September 27, 2007
I'm here...
...still here, in the Philippines, at home, writing this blog entry.
I wasn't able to fly away because apparently, I didn't have exit clearance from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). Of course, I had no idea whatsoever that every Filipino working abroad (immigrants are excluded) has to pass by the POEA office first to get cleared to leave the country. If you are a Filipino and you are going to work abroad soon, please make sure to go to the POEA office (the main branch is in Ortigas) and get your exit clearance ASAP; here's how.
There I was, having exhausted all my tearful farewells, all ready to check-in, only to be told I couldn't leave. Talk about anti-climactic. My family had to fetch me from the airport, already a balikbayan. We just laughed at the whole episode. Thanks to our contact at the POEA, I was able to secure my exit clearance in record time; 6 hours, as opposed to days! My flight has been re-booked and I'm leaving (again) tomorrow morning at 8 am.
There's a reason things like this happen. I've been able to spend another day with my family, make some last minute purchases and printouts, and even watch the Ateneo-La Salle game (hahaha, talo La Salle, 1 point!). I bet tomorrow's farewell won't be as heart-wrenching.
(P.S. I am now officially an OFW, and proud of it! Mabuhay ang mga Bagong Bayani!)
...still here, in the Philippines, at home, writing this blog entry.
I wasn't able to fly away because apparently, I didn't have exit clearance from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). Of course, I had no idea whatsoever that every Filipino working abroad (immigrants are excluded) has to pass by the POEA office first to get cleared to leave the country. If you are a Filipino and you are going to work abroad soon, please make sure to go to the POEA office (the main branch is in Ortigas) and get your exit clearance ASAP; here's how.
There I was, having exhausted all my tearful farewells, all ready to check-in, only to be told I couldn't leave. Talk about anti-climactic. My family had to fetch me from the airport, already a balikbayan. We just laughed at the whole episode. Thanks to our contact at the POEA, I was able to secure my exit clearance in record time; 6 hours, as opposed to days! My flight has been re-booked and I'm leaving (again) tomorrow morning at 8 am.
There's a reason things like this happen. I've been able to spend another day with my family, make some last minute purchases and printouts, and even watch the Ateneo-La Salle game (hahaha, talo La Salle, 1 point!). I bet tomorrow's farewell won't be as heart-wrenching.
(P.S. I am now officially an OFW, and proud of it! Mabuhay ang mga Bagong Bayani!)
September 06, 2007
This past month has been the busiest and most eventful one in recent memory (for me). It's rather ironic, therefore, that I have not posted a single meaningful update about my personal life in nearly two months. (With the lone exception of my birthday post, which was even one day overdue!)
Perhaps it's because this past month has been so overwhelming that I've lost the time and energy (but not the interest) to blog. So I'm planning to make up for it since I have quite a bit of free time on my hands now. Here's a brief rundown of what's been going on in my life:
Perhaps it's because this past month has been so overwhelming that I've lost the time and energy (but not the interest) to blog. So I'm planning to make up for it since I have quite a bit of free time on my hands now. Here's a brief rundown of what's been going on in my life:
- I went on a Boracay vacation with Andreé. Just a 3-day, 2-night getaway, which also coincided with our second anniversary last August 13. We both had a blast! Everything was perfect!
- I joined the 2007 Rubik's Cube Philippines Open (RCPO 2007). This was the first-ever official Rubik's Cube competition held in the Philippines, held last August 25, and I felt tremendously honored to be part of history. I did well for myself, I think: 17th (out of 28) in the 3x3x3 category, and 8th (out of 17) in the 2x2x2 category. Not bad at all! And now I have my own personal records page with the World Cube Association. Cool, huh?
- I've resigned from HP. Yes, I'm no longer an HP employee. My last working day was last Friday, August 31. I lasted exactly one year at HP; quite interesting, doncha think? My last few weeks at HP were also very eventful and memorable (and busy).
- I'll be joining Microsoft. Some of you already know this, but for the benefit of those who don't, yes, I'm joining Microsoft. I'll be working at their headquarters in Redmond, WA as a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) starting October 1. I'm very busy with my preparations (with my move and all) and I'll be flying to the U.S. on September 27.
Labels: Andree, Boracay, contests, HP, Microsoft, Philippines, RCPO 2007, Rubik's cube, vacation, work
February 16, 2007
The Microsoft JobsBlog is running a coding contest. The grand prize? A chance to work at Microsoft! Read more about it here.
The first winner of the contest is now a Microsoft employee. I think he still had to pass his interview though.
(If you are having difficulties with their email system, you might want to read this.)
The first winner of the contest is now a Microsoft employee. I think he still had to pass his interview though.
(If you are having difficulties with their email system, you might want to read this.)
Labels: contests, employment, Microsoft
December 04, 2006
Microsoft is coming to Singapore in March 2007! They're looking for people from Asia to fill positions at their corporate headquarters in Redmond, WA. Send your resumés/CVs to uwork@microsoft.com.
Good luck!
Good luck!
Labels: employment, Microsoft
November 10, 2006
I attended the Philippine .NET Users Group's (PHINUG) Tech Sharing last Wednesday night. As a speaker. My brother Jerome is the president of PHINUG and I sort of volunteered to make a presentation. I was supposed to present some of the things I learned about Sharepoint at work, but I couldn't find the time to set up a Windows Server 2003 Virtual PC image (Sharepoint doesn't run on Windows XP) so I changed my topic to multithreading in .NET 2.0 instead.
I've forgotten when was the last time that I participated in a Microsoft event. I've been practically invisible to the Microsoft community for over a year now. "punzki" used to be one of the most active members in msforums.ph but he simply disappeared one day. I wasn't surprised at all when my MVP status wasn't renewed last month.
(What, you didn't know? That's okay, I don't think I ever blogged about it. I enjoyed my two years as an MVP and my only regret was that I failed to live up to it.)
It was tremendously nerve-wracking to be speaking in public. I had gotten used to it a long time ago, but on Wednesday night I was sweating profusely a mere minute into my 15-minute presentation. I think my presentation and my topic was a bit too "heavy" for the time alloted, but all in all, it went fairly well. It was really nice to see old and new faces alike in the Microsoft developer community. I hope to be appearing in more Microsoft/PHINUG events soon.
You can download my slides and examples here (courtesy of fileXoom).
I've forgotten when was the last time that I participated in a Microsoft event. I've been practically invisible to the Microsoft community for over a year now. "punzki" used to be one of the most active members in msforums.ph but he simply disappeared one day. I wasn't surprised at all when my MVP status wasn't renewed last month.
(What, you didn't know? That's okay, I don't think I ever blogged about it. I enjoyed my two years as an MVP and my only regret was that I failed to live up to it.)
It was tremendously nerve-wracking to be speaking in public. I had gotten used to it a long time ago, but on Wednesday night I was sweating profusely a mere minute into my 15-minute presentation. I think my presentation and my topic was a bit too "heavy" for the time alloted, but all in all, it went fairly well. It was really nice to see old and new faces alike in the Microsoft developer community. I hope to be appearing in more Microsoft/PHINUG events soon.
You can download my slides and examples here (courtesy of fileXoom).
Labels: :), .NET, Microsoft, multithreading, PHINUG, presentations, public speaking
