Sunday, October 26, 2008

Point A to Point B. Where's Point C, D, E, F, G, . . .

I walked to my car from work Friday night and I realized almost everything and everyone in my life I have taken for granted. One lesson I'm learning while growing up is never taking anyone or anything for granted. Most of my successes and most of the people in my life I have taken for granted. I sincerely apologize ^^

I remember a few moments in life I took for granted. The best examples were in high school and college:

*In my sophomore year in high school, I slacked off French II. I barley passed with a B grade. How did I pass with a B grade? The reason was the teacher looked over most of my homework and gave me credit just for attempting. I had good relations with my French teacher. Also, I failed to continue learning and reviewing French I during the summer vacation. I had too much fun and I said to myself, "I got an A in French I. I remember my French next year." =p I took for granted my A grade in French I and the teacher for giving me credit I really didn't deserve.

*Fall Semester 1994 I took Discrete Math. My professor was the same professor I took for Calculus I. I had good relations with my professor. He gave me an A grade in Calculus I. I said to myself, "He was not going to fail me. He was going to give me a good grade regardless if I don't understand everything." I struggled in Discrete Math. I took for granted my good relations with the professor such that he was not going to give me a C grade as long as I completed the work and show effort. My final grade was a C.

I do a great job going from point A to point B when it comes to meeting new people, keeping my relations with family and friends, learning new hobbies and new interests, and accomplishing my assignments, responsibilities, and personal projects. I fail to continue to strengthen myself, to innovate my skills and knowledge, improve my relations, and to embrace change in my life (i.e., go with the flow); although, many times new priorities happen and I make choices whether to continue something new or stop.

Here I am talking about innovate infinitely and I fail to actually innovate infinitely my life. Pathetic! My reason I fail is I forgot who I am. When did I forget myself? I say March 2007 when I got my new job at Cisco. I took everything for granted since I felt I was an all-star, a person who can do everything, and having the wrong attitude nothing can go wrong with me. I'm wrong >==<

Continue finding and accomplishing point C, point D, point E, point F, point G, and so on. Never stop innovating life! Never take life for granted!

I get personal at my personal blog Finding Raymond Mar

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A Party Game

Here is a party game for work, family, and friends. The game is called “How Well Do We Really Know [insert person of honor]?” The person in charge passes a piece of paper with questions about the person of honor to everyone. Everyone completes the questions. After everyone is ready, the person in charge tells everyone the answers to each question one by one. I suggest a prize for the person who answered the most questions correctly. Two tie breaker questions should be a number answer. The person with the closest answer without going over is the winner. If all of the answers are over, then the one closest is the winner. I provide five sample questions of myself plus two tie breakers XD

*True or False? Raymond has been living in San Jose all his life?

*What was Raymond’s first paying job, a job with a paycheck?

*How old was Raymond when he scored his first touchdown playing football in recess?

*Name one of Raymond’s favorite places to visit besides anime conventions?

*What was the first movie Raymond watched in a movie theatre?

*Tie Breaker: How many years did Raymond work at Colliers International?

*Tie Breaker #2: How many games Raymond played online?

I get personal at my personal blog Finding Raymond Mar

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Straight From My Gut

Author note: I’m writing the blog late night because the topic is in my mind and I’m more focus on the content and less focus on grammar. Pardon any grammar mistakes. Thank you ^__^

Who is afraid today given the economic and political current events? I must see lots of hands raised. My hand is raised. There are more fears in me I’m fortunately controlling such as losing my job, being alone, family members losing their jobs, and never finding who I am.

I like fear :3 Fear keeps me going. Fear keeps me up my toes. Fear helps me learn. Fear forces me to act more on instinct and less on reason. Sometimes my fear is clearly shown by my actions and my facial expressions :O And I hate my fear being shown because it’s subject to misinterpretations and miscommunications. I’m one of those people easily misunderstood, and I’m still seeking a solution >.>

Anyways, getting to my gut. My gut, my intuition, my instinct takes over me when I’m in fear or when I don’t know what I’m doing. Almost all of my instances and situations I’m scared or I’m clueless my gut feeling takes control of my thinking, my actions, my movements, and my speech. Sometimes I’m correct and sometimes I’m incorrect. I can say confidently if I thought about the instances and situations logically, I’m screwed =/ I could have scored lower grades in exams if I didn’t have a good gut feeling.

I consciously realized yesterday my gut feeling has saved my ass many times, and I never realized most of the time. I just live life without thinking my actions and my gut feeling has taken control of my life for better or for worse.

I believe my way of going through my life is my gut feeling. There is a well known saying “Trust your gut feeling.” Today, I’m giving maximum trust to my gut feeling. For example, is today the best time to buy stocks? My gut feeling says no ;) I’m no financial expert.

I get personal at my personal blog Finding Raymond Mar

Friday, October 17, 2008

Courtesy In The Men’s and Women’s Bathroom

Here is a tip to practice courtesy. Some public and workplace bathrooms have automatic paper towel dispenser. The automatic paper towel dispensers work by waving you hand in motion at the front of the motion sensor. The dispenser releases a piece of the paper towel.

The courtesy is while you’re drying your hands or you’re done drying your hands, wave at the motion sensor. The dispenser releases a piece of the paper towel. Leave the piece hanging on the dispenser for the next person to dry his or her hands. Simple and a good idea ^__^ It’s a reminder to practice courtesy.

I get personal at my personal blog Finding Raymond Mar

Monday, October 13, 2008

2007 Was Actually A Bad Year

Sat and Sun I thought about the year 2007. 2007 was the fastest year for me ever. I didn’t mention in my 2007 Year In Review that 2007 was a good year no matter what happened because I worked at Cisco starting in March. Apr-Dec 2007 could be bad months and I still have a good 2007. I’m going to be honest. 2007 was a bad year. Why was 2007 a bad year? In all honestly, I had no big goals in 2007 other than working at Cisco and owning my first car. The year included a false sense of accomplishment. I had no motivators from calendar 2007 to calendar 2008. There were some good moments. Overall, 2007 was a bad year. The Summer Sabbatical was a joke. No excuses :< And I was supposed to build a new home PC at the end of 2007. I’m researching on the new home PC today and I finish before the end of the year. Moreover, I forgot who I was. I was not myself in 2007, and the false personality, false attitude, false Raymond Mar carried over to 2008. I was lucky to realize the full of falseness last weekend and especially realizing I must grow up earlier in Oct. I felt ashamed of myself being a person I was not. I acted, behaved, and thought process were not being myself. I apologize to everyone who hung around with me and thought of me as a freak, creepy, weird, dumb, slow, jerk, coward, and impolite person. I’m not. I’m growing up and I’m wasting no time catching up to my age. Side Note: I want to review my new daily Top Five. 1. Don't criticize, condemn, and complain, and don't compare with others. 2. Don't act like a jerk or bitch. 3. Always speak calmly and be calm. 4. Don't daydream when driving. 5. Keep your head up high . . . make eye contact when shaking hands. I get personal at my personal blog Finding Raymond Mar

Saturday, October 11, 2008

It’s Friday Night, No Curfew For Grown Ups

It’s Friday night. What are you doing? Nothing? If you’re doing nothing, then do something. It’s time to relax and take a break from life . . . especially life today with the current events. Do something. Do whatever it takes to have fun.

Are you alone? There is nothing wrong being alone. Being alone is good XD Watch a movie. Watch a DVD. Workout at the gym. Watch TV (if you have cable, more power to you considering Friday’s primetime network entertainment is meh). Play video games. Cook a new dinner. Read a book.

Are you with friends? Go to a coffee shop. Go to the movie theatre. Play miniature golf. Play board games. Eat dinner at a restaurant. Go to a bar. Go dancing. (I’m not into bars and raves XD) Attend a concert or sporting event.

There is so much to do Friday nights. A little effort to find something is plenty. If you’re working, hang in there =) If you’re a kid, be patient and you earn your freedom. Nobody can tell you there is a right way and there is a wrong way to spend Friday nights. Just do something yourself or with your friends to make yourself happy :)

I get personal at my personal blog Finding Raymond Mar

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Stressed, Worried, Concerned About The Economy?

It takes a no brainer to realize recent economic current events. Dismal is the word. We are in a recession. Be honest. We are in a recession. The next question is when are we experience an inflation with the government and the Federal Reserve releasing too much money in the economy almost everyone is saving because many people are scared, including me. They are making the economy worse $-(

I admit I'm stressed and I'm concerned. I'm also relieved because I knew the economy is heading to another recession. It just doesn't make sense after the dot com bubble burst in 2000 the recession that followed was brief and we experienced strong growth thereafter because of the real estate market. It didn't make sense to me. It was a question of when the next and deeper recession is going to come.

We need the recession. We need an economic check for better or for worse. I'm not worried personally. I'm prepared when I lose my job. I'm ready to go back to school. The tech sector is also going to be affected. Everyone is going to be affected directly or indirectly. Lessons must be learned. The best way to learn lessons is the mistakes and the bad experiences. Good luck and best wishes when the economy recovers ^__^

I get personal at my personal blog Finding Raymond Mar

Friday, October 03, 2008

Serving Rock-Hard Ice Cream

Taken fresh from the freezer, pint-sized containers of premium ice cream are often too hard to scoop. We solved this problem by slicing the ice cream right in the carton. Place the container on its side and cut off slices right through the cardboard with a serrated or an electric knife. Just peel the cardboard off the sides of the ice cream disk and serve. The lid will sit flush up against the ice cream left in the container for easy storage.

Source: Notes from the Test Kitchen--Recipes and Kitchen Tips That Work‏, America's Test Kitchen (cooksillustrated@americastestkitchencorp.com)

I get personal at my personal blog Finding Raymond Mar

Thursday, October 02, 2008

New Daily Top Five

I have a daily top five rules for living. Here are the top five rules:

1. Don't criticize, condemn, and complain, and don't compare with others.
2. Don't act like a jerk or bitch.
3. Emotional stability (i.e. control your emotions).
4. Don't daydream when driving.
5. Keep your head up high . . . make eye contact when shaking hands.

Yesterday, I talked to one of my SoCal friends Arashi by phone. Arashi observed when I get angry or frustrated, even when I'm not angry and frustrated, my voice goes up. I speak loud and coarse such that I scare people :< Not good. I took action later on. I updated my daily top five rules for living. Here are the updated top five rules: 1. Don't criticize, condemn, and complain, and don't compare with others. 2. Don't act like a jerk or bitch. 3. Always speak calmly and be calm. 4. Don't daydream when driving. 5. Keep your head up high . . . make eye contact when shaking hands. I make sure I never raise my voice. I want to avoid misinterpretations when I feel angry or frustrated, or sharing my dissenting opinion towards others. I'm not disrespecting them personally and I don't have a mean personality. I get personal at my personal blog Finding Raymond Mar

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Terminate The Yearly Reviews

In my last company, the staff was given yearly reviews from the office manager. Most of the staff including me the yearly reviews were the same such as finding ways to improve your job, get training, always showing up on time, and the brokers appreciated the hard working attitude. We didn’t care about the reviews. We were not even listening to the office manager review our performance.

The best way to motivate workers to work at the top of their performance is to influence them. Influence does works. Change doesn’t work. Yearly reviews don’t work. The reviews must be done daily to influence workers to improve, to innovate, and to come to work everyday with the happy attitude of coming to work. Every day is a review day for the managers evaluating the workers and the workers evaluating the managers.

Never be passive. Be proactive. Create action. Find the courage to encourage everyone to strive for maximum output, work efficiently, and complete more work in less time daily. The work environment must be fun with the attitude to grow and become efficient.

Yearly reviews are a waste. The reviews are done daily in an environment where everyone helps each other innovate their jobs, their responsibilities, and their lives.

I get personal at my personal blog Finding Raymond Mar