Smileys!!! Astig talaga si Erap.

Aquino got 37 percent of the 3,000 respondents who were surveyed from March 21-28, by Pulse Asia. Closest rival, Senator Manny Villar, is at second with 25 percent. Former president Joseph Estrada is third with 18 percent, former defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro, fourth, with seven percent; Senator Richard Gordon and Brother Eddie Villanueva, with two percent each.

For vice president, Aquino's runningmate, Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas, leads the pack with 43 percent. Senator Loren Legarda is second with 23 percent, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, third with 19 percent; former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando, fourth with two percent; television host and former Optical Media Board chairman Edu Manzano, fifth with two percent; Perfecto Yasay, sixth with one percent; and broadcaster Jay Sonza, last with 0.5 percent.

via Aquino, Roxas still lead presidential, VP race—poll – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.

Want to be a person? Remember: Managers tell employees what to do and make sure they do it.

With people, they have conversations about things that matter to them.

via The importance of being a person | IS Survivor Publishing.

Come on if you haven’t had a failed venture when your nearing 30, when you haven’t worked for or been part of a startup, if you haven’t failed at a micro enterprise, you are probably risk averse and would only start a business if it was a sure thing (and the sad thing is nothing is “a sure thing”).

If you’ve worked for the same company since graduating from college and haven’t left

PLEASE READ THE WHOLE THING on the linked blog!!!

In just about every business, there’s a club. To become a member, you have to be a person, and not just an interchangeable, faceless, member-of-the-great-unwashed, one-of-the-troops sack o’ skills.

Companies treat members of the club differently than non-members. They pay members more. They give members more interesting assignments. Members receive the promotions, and their names aren’t on the Reduction In Force rosters.

If you value your career, believe me: You want to be a person.

Selling on price doesn’t achieve that. Neither does selling solely on work products. Both proclaim kinship with cinder blocks and lentils as interchangeable commodities.

via The importance of being a person | IS Survivor Publishing.

Praise for Sen Pimentel (inching towards redemption from his conduct at the Villar senate investigations, Why is it that people I admire greatly seem to sell themselves for a pittance during the twilight of their lives.)

Fail for the Comelec official who rail roaded the purchase order without bidding.

Praise for Commissioner Melo for not signing.

Amid allegations of overpricing, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday canceled the awarding of the P690-million contract for the supply and delivery of the ballot secrecy folders that will be used in the May 2010 polls.

The decision was announced a day after Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. revealed that the poll body bought nearly two million ballot secrecy folders at an overpriced rate of P380 each.

via Comelec cancels P690-M contract for ballot folders – Nation – GMANews.TV – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News.

the pic is here

This print is the logo for an earlier incarnation of this newsletter, which I called “Crazy Deranged Fools”.

A CDF is my term for somebody like me, i.e. somebody who actually has the temerity to TRY to do what he loves for a living, as opposed to shlepping for his daily crust.

I'd say most of the people who read my work on a regular basis would consider themselves CDFs. The desire to “unify work and love” is a powerful driving force in society, and I see it getting more powerful by the day. The days of just turning up and getting paid well for it are over. The world is just too interesting and competitive now.

And Thank Goodness for that….

via .

You have to join Hugh’s Daily Cartoon here http://eepurl.com/gvoK

This would speed things up greatly but I fear for places where people are running against the incumbent this will test the the determination and honor of the local comelec officials. This would also level the playing field for candidates with less money (read:: less corrupt) because incumbents have enough cash to put lawyers in each clustered precinct. Local politicians usually use the lawyers to slow the pace of voting in the precincts whose voters they do not own. In some ways you can think of these lawyers as thugs or as protectors of the sanctity of the ballot because they either impede you or protect your vote, a true double edged sword.

Candidates can no longer complain about possible anomalous election documents at the precinct level and instead, wait for the winners to be proclaimed first, according to new rules promulgated by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) over the weekend.

Comelec Resolution 8804 says that candidates, political parties, and party-list groups can only question documents that they deem to be suspicious – such as election results, for instance – and challenge the results before the proclamation of winners if there is an “illegal composition of the board of canvassers (BOC)” and “illegal proceedings of the BOC.”

via New Comelec rules disallow election complaints at precinct level – Nation – GMANews.TV – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News.

Praise for Pimentel, Fail for Comelec!!!!!

Comelec cancels P690-M contract for ballot folders

KIMBERLY JANE T. TAN, GMANews.TV

04/05/2010 | 07:12 PM

Amid allegations of overpricing, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday canceled the awarding of the P690-million contract for the supply and delivery of the ballot secrecy folders that will be used in the May 2010 polls.

The decision was announced a day after Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. revealed that the poll body bought nearly two million ballot secrecy folders at an overpriced rate of P380 each.

via Comelec cancels P690-M contract for ballot folders – Nation – GMANews.TV – Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs – Latest Philippine News.

Most people travel long distances with the idea that they’ll accept the burden for something better, be it a house, salary, or school. They presume the trade-off is worth the agony. But studies show that commuters are on average much less satisfied with their lives than noncommuters. A commuter who travels one hour, one way, would have to make 40% more than his current salary to be as fully satisfied with his life as a noncommuter, say economists Bruno S. Frey and Alois Stutzer of the University of Zurich’s Institute for Empirical Research in Economics. People usually overestimate the value of the things they’ll obtain by commuting – more money, more material goods, more prestige – and underestimate the benefit of what they are losing: social connections, hobbies, and health. “Commuting is a stress that doesn’t pay off,” says Stutzer…Commuting is also associated with raised blood pressure, musculoskeletal disorders, increased hostility, lateness, absenteeism, and adverse effects on cognitive performance.

via The commuting paradox – (37signals).

This is part of the letter Amelia Earhart wrote to her then Fiancée.  I loved reading the letter. It seems extremely truthful to me. Humming someday you’ll know while typing this!

Please let us not interfere with the others' work or play, nor let the world see our private joys or disagreements. In this connection I may have to keep some place where I can go to be myself, now and then, for I cannot guarantee to endure at all times the confinements of even an attractive cage.

I must exact a cruel promise and that is you will let me go in a year if we find no happiness together.

I will try to do my best in every way and give you that part of me you know and seem to want.

A.E.

via Letters of Note: You must know again my reluctance to marry.