my dad always told me, the measure of a good supervisor isnt how good he is at supervising, rather, how he makes his people better.

it's not about meeting deadlines or bringing the deliverables, it's about bringing out the best in your people. if you keep on stressing about deadlines, that's the only thing the workers would focus their sights on. instead of giving their best efforts and providing quality service, they'll just concentrate on meeting what's expected of them and nothing more.

he never fails to remind me, that the best manager is the one who makes his people rise through the ranks even if it means surpassing them. you dont throw down your people, rather, you raise them up. 

im not a manager (and i really have no plans on being one), but having people work directly under me, makes me realize how valuable my dad's lessons are to me.

when i worked with some of my people to finish a project, they were able to complete it to the satisfaction of our clients, earning congratulatory notes from  management. it kinda makes you feel good inside. not to mention a full tummy from the free pizza from the guys. im grateful to my dad with every bite.

I think there's a conspiracy going here.

Whenever Im in the mall by my lonesome, I cant seem to bump into single hot women. It doesnt matter which mall i go to. But whenever I do finally see one, Im always with family. And obviously, I cant hoot and make catcalls like any normal pervert would do since Im with family. I cant show them that sending me to the best private (not to mention catholic) schools in the country only served to degenerate my morals.

I keep thinking that whenever I plan on hitting the malls by myself, a guy in a funny mascot costume would pop in way ahead of me and starts screaming "alex is coming!" at the top of his lungs and all the single women start running away for dear life. with the cosmic joke that is my life, that seems very likely.

anyway, christmas has come and gone and i barely noticed it. i did my shopping on the 24th actually. and uninspired as i was, i actually ended up buying crocs slippers for the entire family. which is weird of course. i hate the brand. it's butt-ugly. soft, but butt-ugly. i mean, my butt is soft, but you wouldnt touch it would you?

not to mention that it's friggin expensive for something to plasticky. and cmon, for 1,800 a pop, you'd think they would have designed it better. but still, i ended up buying 10, being the uninspired and uninformed shopper that i am. it was 6pm and i couldnt bear the thought that a few hours later, the family would be expecting opening presents from me and all i could give them were ballpens (thank you officemates for all the ballpens you gave me. did you guys bulk order or something?).

at least the nephew liked it. he jumped on my bed wearing the slippers. that's a smile and laugh that's worth 1,800, i think.

as for the clan gathering, i just got home 15 minutes ago from the gathering in cavite. i swear, ill never go there again. no offense dear cavitenos, but your province sucks. traffic is terrible. you'll have to get a truck and tow my airconditioned room with my soft bed, hd tv and my game console to make me endure 3 friggin hours of hellish traffic again!

oh, and merry christmas.

So I was being mallratty a few days before Christmas. Wondering what gifts to give the family with a limited budget. It's easy to find gifts if you go crazy with your budget. The entire family's technofreaks so it'd be easy if money wasnt an issue.

After a few hours, I couldnt convince myself to buy anything as christmas gifts so i decided to buy a pizza from Sbarro so I wouldnt come home empty handed.

After getting one, I went out to queue for a cab. As usual, theyre all full so I had to walk and try my luck flagging down one along the streets.

I found myself passing by an old man (think ermitanyo) sitting in the shade looking at no one in particular. I usually dont mind people being the apathetic person that i am, but something made me pause and look back at the old man. and by some unexplicable involuntary action, i reached out my hand and handed the old man the box of pizza. The old guy was as shocked as I am with I was doing. But the shock gave way to a toothless smile, outreached hands and resounding "Thank you! Praise the Lord!" from his lips.

All i could do was smile and walk away bewildered. I couldnt believe I just did that. At the same time, the words he said was probably just as hard to believe. Downcast, alone, forgotten and ignored by everyone around you, and yet you give thanks to the One who let all these things happen to you. I guess at his age, he knows a lot more than I do. Who am I to argue?

Praise the Lord then.