Kingdom Thai: Minimalist Resto

If I am rich, I would probably go to different restaurants everyday just to be served with good food and be pampered at the same time ahihi! :D I just love doing it. I am fascinated with all the things that you can see in a restaurant: the interiors, food, waiters/waitresses, cook/s, including the people who eats there.

I consider going to the resto as such an exciting experience. You'll get to meet people and learn from design ideas that is unique for that place alone. Well, that should exclude the price! hehehe! Kingdom Thai in Angeles City is located right at the ground floor of Marlim Mansion. Food is delicious but the price is quite expensive for an employee like me =D Here are some of the pictures. Enjoy!

The price is giving a headache hehehe!

The interior is minimalist :)

Wonderful friends, Cleo and Wendel (He's my boss wehehe!)

Chilli Prawn! Love it! :) PhP 275.00 ($1 USD = PhP 48.oo)

Love the big vase over there.

Sony Ericsson K810i: My Phone

I am camera shy that's why I seldom get a photoshoot of myself. LOL! Kidding. Well, this was taken a few months ago using Sony Ericsson K810i camera cellphone. I always wanted to buy an SLR camera but I guess I need to do a really serious saving to I succeed. :)

I happened to see the pictures when I was browsing through tons of files in my computer. Hope I am not scaring you guys, hehe. :)



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Jocelyn "joc joc" Bolante and the Philippine Fertlizer Fund Scam

I just hope that all Filipinos know what's the real score about Jocelyn "Joc Joc" Bolante's involvement with the PhP 728 Million Fertilizer Fund Scam. He left the Philippines on December of 2005 due to this issue and just got back on October 28,2008.

It is sad to know that despite the fact that a lot of Filipinos are in deep financial distress, plagued by diseases, and homeless a lot of Philippine Government officials are continuously stealing from the government funds. I just can't imagine how they can stomach the fact that they feed their families with something they stole from the "people."

God bless you.

Equity in the Workplace: The Equity Theory

How do you know when you are not being treated fairly in the workplace? What are your basis and how do you make assumptions in your mind? Do you create your own values of what is fair and what is not or are you someone who just believe on what others have to say?

Stacy Adams, a behavioral psychologist, spearheaded a pioneering research on employee motivation about how individuals in an organization perceive equality in the workplace. He found out that each employee make his own personal calculation according to how much input (Time, Effort, Loyalty, Hard Work, Commitment, Ability, Adaptability, etc...) he puts on the job and how much outcome (somethings put on the job such as salary, employee benefit, expenses, recognition, reputation, responsibility, etc) and compare that to someone who he believes performs the same amount of input and outcome as he does. If any of the values are not the same, issue of inequality surface.

Equity equation
Picture taken from wikipedia

This is perhaps a valid view of how people view fairness in the workplace. But things are not usually expressed in numbers. People usually assign their own personal values about their own input and outcome to what others have to put on their respective jobs and arrive in a conclusion that all things are equal and inequality isn't happening in the workplace.

According to Adams, once an employee perceive inequality, he or usually resorts to any of these efforts:

1. alter inputs/outcome (for example: lowers amount of effort on the job)
2. distort input/outcome in the job (change the way he sees the situation and think that the other person is putting a lot than what he or she puts on the job).
3. demands increase in outcome (e.g. increase in salary or recognition, responsibility
4. terminate relationship (resignation or leave the organization)

Pretty nice thinking. Well, is that how you perceive equality in your workplace as well?

On Friends and Becoming a Bit Healthier

I am blessed with good friends and workmates. I was unhappy for the past few years at work but when I started working for another department, I regained that spark I once felt when I was just starting. Happiness at work usually depends on the people you work with and how you portray the character resting in you.

I feel that my going to the gym made me a little healthier. I am starting to see my face becoming rounder again and am becoming increasingly tolerant to stress. Unfortunately, I can only visit the gym 2 times or three times a week. :( With all the projects I am required to finish, I guess, visiting the gym frequently may not be possible.

Me and Cleo

Me, Cleo and Ethel

Massive Adaptation

What a week that was! I feel that I am so overwhelmed with all the tight deadlines I have at work. The toxicity of the corporate environment is starting to dawn on me. =( But despite of that, I feel that I am learning a lot and 24 hours is not enough to catch up with all the learning that I am required to do. =)

I submitted the initial draft of my leadership-related module to my reviewers which happened to be my managers as well just a few hours ago. I basically am not confident with what I have written but I hope that they will be able to provide recommendations as to the things that I need to improve on inasmuch as my writing style is concerned. Instructional design and creative writing absolutely requires different writing styles and standards.

I am not sure if I am just trying to push my self too hard about learning my work fast but I feel like I am not producing enough of what is expected of me. Although I make it a point that I am productive for that entire 9 hours of my work. I really am starting to fall in love with my work...

Discrimination of Fellow Asians

Discrimination was the topic of our discussion when we were having our lunch just this afternoon. Most of my friends usually go to Singapore to travel since that is one of the nearest Asian countries that you can visit from the Philippines and most affordable, too. And unfortunately, all of their horrible discrimination stories also happened in Singapore. A friend of mine who works in Malaysia who frequents Singapore also experienced the same thing, too, before.

I shouldn' be blogging this but I believe that the public should know how serious discrimination is to most people and we as humans should consider it a crime.

Discrimination affects all of us, not just the person who is being discriminated but the person who does the discrimination as well. When people discriminate, the person creates an identity towards the person who is being discriminated. This identity resonates through its nationality, its color and its education. This should explain why people of certain color, nationality, race or education are being branded for such act.

There are horrible tales and stories which I consider not fit for discussion here but these are just the same eating in a restaurant, buying in a supermarket, dress shop, etc., scenarios where the person is given less or virtually no attention at all they think that the person has no capacity to pay or something. So horrible.

I am sorry for venting but this is a social issue that we all must not take for granted since this concerns everybody. I just hope that these people be spared from the wrath of God. Listening to discrimination stories makes me really uncomfortable and angry. Do you guys have similar stories to tell about discrimination?