Lakers in the Finals

I've never been much of a basketball fan. If and when I watch a game, I'd be hanging on to every word from the announcer so I can keep up with what's happening. I'd hear a referee's whistle and he'd make those gestures and it's all the same for me.

But recently, I've been following the progress of the Western Conference Playoffs. (I don't even know if I said it correctly.) Anyway, it became more exciting for me since I've started betting on the games. Actually, since I don't have a team and I really wouldn't know which team to choose, I let people bet on who they want and I'd be cheering for the other side, the team no one wouldn't want to bet on. Sounds crazy but it's been great so far. Spurs vs Lakers Game 4 was pivotal as a lot of people bet on the Spurs but Lakers won. Ergo, I won.

What's disappointing though. From the lines I've seen, Spurs was the underdog and given +8. Before the start of the game, the line went down to +7 or +7.5. The final score was Lakers ahead by exactly 8. The last shot by Sasha Vujacic changed the outcome for a whole lot of gamblers. Everyone who was watching the game knew it was in the bag for Lakers so there was no need to take the shot but I think that last shot was for the gamblers. Or it might be for the free tacos the audience will get if Lakers pass 100pts while keeping the opponent under 100pts. Or it might be out of inexperience on Sasha's part. Or it might be that they were just so damn happy. Whatever the reason is, I can't wait for the Finals!

Moving Out II

The expiration of my lease is getting closer and closer and we still do not have a new place to move to. At this rate, I'd be homeless in approximately 4 weeks.

When we do get a new place, it'll be awesome. I've lived alone for the longest time and I'm longing to talk to actual people.

But first things first. We have to at least decide who we're living with and what we're renting.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Apparently, everyone does. As mentioned in a previous post, there’s already the http://myfirstonemillionpesos.wordpress.com/. I’ve recently stumbled on another site with the same goal but with a little variation, http://pathtomillion.wordpress.com/. Everyone seems to have been bitten by this million peso bug. This really is a good idea and it provides healthy competition to everyone involved.

I might as well try it myself. I’ll do it through playing poker and it’ll be logged in my other blog http://finaltabledonkey.blogspot.com/. If I’m unable to reach a million faster than the other bloggers, I’m sure I will have a fighting chance at least.

If Chris “Jesus” Ferguson has the $0 to $10,000 challenge, this will be my $0 to $23,386 challenge (based on $1 = Php42.76 exchange rate).

This will be the last time I write about this on this blog. Everything about this will be written on my poker blog.

The Tricycle Schmicycle Boycott Movement

I'm an active member of Tricycle Schmicycle Boycott Movement. This movement is intent on destroying the tricycle industry by not riding tricycles. These are the reasons why this movement was founded.

• Tricycles contribute to noise pollution
• Tricycles add to the air pollution
• They overcharge (P13 for the length of 2 blocks?!?!)
• They support laziness (You have feet, use them)
• There are way too many of them (I think we have 2000 tricycles in the Katipunan area)
• They add to the traffic volume
• They're a pest to other drivers
• They're an eyesore

and

• They wear their jackets backwards

If we didn't have tricycles then the gas prices probably won't be as expensive (supply and demand and all that crap). It would be more peaceful. People would be healthier. There would be less traffic accidents. There would be more space on the road for other vehicles (or vendors or pedestrians)

Note:Currently the Tricycle Schmicycle Boycott Movement is one-man strong. But I'm hoping to get more support. Membership is free.

Moving Out

This week, my college friend and I will be looking for new place to live. I've been living in One Burgundy Plaza in Katipunan for 3 years now and it's where a bulk of my salary goes. I've spent Php 336, 000 on rent for 3 years! In retrospect my money could've been spent somewhere else. Though rent is not the only major expense I have. I've also spent Php 94,000 on taxi fare since Dec 2006. I know! I don't have discipline.

But this new experience will be great. I've never had a housemate before and I'm sure it would at least get rid of those days when I'd literally not speak for 2 days. It would also force me to clean up after myself more. I'm a pig when it comes to house cleanliness but hopefully having a housemate will change all that. I'm sure it'll prepare me for the eventuality of sharing a home with my future family.

Downside is that I will also be forced to wear clothes while walking around the house but I guess that's a sacrifice I have to take.

Same old same old...

I read a quote in a newspaper article once... "Are you living 1000 days or the same day 1000 times?" The article didn't mention who said it but the question has been on my mind since.

I actually realized that in my case, it's the latter but I didn't know to what extent until I stumbled upon my old blog in MySpace. The blog entris were 4 years old but they have the same sentiments as I do right now. Which makes me wonder, what have I done to make my life better? Well apparently I didn't do anything all that significant which led me here with the same old same old.

It would probably be a good time to consider this as a wake up call and change everything the way it happens in movies or books. But it's going to be hard. I'm in too deep and I've probably dug this hole deeper than what I can climb out of.

A thousand days from now, one of two things will happen, I'll stumble upon this blog and say the same things over or I'll read this entry and think this started me on the right path. I'm hoping it's the latter.

Hi I'm Ross and I'm a Workaholic... II

Now that I was able to get enough sleep, let me expound on my last post.

I work in eTelecare, a call center in the Philippines. I started as an agent and after 2 1/2 years of taking calls, I was promoted to a team lead.

When I was an agent, we were given tasks by our direct supervisors. These tasks are normally their tasks but as is the practice in the company, we normally "help out" with our boss's tasks. This doesn't happen only to agents. The team leads are assigned tasks for the managers, the managers are assigned tasks for the directors...

It's a bad habit but everyone has gotten used to it that no one actually minds. There was an initiative before which asked everyone to focus on their job description but after a few weeks, things were back to the way they used to be. No one actually wanted to let go of the tasks assigned to them.

This includes me. I am tasked to maintain the program's roster and to assign the schedules to the agents. This is normally done by the managers but as mentioned above, the team leads do it. These tasks alone were not the reason I stayed in the office for mre than 32 hours. Of course, I still had other things to do. The main reason why I had to stay in the office for that long was because I was on leave for 2 days. The work will just ile up if I'm not there and no one else is going to do them so I had to finish everything before I left. That's the main reason I stayed so long.

It's an absurd situation. It's never ideal to have employees stay for more than their normal work hours. But this is for my future and I need to work hard.

Hi I'm Ross and I'm a Workaholic...

Hi Ross...

I arrived in the office 10pm of Wednesday. I left 6:30am of friday. Nuff said...