On Planners And Remembering

...To escape the certainty of oblivion,
...This is what drives our species to diaries.
- Timepiece

Recently, I have forgotten a lot of things - birthdays, appointments, tasks, etc. And it is all because of not constantly checking a planner I got from drinking a lot of coffee. It is quite interesting though that Starbucks still believes in paper planners despite the emergence of PDAs and smartphones. A stylish old-fashionedness is definitely involved there. Anyway, what I do not like is the Starbucks planner itself. The cover, ballpen and incorporated cards are pretty commendable. But unlike a slim sturdy school planner I used to have in the past years, the Starbucks planner is really bulky and it does not have the time section. Each date only has notes section.

I can't help but recall the experience that got me started on having an organizer for myself. It began back in my college days when I was in an organization that taught catechism to kids living in poverty-stricken areas. Every Friday afternoon, the org would ride a bus going to a particular place in Fairview to visit them.

I joined the organization without the intention of teaching the kids. I signed up with the org for the sake of having an extra-curricular activity. So that for the whole semester, I was on and off when it came to teaching. On top of that, I was hanging by a thread as a student so my studies took priority over teaching. By the next semester, I decided not to teach anymore.

After about seven months, I felt that I got the hang of things already at school so I became a member of the org again. When I came back to the teaching area, I observed several changes. The place was cleaner and the kids had somewhat grown that I barely recognized each of them. When we were about to start the lesson, my co-teacher asked the kids if they still knew me. A couple of seconds passed and no one answered. Of course, who would remember or even want to remember someone who taught on and off? I started to get disappointed with myself when a little girl uttered, "Kuya Dundee!" They were the sweet words I heard in that place for that particular semester. I was really moved that somebody still remembered.

From then on, I promised to remember a person at least once a year on his or her birthday. I bought myself a planner to do that. But as it turned out later on, you have to be "comfortable" with the planner as well to remember things. Perhaps this coming December, I would be switching back to the school planner I used to have.

On Leadership

As I see it, I need to maneuver my partner around the dance floor,
taking care not to bump into anyone or anything, dancing to the music,
spontaneously choreographing a changing and pleasing series of moves,
all the while maintaining light conversation.
- Mr. Data, Startrek

There are few things about leadership that can be learned just from doing the salsa dance. An article from an online dance instructional website where members receive access to thousands online salsa dance videos, and DVDs by mail, Salsa Dance BootCamp tackles about the tips on leading when dancing. Here are some basic points.

1. Lead clearly.
2. Avoid being a literal and metaphorical jerk.
3. Know the difference between smooth and jerky.
4. Use the lightest effective lead. Know the difference between indication and demand.

The tips given are quite interesting since they can be applied to the corporate world, or to any place where leadership is involved. Also, though they are insights presented from the perspective of men, everyone can pluck something out of these. And those are just the basics. A few more scrolling and one will learn about navigation and the philosophy of the dance. Navigation is all about looking around to avoid any collision and to get through tight spots. Understanding the dance philosophy involves the awareness that leaders lead and followers follow. If a partner can't follow, it is because one can't lead.

Gone Running

If you went running
when you first started thinking about it,
you'd be back by now.
- Nike

NOTCOT points us to the interactive "Gone Running" clock of Nike. It provides us with every bit of justification on why one should be running. Here are some favorites.

12:00 AM - Run like there's no tomorrow. Oh wait, it is tomorrow.
3:30 AM - Pondering your existence is best when done at a 10-minute pace.
4:30 AM - The most peaceful time to run? When the world's still asleep.
4:45 AM - Prove your busy calendar wrong. Make time for a run.
6:30 AM - March to the beat of your own drum. Run to the beat of your own heart.
8:30 AM - One hour running makes the next 8 more productive.
10:30 AM - Seeing your crush isn't the only way to make your heart beat faster.
11:00 AM - Brainstorm your plan for world domination on your next run.
11:15 AM - Keep your running friends close. Keep your running enemies at least two blocks back.
12:45 PM - Your favorite lunch spot is 3 miles away.
4:00 PM - Your best self is waiting at the finish line.
6:00 PM - You're just one mile away from a better mood.
9:15 PM - You might run into your soul mate. Or at least a squirrel.
9:45 PM - The internet will be here when you get back. Promise.

Generosity *

To give and not to count the cost...
Except that of knowing that I do your will.
- St. Ignatius Loyola, Prayer for Generosity

A thought-provoking question from Seth Godin:

"If you didn't want anything in return, nothing at all, what's the most generous thing you could do for your best customer, your best friend, your most important prospect?"

For the best customer, I would likely give her or him a discount. Or probably an extra serving.

For a best friend, just to spend time with him or her, I would perhaps walk with him or her until he or she reaches his or her destination even if I am supposedly going the other way.

And for an important prospect, I would probably give her flowers and chocolates. But then I still could think of a more generous or perhaps romantic act like conspiring with high school friends to serenade her some time. Then again I could think of some more and the answers could go endless.

Though some things remain unanswered. Given that I am simply human, why would I not want anything in return? Because consciously or unconsciously, I want something in return either in the short run or in the long run.

Supposing that I do not want anything in return so I say that I give what is needed. If I specify that I give what is needed, then I am implying in a certain degree that I do not give just anything if it is only wanted. If it is needed, then I provide. If it is only wanted, then I do otherwise. The need-vs.-want scenario gives the impression then that I unconsciously want something in return. A condition is set - that I give only if it is needed. So that the answer "giving what is needed" is a kind that wants something in return.

Now, I usually do not want anything in return if I give to the person who has already given me something. Since the question speaks about giving to a best customer, a friend and a most important prospect, then there has been an established premise already that the concerned people have given me something. That is why I call them best and important. That is why I call someone a friend. I am being generous to the said people because of a prepaid generosity. But supposing that they did otherwise, I guess everything changes.

The real question then is, what could be the most generous thing one could do to complete strangers without expecting or wanting anything in return?

In contrast with an Online Tutoring service, I would probably give free tutoring to street kids.

But what if I give free tutoring just to feel good about myself? With it, I am already wanting or expecting something in return. So I guess motivation plays an important as well when giving.

* A post dedicated to a friend who each time says, "Always count your blessings."

Productivity

The real secret to productivity is...to listen to your body.
To eat when you're hungry, to sleep when you're tired,
to take a break when you're bored,
to work on projects that seem fun and interesting.
- Aaron Swartz on How to be Productive

Philip Brewer has a point in saying that in order to be productive, you only need to be internally motivated. By doing what you're internally motivated to do, you'll never be more productive than when you're doing what you have a passion to do.

It's another story of course when you need to be productive in doing the dull stuff. A couple of productivity advice from WikiHow could be useful.

Lamps and Lights

I was browsing through a site that offers a wide variety of products from ceiling fans to lamps. Under each of the items are arrays of product types. Say the lamps for instance, under the said product are different kinds of lamps, from floor lamps to torchieres. I was reminded somehow of my teacher in Philosophy of Science who once remarked that reading under a yellow light is better than reading under white light. I think what he meant was that reading under an incandescent lamp which usually radiates yellow light is better than reading under the fluorescent one which generally releases white light. This is so because the incandescent bulbs emit continuous light waves while the fuorescent ones produce sporadic waves. While indiscernible to the human eye, fluorescent lights are said to flicker thus straining the eyes and creating the strobe effect.

As to the white and yellow lights, it is said that the yellow light is created in the the absence of the blue color. The blue hue is intense that it stimulates a reaction we call "glare". In fact, the French, knowing of the said "glare", had the blue removed from the output spectrum of their vehicles' front lamps. Besides, since blue has the shortest wavelength and it easily scatters, it makes on-road vision very difficult.

Moreover, a study published five years ago found out that our biological clock is most responsive to narrow band of wavelengths from 466 to 477 nanometers (nm), which are close to the blue of a clear sky. The so-called ganglion cells in our eyes detect the blue hue and send signals to the brain that it is already morning thus ending a sleep or a circadian drift. The downside however is that bluish light is often detected from computer screens which oftentimes sabotages sleep schedules. The blue light reduces the brain's secretion of melatonin. Melatonin is usually brought about by dusk and darkness to help trigger and maintain sleep.

Now here is something that we can use for our advantage. Aside from a freshly brewed coffee or perhaps a couple of cancer sticks, the blue-light therapy can be used to keep ourselves late at night. While the yellow-light therapy is something that we can use when we want to doze off easily.

Feature: ShopWiki

One of the amazing things about the internet is the so-called wiki. It is a collaborative website which can be directly edited by anyone with access to it. It was Ward Cunningham who applied the word for web use to connote something quick. He got the idea from a Hawaiian bus shuttle named Wiki Wiki. Wiki in the Hawaiian language simply means fast.

At the moment, one of the best-known wikis is the Wikipedia. Others are the Wikinvest and the Wikidot. But here is an emerging kind of wiki site - the ShopWiki. It is basically a shopping search engine designed to help consumers find specific products on the Internet. It has buying guides serving as the wiki site where one can contribute any knowledge about the featured products and moderate the contents for accuracy.

When buying, a customer is not really interested with the specific product but with the product category. This is because the customer needs to gather lots of information or options first before deciding to buy something. ShopWiki provides a central place for relevant information that a customer needs. One can search for personal audio and video products, home theater systems and cameras and photography items. The good thing about the site is its accuracy and its comprehensive coverage when searching for products. Unlike other search engines that provide biased results since they only show the retailers who paid, ShopWiki presents even an unknown retailer with the premise that it has the best price.

For more information, visit the site and check a brilliant story behind it on how everything started with a red British telephone booth.

On the Haptic Clock and Lazy People

I've come to the conclusion today that there are always business opportunities when lazy people are around. I shall be telling more about this later. But here's a perfect example.

The Haptic Clock.








According to Future Feeder, it is a clock program for Java powered mobile phones that conveys time through a sequence of vibrations. Perfect for meetings, dates and lazy people. Wrist watches may not be worn again and mobile phones may never be pulled out to check time.

But here's the thing about it in relation to having business opportunities, lucky for the lazy people - it is free.

Reminder of Life

[If] by evening you will die...
...Drink a glass of juice,
Bite an apple,
Contemplate at length an ant that has found its food...
...Put on the latest fashion in Italian shirts,
Parade...in an entourage of Spanish violins,
And walk to the grave!
- Mahmoud Darwish, Remainder of Life

I still can't get over the ability to experience the next two minutes of your life before it actually happens. What if you are able to stretch further that ability and you are able to see the next 24 hours?

I'm pretty sure you could use some help from this skill especially when you happen to be Jack Bauer.

But Jack Bauer aside, what if you see the next hours and by evening you will die?

Would you try to evade death? But what if you might have more sensible things to do than evading it? Or would you try to do every worthwhile thing you must do before your time comes? But what if you are just too young to die that evading it is the only way that you could do more worthwhile things?

So much about what if's. This must be the effect of reading Dilbert's philosophy of thinking the opposite.

Anyway it was the poem Remainder of Life that got me wondering about all these.

The Next 2 Minutes

What if you're given the ability to see the next 2-minute window of your life? Imagine how cool that is! Since like a chess master you have predicted or more accurately have actually lived all the possible scenarios and have chosen the best move, you know for certain that you would not screw up the first time (which is the "official" first time) for instance you would meet the love of your life.

This is what the motion picture Next starred by Nicholas Cage, Julianne Moore and Jessica Biel is all about. One of the parts I like about the movie is the segment when Cris Johnson (Nicholas Cage) is about to kiss Liz (Jessica Biel) and sees the future. He says, "That was incredible." Liz asks, "What was?" To which Cris replies, "This." then kisses Liz.

Another highlight is when Cris quotes an Italian painter Carlaty on the definition of beauty. It goes like this. Beauty was a summation of the parts working together in such a way that nothing is needed to be added, taken away or altered.

Lastly, I find what Cris says about the future at the end part of the film as the gist of a previous post, Stocks Analogy. He says, "Here's the thing about the future. Every time you look at it, it changes because you looked at it. And that changes everything else."

Impossible Is Nothing

I noticed that I've been posting about blog addiction lately. And I've been thinking, "How about those who just can't get themselves addicted to blogging like for instance my brother?" I could have linked his blog already with the tag "my brother" but since he hasn't got one, the words just stay black.

Coincidentally, a friend kidded about something on my previous post, All You Need is Blog. He inquired, "How can you 'just blog it' when you simply can't?" Because I was occupied then, I quickly brushed aside the matter by replying, "Impossible is nothing."

On a deeper note however, the question bears a certain degree of significance. I can't help but to be reminded of self-assuring poems such as You can if you think you can. And ironic as it is since I just uttered "I can't", I wonder what makes a blogger say that he or she simply can't blog it.

I reckon that there are basically two causes of it.

The first one is mañana habit or procrastination. A blogger is said to be procrastinating when photos are left unuploaded and uncaptioned, thoughts are unblogged and feeds are unread or unskimmed. Though constantly uttering "so little time, so much to do" is a sign of procrastination as well. Lifehacker points us to the ten reasons people procrastinate.

The second one illustrates an image of a blogger sitting in front of a monitor just staring at a blank page with the blinking cursor, aka Sandman's Richard Madoc. It is the image of the dearth of creative ideas. The blogger needs to capture Calliope so as to draw inspiration from her presence.

Fortunately for this matter, Blogozine has some uncomplicated solutions to the predicament.

Sometimes in life especially when you are a procrastinator, a nagger is all you need. You are lucky if you have a "nagging" partner. But if you haven't gotten one, Hassle me is one way of getting around to things.

And since Calliope isn't usually around nowadays she must have gone fishing at the world's end, you might as well take the hard work and learn the five steps of becoming a genius. Capture the fleeting, tap the full power of your free time, seek challenges and expand your world.

Otherwise, as the Ilocanos would say, stop blogging and plant camote.

All You Need is Blog

I'm absolutely sure that everyone has a say about something or has to say something. If you think that it is important to say it, then say it. Write about it even if it's only about a tiny red paperclip. Or better yet, blog about it. If Nike were a blogger, it would have said, "Just blog it!" Or if the Beatles were bloggers, they would have said, "All you need is blog. Tadada tadada."

Seth Godin's advice is: blog even if it is just one post.

And when you start to blog, you may need this blogging manifesto. Perhaps after a hundred days of blogging, you'd know every word in this blogossary.

After which, you may want to take a little step further and consider making some quick buck through blogging. I say Bloggerwave gives you that opportunity. Visit its FAQ site for further clarifications then you may get started right away by signing up. Log in, look for open opportunities, and start posting.

Visuwords and Microsoft Surface

The world is full of hopeful analogies
and handsome, dubious eggs, called possibilities.
- George Eliot

The Coach's Wife points us to one of the free things in life which is the cool online graphical dictionary, Visuwords.

Reminds me of the Microsoft Surface. Check out a review here.

Looking For a New Project?

Try raising your eyebrows separately.

Or twisting your tongue.

Or wiggling your ears.

Or better yet, try looking at the 43 things that you could do.

The Hemline Theory of Writing

There is so much truth in what Seth Godin plucked.

I remember someone saying that a writing, or something like a speech or even a sermon, should be like a miniskirt. Short enough to attract people while long enough to cover the essentials.

Some Lessons on Dieting

There's something to be learned about dieting. And it's not just about an abstruse concept called discipline. It's not even about a nonconcrete idea on endurance.

The point is that any concept or idea should be narrowed down into tangible real stuff. We take for instance endurance. Endurance itself is an intangible thought. Endurance of what? Whose endurance? It's simply something that can't be executed.

But at least not yet.

If we say "My endurance not to eat the delicious ice cream in front of me," then that my friend would be something that we call as tangible real stuff. Something that we can learn from dieting. But it doesn't end there because the most important question about dieting is not just about the word "what" but about the word "how" as well.

Here are some simple things of the "how" part. Thanks to Guy Kawasaki's ideas.

Always create a context where you can provide yourself with options. You may have heard that for those who are having a hard time sleeping, the very first step to be able to sleep is to turn off the lights or tv. It may not help but it lessens any stimulation of the mind that keeps you awake. In short, lessen distractions.

Same with having a diet. For instance, never place an ice cream, or chocolates or junk foods in you refrigerator (or better yet, never place your ref inside your room). Although it may force you to go out of the house to buy some in a convenience store 3 blocks away, at least it gives you the option not to buy.

Employ delaying tactics. Placing yourself in a position to buy ice cream allows you more time to distract yourself with other things. Who knows? By the time you get to the convenience store, you're sleeping soundly already.

Take things step by step. Rome isn't built in one day so they say. Actually dieting isn't as easy as actually writing about dieting. Dieting is not about not eating at all. It's about gradually lessening what you regularly consume. If you regularly consume a whole rice, try having a half rice instead.

And who am I to write about dieting anyway when I've not done any dieting at all?

Oh well, blogging about having diet may be a delaying tactic since I have not touched my now-cold sugar-full coffee, which more or less would force me go to the pantry to get another hot one. Then again, a lot could happen covering a distance of about ten meters.

I may be asleep by the time I get there.

Novena to the Holy Spirit

Here is a novena I prayed back in the secondary level when I was hoping to get accepted in a university that I liked. I completely forgot about it afterwards. It was only recently that I found it again by chance in a newspaper classified section after about seven years. It said that the novena should be published once a prayer is answered. I never thought that I could get the chance to publish it since I was thinking then of the newspaper method. But here, I'm glad that there's the orange button.

Holy Spirit, you who make me see everything,
and who show me the way to reach my ideals,
you who give me the divine gift to forgive,
and to forget the wrong that is done to me,
and who are, in all instances of my life, with me,
I, in this short dialogue, want to thank you for everything,
and confirm once more that I never want to be separated from you,
no matter how great the material desires may be.
I want to be with you and my loved ones
in your perpetual glory.
Amen.

Schnozzola

Hyperbolically speaking, there must be something terrific about Seth Godin's nose. It finds us topics such as dogs finding pirated DVDs and stinky durian.

So they say, take time to smell the roses.

Crash

"It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something."

It was from the motion picture, Crash. The question is: does it apply to Filipinos as well?

Consider the MRT ordeal. It is not just about a mere people-brushing-past-or-bumping-into-another sort of experience. Here one gets the chance to have an "intimate" sense of others. Who would not have encountered the pungent smell of sweat? Or the horrible look of a pimple (and the more horrible look of a swelling one)? Or the sticky moistness of the skin? And so on.

The chock-full Ayala northbound platform (notice the other side)

I can't help but to explore once in a while on the possible solutions to this congestion predicament. Is building an MRT subway one solution? Or would the solution be about adjusting office hours? Or would it be about strategically putting the business centers in areas that allow heavy commuter traffic to be minimized? Though heavy traffic is good for business, there must be some way of striking balance here. How about giving responsibility to institutions or structures like employer buildings, malls and others, that cause heavy traffic? Perhaps they could help in the mobilization of people. And there is also the question on a good product attracting traffic volume. I will post more details of this exploration later on.

view from the other side - our perfect strategy

Just a side note, my friend blogged about our pleasant MRT experience. It was rush hour so my officemates and I decided to adopt what we call as our perfect strategy - taking a round trip. We were supposedly northbound but we went otherwise. The only problem was that we rode at the tail section of the train so that when it went back north, it became the ladies' section. We ended up taking the next train since the middle and end sections were jam-packed. So much about a perfect plan!

Click here and here for other accounts.

So to continue, other situations that somehow make Filipinos never lose that sense of touch are:
1. jeepney experience
2. wet market, 168 and others
3. religious feast like for instance the Black Nazarene feast in Quiapo, or even the El Shaddai.

And there could be more.

On Violins

I played the violin before and I had three great mentors. One was a Protestant, the other a Born Again and still the other a Catholic. Anyway, before I amuse myself, if not anyone, with the wala-ka-sa-lolo-ko or American-Chinese-Filipino kind of joke, the thing is that I learned until the second position only. The only piece that I could play decently or I could remember until this moment is Cinema Paradiso's Se.

It never came to me that there's something more to learn about violins beside playing the instrument.

Until this post was written.

It said that trappings and popularity are not the ultimate gauges when looking for something good or something opposite of it.