Experiencing Life in Iloilo: WORKATION!

Hello reader/traveler/blogger/adventurer/explorer/commentator/add-whatsoever-you-like!

You're here because ILOILO?
Or you're here because WHY NOT?!

Thank you for skimming my experiences! But if not, glad you're reading my blog!

Since you're here because of something, I would not going to tell you any bizarre details about my trip. Let's sum this up!

Being in Iloilo is a pretty cool experience to have, but spending ten days there? A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

You heard me right, err, I meant, you read it right! I spent ten amazing days in Iloilo! Not for vacation but for work. Sorry bro.

So I had a workation in Iloilo for ten amazing days provided by our good client. Awesome right?

What is a workation?

Lemme educate you!

Workation is something like having a vacation (could randomly, partially, depends on your time, on your company's decision, etc.) while doing your work. Or if you're not satisfied with my very informal meaning:

Workation a paid work trip that can be combined with aspects of taking a vacation.

Have you read how awesome workation was?

Okay. Breathe in. Breathe out. I am really excited to tell you what I'd done while I was ten days away from Manila! (Yes! Away from Manila, you know what I mean right?).

We stayed at Injap Tower Hotel located at the heart of Mandurriao, Iloilo City. We stayed there for eleven nights and ten days. Our flight was delayed (but of course, it is always delayed). We arrived there at 3:07PM.

I took a picture right when we arrived at Iloilo Airport. All black. Ewww.

We called first our contact person in Iloilo so he can pick us up from airport to our hotel room. But there was a little miscommunication between our main office branch and the Iloilo branch so he cannot pick us up there. Taxi fare is quite expensive so we wait for a public van that will take us to Mandurriao.

We arrived at Mandurriao at 5:17PM and our contact person met us in front of SM Iloilo. He explained that he was not informed of us coming over in Iloilo on that very day (Like, really? You didn't know guys? SURPRISE!)

We never knew that our hotel will be just in front of SM Iloilo which is super accessible! Imagine, you'll just have to go across the bridge and there you go!

This is the Injap Tower Hotel, arguably the tallest hotel located in Mandurriao. I never knew their rates because the company paid for our stay. But if you want to check their rates, you can go directly to their website or call their hotline.

As I have told you, the hotel is just in front of SM Iloilo so this is what you can see when you view it from our hotel room:

The staff are very accommodating. They can speak Tagalog, Ilonggo and English fluently! They have some foreign and local guests but they can manage to speak according to whom they are talking to. I consider someone who knows how to speak their dialect, and speaking English and Tagalog a trilingual person. I only know two languages, which of course, you already know what they are. I cannot understand Ilonggo completely so I consider it as another form of language rather a dialect. Congrats if you know three languages! You already!

I haven't taken a picture of their lobby as I always forgot to take a shot. But if you will let me describe that, it was just so simple and relaxing. Their theme color is green, of course. When you enter the lobby, you will see the admin at the right and a sofa on the left. One long sofa and two little ones on the opposite side. A center table (glass) with a flower vase on the middle. They also have a mirror and an antique decoration beside the table.

I got a picture on Google on how the lobby looks like:

The ground floor has also a 7-eleven store so if you want to buy something, it is always convenient.

Our room was located on the 15th floor. I always have this excitement whenever I enter a hotel room because I wonder how they arrange the interior design. So when the staff opened the room, we were shocked seeing the inside.

We were like, "What! It's cute!"

We entered our hotel room and explored it. It was really small if you are going to stay with your family or a maximum of four people. Each room has two beds, one single size and one queen size, fit for three people. 

If you are going to view the hotel against the window, it will look like this (don't mind my face, tho). When you first enter the hotel, you will see the closet on the right side (left side of the picture above). The bathroom is on the right side (viewing from this picture). Beside the closet is the mini kitchen.

Since I did not have taken any good pictures individually (I got an Instagram but I was not active that time, and yes I regretted it for months!), here is another point of view seeing the whole hotel room (via Google).

What is inside the room:

1. Closet (with hangers and hanging rod, four drawers)

2. Bathroom (cold/hot shower and everyday supply of toiletries)

3. Mini kitchen (with mini fridge, free use of microwave oven, free bottled water)

4. Bedroom (one queen side bed, one single size bed, thick comforters, telephone)

5. Mini table (table with chair)

What you can enjoy inside the room:

1. Hot/cold showers

2. 64-inch TV with cable channel

3. Airconditioned room

4. Wi-fi (you need to accept access to Injap Tower Admin via your browser before accessing the internet fully)

5. Mini-fridge and microwave oven free of charge when using

6. Everyday supply of toiletries

7. Everyday changing of bedsheets and towels

8. Supply of free bottled water

9. Free coffee

10. Free use of coffee cups

I enjoyed all of this additional services a lot for FREEEEEEEEEE!

These are the toiletries we received during our 10-day stay in the hotel. The pouch contains:

1. Lotion

2. Conditioner

3. Shampoo

4. Toothbrush

5. Toothpaste

6. Shaving razor

7. Shaving cream

8. Cotton buds

Unfortunately, I haven't taken a picture of the complete stuff inside the pouch but I had taken this pic because it was so effin' cute!

MINI TOOTHPASTE!

Oh,before I forgot, this picture is also such a cutesy!

The beer cans were not free, only the coffee. Also, there were beer cans sold in 7-eleven for half the price offered here.

My friend took a pic of me from the window view of the hotel where you can see SM Iloilo.

So what's our first dinner on our first night?

Here it is!

I am sorry for the not-really-good-foodie-picture-taking. I regretted for not being an Instagram fan back then. Anyways, we bought it at a restaurant in Plazuela de Iloilo. It is located beside SM Iloilo. I forgot the name of the restaurant but it has a nice ambiance. The first picture is their famous baby back ribs. It costs around Php100.00 The second one was made with pork but I forgot what dish was that (my friend's order). It also costs Php100.00.

Me taking a pic inside the restaurant. They had this huge old photographs of old artists (I am not sure if they were old, dead, or not).

Next day, Sunday. A good look outside the window!

DAY 1!!!!

We attended church mass at 6:00PM in Jaro Cathedral.

This was where Senator Grace Poe found by her parents. The thing was, the mass was spoken in Ilonggo so we didn't catch exactly the whole sermon. But, the traditional mass was also the same here in Manila, so we kind of go with the mass flow.

Before going back to hotel, we went to Jaro Plaza. The place was crowded and there were a lt of different dish sold.

These are chicken barbecues sold in the plaza. These barbecues were stuck in a bamboo pole and serves as a tool to hold the barbecues. This is quite an impressive idea as it becomes an attraction to people to try them out. Like, "Oh look! Barbecues stuck on the pole!"

Exploring more the Plazuela de Iloilo, it was more like a common plaza here in Manila. With random displays every month or season, bazaars, fountain and restaurants, it's a place to relax too! The difference? Less people, less pollution.

Traffic? This is what I'm talking about!

You want to know what was my job back then? Okay. So, I worked in Iloilo for ten days as a Promotions Assistant. The job description was I need to promote the newly opened mall by giving out gift certificates to Iloilo residents. I was assigned to work in a certain gas station where I need to give out gift checks once they gas in. Since I didn't know how to speak Ilonggo, it was very hard to explain the use of those gift checks. So, some of the employees in the gas station helped me in explaining the use of gift checks to customers. There were foreign people who lived 'permanently' in Iloilo (I have hinted that because they have their own cars, some of them have also with their families.) The funniest part of when I am explaining the use of gift checks was when a Korean native wanted to gas in his car. He looked like a Filipino (to me, don't blame me) so I explained to him the use of gift checks. He told me he doesn't speak the language so I explained to him in English (it's auto, we English when Tagalog fails). You know the hardest part? You explained everything in English and Filipino and he just said, "No, sorry." He didn't even mind getting the gift checks! The gift checks were actually FREE! Why would you deny access to such a beautiful offer?! Why? 

The job was to just give out gift checks for ten days near the mall for promotion purposes. That's it. And the rest, we enjoyed the whole workation!

Our client provided us the following (just to inform other readers who might want to know):

1. Two-way ticket from Manila to Iloilo

2. 11 nights and ten days stay at Injap Tower Hotel

3. Pocket money (which I shall not disclose the amount)

4. Salary (Manila rate, salary for ten days working in Iloilo)

It was like I didn't work at all because the place and the people are too generous!

DAY 2!!!

Went back to Plazuela de Iloilo to buy some clothes. I ran out of clothes! The funny thing was, what I bought was this:

I got this for Php150.00 only! I am not in Tokyo but hey, it was a nice top!

I also bought an Iloilo shirt which I will show you later!

Iloilo view beside Injap Tower Hotel.

Before going home from work, we took a sip of coffee blends and watched them how they make those.

Our lampshade, worth Instagramming, right?

DAY 3!!!

Watching news in Iloilo is like watching a foreign news because, Ilonggo! Also, they have these own shows that are exclusively for Ilonggos like Unang Hirit and Umagang Kayganda.

A view of Iloilo River at 7:09PM. We lost our track on our way and we ended up seeing UP Iloilo. We got there at around 2PM but it was so hot so we decided to go back at 7PM instead.

We realized it was too dark to take a picture. But, the stroll was so good I thought of getting a jog together with other people. There were some doing Zumba dance, jogging, playing around. The air was nice that night.

We also went to another church called Miagao Church. I was fascinated by this city because there are many churches in this place. go for a ten-minute walk then you'll bump into another church. I am not even lying!

I also noticed that these churches had a vast area for benches and garden to stroll in.

DAY 4!!!

This was were we worked! I mean, the mall, not the stall tho.

DAY 5!!!

You know what, I would like to go outside on Day 5 but it was so hot. We stayed on our hotel room while browsing internet/watching movies/sleeping then that, it rained. Suxxx!

DAY 6!!!

We ate at Jollibee and I saw this group of cutie kids getting their meals, in violent uniform!

The thing I hate about provinces was that all the prices in the mall and fastfood are just the same in Manila. The minimum wage (2015) in Manila was Php481.00 while provincial rate was P298.00. Imagine, if you are going to eat an unli-rice meal in Mang Inasal (Php99.00), your Php298.00 salary will be Php199.00. A DAY. FOR EIGHT HOURS. WORKING ALL-DAY! Rentals and cost of living in Iloilo is not as expensive compared in Manila. So companies in Iloilo earns more but provides salary expense less. 

We went back to our hotel and we decided to go swimming on the fourth floor (swmming pool and spa is located on the fourth floor of the building). When we went there, we were surprised because we were the only ones who were going to swim!

Swimming pool with the view of SM Iloilo in front

See? No other people!

Before swimming! Let's take a pic!

Don't you think this is instagrammable?

It's like we rent the whole pool exclusively for us!

DAY 7!!!

I admit I am a milk tea addict (especially, Wintermelon Milk Tea) When I saw a Milk Tea Shop, I bought one. They gave me this card that if I am going to buy my ninth Wintermelon Milk Tea, my tenth will be free! But how can I have my tenth Milk Tea for free if I only 3 days remaining here in Iloilo?

DAY 8!!!

Lazy day! Let's skip this because we were sleeping that day! (ore maybe watching TV, or maybe social media stuff, or maybe thinking about random stuff). Most importantly, I had no one to go to because my friend met her boyfriend whose hometown is, ILOILO. Where else?

DAY 9!!!

Our tenth day will be tomorrow so we never think of being a lazy-ass again, just like on the eighth day. So, we decided to go to Iloilo Museum!

Museo Iloilo has an entrance of Php50.00 for adults and Php20.00 for students. Since I still had my College ID, I got a discount! Mehehe.

Meet my family, Bak and Las. Baklas!

Remember when Japanese people 'befriended' us? Yes, they did! They even influenced us Japanese money!

Hi Mum! Need a hand?

I am not as lazy as you think, right?

This Iloilo Museum has shown us some Japanese 'stuff': Model prefectures in Japan and survival Camp Kits. I am quite confused why they have shown a lot of writings and things related to Japan.

My friends!

The entrance!

And the main entrance!

After we went to Museo Iloilo, we decided to go to Guimaras Island, 30 minutes away from Mandurriao. We road a motorboat together with Ilonggos who are actually living there. 

To tell you honestly, we don't know where should we go because Guimaras Island is a very big island with a lot of beaches here and there. So we ended up going to an abandoned beach. Abandoned, which means, we were the only one who were there! Half-okay, half-not-okay! We jumped from one beach to another, from one fishpond to another. Every beach has an entrance fee of Php10.00. But there were no people there. Where are they going to charge the fee then?

We finally ended up to this beach. We took some pictures because if not, our journey will be wasted. We rode a jeepney, a motorboat, we walked, then we rode a tricycle, to find the beach we looked up in Google! How sad. Expectation versus reality? Well, we managed to keep it okay. Since we were the only one on the beach and there were many cottages but looked like some ghosts already occupied those, IT'S FINE. PROMISE. 

 Our friend celebrated her birthday on last 21st of November (we didn't make it since we were in Iloilo). So, we wrote a short "HBD Gen" with a heart for her. I wonder if my calligraphy (hihi) was still there because no people visit that beach anymore.

We decided to return to our hotel because we were already exhausted. We actually came up with the idea of going to Boracay (4-hour drive from Jaro, Iloilo) and get back at 8AM. It was 6PM back then so if we were going to go at 7PM, we will reach Boracay at 11PM then we will leave at 6AM to catch the sunset. But, we thought it was a stupid idea and why on the last day we had thought of that stupid idea. Actually, it will never be a stupid one if we actually thought it on Day 5 or Day 8. What do you think?

Oh, I forgot about this sunset! I caught it before leaving the motorboat!

I asked my friend to take a picture of me since I was the only one here. Looked like I rented a motorboat! I was quite sad about leaving Guimaras because I wasn't satisfied exploring it. STILL.

Before going back to Manila, I bought some shirts for my family. The Team Iloilo shirt cost Php200.00 and I bought that on Plazuela de Iloilo which I mentioned earlier. I bought the four remaining shirts in SM Iloilo. Those cost from Php249.00 to Php350.00.

This is the Biscocho Haus, famous for different breads and pasalubong. I asked the employees of the gas station where I can buy pasalubong when I go back to Manila. They said Biscocho Haus was among popular. There was a Biscocho Haus located in the mall where I worked and in SM Iloilo. But I was told to buy in the store itself which was located in Jaro, too. The prices are quite cheap compared to stalls in malls (I think because they own the store themselves). The store was also nice in appearance, very ancient-type, brown-themed and the displays appeal to customers so much.

I bought a box of different pastries and breads and I only spent about Php1,000.00

DAY 10!!!

The saddest part of the day was the last day. I bid goodbye to the employees who had been good to me for the days I spent with them. They were really hospitable and welcoming. To be honest, they were the kindest people I ever met!

The staff of the hotel were the kindest and the most accommodating hotel employees I ever encountered. We cannot operate the hot/cold shower, they teach us. We cannot see the aircon remote, they find for us. We never ask them to fix the closet, to fold our clothes, to wash our dirty sink, to replace our toiletries. We don't ask those, they do those.

The jeepney drivers were the most fun to talk with. Whenever we lost our track, what is the name of the place, where we should go next, everything about direction, they answer with happiness.

The mall guards were the happiest guards you'll see every morning. That was the first time a guard seek a permission of him from me inspecting my bag, "Pasensya na po Ma'am, trabaho lang po." It was really a sweet gesture. Those guards already knew us because we go there before the mall opens.

Random people will give you the craziest looks when they hear you talking. It felt like I went to a different world speaking a different language. Name it--saying "bayad po", "para po", "sa tabi lang po" inside jeepneys, ordering food at a resto, chatting with a friend, talking to a customer. Those things actually made my heart smile.

I will surely miss the people in Iloilo especially the ones I met. Their hospitality was the best! If I may choose to live a province in Visayas, it will definitely be Iloilo!

THANK YOU!

How to get an NBI Clearance the fastest way! (Updated June 2015)

I have experienced too much suffering on getting requirements for my first job ever. Of course, it was my fault not to fulfill everything whenever I have a bunch of moments to do that. But because those things happened, it can't be undone. I have applied for a job and there are lots of requirements you can't imagine (there are people who are on the same feet as mine). So, having two days to process all the needed requirements to get a job were my worst two days (and still not looking forward to that).

Going back, I will tell you the complete details on how to process your NBI Clearance as of this year. I hope this is also applicable on the next succeeding years.

Keep in mind that THIS PROCESS IS FOR FIRST TIMERS/NEW APPLICANTS ONLY.

Here are the steps:

I. CLICK HERE TO START.

1. Once you click "HERE" you are redirected to a new tab, which is the website of NBI for clearance. Input all your details that are needed in the boxes. Make sure to use your valid e-mail address as you will use it to receive transactions during your process.

2. After you logged on, you will see empty boxes to fill your information. Those with asterisks (*) are needed to be filled.

3. If you have no identifying marks, just input "none". You cannot leave that blank because it is required.

4. After you have saved your information, a new page appears. Take note that whether you put a photo on your online application, you will be asked to take a picture on the NBI Office you have chosen.

5. You can always edit your information on your online application. Review your details carefully so that there will be no problems when you go to an NBI Office.

II. APPLYING FOR CLEARANCE.

1. When you're done, you can now apply for your clearance. Click "Apply for Clearance" and a dialog box appears. Select "New" or "Renew" depending on your status. (Note that if you select "Renew", I don't know if this process is applicable for you to follow. This is mostly based on my own experience.)

2. Type in any of your Valid ID. If you don't have any valid IDs yet like SSS, Postal ID, Driver's License etc., you can input your School ID.

3. There is another dialog box. Just click OKAY.

III. SCHEDULING YOUR APPOINTMENT.

This is the most annoying part. Please follow instructions carefully.

1. Select an NBI Branch that is nearest to your location. If you are around NCR, I suggest NOT TO CHOOSE ROBINSON'S GALLERIA as this branch has the most number of application processes per day (I am not sure about it, but it almost holds 500-600 applications per day, of course this depends on what month the applications are at peak. If you happen to apply for an NBI Clearance from February to July [months for employment], expect that application processes range to 500 or more). So, you can ignore the fact of choosing the nearest location for you. Instead, choose other NBI branches if you are in a rush or you are avoiding long queues that last for a day. ADVICE: DO NOT SELECT ROBINSON'S GALLERIA IF YOU DON'T WANT TO WAIT FOR LONG HOURS. 

2. You can only choose ONE BRANCH ON YOUR ENTIRE PROCESS. I called this the most annoying part because I had experienced waiting on queues for almost five hours for NOTHING. I was confused of whether to choose Robinson's Galleria or Robinson's Metro East because they are both addressed in Ortigas but with different city. I first chose Robinson's Metro East because I thought it was much nearer. But then I changed my mind and changed it to Robinson's Galleria (a lot of people I knew picked this so I also picked this branch up to avoid hassle, but I'm wrong though). I thought I selected Robinson's Galleria then. But when I was in front of the staff (to take my picture and biometrics), I was shocked that I was assigned to get my clearance to Robinson's Metro East.


3. To avoid any disturbance during the process, MAKE SURE YOU GO TO THE BRANCH YOU CHOSE ONLINE. The strict policy of NBI is wherever branch you have chosen when you apply online, you must process your clearance THERE. It cannot be helped to process your clearance on any other branches (unless you cry or...). IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY CHOSE A BRANCH THAT IS WAY TOO FAR FROM YOUR PLACE, EXAMPLE ZAMBOANGA BRANCH, YOU NEED TO GO TO ZAMBOANGA TO PROCESS YOUR APPLICATION. THE OPTION FOR THAT IS YOU NEED TO RE-PROCESS YOUR CLEARANCE AGAIN, MEANING YOU WILL PAY FOR ANOTHER CLEARANCE (NOT REALLY SURE ABOUT THAT BECAUSE YOU HAD ALREADY AN ONLINE APPLICATION, I'M NOT SURE IF YOU CAN DUPLICATE THAT). SO CHOOSE A BRANCH CAREFULLY.

4. Feel free to choose whether AM or PM depending on your availability or urgency to get your clearance. This is not really working on other branches as some of them have less applications per day. Robinson's Galleria has a ticket number system (I don't know about other popular NBI branches) where a security guard will give you a ticket to avoid "singit sa pila" during the process. More or less 500 ticket numbers are given in Galleria per day. When I went to Metro East, there were no long queues or ticket number system. There were more or less sixty people processing their NBI Clearance so I have finished for more or less than an hour. While on Galleria, I took almost five hours just for waiting to be processed! (And yes, I'm stupid).

5. After you have chosen a timeslot, select your purpose of getting an NBI Clearance (bear with me as I haven't known about choosing "Abroad") and the details.

6. So even if you failed to go to your chosen schedule, you can always go when you will be available but DO NOT LET YOUR SCHEDULE EXPIRED. There is a date for the expiration of your entire process. If that happens, I don't know whether if you will going to re-process from the top or wait for another set of available schedule.

III. HOW TO PAY?

7. There are four options to choose to pay your clearance. Choose one and remember that you will be charged another fee for that. I suggest to pay among those four options rather than on the NBI Office itself so that your time will be saved (like there are two sets of lines for NBI Clearance, one for those who paid outside NBI and the other is for paying on the NBI Office. As for paying inside the office, it will take much time because those who paid outside will go straight to Step Number 2, which is taking picture and biometrics).

8. When you pay outside NBI, a new tab appears. This is the DragonPay Online Payment. If you choose over-the-counter banks, there is a drop-down to choose for any banks they affiliated with. If you choose Online Banking, there is also a drop-down to choose for your preferred bank, and you don't need to go on any bank branches. Choose mobile payment, type your Globe number and pay your clearance. Or choose Bayad Center and go to the nearest branch and pay. There is always a reference number for your chosen payment option. You can copy that on your phone or write it down on a piece of paper. DO NOT FORGET YOUR REFERENCE NUMBER BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR TO SEARCH FOR YOUR ONLINE APPLICATION.

9. If you check the "Transaction", you will see that you are still unpaid. So you need to pay your clearance right before you go to the office. No need to print ANYTHING even on the website itself says "PRINT". You will not going to present that either. Just remember your Reference Number and everything will be fine.

10. After you have paid, you need to go to your account to confirm your payment. There is an instruction there, a printscreen of a receipt. Just follow the instructions and you're good to go.

11. You will see confirmation then. If you will check your e-mail, you will see a payment confirmation sent by DragonPay.

IV. GETTING YOUR NBI CLEARANCE.

1. After confirmation, go to your preferred NBI branch and process your clearance there. Some branches are very quick to process applications, some are not. If your preferred branch has a ticket number system, you need to go as early as 6AM to get one or two-digit ticket numbers and aside from that, if it is inside the mall (like Galleria), you need to wait for the mall opening which is 10AM. But if the branch doesn't have, expect a good and quick flow of process. Approach any guard for assistance.

2. As I've said earlier, if you choose to pay directly to an NBI Office, you are on your first step, paying your NBI clearance. You will not be charged for any additional fee unlike other payment modes which is why others prefer this . But if you already paid outside, you will proceed to the next step which is checking your reference number, taking your photo for clearance and your biometrics.

3. As you go to Step 2, you will need to present any of your valid ID's (Postal ID, School ID, SSS ID, etc.) and your receipt of paying your clearance. For those who chose mobile or online banking, just present your transaction.

4. They will search if you happen to have shared the same exact name you have. If unfortunately this happens, you will need to wait more than a week before you can get your clearance (probably ten days).

5. You will then be instructed to go to the releasing of clearance. Present you receipt and wait for the printing. A staff sometimes asks for an extra Php5.00 for an envelope. I don't know if you can refuse to buy one. They will going to tear your receipt once you have received your NBI Clearance.

That's it! you have your NBI Clearance now.

If you have any questions, just feel free to ask me by commenting below. Hope this helps!

Thank You For Smoking Movie Review

Mr. Nick Naylor was a lobbyist about a smoking campaign. He encourages everyone, including teens to smoke because he believed that smoking was not the responsible on number of deaths around the world. He was a separated man who lived alone on his apartment. He has a kid who he sometimes bring during his trips.

I wasn’t sure on how he actually encourage people to smoke. Because many people will despise him on what he is and will going to do. But he just always shrugged his shoulders about those things because all he wanted on his mind was to earn money and convince people.

He has two friends, if that is what they were thinking. The woman was a lobbyist about alcohol and the other man was on the field of firearms. They were seeing each other once a week.

The thing I liked about Mr. Nick Naylor was he always do what he think is right. The first thing I liked on his dialogue was when he taught his son on how to write an essay. We don’t literally need to write what was actually the topic, rather think about out of the box. The second one was when his son asked what if he was wrong about the things he think he is right. He just said, “If your job is to be right, you will never be wrong.” The third was his character on speaking. He has all the supremacy to give the people the idea that there is nothing wrong of what he is doing. The fourth and the most was how he handled everything right. He defended what he thought was right, especially the point of view of his captain.

I just don’t like the idea that a reporter used Mr. Naylor to get a scoop about why he is campaigning cigarettes. She sold sex to earn money. She disrupted the media.

On my part, when I am watching the movie, I thought about what if I try smoking? I just wanna try if some things will change on me. But I cannot because my brother will surely hate me.

I read everywhere and I heard a lot about this line: Cigarette is dangerous to your health. Doctors know that, so do every member of the family. But why they continue to sell cigarettes? Because of the big tax on every pack of it? And one thing, I saw many nursing students smoking during their breaks on Recto. It’s very ironic because they were the ones (a part of them because they were the family of doctors and scientists and chemists) who said smoking is the main reason on lung cancer and other diseases.

Back to the story, I was convinced on how Mr. Nick Naylor do his job. He was a well-speaker, well-informed, he knew every detail of his job, his campaign and everything about smoking. Before anyone could actually do a thing or two, he should know first its ups and downs, strengths and weaknesses, faults and correctness and its responsibilities on every word and move he make so that when he are on the lights, no one and no word could ever bring him down.

At the penultimate of the story, Mr. Naylor didn’t came back on his job even if he had defended all of his issues. LOYALTY should come first from the people we respect and admire the most. But his Boss doesn’t qualify faithfulness. He is a hard-bitched boss.

Even though I wasn’t convince of smoking, at least I realized the fact that smoking is not the major source of deaths around the world and I was informed about a person’s choice. Because first things first, when you do a thing, it is your choice. There are only people who motivates you, there are only place that influences you. But on top of all, you are the story-maker of your own timeline.

HRDM students like me should be inspired on how to talk and convince others. We should have a pack of authority to do and say what is right. We should light up the stick of confidence to what we are going to do, because it shows how persistent we are. We should taste both failure and success, because without failure, there is no thing such as success. And finally, we should blow the smoke of knowledge and learning to everyone so that they can smell what we know about the things we think is right and perhaps could share it with the second-smokers or non-smokers all over the world.

The One Minute Manager Book Review

The one minute manager contains three techniques to become an effective manager. The symbol, one minute, a digital watch, only represents that a short time can be made to make a decision or goal.

The first technique is the one-minute goal. The manager said that an effective manager can do goals on a single sheet of paper with less than 250 words on it. He actually believed that any goals could be sum up using short explanations. And he believed that a sheet of paper could actually discuss a certain goal. So all in all, the one minute goal setting is simply: agreeing on goals. This is done so that everyone knows what good behavior looks like; write out each of your goals on a single sheet of paper using less than 250 words. Limit the number of goals to three to five; encourage the reading and re-reading of each goal, which requires only a minute or so each time; conduct reviews to see whether or not the behavior of individuals matches the set goals. The discrepancy between the actual and the desired goal becomes the area for improvement; take a minute every once in a while out your day to look at your performance and see whether or not your behavior matches your goal.

The second technique is the one minute praising. There are at least three steps to follow. The first is to praise, which means a manager should appreciate what his man did right. So in order to do a very ‘well done’ job, a manager could touch his man, saying “you did great there”, “keep up the good work” and so on. In that way, an individual can put his confidence higher and do his work successfully. Secondly, the manager should specify what exactly a man did right, so he could focus well on where he should compliment an individual. Lastly, be consistent. Every time a man do a right job, a manager should keep on appreciating the work, so everybody could cope up well.

One minute praising works well when: a manager tells his people right from the start that he is going to let him know how he is doing; praises his people immediately; tells people what they did right and be specific; tells people how good he feel about what an individual did right, and how it helps the organization and the other people who work there; stops for a moment of silence to let him ‘feel’ how good he feels; encourage an individual to do more of the same; and shakes hands or touches people in a way that makes it clear that he supports their success in the organization.

Lastly, the one minute reprimands, which is a bit different from the one minute praising. It has four steps to follow according to Ms. Brown. First of all, a manager gives a reprimand as soon as he knows about a mistake. Then, he specifies exactly what the person did wrong. Third, because the manager didn’t involve personal feelings during reprimands, like doesn’t attacking the person himself but the behavior respectfully, which means it is more understandable on the both of them. Being fair is about everything makes a very good consideration, no blaming to the both of the party, but reprimanding to the behavior of the person. And the last one is being consistent. The one minute reprimands: reprimand people immediately when they do the wrong thing; tell the individual what he/she did wrong and be very specific; tell the individual how you feel about what they did wrong and in no uncertain terms; and stop for a few seconds of uncomfortable silence to let them feel how you feel. The second half of the reprimand: shake hands, or touch them in a way that lets them know you are honestly on their side; remind them how much you value them; reaffirm that you think well of them but not of their performance in this situation; and realize that when the reprimand is over, it’s over.

Reprimanding is never been easy. So it is better to reprimand first then praising. All of the people didn’t want to be scolded by their boss. But having a mistake is a way which makes reprimand visible. If a person doesn’t want to be disciplined, he must do the right thing and avoid committing mistakes again.

So to summarize all of my learning, I think one minute manager actually helps people to become effective manager. First, the one minute manager will give a goal, and the goal must be short but concise. Then when the manager will catch what his people do something right, then one minute praising enters the act. Lastly, if there is something wrong, the one minute reprimand looks to it.

I also learned that a manager should catch people to do something right rather than doing something wrong. Most of the managers tried to catch their people when they are doing something wrong and it makes the people feel wrong. The one minute manager reverses the technique by observing his people of doing something right. He said that the most important thing in training somebody to become a winner is to catch them doing something right, approximately right and gradually moving them towards the desired behavior. If the person does a thing according to the desired behavior, he could observe himself that he is actually doing something right. The manager never attacked a person’s value or worth, but only the behavior himself. He eliminates the behavior and keep the person.

The One Minute Entrepreneur: The Secret to Creating and Sustaining a Successful Business Book Review

One Minute Entrepreneur tells a story of a young man named Jud who wants to change his way of life, from his mistakes to being a successful in the field of business and sales. He was once a young man who was caught acting in the stage of his teenage years, changed his view in life when he met some people who give him best advices and a notebook—putting one minute insights whenever he hears one.

I am very amazed by the fact that guys like him actually put insights in a single pad of note. He jots down every word that he thinks is useful. I somehow wants to be like him. So that on every seminars, pep talks and trainings I attend, I could be motivated everytime I write what they say.

One day, he goes to a seminar with a very intellectual speaker named Mr. Gardner. He also meet some speakers that worth jotting a note every now and then like Mr. Tremendous. He was called Tremendous because in his seminars, he always mention the word Tremendous, and people automatically nicknamed him.

He approaches Mr. Gardner because he badly wants to be trained. He wants to become successful in sales as well as in business. Mr. Gardner agreed, because he knew Jud would be very willing to be trained.

Jud is very excellent in terms of motivating people, so he become a speaker somehow on seminars. He likes to speak to people, motivate them and give confidence to them. He is sometimes confused but Mr. Gardner always talk to him on what he worries. Of course, he always put down on his notebook.

Jud met a woman named Teri who has the same personality, character, goals in life, almost all of the characters they have in common. He said Teri is gorgeous and a complete package. That makes me think that he should not let her go.

There are many speech marks that nailed my mind. These are so-called one minute insights. Some of them are:

What’s right is important than who is right. I think about it a lot of times and it does makes sense. We should know the righteousness of a single thing. Whoever who said that “right” thing, what about him/her? It doesn’t matter. As long as we know what is right, it doesn’t matter who is right.

Associate with people you admire and can learn from. We can always learn incredible things into the people we admire the most.

You never need to cheat to win. Yes. I think this is a universal quotes from exams to sports to everywhere. We can’t erase the fact that everyone was once cheated in their entire life. So, in order to arrange a life into a very good life. Start in no-cheating.

You can get everything you want in life if you help enough other people to get what they want. This is the other version of a famous quote from Confucius, “Do unto others what you want others do unto you.” We cannot live alone. So learn from helping others. We never know what others can do to us.

No matter how good you are, you’ll experience a lot of failure. Even Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Albert Einstein failed. But have they lose their mind and said quit? Sometimes, we can even experience more failures than success. But don’t let failures eat you.

There are also one minute insights that points on the world of business:

To create a successful business, you must first master the basics. To do a simple Algebraic expression, we should know the basic math calculations. Just like in business, in order for us to be a successful businessman, we should master the basics. All things started on a single event, organism or process before it complete into a masterpiece of life.

It’s not just about sales. It’s about positive motivation including self-motivation. Sales is one of the most difficult thing to do if you have no motivation yourself. To motivate others, motivate yourself. To pursue others, try to pursue yourself first.

On the entrepreneurial path, few people come into your life without a reason. I really somehow don’t get it. I read a quote that says people come and go for a reason. But on the entrepreneurial path, there is no reason at all. I think because on that path, a person meets many people, but few of them doesn’t care at all.

UP IN THE AIR Movie Review

The film started on several employees who are going to be fired. So this summed up the whole movie itself. But as I watched the movie, it is not only about firing employees, but giving motivational talking to them.

The universal sentence of Mr. Bingham,

Anybody who ever built an empire or changed the world sat where you are right now. And because they sat there, they were able to do it. That's the truth.

which Miss Keener also blabbered at first, became the motivational sentence of the entire movie. Which in the case meant that everybody else in the world experienced being so small. And when those empire builders became empire-builders, it meant anybody else could actually do the same, in the future.

My reaction about the whole movie was kind of motivational but lesser emotional. Motivational in the manner that even they’d been firing all day, all night, at the end of the conversation they’d been giving a packet which employees could find greater than what they’d been doing. Others are motivated, like, “It’s okay, I’d better flip the pages and discover something in my life,” while others thought it was a stupid decoration been tossing on employees’ faces just to add something on the line. Maybe, they’d created less emotions about “firing stuff” because we should be positive enough and not dealing with suicide on the bridge.

I was very disappointed because I was waiting how Mr. Bingham be fired (the real fired thing). And I wanted him to be emotional to that thing though he was not the type of guy. I wanted him to experience the position of being fired. And I was disappointed about his casual relationship with the woman there, finding out that she has her “real life”, already married. How can anyone supposed to handle that situation when you are getting ready for a complete realization about your philosophies in life, been walking-out of a seminar because you’d realized everything, and then finding out that you could be somehow true? Mr. Bingham could have been really not quitting the job unlike Miss Keener, at the end of the day he could say he’s right, laughing his ass off of not marrying someone because we are born just to die.

Learning that not all jobs are doing great for humans, they could be heartbreaking too. And that was the point of the movie. Miss Keener quit because she can’t possibly take it anymore. Learned also about that we should not carry all the people we knew, the famous backpack of Mr. Bingham, because it is a lot heavier to move forward when we have them, especially not realizing we should think of ourselves a whole lot more. Not because we don’t care about anyone, doesn’t mean we should forgetting about them. Mr. Bingham said moving is living. How can we live if cannot even move?

All in all, the movie is great and I will give it a total of three stars. Five minus one because there’s a pretty little liar on the movie, he brokenhearted Mr. Bingham and minus one because Mr. Bingham doesn’t cry, literally crying as in sobbing and passing out on tears.

Entrepreneurial Management teaches on how to make a business. Business needs people. And this movie simply shows terminating an employee to a business when they do not show enough productivity. Which means it literally helps improvement on a business by reducing the risks of hiring less-skilled employees.

Because this movie is so much related to our course, there are a lot of HRDM people out there I regret to inform that this kind of work is frustrating and heart-breaking. It is so difficult to see someone crying in front of you, especially when they beg you and you do not know them. And especially when you are a starter like Ms. Keener, you cannot handle things easily, terminating people easily, then all you have to do is to runaway. This job is for people who are tough.

To those people who are in the same line as ours, HRDM, I also regret to inform you that you might experience this on the future. To those who are thrilled to this kind of job, congratulations, you might be a ten-million miles flyer like Mr. Bingham. Just put some motivational factor in your baggage, as it enhance some things that might work when you could not handle things out. And you’re up to go.