Browsing actually makes you more productive to a point ...

Here's an article sent to me by my sister to justify internet browsing at work. I agree to a point. It's addicting and if you don't know when to stop, it does become more of a hindrance than a help. So ... read on.

Facebook, YouTube at work make better employees: study
* Posted on - Thu Apr 2, 2009 10:13AM EDT
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Caught Twittering or on Facebook at work? It'll make you a better employee, according to an Australian study that shows surfing the Internet for fun during office hours increases productivity.

The University of Melbourne study showed that people who use the Internet for personal reasons at work are about 9 percent more productive that those who do not.

Study author Brent Coker, from the department of management and marketing, said "workplace Internet leisure browsing," or WILB, helped to sharpened workers' concentration.

"People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration," Coker said on the university's website (www.unimelb.edu.au/)

"Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the Internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days' work, and as a result, increased productivity," he said.

According to the study of 300 workers, 70 percent of people who use the Internet at work engage in WILB.

Among the most popular WILB activities are searching for information about products, reading online news sites, playing online games and watching videos on YouTube.

"Firms spend millions on software to block their employees from watching videos, using social networking sites or shopping online under the pretence that it costs millions in lost productivity," said Coker. "That's not always the case."

However, Coker said the study looked at people who browsed in moderation, or were on the Internet for less than 20 percent of their total time in the office.

"Those who behave with Internet addiction tendencies will have a lower productivity than those without," he said.

(Writing by Miral Fahmy; Editing by Valerie Lee)

Kun diin ka masaya

susuportahan ta ka.

Had a short IM conversation with my niece who is in a middle of a crossroad right now. She's hilarious when she's cynical. Anyway, I won't be translating the hiligaynon words. The conversation is better off without it. Just wanted to post it for posterity. I hope she doesn't read my blog LOL!

niece: Hey Tita
me: Hi k, waddup?
niece: News
me: Did u get in?
niece: Didn't pass. So i googled 'the test'. And read about all these other kids who didn’t pass so I’m pretty happy right now. Seriously, I did
me: wow
niece: I like to swallow other people's misery to diminish my own
me: hahaha. Their loss
niece: But im okay. i was expecting this already
me: Cge lang a, so what now? Stay with present course or move on to other things?
niece: BA lit sa Miami. I’m gonna shift! Actually, I wanted to try speech comm sa Diliman but tapos na ang application period. Anyway, ara ku sa lost period ku so my parents gave me another college talk kagina. And I bet we're gonna have another one this evening. I can feel it.
me: Hell, I was lost too. Anyway, You go with your heart a. You’ll find your niche sooner or later. Just hope its sooner than later LOL
niece: Don’t worry tita. May fall-back pa ku. Ma artista na lng ku. Hambal ni nong arnold
me: hahahaha. AWAT!
niece: Kung co-star ku mn lng si John Lloyd.................why not. But I’ll probably play his daughter or something
niece: kidding
me: hehehe. ok man lang na. with ur manipulative powers, u can convince him your something else
niece: ha-ha. Seriously, though. Daw lost ku subong. One thing's for sure. I do not want to be a doctor – nooooooooooooo.
me: It’s a start. Better to know what you don’t want than end up with "WTF was I thinking?"
niece: yeah. But i have to find something soon. Or else I'll have to marry
me: BWAHAHAHAHA
niece: para lang may masagod sakon
me: now that i s FUNNNNNY
niece: peru amu gd na bala gina-isip ku
me: maybe u should try being a commediane
niece: I mean, I've been hoping I don't have to marry. I wanna take care of myself and dote on my nieces and nephews
me: no worries. 1. You don’t have nephews and nieces yet. 2. You can start with just selling your drawings. I tell u, they're good
niece: Maybe. Anyway, I still have a lot of thinking to do
me: gotta get back to work now. Just nod a lot when ur parents start talking to u? LOL. Thats what i did
niece: I say stuff to when they're not talking
niece: anyway, cge tita. bye
me: bye

The negation of self

I was cleaning the closet today and while trying doubly hard to accept that I can no longer fit in my favorite clothes, with grief I folded them and surrendered them as hand-me-downs to the next generation. I kept them because I believed that I would one day lose weight and surprise myself. But today, I decided that should I ever lose the weight I've been planning to lose, I will just buy new clothes. When did I decided on the new clothes? It was when I realized I am having difficulty losing the weight.

The train of thought went on to other things. I used to wear jewelry - earrings, mostly - and a rare occasion for bracelets and necklaces and even rings. I can't remember when I stopped wearing jewelry but I know while I could still be comfortable with earrings, I would limit wearing other jewelry to occasions where I must/I should/I am expected wear one. I stopped wearing jewelry, I think, because I couldn't really afford the real ones. And the fakes were just ... well, too fake. So I guess I decided I'm better off without them.

I used to wear a watch. When my mother's watch broke, I decided I didn't need a new one since the cellphone tells me the time anyway.

And this brought a terrible thought. When did I decide that I didn't need a husband? Maybe when they guy I was with wasn't "the one". And the guy I wanted cannot be "the one"? Maybe because I realized that Atticus Finch will always be a fictional character and will never cross over to real life. That "the one" does not really exist. And I decided that I'd rather be friends with men than marry a person who is not "the one"?

Is this the negation of self?

Now this contradicts the "Secret Theory". That the world moves with the laws of attraction. Since I've been negating myself of things I used to love, it is the reason why they don't come to me. Hmmmm.

I need an attitude change. I should never deny anything that I want or I will never get them. Ask. Answer. Receive. That's the secret.

So I'm taking everything back. I do will lse weight, I do love jewelry and fancy a Timex, and yes, I would love to marry a guy like Atticus Finch :) Hahaha. So much for attitude.

Heavy!

I seem to be spending more time with friends lately. Went out Saturday to a kids birthday party (with Tinkerbell) and spent the evening catching up with my Catholic buddies who I love dearly for not judging me for giving up religion :)

We spent the night watching the younger generations hobknob (It was a graduation night) with their friends. One thing we agreed that changed when we were their age - girls, wear dresses. I don't know if they did this every night but making me wear a dress at that age was like pulling teeth. Anyway, that was a welcome break from an upcoming busy week.

On April 1, a friend and I decided to spend April Fool's together. The day was not significant to us but I thought I should mention it because ... well, we are in one way or another, "fools" or something like that. So I guess that made us April Fools - and I don't mean that in a bad way ;)

We had sandwiches at the Amigo lobby resto, with huge helpings of 'Death By Chocolate" on the side. We also had native hot choco - yummmmmmm - which was probably the reason why we ended up talking for five hours. Was it not a working day, we would've stayed a bit longer but I've been lacking sleep from asthma attacks lately and hot, hot choco will not go well with my steroid meds. Plus I've gained a total of 6 kilos since 2006. NOT GOOD!

Our talks ranged from past loves, to present loves, to raising kids, to difficult parents and work. My friend was ... is a poet. I've known her for most of my adult life and yet I didn't know this part of her. She willingly shared with me thoughts she wrote and I'm so happy to know that she is finding herself at last and has started to write again.

We analyzed love and duty in all its intricacies. We shared words, that turned into ideas and later convictions. She had questions. Lots of it. And I tried to help with answers but ended up asking more questions. Which wasn't so bad at all. I miss talks like this. And I'm glad we had this night out.

As a final thought, let me quote something I copied from my april fool's buddy ... and I really love this. Something to think about when you have nothing else to do :)

... have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

Rainer Maria Rilke, 1903
in Letters to a Young Poet

Ganda no?

Amen.

Falling Slowly

My sister has a knack for picking stuff on You Tube. Here's her latest find. Stayed up late and watched the movie twice.

It's called Once, an Irish independent film with a shoestring budget and humble beginnings with great songs that catapulted itself to the Oscars. "Falling Slowly" won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Original Song. The soundtrack was nominated for two 2008 Grammy Awards, under Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media and, for "Falling Slowly", Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. It won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Music, and it was ranked at number two on the Entertainment Weekly 25 New Classic Soundtrack Albums list (1983–2008).

Must watch :) Must hear song too. :)



Falling Slowly Lyrics by Glen Hansard/marketa Irglova
Soundtrack: Once

I don’t know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can’t react
And games that never amount
To more than they’re meant
Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We’ve still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice
You’ve made it now

Falling slowly, eyes that know me
And I can’t go back
Moods that take me and erase me
And I’m painted black
You have suffered enough
And warred with yourself
It’s time that you won

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We’ve still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You’ve made it now

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We’ve still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You’ve made it now
Falling slowly sing your melody
I’ll sing along

Self-Portrait Again

Finished in 6 hours using line art and vector. More calls are coming in, no laid out schedules yet but I think it's going to be a very busy summer.


Portrait Update by ~ilongga70 on deviantART

dr manhattan vs. dense women

I had a very long week and I felt I needed to put a period to my long week. So after my last meeting Saturday, my gal pal and I headed for the mall to watch movies. One guy and one chick flick.

Watchmen. Um, so ... I didn't get it - bwahaha! My older and younger brothers were comic buffs. I wasn't but I did get to read the stuff they would bring home. Graphic novels- they call it. I think I remember Watchmen somewhere between all the Captain America, Justice League and X-men lying around or hidden in boxes. So I thought that watching the movie would be very much appreciated. Right? NOT! For the life of me, I don't get it. Halfway through it, I wanted to walk out and ask for my 85 pesos back. Maybe it's just for the comic enthusiasts? Maybe it was really bad acting? And equally bad costumes (Did they really look that 1985 when I read them?) The effects were kind cool though but can't quite make-up for how I was counting the minutes until it was over. I wasn't amused by the gore. Or the sexy scenes. Or the blue penis. Yup, parents, there is a penis in there somewhere so maybe you should see it before you let your kids watch it. So had a text conversation with my baby brother who was a Watchmen fan:

me: What were you thinking? (He recommended it!)
him: What do you mean?
me: I don't get it and I'm halfway through.
him: It's not supposed to make sense until the end. There's a latin phrase that sums up the whole story. Quis Custode Ipsos Custodiet. It means, who watches the watchmen.

Leave it to my brother to remember a Latin phrase from a comic book. So duh, I felt really dumb. The elaborate plan was just to stop the two world powers from wiping each other out from the face of the earth. So ... what? Hahaha! No, I didn't like it.




He's just that not into you. Perfect end to a long week. Good thing it was the 2nd movie we watched. We needed to recover from Watchmen. The plot was simple, it was just stating the obvious. The gist: If the guy in interested in a girl, he would do something about it. Not rocket science. Not quantum physics nor the hullabaloo of psycho-spiritual ek-ek. The statement is repeated in the movie several times. Maybe women just need to hear it over and over again? Hahaha. Had a good laugh. I especially liked the reference to Watts and Eric Stolz. And the myspace Drew Barrymore phone call was just hilarious.

So here's a question to the guys reading this blog: How would a girl know that you are just not into them? Any signs? Any advice?

Sometimes I think more like a guy. I blame it on the Crow. I think he completely changed the way I see men - hahaha. Quoting Gloria Steinem again - Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry. Hehehe. AH Men!

Virtual Reality

This is soooo cool!

World Builder



There are no limits to imagination. But it is best illuminated with emotion.

I love artists, in whatever medium they illuminate passion :)

The Man Who Can't Be Moved

Was watching TV today and they played a video of the UAAP Games with this song as background. Fell in-love with the song. And now I can't get it off my head. Love it. Love it. Love it. From the band called "The Script", listen to The Man Who Can't be Moved (you tube video on link).

The Man Who Can't Be Moved - The Script

Going back to the corner where I first saw you,
Gonna camp in my sleeping bag I'm not gonna move,
Got some words on cardboard got your picture in my hand,
Saying if you see this girl can you tell her where I am,
Some try to hand me money they don't understand,
I'm not...broke I'm just a broken hearted man,
I know it makes no sense, but what else can I do,
How can I move on when I'm still in love with you...

Cos if one day you wake up and find that you're missing me,
And your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I can be,
Thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet,
And you'd see me waiting for you on the corner of the street.

So I'm not moving...
I'm not moving.

Policeman says son you can't stay here,
I said there's someone I'm waiting for if it's a day, a month, a year,
Gotta stand my ground even if it rains or snows,
If she changes her mind this is the first place she will go.

Cos if one day you wake up and find that you're missing me,
And your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I can be,
Thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet,
And you'd see me waiting for you on the corner of the street.

So I'm not moving...
I'm not moving.

I'm not moving...
I'm not moving.

People talk about the guy
Who's waiting on a girl...
Oohoohwoo
There are no holes in his shoes
But a big hole in his world...
Hmmmm

and maybe I'll get famous as man who can't be moved,
And maybe you won't mean to but you'll see me on the news,
And you'll come running to the corner...
Cos you'll know it's just for you

I'm the man who can't be moved
I'm the man who can't be moved...

Cos if one day you wake up and find that you're missing me,
And your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I can be,
Thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet,
And you'd see me waiting for you on the corner of the street.
[Repeat in background]

So I'm not moving...
I'm not moving.

I'm not moving...
I'm not moving.

Going back to the corner where I first saw you,
Gonna camp in my sleeping bag not I'm not gonna move.

Found inspiration in Gloria Steinem

Saw her in Oprah today and just had to google her. Been reading her work and I like her a lot. Some quotes from her:

The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.

If the shoe doesn't fit, must we change the foot?

The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.

Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself.

Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.

Law and justice are not always the same. When they aren't, destroying the law may be the first step toward changing it.

We've begun to raise daughters more like sons... but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters.

We know that we can do what men can do, but we still don't know that men can do what women can do. That's absolutely crucial. We can't go on doing two jobs.

I don't breed well in captivity.

Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry.

Most women are one man away from welfare.

A liberated woman is one who has sex before marriage and a job after.

Women may be the one group that grows more radical with age.

Someone asked me why women don't gamble as much as men do, and I gave the commonsensical reply that we don't have as much money. That was a true and incomplete answer. In fact, women's total instinct for gambling is satisfied by marriage.

Happy or unhappy, families are all mysterious. We have only to imagine how differently we would be described -- and will be, after our deaths -- by each of the family members who believe they know us.

A woman reading Playboy feels a little like a Jew reading a Nazi manual.

Planning ahead is a measure of class. The rich and even the middle class plan for future generations, but the poor can plan ahead only a few weeks or days.

Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else.

The only thing I can't stand is discomfort.

Evil is obvious only in retrospect.

Spectacles

Went to SM Delgado on my lunch hour yesterday to pay for my Globe Plan. On the way back, I dropped by the department store and stopped at the men's eyewear section. I like buying those cheap plastic prescription glasses they have there. Plastics are lighter to wear than wire-rimmed ones. And since they are cheap, I buy two or three to match with clothes - haha. Fashionista Wanna be! Who knew?

Anyway, saw this BYJ eyeglasses I wanted (so called because I saw him wear something like it several times) but they didn't have one with my prescription. I saw a cute brown one with weird stripes which I like that has my prescription. But decided against buying it because I really wanted the BYJ glasses.



So headed back to work with my old eyeglasses habitually perched on my hair like a headband. When I crossed the street, I decided to open my umbrella because it was super hot, and hit my head, and dropped the old eyeglasses. A passing jeepney crushed it to pieces. Sigh. I favored that pair pa naman.

But I now have an excuse to buy those stripped brown eyeglasses again :) Teehee! Wonder where I can get those BYJ glasses with my prescription on it. Hmmmm.

Sometimes, I'm so babaw, I amaze myself - hahaha.