My job is based in Pasig. At the corner of Ortigas Avenue and Meralco, there is this traffic light that appears to be functioning quite well. Yet, for some strange reason, on weekdays, especially during the morning rush hour, the traffic enforcers manning this intersection have found it convenient to override the traffic light and do a manual management of the traffic flow.
I don't question their decision. What I do find annoying is the fact that while these enforcers do their job, the traffic light continues to operate. Being a simple motorist, I find it a little confusing to see the traffic light turn green ;yet, I am not allowed to move as the enforcer signalled me to stay put because he is still trying to manage the traffic flow on the other side.
It's ok, if this will only take, say 10 seconds. The thing is, I stay there at a total stop for about 5-7 minutes, by which time, the traffic light has changed to red, which means I have to stop my vehicle. How can I do that when I have not moved for the last 5-7 minutes?
All in all, I have been at a total stop for about 10-14 minutes. This has happened to me, not only once, but several times. As a result, I have been tagged late for work on many occasions. Presently, I am waiting for my supervisor to hand me my temporary suspension for tardiness issues.
The thing is, if these enforcers will ever do manual traffic, they should first turn off the traffic light hovering their heads. That way, they avoid confusion on the part of motorists.
In driving school, we were taught that if the traffic signal is red, you're supposed to stop; if it's green, then it's go. Yet, on the road, this is not the case. Many traffic enforcers opt to go manual when managing vehicle traffic. Still, they allow the traffic lights to continue operating.
Turning off those lights will also help save electricity. God knows how high electricity rates have become in this country. Doing some form of conservation will surely go a long way. This should not be that hard to do. The main office of Meralco is just a stone's throw away.
Otherwise, these enforcers should just sit in a corner and let the traffic lights do its job. They are functioning, right? So, why tinker with them? They are just making traffic in this part of the city even worse.
I heard that these Pasig-based traffic enforcers are often called 'blue boys' because of the color of their uniforms. In the medical world, a blue boy or a blue baby has negative connotations. Go and find out what it means.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Race Monsters
Several months ago, while aboard an FX bound for Ortigas, we had this unfortunate incident with a motorcycle-riding man. We were then travelling along the southbound lane of the Cubao underpass when suddenly, from our right side, a motorycle tried to step into our lane in the middle.
Our driver was quick on the draw. He did not give the space to the motorcyclist and honked at him.We then sped on, but apparently, the guy did not take to the act kindly. He chased us and the moment he passed us by, he turned and stared at us as if daring us to go after him.
Unfortunately, he failed to notice that right in front of him was this blue-colored Toyota. By the time he was able to put on the breaks, his motorcycle has already bumped the rear of the car.
Our FX then passed him by, and as we left the scene, we could see that the guy was scratching his head in disbelief.
The trouble with most motorcycle-riding men is this: they think that just because they have a motorbike, they already have a claim on the road. Hence, they can easily swerve and move however they like as if they are king.
In a way, they are right. With the size of their vehicles, swerving from left to right is quite easy, even in heavy traffic.
However, what these men fail to realize is that the road is not their kingdom. They share space with many other vehicles, a lot of which are immensely bigger than them. If ever they decide to stay toe to toe with these much bigger vehicles, they will end up on the shorter end of the race war, particularly when faced with drivers who do not look favorably on their kind.
Our driver was quick on the draw. He did not give the space to the motorcyclist and honked at him.We then sped on, but apparently, the guy did not take to the act kindly. He chased us and the moment he passed us by, he turned and stared at us as if daring us to go after him.
Unfortunately, he failed to notice that right in front of him was this blue-colored Toyota. By the time he was able to put on the breaks, his motorcycle has already bumped the rear of the car.
Our FX then passed him by, and as we left the scene, we could see that the guy was scratching his head in disbelief.
The trouble with most motorcycle-riding men is this: they think that just because they have a motorbike, they already have a claim on the road. Hence, they can easily swerve and move however they like as if they are king.
In a way, they are right. With the size of their vehicles, swerving from left to right is quite easy, even in heavy traffic.
However, what these men fail to realize is that the road is not their kingdom. They share space with many other vehicles, a lot of which are immensely bigger than them. If ever they decide to stay toe to toe with these much bigger vehicles, they will end up on the shorter end of the race war, particularly when faced with drivers who do not look favorably on their kind.
Equality as A Good Concept
In my daily travel from my home in Bulacan to my Pasig-based job, my normal route is to get off the bus at the MRT station in North Avenue. From there, I take the Fx bound for Megamall.
The operator of the FX taxi's traversing the route from SM-MRT to Megamall goes by the name Good Concept. If I am not mistaken, this is a cooperative and one of its key guidelines is to give priority to disabled passengers.
Now, this is not an easy guideline to observe given the stress attendant to the morning rush hour when workers from all walks of life try hard to gain an advantage while falling in line.
Yet, Good Concept has managed to abide by its guidelines. They have consistently made sure that people with disabilities like myself are given priority seats which are actually due us under Philippine laws.
It is sad to notice, though, that not everyone is aware of this. Hence, some people tend to question Good Concept about its policy vis-a-vis disabled people.I suggest they get a copy of the Accessibility Law and get the needed enlightenment.Ignorance of the law excuses no one.
To Good Concept, please find pleasure in the fact that your efforts in providing access to public transportation to disabled people do not go unnoticed.
The operator of the FX taxi's traversing the route from SM-MRT to Megamall goes by the name Good Concept. If I am not mistaken, this is a cooperative and one of its key guidelines is to give priority to disabled passengers.
Now, this is not an easy guideline to observe given the stress attendant to the morning rush hour when workers from all walks of life try hard to gain an advantage while falling in line.
Yet, Good Concept has managed to abide by its guidelines. They have consistently made sure that people with disabilities like myself are given priority seats which are actually due us under Philippine laws.
It is sad to notice, though, that not everyone is aware of this. Hence, some people tend to question Good Concept about its policy vis-a-vis disabled people.I suggest they get a copy of the Accessibility Law and get the needed enlightenment.Ignorance of the law excuses no one.
To Good Concept, please find pleasure in the fact that your efforts in providing access to public transportation to disabled people do not go unnoticed.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
In Search of Online Jobs
I have been trying to earn extra cash lately, and one of the easiest ways to do so (they say) is to sign up to several online survey sites.
True enough, there are many of these on the internet, and some can be very attractive with their offers. Imagine earning $20 just to complete a survey. How about earning cash without realy doing anything? This can happen in cases where you sign up to an online survey website. After creating your account, you are given a link which you can give to friends, relatives, co-workers, schoolmates, even to a casual acquaintance that you just met at a neighbor's house party.
Once these people sign up to the same website and start completing surveys, you also get to earn money as their referrer.
Now, if these very same people refer their own set of friends and loved ones to the same site, they also get to earn extra cash on their own. You can just imagine how astronomical the potential is.
Sounds crazy? Well, it does at first glance, simply because there is no way corporate business, even those based online, will give away that much money to people just for answering a simple survey.
But they will, because they know how crazy you are surfing the net. Might as well make use of that to know what you think about their products and/or services.
There is a small catch, though. There is a strong chance you will get paid. However, you need to meet a certain threshold first. This is the amount you have to meet before an online survey site will give you your hard-earned cash.
The threshold amount varies in every online survey. Some require only $20, which you can easily meet, assuming every survey you complete is worth $5 each.
Others require higher threshold amounts, say $75, in which case, time is needed before you actually get paid. This can happen in cases where a single survey will involve only a payment of $1.
If you think this is a cool way to earn a few dollars, try visiting this link: http://www.cashcrate.com/1910027
On the other hand, if you do not really have the feel for doing surveys, there are a few other ways of getting quick cash the online way. Have you heard of data entry jobs? Well, there are lots of these as well on the worldwide web.
These jobs often involve very simple tasks. Some will ask you to copy and paste a few paragraphs onto a given sheet. After that, voila, your account (which you need to create first) gets credited with a certain amount.
Others, meanwhile, will ask you to read a given webpage and look for any error that you can spot. You will then take note of this on a given form that the website will provide. Upon submission of the form, you get paid.
Data entry jobs, though, have developed a somewhat negative image in the online world, especially in recent years. This is because many of them have turned out to be true-blue scams.
I was a victim of this job type. I signed up with www.realdataentry.net about a year ago since they had a very attractive offer. Just review a webpage that they will provide you everyday, looking for errors in spelling, punctuation marks, grammar, etc. For every review, they will pay you $10. Payout will be given when you have earned $1000.
This was quite an offer. Since I'm a proofreader by profession, the job fits in quite nicely to what I'm involved in.
The nice thing about it was that the review can be done weekly. So, in a week's time, I've already made $70. Multiply that by four weeks, and at the end of the month, I already have $280 in my account. In just a little over four months, I was ready to request for a payout.
This was when the review requests stopped coming in to my email account. I was then at the $900 or so threshold. I waited for a week, but no review requests was received.
I then started making a few online searches. It turned out that www.realdataentry.net has had several members before who never got paid. Some claim they were paid but these were bogus individuals or were connected in some way to the administrators of the site.
Try typing www.realdataentry.net on the address bar of your browser. Most likely, you will be referred to a search page, and when you click on one of the searched pages, you will be told that this cannot be displayed.
Such a sad episode of my online existence. And to think that I had to shell out about $10 as membership fee which the site quickly collected from my credit card.
Lesson learned: if you are asked for payment of any kind for an online job (no matter how small the amount is), it's most probably a scam.
True enough, there are many of these on the internet, and some can be very attractive with their offers. Imagine earning $20 just to complete a survey. How about earning cash without realy doing anything? This can happen in cases where you sign up to an online survey website. After creating your account, you are given a link which you can give to friends, relatives, co-workers, schoolmates, even to a casual acquaintance that you just met at a neighbor's house party.
Once these people sign up to the same website and start completing surveys, you also get to earn money as their referrer.
Now, if these very same people refer their own set of friends and loved ones to the same site, they also get to earn extra cash on their own. You can just imagine how astronomical the potential is.
Sounds crazy? Well, it does at first glance, simply because there is no way corporate business, even those based online, will give away that much money to people just for answering a simple survey.
But they will, because they know how crazy you are surfing the net. Might as well make use of that to know what you think about their products and/or services.
There is a small catch, though. There is a strong chance you will get paid. However, you need to meet a certain threshold first. This is the amount you have to meet before an online survey site will give you your hard-earned cash.
The threshold amount varies in every online survey. Some require only $20, which you can easily meet, assuming every survey you complete is worth $5 each.
Others require higher threshold amounts, say $75, in which case, time is needed before you actually get paid. This can happen in cases where a single survey will involve only a payment of $1.
If you think this is a cool way to earn a few dollars, try visiting this link: http://www.cashcrate.com/1910027
On the other hand, if you do not really have the feel for doing surveys, there are a few other ways of getting quick cash the online way. Have you heard of data entry jobs? Well, there are lots of these as well on the worldwide web.
These jobs often involve very simple tasks. Some will ask you to copy and paste a few paragraphs onto a given sheet. After that, voila, your account (which you need to create first) gets credited with a certain amount.
Others, meanwhile, will ask you to read a given webpage and look for any error that you can spot. You will then take note of this on a given form that the website will provide. Upon submission of the form, you get paid.
Data entry jobs, though, have developed a somewhat negative image in the online world, especially in recent years. This is because many of them have turned out to be true-blue scams.
I was a victim of this job type. I signed up with www.realdataentry.net about a year ago since they had a very attractive offer. Just review a webpage that they will provide you everyday, looking for errors in spelling, punctuation marks, grammar, etc. For every review, they will pay you $10. Payout will be given when you have earned $1000.
This was quite an offer. Since I'm a proofreader by profession, the job fits in quite nicely to what I'm involved in.
The nice thing about it was that the review can be done weekly. So, in a week's time, I've already made $70. Multiply that by four weeks, and at the end of the month, I already have $280 in my account. In just a little over four months, I was ready to request for a payout.
This was when the review requests stopped coming in to my email account. I was then at the $900 or so threshold. I waited for a week, but no review requests was received.
I then started making a few online searches. It turned out that www.realdataentry.net has had several members before who never got paid. Some claim they were paid but these were bogus individuals or were connected in some way to the administrators of the site.
Try typing www.realdataentry.net on the address bar of your browser. Most likely, you will be referred to a search page, and when you click on one of the searched pages, you will be told that this cannot be displayed.
Such a sad episode of my online existence. And to think that I had to shell out about $10 as membership fee which the site quickly collected from my credit card.
Lesson learned: if you are asked for payment of any kind for an online job (no matter how small the amount is), it's most probably a scam.
Friday, March 5, 2010
In Clear Violation
Somewhere along the the stretch of EDSA, there's a violation going on. It's not a traffic infraction which has become standard in this particular stretch of road. It's about a violation of a rule that is clearly printed in very bold letters.
I regularly travel about one half of the entire stretch of EDSA since my job is in the Ortigas area and I just happen to reside in faraway Valenzuela. For the uninformed, Valenzuela is that relatively small town (now city) which serves as the boundary between urban Manila and the province of Bulacan.
As I travel on this major highway, which covers about five major cities (Calooan, Quezon City, Pasig, Mandaluyong, Pasay), I noticed this very conspicuous banner poster advertisement placed at the corner of EDSA and Timog Avenue. The ad states that, as per a certain Quezon City ordinance, no political advertisement will be displayed on any major road or street that falls under city jurisdictions. Since EDSA is a major road, I assume the ordinance is applicable.
If you are an alien residing in the Philippines, please be aware that the country is in the midst of an election fever. Hence, candidates seeking public office resort to all kinds of tactics in their efforts to be recognized.
It is in this regard that I found the act of the Quezon city government worth applauding.
The praise, I found out later to my dismay, was not worth it. Because just before you reach the corner of EDSA and P. Tuazon Boulevard (still in Quezon City),there is this technical school on top of which is displayed a huge billboard of two men running for the two highest public positions in the land.
Now, this is definitely a violation of that city ordinance prominently displayed at the corner of Timog Avenue and EDSA.
Philippine elections have always been seen as the perfect tool to effect the needed changes in the country. Unfortunately, it has also been the instrument where either the best or the worst in man will come out.
If those concerned are reading this and if they are committed to making the changes that this country sorely needs, please start by arresting election violators and show them we mean business.
I regularly travel about one half of the entire stretch of EDSA since my job is in the Ortigas area and I just happen to reside in faraway Valenzuela. For the uninformed, Valenzuela is that relatively small town (now city) which serves as the boundary between urban Manila and the province of Bulacan.
As I travel on this major highway, which covers about five major cities (Calooan, Quezon City, Pasig, Mandaluyong, Pasay), I noticed this very conspicuous banner poster advertisement placed at the corner of EDSA and Timog Avenue. The ad states that, as per a certain Quezon City ordinance, no political advertisement will be displayed on any major road or street that falls under city jurisdictions. Since EDSA is a major road, I assume the ordinance is applicable.
If you are an alien residing in the Philippines, please be aware that the country is in the midst of an election fever. Hence, candidates seeking public office resort to all kinds of tactics in their efforts to be recognized.
It is in this regard that I found the act of the Quezon city government worth applauding.
The praise, I found out later to my dismay, was not worth it. Because just before you reach the corner of EDSA and P. Tuazon Boulevard (still in Quezon City),there is this technical school on top of which is displayed a huge billboard of two men running for the two highest public positions in the land.
Now, this is definitely a violation of that city ordinance prominently displayed at the corner of Timog Avenue and EDSA.
Philippine elections have always been seen as the perfect tool to effect the needed changes in the country. Unfortunately, it has also been the instrument where either the best or the worst in man will come out.
If those concerned are reading this and if they are committed to making the changes that this country sorely needs, please start by arresting election violators and show them we mean business.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Desperately Seeking Composers
It's been a few days after Valentine's Day. yet, not surprisingly, we still hear a lot more of those love songs being played over the radio, all in celebration of the so-called love month.
No, this is not a story about love. Sorry to disappoint you. This is about the songs from the past that we have come to love. The very same songs that are making a comeback on the local airwaves because some up and coming singer has decided to make a revival of them. On other occasions, it is the more established performers who do the reviving of a song or two.
I admit that I have never been a big fan of revival songs. For me, the songs are good enough as they originally were. Why go through the process of changing some of the melodies and passing them off as songs rendered in a different way?
I used to admire local singers like Jaya,the Queen of Soul, and Regine Velasquez, known as Asia's songbird. They are undoubtedly one of the finer voices that our country has produced. However, when they started riding the revival bandwagon and began producing albums that contained revival songs, my admiration for them has greatly diminished.
Where have all the great Filipino composers gone? Where are the likes of Cecille Azarcon and Odette Quesada, two of the more prolific songwriters of our land who made timeless love songs and even gained several awards for their works two or three decades ago? Has no one equally talented been able to step into their shoes?
To date, there is only Ogie Alcasid who consistently makes original Filipino music. And this also gets me to ask, 'why not produce an album for her love, Regine, that will not carry an array of revived songs?'
To make matters worse, many of our singers these days have not limited themselves to merely reviving local songs. They have now gone international, reviving well-loved love songs like Bluer Than Blue, Love Will Lead You Back, and I Love You Goodbye, just to name a few.
Have our singers been reduced to a group of performers capable of only reviving old songs? There are lots of new singers in our midst these days. I find Nina and Kyla paricularly good, but their decision to do revivals has become a great disappointment. Why can they not just stick to composing real-to-goodness original songs?
There's also the issue about royalties. Is this still being observed whenever song revivals are made?
No, this is not a story about love. Sorry to disappoint you. This is about the songs from the past that we have come to love. The very same songs that are making a comeback on the local airwaves because some up and coming singer has decided to make a revival of them. On other occasions, it is the more established performers who do the reviving of a song or two.
I admit that I have never been a big fan of revival songs. For me, the songs are good enough as they originally were. Why go through the process of changing some of the melodies and passing them off as songs rendered in a different way?
I used to admire local singers like Jaya,the Queen of Soul, and Regine Velasquez, known as Asia's songbird. They are undoubtedly one of the finer voices that our country has produced. However, when they started riding the revival bandwagon and began producing albums that contained revival songs, my admiration for them has greatly diminished.
Where have all the great Filipino composers gone? Where are the likes of Cecille Azarcon and Odette Quesada, two of the more prolific songwriters of our land who made timeless love songs and even gained several awards for their works two or three decades ago? Has no one equally talented been able to step into their shoes?
To date, there is only Ogie Alcasid who consistently makes original Filipino music. And this also gets me to ask, 'why not produce an album for her love, Regine, that will not carry an array of revived songs?'
To make matters worse, many of our singers these days have not limited themselves to merely reviving local songs. They have now gone international, reviving well-loved love songs like Bluer Than Blue, Love Will Lead You Back, and I Love You Goodbye, just to name a few.
Have our singers been reduced to a group of performers capable of only reviving old songs? There are lots of new singers in our midst these days. I find Nina and Kyla paricularly good, but their decision to do revivals has become a great disappointment. Why can they not just stick to composing real-to-goodness original songs?
There's also the issue about royalties. Is this still being observed whenever song revivals are made?
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Emmanuel Revisited
This is rather late. But I have to share this in the light of the recent celebrations and the joy that continues to overflow in my heart.
You see, in the morning of December 5, exactly five days before the birthday of Jesus Christ, God has seen it fit to send me my very own Emmanuel. On that cold Saturday morning, a cute little baby boy came into our lives. We have since named him Mark Emmanuel in honor of the Word made flesh.
I know a lot of you already know this. Still, for those who do not, Emmanuel literally means "God is with us". It was a most appropriate name for someone completely divine who came into the world more than 2,000 years ago and actually dwelt among us. Thus, giving true significance to the meaning of His name.
I know the Blessed Mother is very proud of Him, especially on that day when He came out of her womb. Ditto for St. Joseph, his surrogate but ever-loving father.
In the same way, I'm very proud of my own Emmanuel, though proud is just one of the many emotions that I'm feeling. Honored is another. And thankful that someone like me has been given this awesome gift.
And there lies this other emotion. One that involves mixed feelings, where fear and anticipation collide. The true Emmanuel lived up to the Father's expectations, despite the truth that while He is God, He also happened to be man.
My own Emmanuel, on the other hand, is pure flesh, and I know it will take several lifetimes before he can even assume even just a trace of the divinity that his namesake inherently carried.
Still, I refuse to dwell on the uncertain. For now, my Emmanuel is safe, healthy, and simply a great bundle of pure and innocent joy. I often find his eyes looking upwards whenever he is awake, after which he would suddenly flash an innocent smile on his tender lips. From there, I know someone up there is watching over him, making sure that in due time, he too will live up to the meaning of his name.
You see, in the morning of December 5, exactly five days before the birthday of Jesus Christ, God has seen it fit to send me my very own Emmanuel. On that cold Saturday morning, a cute little baby boy came into our lives. We have since named him Mark Emmanuel in honor of the Word made flesh.
I know a lot of you already know this. Still, for those who do not, Emmanuel literally means "God is with us". It was a most appropriate name for someone completely divine who came into the world more than 2,000 years ago and actually dwelt among us. Thus, giving true significance to the meaning of His name.
I know the Blessed Mother is very proud of Him, especially on that day when He came out of her womb. Ditto for St. Joseph, his surrogate but ever-loving father.
In the same way, I'm very proud of my own Emmanuel, though proud is just one of the many emotions that I'm feeling. Honored is another. And thankful that someone like me has been given this awesome gift.
And there lies this other emotion. One that involves mixed feelings, where fear and anticipation collide. The true Emmanuel lived up to the Father's expectations, despite the truth that while He is God, He also happened to be man.
My own Emmanuel, on the other hand, is pure flesh, and I know it will take several lifetimes before he can even assume even just a trace of the divinity that his namesake inherently carried.
Still, I refuse to dwell on the uncertain. For now, my Emmanuel is safe, healthy, and simply a great bundle of pure and innocent joy. I often find his eyes looking upwards whenever he is awake, after which he would suddenly flash an innocent smile on his tender lips. From there, I know someone up there is watching over him, making sure that in due time, he too will live up to the meaning of his name.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
