice ng Sendan, nagustuhan ng Iraqui. Nalaman ko na 'man-ga' din pala tawag nila sa mannga doon sa Iraq.
• 'Chemical Ali' Genocidal maniac; underdog of Saddam sentenced to death today.
• Learned new things in programming today.
• Adequate amount of water intake daily, enhances concentration and boosts memory functions.
• Ni-review ko NZ application today, pwde pa dw. Same as tough as before. I'm still dreaming of NZ.

I Robot, a Balding Robot

I've always spent whole days like this resolving spatial issues that were either so, so perplexed to resolve or as easy like your just only playing lego plastics  with your kid. So tedious and mentally consuming.

I don't care losing every bit of hair anymore. I gave up the struggle of saving a handful of them and welcome Mr. X version of me. I thought of growing beard or mustache instead but so conscious people would think I've got hair crawled down on me to grow on my face instead. So, I'd be that guy - for a while.

I am open to possibilities though - of a surgical repair. After all, it would just feel like repairing a broken knee or sucking fat tissues (liposuction). Except that it'd cost 'round AED 4 to 5k  here in Dubai -Quite affordable, not to brag but still painful pulling out off my pocket. So let it be for a while. For now, my project manager could think, I am either enjoying what I'm doing or struggling to accomplish things.

I realized there have been lots of issues tagging out my very focus in my career lately. My passion is deteriorating - productivity dwindling. Like the weather in this part of the world draining substance out from its inhabitants, the pressures from all sides have become an untiring bombardment of stress.

I've spent perhaps more than a thousand hours of intertwining logics for projects that either went successfully or failure. The sane thing and perhaps encouraging things about this, is the thought of having seen them work after all this years and having to realize those people were still using it (despite the annoyances of bugs). Makes me feel awesome inside - and proud. It's like having had a son somewhere, alive. And the very thought they were walking the earth is because of me. Partly a part of us they call Artificial Intelligence.

Nobody's perfect, Only Subtlety of Self.

Except the Messiah of course! Which He intends us to realize and live our life for. But, it's hard and tough, and the world is just so equipped with the arsenals of making our lives fall down on our knees. Oftentimes, the falling is self infliction and it feels good. Like the flesh gives up its pain from a sucking leeches. It's the impact that could hurt the most because the very people end up hurting is not yourself but those who are purely dearest to you.

Hhhmmm! Forgive my ranting for this is just a forum of my spiraling self.

My mind right now is like a troubled sea also, dancing with the waves. Swayed by the weather. The wind, as erratic as it seemed - reflects my mood. And I am weak - vulnerable at times because I have the solitary tendency. I can almost feel it's clinical already and got got this feeling of detachment from the reality - out of control. Growing like cancer. A plaque in my personality.  

I could hardly talk these past few days partly because of too much personal setbacks and job pressures that were put unto my lap. I observe my learning behavior! I just listen like a guy mute from the worst gingivitis ever in his life. While I choose not to utter, my frailty convinced my being over this madness of pretensions. I'm actually taming a monster in me that is capable of spit-firing insults and mockery. He was awaken over the days he's exposed to demons around him, including himself. I foresee a self-destructive power in it that if untamed, will consume the very person in me. And I don't like sad stories because I been through a lot of sad predicaments lately.