Disclaimer: I work in the ICT department of one of the younger, middle-tier call centers in the Metro. Would I rather be someplace else? Yes — self-employment.

A study by risk management consultancy Hill & Associates reveals that 50 percent of BPO workers in India leave their job because it is a “dead end job”. It was previously thought that the main reasons for employee turnover were the inhuman working hours and the rampant piracy of talent. It turns out that “lack of growth opportunities, expectation mismatches and dissatisfaction with company policies” weigh heavier on most employees’ minds.
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Lie down and breathe the ocean, cleanse yourself of urban decay.

We enjoyed our Puerto Galera 1 experience so much that Sharm and I promised to return, but we weren’t counting on returning after only two weeks (we went to Puerto Galera again last March 12 to 13)! This time we were going with the ‘adventurous’ members of our department, or as I would call them, the kaladkarins. Armed with new information about room reservations and activities in Puerto Galera, I promised a better experience to Sharm and the rest of the group.
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Don’t look now. A nationwide computerized registry doesn’t sound too grand a dream anymore. PGMA recently signed into law Executive Order 420 which requires government agencies and government-owned or -controlled corporations to adopt a multi-purpose identification system. The proposed ID system will hold basic information about the employee such as “a person’s name, address, sex, picture, signature, birthday, place of birth, marital status, parents’ name, height, weight, marks of two index fingers and thumbs, tax identification number, and distinguishing marks such as moles and birthmarks.” You can read the complete article here.

All signs point to this government ID system being the precursor for the national ID system being mulled by Malacañang. This Orwellian proposal is being packaged as a key weapon against terrorism and illegal immigration among others but IMHO, there isn’t a single, compelling reason for adopting it. In fact, there’s no argument strong enough to help support legislation for this nationwide registry.
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Update: So much for trying to rank for the keyword “Pope Benedict XVI”. A Google search for that keyword nets you 1,270,000 competing pages. How this page ever rank in the Top 20 I don’t know. Could it be the link to The Pope Blog that did it? (04/21/2005)
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Just a few hours ago, Joseph Ratzinger was named pontiff of the Catholic Church. But a few days before that, SEO nutheads were already at work, snapping up domains and setting up keyword-rich blog posts (whoops).
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April 17, 2005 - X-Files Case Log 24B - An unidentified object hit the rooftop of thebuilding, followed by a loud boom. The burned area might indicate a lightning bolt had struck the building. Could have been space debris or a meteorite since residents said the impact was so strong the whole building shook. Upon close inspection though, no traces of any projectile/s could be found….(insert x-files theme here, then fade out)

Call me paranoid, but I haven’t received any comments (well legit ones that is) since April 9, and I don’t think I’m that bad a person to not get a single comment in 6 days. How would you feel if no one sent you comments on your birthday post!? ;)

I played around with Spam Karma and I think that might have been one of the reasons for the comment blackout (or is it boycott) I’ve been experiencing lately. It must be that or just plain apathy. But I believe in the triumph of the human spirit and subscribe to the thought that most individuals are moral beings, so I’m switching to a more “relaxed” comment spam solution: Bot Check by Brian over at Blue Eye, one of the newer Captcha-class plugins out there that “create a challenge/response scenario involving an image composed of randomly generated characters”.
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First of all, thank you for considering a career with Primates Ltd.

The position you’re applying for is under the Chimp Department, which is in turn under the Monkey group of Primates Ltd. The Monkey group is the animal health arm of Primates Ltd. and directly services the healthcare needs of the company’s over 500 pet monkeys. Primates Ltd. may be a backward, wild company in the jungle, but rest assured, you won’t be doing any vine swinging or monkey calls as a member of the Chimp Department ;)

The Chimp Department is one of the fastest growing units of the Monkey group, with core competencies in primate health management, lice prevention and artificial primate intelligence. Culture’s laid back, wild savannah-style. The people belonging to this tight-knit group are young, driven and immersed in their respective fields. Hard work and excellence are valued and commensurately rewarded. If you do join us, you will be working with young professionals with rich hunting, eating and sleeping backgrounds from the jungles of Sumatra, the Amazon, Papua New Guinea, Kenya and Congo among others. Read the rest of this entry »

To those who remembered and gave encouraging words of “more birthdays to come”, salamas! Sorry for the the austere celebration, if you can call it as such. Sophie had something to do with it… ;)

UPDATE (04/15/2005)
Special thanks to the surprise birthday party crew: Sharm, Mic-Mac, Mon, Reggie, Charles, Jam, Jill and Ner. Special thanks also to TMS for the cute birthday card above ;)

Tomorrow is Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor), a national holiday which commemorates the fall of Bataan. The now familiar April 9 theme of valor, gallantry and heroism is really a sham. Why do we insist on remembering how our fathers died fighting for a cause that wasn’t their own, only to be betrayed years later by the same ally they swore to fight for?
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I know I know the default theme sucks. One thing at a time ok? First we upgraded to 1.5. I’m still shopping around for a worthy theme: minimalist, usable!

Update:
Just tried out the White as Milk theme (no pun intended) designed by Azeem Azeez. What do you think? Is it minimalist enough?