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| Tuesday, 2-Nov-2004 00:00 |
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Coasting Along
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My Acctg Staff during "happier" (?) times with him
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With my parents and friends on Kyle's birthday
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The kids had fun in the pool
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It's been more than a week since the brouhaha (which put the "telenovelas" on TV to shame) occured and caused everyone else at work "waiting and watching" at what's going to happen next. Would Ed be true to his word and really make good his courtesy resignation after a majority voted him out or would he crouch beneath the "protection" of HO and shamelessly remain the Director for Visayas? These were the two questions that made everybody anxious for a while, until the decision was finally out and Ed was back in Visayas after a week's VL (forced vacation leave? hehe).
The saga is far from over though. He should be forewarned to watch his every move now that people in the group have seen how he operates. I have even told my staff, who were understandably loyal to me, to hold on to their jobs and just see how he does things around for the next few months. A lot are ready to quit and are ready with their Plan B's and C's, as opposed to him, whose life seems to revolve ONLY around the company. *chuckles* How shallow. Enough said for now. I will write more on this in the next few weeks as I am pretty sure Ed couldn't stand NOT doing anything silly similar to his "email-cum-survey". That would be for another post!
So what have I been up to lately? Well nothing really drastically different has happened except for the fact that I have now ceased to officially report for work.
The attached pics, however, will show it was a busy, but fun week for me...
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| Saturday, 23-Oct-2004 00:00 |
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Outpouring of Emotions
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click to read text
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I have a few more days to go before I say adieu to my cube for the last 7.5 years. It now looks empty and devoid of anything that once gave that space my identity. I still have the Altis though, and the laptop which I plan to turnover by 2005 when the company is ready to give me an itemized list of my benefits/terminal pay. Time to send out emails to my staff, my colleagues/ counterparts from the Northern Luzon, South Luzon, Metro Manila, Bicol and Mindanao groups, but I haven't thought these out yet. I don't know what to say.
In moments like this, what do we say anyway?
Attached above is a screenshot of one of the emails I received since news of my resignation broke out. Touching...
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| Thursday, 21-Oct-2004 00:00 |
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My Letter to Chuck
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Life isn't always a bowl of cherries,...or strawberries...
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Hi! I don't know if you've heard about Visayas having a new director after Sir Pete got transferred to HR at Head Office. His replacement as director is Ed B. (handpicked by the CEO!), the former GSM from Bicol. After he came last August, it's been kinda hellish for Visayas! Let me outline the chain of events for you:
Oct 13 - My Regional Acctg Head, Romy T., uncovered shortages in WU sendout transactions in Dumaguete.
Oct 14 - Ed B. instructed Romy to proceed to Dumaguete asap to serve the suspension papers to Vivian M. The next boat for Dumaguete leaves at 7pm. Ed insisted for Romy to take the 4 hour land trip instead, starting at 1pm. Romy said that he might not be able to make it to Dumaguete on time if he takes the land trip. This was a valid concern. So Ed ended up driving all the way to Dumaguete.
Oct 15 - In my presence, Ed hurled invectives / profanities at Romy for not following his order yesterday. Please note that Ed is 30 while Romy is 50 years old. After a brief display of arrogance ("Kahit si Estelito Mendoza ang abogado mo di ka mananalo. Mauubos lang ang pera mo!"), disrespect ("Oo alam ko gusto mo pa munang umuwi bago pumunta sa Dumaguete. Siguro dahil gusto mo pa magkuskos ng singit!"), & anger ("Wag mo insultuhin ang IQ ko!"), Ed ordered Romy to hand his retirement papers by 11am that day. I tried talking some sense to Ed to tell him he was being harsh, but to no avail. That same day Romy tendered his retirement after 27 years with the company.
CFO called me up to find out about the Dumaguete 50k shortage. I took the chance to tell him about what just transpired in Ed's office. One of the things he told me was that he had misgivings about Ed even before. He said he would talk to CEO about it.
CEO called Ed to tell him to control his temper.
Oct 18 - Ed met with me one-on-one. I told him I didn't like his way of doing things. He said something like, the end justifies the means, probably referring to his "success" in convincing Romy to retire. He then pressured me to tell him whether or not I was still comfortable working with him as director of the group. I didn't reply. On the same day, I faxed my resignation letter to CFO intentionally not providing a copy to Ed until before I left for home. This should have been the end of the story but alas, Ed had other "brilliant" plans.
Oct 19 - Ed solicited support from people in Visayas through SMS ("I'm in a difficult situation right now. I need your support"... Etc...etc...). He even made the silly mistake of setting himself up for trouble when he emailed everyone to state whether he was still wanted in Visayas or not. If not, his courtesy resignation would be on Butch's desk tomorrow. The overwhelming reply was "We want you OUT!" (40 out of 61employees!). Such arrogance! What was he thinking??? Apparently, my resignation didn't sit well with the group and people thought Ed was really mean that I had to resign.
Oct 20 - Head Office (CEO, CFO, Butch) wanted to believe I had a hand why the people voted "out". (Oh they are really putting a lot of credit on me, how flattering!). I knew this was bound to happen. The Head Office guys were trying to side with Ed to protect their battered egos. I then heard they wanted to ease me out fast by transferring my replacement asap and catching me by surprise. I really felt like trash when I learned of the plan. I stood up for what's right and still this was happening. Kakainis!
Oct 21 - Deobel (Union President) called me up. I thought this was another "window" to say what really happened. I did tell him the gory details. He then met with CEO, CFO, Butch and Ed. Deobel was asking for Ed's resignation since the survey he made on himself indicated that majority didn't like him. It turned out that Ed was only bluffing about tendering his courtesy resignation! Other details about the meeting had already escaped me. Bottomline is it wasn't good for Ed.
Hah! Vindication!
CFO called me to say my resignation was accepted (as if I didn't know) and that I didn't have to report for work by next week even if the effectivity of my resignation was December 31 yet. I said ok for as long as there was a "written" memo stating that, so that I wouldn't be charged of going on AWOL. He was surprised at my remark and proceeded to tell me if it was ok to adjust the effectivity to Nov. 30. I R-E-F-U-S-E-D!!! And at this point I was already thinking of taking this matter to a new level. CFO changed his tone and said ok, he'd just get back to me.
Five minutes later, he called to say ok, I'd be paid up to Dec. 31 but he would send me a note stating that I do not have to report for work starting Tuesday and that I wouldn't be charged of going on AWOL. Head Office (composed mostly of men!) was really that afraid of any more "damage" I could cause if I stayed longer. Crazy! Little ol' me has caused all this fuss that the big bosses are now having headaches. Hmp!
So that's about it. Ed stays as director for Visayas for the next 6 months with CEO, the people in Visayas and other regions, and the Union, watching his every move. I, on the other hand, keep getting calls from people (Head Office and Visayas region) saying that they appreciated my standing up for their cause and that they were still on my side. How sweet!
Sweet victory that Ed would never be able to get!
Parang movies no? So how are you na? 
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| Tuesday, 19-Oct-2004 00:00 |
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What on Earth???
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I checked out my site stats just to see how many peeps come and visit to read my post or look at the photos, and what do I see?
150 unique visitors in the last 24 hours!!! Hmm, whatever drove all this traffic, I could only wonder...
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| Sunday, 17-Oct-2004 00:00 |
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Run the Race
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Matt at left-most
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Matt, as shown here on the first few seconds of the 400 m. race, looked determined to win the competition. He was running on the outer lane against 7 other runners from different schools. Fast forward to present, we already know what came out of this heat. He ended up 4th place and a few seconds shy of qualifying for the finals. Had he known, would he have competed still? The answer is a resounding "YES", of course. That's the beauty of having faith in yourself and believing that you'd come out the winner in every endeavor. It makes you run the race.
It's the same with life. We often find ourselves in situations where we need to do things where we could only hope for the best. I am now in such a predicament where I have prepared myself and thought of all the possible outcomes. But who could say where all these preparedness would take me?
This week is going to be tough, that's about all I know. I'm making a few life-altering decisions that could turn out this way or that. Whatever is the end-result, I just have to have that unwavering faith in the Lord that He would see me through this phase. There is simply a lot at stake here, but just like Matt, I will "run this race" and hope for the best!
*This post is about work. I intentionally did not delve into details as I didn't want to preempt anything. More on this on Thursday or Friday.*
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| Monday, 11-Oct-2004 00:00 |
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HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY KYLE!!!
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Kyle with elder brother Matt
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Kyle with Matt at Maribago
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Kyle with Matt in Tagaytay
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Jerry was all packed the night before. He was all set to fly from Cebu to Davao to attend the annual JC National Convention that day. Days before, he was hoping I'd give birth after his big event in Davao.
Hours before Jerry's flight, I started showing signs that I was due any minute. And as fate would have it, Jerry was rushing me to the hospital instead of rushing himself to the airport.
That day, my second son, Kyle, was born. And oh what a cute baby he was at that time! So tiny and rosy with a little dimple on the left cheek. Charming little bundle...
He sure didn't want his Papa to miss his coming! 
Happy 8th birthday Kyle!
More reasons to thank God for today:
1. Jake turned exactly 7 months.
2. Junnie and Mitzi celebrated their 1st month in Canada.
3. I just posted my 1000th photo at fotopages. Yay!
4. And we're having "bulalo" for dinner as requested by the birthday boy. Hehe!
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| Saturday, 9-Oct-2004 00:00 |
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Beginner's Luck at the Milo Little Olympics Visayas
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Ready for the 4 x 100 m. relay. Matt is 4th from the front.
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With the other teams on the tracks...
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Matt (middle) in action
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It was a great day to run the tracks today. The weather was cooperative and showed nary a sign of impending rains. It was also fortunate that the event was scheduled after 2pm when the sun was not anymore at its hottest on Matt's (my 11-year old son) second weekend to run for his school.
Matt has been practicing to run these past weeks. I thought at first it was for his school's annual intramurals. However, I felt even more excited for him when it turned out to be for something bigger - the Milo Little Olympics for Visayas. He joined the school's running team by accident when his coach saw his potential in one of his PE classes. He got invited, and as they say the rest is history. Now he is being pitted against the fastest athletes from both public and private schools all over Visayas Region.
Matt was part of 4 events - the 200 and 400 m. dash, 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 m. relays all for the elementary division. He didn't qualify for the finals in the 200 and 400 m. sprints but went on to qualify for the relays to win the bronze medal for the 4 x 100 m. relay.
A new medal for a new sport for Matt, that's another one to add to his (academic and athletic) loot. 
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| Friday, 8-Oct-2004 00:00 |
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Baby Boom!
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I have another cousin! (2nd degree)
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Got an SMS yesterday from cousin Agnes. It read:
| Quote: | | "We thank God for blessing us with Baby Alicia on Tues Oct 5 1126 am. Leaving the hospital now." |
Aw how cute, 3 new babies for the clan on my paternal side - Jake, Zia and Alicia!!! Couldn't wait for the next grand reunion!
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| Wednesday, 6-Oct-2004 00:00 |
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BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!
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So many gizmos used to aid the report preparation, yet the pressure is still mounting....
The only thing that gets me going is what I presently have on my desktop --- a life-sized pic of my little guy Jake happily looking at me with wide-open eyes!
Oh my butterball, I get a recharge everytime I look at you...
*sigh* Just taking a short breather in between reports ...
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| Tuesday, 5-Oct-2004 00:00 |
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What Makes You Cry?
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Shhh... Jake's asleep...
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I was awake at 4am today after sleeping at 8pm last night. No sleep the night before since I was trying to beat our report deadline (4th every month). Yes, times like this make me want to say "That's it. I've had it. Enough is enough."
However, this is just the occasional outburst I feel when pushed to my limit. Most of the time, I do well, even under extreme pressure. (yeah, right!)
The title of today's post is not really to discuss circumstances that wrench the heart and make you cry buckets of tears, whine or whimper. It's just inspired by what happened early this morning.
I was feeding Jake at 530 am when Jerry woke up earlier than usual. Seeing that the bottle was almost empty, I whispered & requested him to go make a bottle of milk for Jake. I happily went back to alternately reading my email and occasionally glancing at the near empty bottle that Jake was sucking. It was early. The only sounds to be heard were the hum of the airconditioning unit, the liquid passing through the rubber nipples, and my sporadic taps on the keyboard. It was blissful silence... Quite deafening if you ask me.
Then all of a sudden "ARRRSSHOOOO!!!". What the hoot?!  Jerry was juggling the milk bottle and trying to shake it when the sneeze broke out. It was so loud in the dead silence that Jake was shaken from his sleep and his small fat body jerked on his back. The poor little guy gave a hearty shriek and prompted us to console him.
I was trying so hard not to burst into laughter as Jerry scooped him up to try to appease him. It was his "fault" after all. Hehehe.... What a sight. Being the good sport that he is, Jake gave his cutest smile to show everything is "forgiven". Heeeheeee.....
A loud sneeze early in the morning makes Jake cry.
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