I am passionately promoting blogging to my marketing friends, and halfway through in one those discussions I was asked: Where's your blog? So naturally I give them the url of this blog. I have other blogs for personal keep and with a different audience. But for everyone's safety, let's settle for tortured squid. (I doubt if they'd still appreciate me if I give them something straight from my mind anyway. Like other people, I am distorted by nature.)

So what is tortured squid about?

It is a blog about concepts that interest me.

At the back of my mind I was quickly realizing how vague an answer that is. There, in the middle of the outline I was giving them, was a tip on focus. FOCUS. There're so many blogs in the world. There's a whole ocean of ideas out there--what makes you think anyone will just read you?

So I say, okay. It's about ideas that matter--or sell, in the literal sense of the word. They give me a blank stare. The hardest to convince are the ones who know you best.

Perhaps I should convince myself first.

My friend who works as manager for an IT company accidentally received a missent mail from his foreign boss. In the mail the boss was explaining to another foreigner his working relationship with the Filipino team and how horrible it was to have to explain everything to them because "Filipinos just don't get it." I know my friend and I'm familiar with the Filipinos she's working with and I don't see any reason why the boss jumped into such racist generalizations. Not that I really care about their company, but sometimes things like this make me question my self worth as a Filipino providing labor for a foreign company. True, the pay is much bigger than working with local companies, but how exactly are we treated?

I am saying this in a broader perspective, though personally I'm lucky to have been in business with some educated people who appreciate and understand the real sense of the deal.

There are people who equate outsourcing with employing machines to bring in massive production. For them, third world countries (I don't necessarily agree with the nomenclature) such as the Philippines may not have the same labor standards as in the US, but they provide extraordinarily cheap labor that they make the whole decision real easy for the outsourcing client.

I do not claim that we are superior or even at par with US labor. No, we don't have the requirements for that yet. Education, for example, is still substandard, and though we're equipped with a pool of talented and promising individuals, we still lack the technical training and expertise to compete with giants. But outsourcing is a constant work in progress. We're new in this industry, but we've had dramatic technical progress ever since. The fact that outsourcing is still here and booming in fact is proof enough that it is a sensible option--even more than just a sensible option. But for outsourcing to grow more, the outsourcer and provider should work hand in hand to help each other. This can be done in the form of education, transfer of information, trainings, etc.

More importantly, there is something that parties shall strive to achieve in every outsourcing deal: a partnership. The ideal outsourcing package is one that is not taken only as a last recourse. This brings to all parties the real satisfaction out of the relationship. Service providers, Filipinos in this case, must be willing to provide the best of all service, not really because the client is foreign or anything, but because as party to a service agreement, they are required to deliver nothing but the best. The outsourcing client, on the other hand, is required to keep their other end of the agreement and must be willing to provide the support needed to make the deal successful simply because they're part of the deal and that's what they're supposed to do. Problems should be dealt with utmost objectivity, and race should never be blamed should certain things don't work out.

How exactly do you market your company if your marketing budget is very low or even zero?

Kathy Siera over at Headrush gives us her top-of-the-head ideas:

1. Instead of hiring a creative, award-winning advertising designer, hire a creative, user-focused product designer.
2. Conduct field trips for employees instead of creating very expensive focus groups to understand the customers better.
3. Create training articles in lieu of print ads.
4. etc, etc. Read here for the full article.

Let me add some tips to make the whole solution work out:

1. Nail the traditional marketing guy -- If the guy tells you he cannot do marketing with such ridiculously low budget, either the guy is old school or he is just not smart enough to do the magic needed.

2. Keep a network of evangelists. Evangelists are, as the word suggests, heralds. They spread the word around without you paying them to do it. The key is to satisfy your customers. Make them happy. Communicate with them. Know what they want. If they're happy, they'll return to you--and not only that. They will bring with them potential customers.

3. Think out of the box. Surprise people.

There are cheap ways to doing really great things. The ideas are there, inside that shell of yours. You only need to dig a little.

Responding to an ad we posted at Sunstar (a local daily) last Sunday, a very enterprising guy wrote us a letter detailing his services, none of which corresponded to any of the positions we advertised for:

sir/madam:

i am offering your prestigious company my services for your company events like christmas parties etc. my services are choreography, massage therapy, and pc repairs/maintenance. i am hoping that you can consider my services and avail of it this holiday season. i can teach you some of my techniques in my dance lessons while you can relax with my massage therapy sessions. you can contact me anytime through xxxxx*.

thank you very much for your time.

xxxxxx

This is not entirely new (even for web design/development companies like us), as I've encountered a zillion times people applying for positions which are too far out from what they really should do. Nurses who have no experience in codes whatsoever applying as web developers just because they've surfed the internet. Auditors applying as web project managers just because they've been managers in banks. Or gym instructors applying as SEO specialists for reasons I can't quite fathom.

But there's something really interesting about the guy as I can obviously see in his letter. Imagine someone who can teach you tango or ballet and fix your computer at the same time. And not only that. He can do massage therapy for you too. Isn't that cool?

The guy is so brilliant he got me to thinking some new ideas for the office. For example:

a web developer who is really a nurse - those lonely geeks working on very long and boring codes need rescue close by. i'm pretty sure they're prone to heart attacks.

an artist who is really a gigolo - artists shouldn't spend their entire lives working on websites. to start with, how about some pole dancing?

a project manager who is really a gym instructor - night-shift people have this tendency to balloon, mostly because of poor sleep habits. it's good to work night time, believe me. with the street free and all, who would want to go on dayshift? just add the aerobics workshop and it will be heaven.

*I've purposely withheld the guy's name and phone number, for reasons which I know are obvious to everyone.

Clee Villasor's eight glowing rules to breathe life into something dull and boring:

1. Take your best pictures; the exact opposite of objective POVs.
2. Download images and open choosen one in Photoshop CS2.
3. etc, etc. (See his blog to read the full entry.)

The result, Draconic Sunset a la Pina Colada:



::CV definitely kicks some ass. I'm not speaking only about those two images above. It's his portfolio that makes me wow with wonder. How can these guys be so cool at what they do?

>>btw, thnks, Niel, for cropping the pic.

I wanted to change the credit card details on my Yahoo premium service so I logged in, went to my personal Account Information page, and found the "Manage my premium services" link. I clicked on the link, and, to my incandescent suprise, this page came out:




What is this? A 404 notice? On the billing page? This is, obviously, a 404.

I was aware that Yahoo is nuts, but just how nuts exactly, I didn't realize til now. Of all places to suck, why the billing page? I mean, that's how they're supposed to get their money, right?

I am working for a cool web design/dev company called PODD Corp. That's short for Philippine Offshore Design & Development. Our company is based in Cebu City, a small IT city off the middle region of a country called the Philippines, at the heart of the mighty old Pacific.

I will not be singing high tunes about the company here so as not to risk coming off too forward in marketing, but I tell you we make good stuff. And if you're interested, visit www.poddcorp.com.

There. Ain't it good to have a blog. You can plug in advertisements and talk about what you're selling without being asked to pay for it. Can you do that on TV? Of course, you can't.

Anyways, going back...Here are some things about me, the entity behind the squid's face.

1. There was a time I was called "sweety" by a client, and I definitely hated that. You can call me names, but never "sweety". As a woman, I find that very degrading.
2. I am extremely workaholic. By that I mean I literally sleep on the office, work 14-18 hours per day, and even dream about work stuff while I sleep.
3. That doesn't mean I am inept or very poor in managing my time. It's just that there are people who are addicted to work and I'm definitely one of those.
4. I hate idleness. I'm used to working for two jobs while managing home at the same time. Seeing people who spend lots of time sleeping or watching TV makes me wanna puke.
5. I have a poor social life. I have lots of friends, but I don't get the chance to hang out with them anymore.
6. I like drinking beer. I am the kind who gets really silly when drunk, but I still drink anyway.
7. I used to play philosophical, like to the books. Well, I still do.
8. My ym name is fantastic_realism. For artists, am sure you know what that means.
9. Reality is hard to face with its complications and all, so some people embrace the unreal and find solace there. I'm one of these people. I am fascinated with online identities. In fact I have 3 or 4 of them, Fantastic_realism being one.
9. I am often misunderstood. But I like that. That means people are trying to understand me and they just can't. I think it's a whole lot better than being given the cold shoulder.
10. I will write more about myself soon.

I chanced upon Natasha Gudermane's blog after browsing several creative photography blogs, in search for inspiration for a new project. I was mesmerized. What I found was an art so pure, effortless, lingering. She didn't have to write anything. I declare myself defeated. Some people are just born with it.

I'm not supposed to blog this here as I've vowed to write only good stuff about my country, but hell. I didn't know radicals (see related article here ) are now using SEO to fight Arroyo (the republic's president, if you don't know).

Enter the quoted words below and Google will provide you with the most interesting results:

"pekeng pangulo" (fake president) - the official website of the president
"sinungaling" (liar) - Pres. secretary Bunye's profile
"sira ulo" (lunatic) - the Department of Justice's official site

A month ago I and the rest of the office folks went for a vacation in San Remigio, Bogo, an idyllic fishing village with clear blue water, lots of fresh air, and wonderful people. A company visitor had this camera and requested me to take pictures of the people as they were not so comfortable posing for him. I took some pics; 2 of them, raw and unphotoshopped, are below.


::I forgot his name, but I called him Manong, the very Cebuano way of paying respect for elders. Like all other fishermen in his tiny village, Manong's way of life is very predictable. Every day he'd wake up as early as 3 am, set out to the sea, go back at 6 am, to the wife and children awaiting for him at the coast. They would start sorting out the catch, and at 7 to 8 am, the children would go around the village selling the fishes. A kilo would cost about P30 to P50, depending on the fish. About 50 cents to a dollar US conversion.


::Jen was among a group of kids I saw picking shells on the beach early morning while I was walking around. She said she'd sell the shells for a few pesos after cleaning them out. She's about 7 or 8, probably in 2nd grade.

After the gruelling and taxing virtual way of life in the office, the horrible deadlines and the faceless email identities with so many demands that we had to meet, it was a comfort to finally come around to reality and relax a bit. I've always despised the simple because I thought they were boring. But seeing the people in Bogo and their laid-back existence, their genuine and incandescent peace, their infectious happiness, got me rethinking. Maybe I was wrong.

Yesterday I met my friend M, a goofy ex-guy from college who is now the operations manager of an IT company in Manila. I assumed before meeting him that he did some surgery on his face, but just exactly how deep, I didn't know. Until I saw him. M wasn't really cute and he was gay okay, and I have no problem with surgery whatsoever. So I won't comment either positively or negatively. Except that he looks like Aji's painting below:

Hehehe. Peace!

Anyways, we talked about lots of old stuff. I won't share with you the conversation as it was entirely silly, but there's this bit that's pretty useful.

This has got to do with Businessbeanstalk's blog entry on Nov. 13, 2005. It is true that most call centers in Cebu and in Manila use security cameras to monitor employees' activities and to help regulate sleeping in the work area. In Cebu, some companies (right, and I just have one exactly in mind), they pay supervisors to roam around workstations 24/7 just to check if people are still awake. Some companies have an entire IT team dedicated to monitoring computer activities of people.

All of which, are pretty weird, and useless, I told him. In the short run they may be effective, but in the long run, they may result in the opposite: general decline in productivity.

I think the key to solving the problem lies in identifying its cause. For example:

1. Is the employee working for another job at daytime? - If he is, then he is most likely to be unproductive at night.
2. Is the employee new? - Some companies try to adopt policies on "regulated naps" for new employees. Which means, they allow employees to take naps (as opposed to them doing it illegally), but place restrictions on time and frequency of the naps.
3. Does the employee like his job? - Go ask him. Employees (and by this I mean employees in general, including those on day shift) are most likely to slack when they don't like their jobs.
4. Is there enough motivation? - If the answer to the question is no, then perhaps you must discuss with your HR manager.
5. Is there enough coffee? - My advice is, keep a stock of all sorts of coffee in the pantry. Coffee is not so expensive, except if you order it from Starbucks, but it sure does wonders.

There. Nough said. Am off to work now.

As of today, host Philippines ranks number 1 in gold standing among 10 other competitors for the 23rd Southeast Asian Games being held in the country from November 25 to December 5, 2005. Participating countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Timor Leste.

Sepak Takraw, dancesports, pencak silat, judo, karatedo, and mountain bike competitions will be held in some cities in the Cebu province. Last week, most roads leading to USC and Waterfront were very busy and some areas had to be blocked from vehicles to give way to the coming delegates.

I didn't watch the opening ceremony, but they say it was spectacular. Dance troupes from different colleges and universities came dressed in the national costume of the countries they escorted, dancing to the Sinulog beat. The event was so remarkable that it wowed international mediamen and had organizers beaming with pride, calling it a successful test case for next year's ASEAN summit.

The event cost almost P 10M (and that's a lot by Philippine standards), P 4M of which, in fireworks alone. Some sectors were not so happy though. At least one has expressed his sentiment over what he called "extravagant spending" and a showoff, saying the city could have used the money to feed its hungry people. And no less than the Cardinal Vidal, the archbishop himself, said that.

Well...

Currently feeling: bwehehe

Good news!

We've teamed up with Drawing Board Creative Studios to launch this year's annual Toyphilia event, which will be held at Handuraw Cafe in Mabolo, Cebu City from December 5-11, 2005. For seven days, organizers will exhibit the most impressive toy collections from Cebuano toy hobbyists of all ages. There will be film showings, shops, poster-making contests (which will be toy related, of course--depending on what your idea of a toy is) and cool games. This is the first of its kind in Cebu and is expected to draw 70 to 100 people every day.

One of the highlights of the event is a poker game, which is an old-time favorite among Cebuanos. Your friendly poker barkada team will be there to hand out some nice gift items as well as introduce to the folks the online version of it. See you there!