Been There, Done That

Yep, the post title says much about my weekend trip. It had been four days since the following pictures (that I'll be posting) were taken, but they're pretty timeless anyway.

Last Saturday, my officemates and I went to a place where you can burn more money per hour than you can burn calories through swimming. Yeah, the trip was company-sponsored, I admit. I won't be able to go there if I am to rely on my own savings, really. =P


That's the renowned beach of Boracay Island, folks! B)



We were really not able to do much on the first day, since we were quite sleepless the day before. But since sleep is for the weak, we still grabbed the opportunity to take lots of pictures even if we were tired back then. Hehe. =)



I'll be detailing what we did on the second day of the company outing in another post. I just need to turn in for the night now. There's another company activity tomorrow, and I need to sleep lest I fall asleep tomorrow while swimming. Hehe. ^_^

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Note: First and third pictures are not mine, my friend owns the rights to them. My good shots of the beach got lost when my cellphone camera gave up on me. ={

This is...

Where I spent my weekend ^^,

I was supposed to blog about this last night, but until now I don't feel like writing anything. XD

A Few Hours More...

And I'm officially no longer part of the ACeS team. =(

Actually, I don't know which of these emoticons I should add to the line before this one: =) or =P or =( or XD or ^^, or ^_^ or T-T

Yeah, I'm having mixed emotions regarding the transfer. Although I won't deny that I had considered asking for the same transfer a few months back, I'm still caught by surprise when Boss Joel told me about it a few days ago.

There are of course some good points, as well as not-so-good things, regarding the matter and I've been spending a great deal of time for the past few days thinking about them. First of all is that I won't be riding those buses to go to work, so I won't be filling this blog with my rants regarding those. But the thing is, I will be staying in my parents' house again, which means that I'd be traveling at least an hour to and from the office everyday.

And if I find it quite good that I can use my home PC everyday, there's still the matter of no airconditioning in our house (in other words, it's sweltering hot inside especially during summer).

Well, I can't have everything, right?

LATA: ACeS Cuisine

I’ve talked about mutants in a post way, way back, right? I think I’ll just elaborate a bit more on that before I leave teh ACeS behind. For those who haven’t been around at that time (or too lazy to read through), let’s just say that mutations form a part of what we may call…

=P

Given the strategic, geographic location of teh ACeS, it is very much expected that the inhabitants have developed their own tastes when it comes to food. Or the difficulty in obtaining it. Whatever.

In other words, it is practical customary to: 1.) eat anything and everything; 2.) eat on the fly (including the fly); 3.) if necessary, cook/do not cook ready-to-eat food.

Of course, the third option pertains to canned/processed meat and/or fish as well as instant noodles. I do hope you get the drift.

Anyway, my 15-month stay in teh ACeS had afforded me the knowledge on how to efficiently sustain bodily processes in order to maintain satisfactory physical existence. Hehe. Yeah, food is necessary for survival, but eating the same thing over and over again just takes the pleasure in living day after day. ^^,

Owkay, this post may take up much space if I list down each and every way I’ve used to spice up the taste of canned tuna and corned beef. This blog isn’t dedicated to cooking, anyway.

tl;dr version: Learning how to cook stuff that one does not usually cook (since they’re ready-to-eat to begin with). Survival training – ACeS Style

Recall and Restart!

Now that I’ve gotten time to think things over, I realized that ACeS had indeed grown on me. It had been 15 months ago when I first arrived here, and I do remember that at that time, I was feeling gloomy since I was assigned to an office too far from my home.

Back then, we hitched a ride with two senior engineers of the field operations group (we were really all crammed in the back seat then), and I do remember we were quite quiet during the 'maiden voyage.' =P

And I think I should add that at that time, I was feeling as though I was being shipped to prison. And it wasn’t a simple prison, I thought to myself, but a highly-secured Alcatraz wherein access was limited. I think my fellow cadets (we were still cadet engineers that time!) shared the same sentiment, since their reactions to the SMS I sent ("Feeling ko, sa kulungan tayo dadalhin instead sa office") seemed to reflect my own feelings.

And that was how the five of us Sikatorses arrived at ACeS.

But in the 15 months that followed, I learned lots of things (mostly technical, though) and I adjusted my lifestyle. Before the inauguration of the I-4 network, we were mostly engrossed with the preparations such that we were kept busy putting up new equipment, reports and whatnots.

Post inauguration saw us adjusting to the new responsibilities, and to new lifestyles. It was also at that time that Mic left the group for another, thus leaving only four of us Sikatorses at ACeS. There had been frequent workouts at the gym, and I also started driving the service vehicles here on my own. And when I say on my own, I meant traversing through the dark Ilanin forest trail by myself beyond 8PM. Talk about horror-movie material; I do remember those times when mist covers the road as I was driving through. Hehe.

And thus, the months passed by rather slowly that I had never bothered to count them until my supervisor announced my imminent transfer. Now that I’m on my second-to-the-last duty on ACeS, I squeezed in time to write this down so as I can keep it a reminder of how I started out in here. I’ll be starting again in another office soon, and I really will be starting all over again. More blog-able materials, ne?

Back to Homebase

Back to homebase, back to old ways.

That, in a nutshell, says what is to be expected in the near future.

Actually, the decision to transfer me to a new team is due to the fact that my permanent home address is quite near another office wherein there is a greater lack in manpower than the ACeS team. Yeah, the ACeS team is lacking in manpower but the team I'll be transfered to is lacking even more (as I've been told). So there, I'm back to homebase.Back to homebase, back to old ways.

But why back to old ways, you may ask? Well, the office of my new team is also near my old alma mater. So I'm back to my old ways, I guess.

I plan to stay in my parents' house again, and that means I'll be taking the old commuting routes I used to take back while I was studying. And of course, the after-school hangouts will most likely be my after-office hangouts in due time.

One more week, and then I'll see for myself if that will really be the case. =P

Dream Team

The company I work for had made it a policy to acknowledge their employees' efforts in ways other than financial remuneration. We have company outings for employees, and events for employees' families as well. And there's the Rewards and Recognition - the R&R as it is endearingly called - that lauds the best of the best.

One of my best memories as a part of Team ACeS is the fact that I contributed to the award that the team got during the last R&R. The ACeS Team had been recognized as the "Dream Team" for the whole North Luzon group of the engineering division. =P

Yeah, for the whole year, we've been working seamlessly as a team. Our cooperative efforts had paid off when we met our targets of setting the company's foot forward into the international telecommunications arena. It had been through the combined strengths of every member of the team that our goals we're met.

Being part of the dream team is something that I'll be keeping with me long after I've left the team. Onwards to a brighter future, ACeS Team!

Things I'll Miss

I guess this post should not be forgotten, to serve as a personal reminder of what I'll be leaving behind when I get transfered to another location. I've been thinking about it for the past few hours, and I realized that there'll be a number of things that I'll be missing when I go.

Well, the team itself and the gateway are on the top of the list, and I need not explain why, right? So, I'll just get to the things I have quite been taking for granted that had made my stay in the place worthwhile.

When I told a close friend about my transfer, I jokingly said that I'll be missing the dutyfree shops the most. I know I'm not the only one, since my brother and my parents will no longer get the weekly supply of chocolates and other stuff. ^_^ Too bad I won't be able to hoard as much chocolates as I would want to since I'm quite low on funds these days (I'm allocating all the money I currently have for the trip to Bora. Hehe)

I might miss the 8-hour weekly trips, though I'm not betting on it much (*points to previous rants about my commuting woes*), but I'm sure I'll miss driving those Ford Rangers especially since I learned how to drive on those.

When I'm in my new team, there won't be any more trips to Yellow Cab, Meat Plus, Gerry's Grill, Pier One, Extremely Espresso, and Olongapo City Mall. I won't be jogging around Remy Field and I won't be working out in Ernie's Gym anymore.

I'll be constantly queuing up for the ATMs during paydays, I think. I'm not really looking forward to those long lines, as I've gotten used to withdrawing during queue-less hours of the day (since I could visit the bank whenever I wanted to).

There are also the cute dogs, Mumay and Brutus, who always welcome me every time I arrive. I'm sure there'll be more dogs and puppies in the future, but I won't be meeting them unless I visit the gateway.

And ultimately, I'll miss blogging about ACeS life. I guess I'll just leave the honor to Jonah who I greatly influenced into blogging. =P

A New Chapter

It's official - I'm leaving team ACeS.

Well, my supervisor had informed me personally about it yesterday, but I only saw the official transmittal just now. Effective by the 21st of April, I'll be a member of the G22 team and will be focused more on the company's GSM network. But since I still have a few days of duty left at the gateway, I decided that I'll dedicate a few last posts to my life in teh ACeS.

I'm now starting a new chapter both in my personal life and in my career. Although the move is lateral, there'll be more responsibilities (I presume) when I transfer to the new team. But before that, I'm hopefully ending things with a bang for the ACeS team.

First off, I will be turning over my responsibilities to those who would be left behind. There's nothing much that I've been doing that will not be easy for them to do anyway. Of course, there's the ceremonial/customary treat before I leave (I do hope I have enough funds!~_~) And yes, there's the best part (if it will push through) - TCP!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the planned Team Celebration and Planning (TCP) activity will push through by next weekend. We're going to Boracay! ^_^

Yep, I'm a bit excited. LOLz. =P

Travel Tips

I always get lots of messages on my cellphone due to my nature of my job. Most of the work-related ones, I usually erase after reading and/or replying to. Of course, there are other messages as well: greetings, quotes, inspirationals, etc.

Many of the quotes and inspirational messages are just too good and must be kept in mind always. And just the other day, a friend of mine sent this message:

"One of the simplest ways to stay happy is to let go of the things that make you sad."

That's just what I need to hear these days; I've been holding to lot of things that are inessential for far too long. This is why I've decided that I must go on and leave the past behind.

Anyway, I've also decided that I'd add another label to my posts here. Please be informed that all those updates with "Travel Tips" as labels are messages I've received that I'd be sharing with you guys. =P