AIG and Prudential are still in talks with Prudential seemingly trying to lower the offer price ahead of shareholders meeting next week. AIG did say that they are not in a hurry and that the new offer is too low, signifying that AIA is too valuable, which I also agree with. This is the next frontier for the economic world, Asia will is the third epicenter in the economic sphere of influence and the next big market. I am keenly watching progress for this as I am looking at investing in either or both of AIA and Prudentials offerings here in SG and in the PH.

Our friend Vanessa Urbano just posted that she achieved first place in yesterdays Adidas Sundown Marathon, I’m not yet sure what here category and time is but it trully is a feat worth congratulating. Jeff and I are very psyched for our 10k Singapore Marathon this December. I’m still building up mileage, I’m around 22k right now.

PAGASA has reported the rainy season has now arrived and people should prepare for La Nina! I hope everyone is ready, especially the Local Government Units(LGU). I just read that a creek in Mabolo has narrowed due to informal settlers increasing and expanding, one even made his house in the middle, and this is just one of the many creeks and rivers in Cebu. Political will is needed in this situation. Politicians might be afraid of the vote repercussions or bad publicity, but a civil servant should look at what is good for the entire population. If obstructions are not removed, flooding will occur. I think this is the root of the governance problem in the Philippines, because of near-sightedness and political cowardice, nothing gets done, maintain status is the norm and as quite as possible is the aim. I am very hopefull for future Philippine civil servants with courage, vigor and focus to do what is necessary to improve and maintain a level of civility and life satisfaction acceptable by current and future standards.

Our flatmate Mike and Mic just bought new beds from Ikea and they are great, I’d like to say what an enjoyable experience it is to be at Ikea, imaginations round wild with all the options and possibilites. The swedish meatballs and chicken wings are a must from the food side. What’s great is that Ikea Alexandra is also across Anchorpoint, the outlet stores mall and add to that, there is free weekend bus service from our place to Ikea. Such a treat in deed. Although the Alexandra store is I think just half of the Tampines store, it still has the same items albeit at a smaller place but the location being nearer to the City and our place more than makes up for it.

It helps to consider being focused as a habit, be consistent and do it regularly, as they say, 21 days to make it a habit.

Resist everything else that is not related to whatever you are focusing on, try to distance yourself or control yourself.

Do not be distracted so easily, this is a mental challenge, condition your mind. Although, having a little distraction now and then or in-between will always help sharpen and restore your drained batteries, but be wary and stick to the time.

Set aside enough time in-between and stick to it, use it wisely and do not stray from the schedule.

Sometimes you just feel drained, lost or out of steam, try and set aside a short routine related to what you are focusing on. The routine should be easy and must follow steps that does not take too much time. This helps keep you on track and distracts you while still being productive.

If you are in-front of the monitor, you must blink always to wet your eyes and have a 5 minute break every 2 hours and look at something green which is atleast 10 meters aways, this helps keep you from being near sighted and keeps your eyes from drying up which will ultimately help maintain your 20/20 vision.

if you are in one position for most of the time, for example sitting, stretch out every so often, check out stationary or sitting exercises. This helps distracts you while keeping you healthy.

Drink lots of liquids, water is advisable. This is good for your health, The frequent trips to the toilet will help clean your system, loose a little weight as your body does not need to retain a lot of water because you always take in more and the walk to the loo can actually be considered exercise. BTW, I said liquids not food, eat only on the right time and eat the right food.

These are just some which might work for some and not for others. Do try to find your own rythm to things, the important thing is you are focused and that you achieve your objective while learning, having fun and being satisfied.

Image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

This most certainly have been brought unto the 21st century research methodology, however, I might not agree with critical mass as the web, or to properly point the finger, the people on the web more often than not do not do due diligence to verify information, just take viral marketing for example, most people just like it or repost it or retweet it because their friend or someone they think is of good stature posted it. Who is to say the information is not tainted when these people did not do further research before spreading the word, next thing you know, it spreads like wildfire and that is now critical mass.

If let’s say for example, I’m basing this on a true story, a friend of yours will say that apple is now launching a tablet pc next week, you’d then ask where did  you get the info, from a friends youtube stream which showed a live demo of the product. Most would jump in the bandwagon and tweet, repost and spread the word, just to be the first in their gang to be in the know. However, if you would just take a minute or two to take a look at who originally made the video, you would find out that it was the onion who instigated the whole thing.

So with this simple example, I’d say take everything in web as it is and make time to verify the original source of the information, dig deeper to find out the real score. Critical mass does not necessarily apply to the web, even if the information came from a very reputable source, take time to verify, better safe than sorry.

1.) Focused Ass Kisser – These type of persons are fully aware that they are kissing ass to achieve a certain object and they are so determined to achieve that goal that they will stop at nothing even to the point of stepping over everyone and ass kiss anyone.

Their are two ways to deal will this type, first, accept it and try to get on the good side of the ass kisser, in other words, kiss their ass also. Second, leave with it and let them be, if you don’t bother them, chances are they will not bother to drag you down.

2.) Compulsive or perennial Ass Kisser – These types are the once to be pitied upon, these types just cant control themselves, it’s like an addiction, they just have to do it.

You can’t do anything about it, so just live with these types of people.

3.) Incompetent Ass Kisser – This type has the more chance of curing themselves, these people do not know they are ass kissing.

You can help them out by pointing the obvious to them and chances are, it will cure them.

4.) Incompetent and Delusional Ass Kisser – I absolutely have no respect for these types and they should not be in the same room with you, this types either do not know they are ass kissing or they do but justify it as pro-active, helpfulness and others. Just the mere fact of justifying something wrong is already way of the board, but to believe that it is good ! you gotta be delusional.

Keep away from these people, they are like a contagious disease, be careful not to be stricken by one.

The purpose of this mental exercise is to point out that you cannot escape from these people, no matter how you evade, you will in one way or another fall into such a situation. The moral of this story is to just live with it, accept the fact that the world needs people like them, the organization you are in needs them to maintain balance, there has to be an illusion of something bad to maintain the illusion that we are good.

For everything is this world is a balance, we have to evolve, so what ever you experience, even as annoying as an ass kisser on door front, treat it as a challenge, accept them and leave them be. This is brings us to my home run point of trusting the upper ups, them people on the top of the food chain ain’t as stupid as all of us think, they are up there for a reason and in time, ass kissers will be found out and left to dry.

Come to think of it, I don’t even know why we indulge ourselves in engaging in this exercise of who knows what or who knows more, it’s like a cha-cha, a dance of who is more sophisticated or who is in. If you do not know what the other is talking about, you get a sick since satisfaction, a little edge above the others.

During the years of our so called evolution into corporate sophistication, we have actually built up layers and layers of gibberish mambo jumbo that either no one can understand or can implement effectively. If we want to do something new or edge up in the corporate ladder, we make a new program or a new initiative and we name it something really sophisticated and build up a framework or a workflow so full of abbreviation and terms that it will take 200 pages of manuals and a couple hundred hours to fully understand.

This is also so evident in programming and development, softwares or applications have to have a gazillion of features that hardly anyone will use, with more terms, abbreviations that a dictionary. In the IT industry, simplicity is coming back into the mainstream, take gmail and all the web 2.0 apps churning out, even Office 2007, simple interfaces with basic and working features.

This I believe will also be the trend that will come to the corporate world, it will be like a wildfire, start out from a spark and in no time it will swallow the entire forest. The first wave will be simplification of finance, products and services, then the rationalization, centralization and back-end/internal simplification.