I don’t think I need to go into how terrible the whole earthquake and tsunami event has been. Were CNN.com really that desperate for news they had to go and publish this article?

To everyone who gets to read this and I hope you all have a safe holiday period.

Yesterday marked the 6th birthday of the Brisbane Yoshinkan Aikido Dojo. I attended the once-a-year self-defence lesson and continued to watch an excellent demonstration by our Sensei and the black belts held exclusively for dojo members. It’s only my second month of learning my first martial art, but it was an excellent opportunity to learn more about it as Sensei Mori discussed the theory and practical basis for the things we learn in class all the time.

Of course, it was made even more exciting as we witnessed his amazing skills actually applied in all types of scenarios, one which included dealing with five attackers at the one time and without him even breaking a sweat! The Yoshinkan Brisbane dojo was highly recommended to me, and now after having attended it, I can also highly recommend it for anyone else. The members are extremely friendly and unlike many other dojos in Brisbane is not centred about recruiting new members and making money, but is there to genuinely teach and help improve everyone’s skills in Aikido.

I think that the reason that most people get hired into the company I work for is that they continually pursue the why or the how behind the way that things work. For most of our projects, the most difficult ones tend to translate into the driving forces behind the people or processes, because in comparison, the technical problems are so much easier to solve!

It’s funny how learning a little bit more about the history of something or someone makes you think of them in a totally different way…

I just noticed that my puny 2MB Hotmail storage just got increased to a <soakedInSarcasm>whopping</soakedInSarcasm> 250MB. Though it’s nice of Hotmail to be playing catch up, for me already too late since my reply-to address on hotmail is my gmail account.

And besides… Gmail wins hands down in the user interface side!

To celebrate Gerrod’s final days of bachelorhood, I spent the weekend with a group of him and his mates at the Hyatt Regency Resort at Coolum. Located north of Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast, the Hyatt Regency is an extravagent retreat where the Australian PGA Championship is hosted every year. His brother Jason (who is conveniently an events organisater by trade) planned a weekend that included a day of unlimited golf, over night accomodation and breakfast.

Read more “Gerrod’s Buck’s Weekend”

This week has been one of those weeks that have just been so surreal. Due to family reasons (not to be disclosed here), I flew with the rest of my family back to the Philippines. The details of the trip are too personal to really disclose here, but let’s just say that it was trip that I don’t think I will ever forget. This trip was so short (we left Brisbane midnight Monday, arriving back this morning) that I think that we spent more time in transit than the combined time of all of the rest of our other activities. Both the purpose of the trip and one of the books I’m currently reading (highly recommended), ‘What Should I Do With My Life‘, by Po Bronson, made me more highly observant and appreciative of the differences between Australia and the Philippines.

Read more “Another Country’s Perspective”

Although today’s society appears to be driven by a capitalist economy (where short-term gains appear to be outweigh long term objectives), there is something that I find enticing about a company that attempts to balance the conflict between making money and doing good in the world.

Read on only if you actually care about working in a place that you enjoy… Read more “What more could one ask for?”