Thank you, WFM

I was at the Supply Chain Team strat plan yesterday at the Edsa Shangri-La hotel. WFM was moved out of HR last year, and was subsequently realigned to the bigger Supply Chain group (with Procurement, RESO, Security and Business Center).

It was probably my last formal team activity with my former teammates as well. By April 1st, I will have almost fully disengaged myself with recruitment already. From the looks of it, the plans and initiatives of the group seems promising. I know they have a lot of challenges to face, and I wish them the best of luck.

They have the power to make things happen this year. I hope they are able to deliver.

Bracket Busted

I had the University of North Carolina Tar Heels winning it all this season.

But the Georgetown Univeristy Hoyas had other things in mind. The underdogs pounded a 96-84 overtime win over the fancied Tar Heels, booking their ticket to the Final Four in Atlanta. Carolina seeming had the game wrapped up in the second half but an improbable collapse led a stunning Georgetown rally.

The Heels were arguably the most talented team in America, with their roster going 12-deep. But this group was made up by mostly underclassmen and this loss will undoubtedly raise their maturity level and fuel their fire for next year. Hopefully, only the seniors will be gone and everyone else will come back.

P&G at CME

The P&G account had a very successful strategic planning workshop earlier today at Club Manila East. There was a lot of collaboration and participation between all employees, regardless of role or level. Hopefully, this is a sign of greater things to come for the account this 2007.

Props to the P&G Stratplan committee for a job well done. Most of all, thank you to everyone who sacrificed their Sunday to support the event and be with the rest of the group.

Sweet Sixteen victory

The UNC Tar Heels move on to the Elite Eight as they used a big second half run to roll over the weary USC Trojans, 74-64, in their Sweet Sixteen matchup.

Freshman phenom Brandan Wright led the way with 21 points and 9 rebounds. Tar Heel best player and All-American sophomore Tyler Hansbrough had an off-night and finished with 5 points. He averaged 27 point during the first two rounds.

The Heels meet the Georgetown Hoyas in the East Regional final slated Monday morning (Manila time). It is a rematch of the 1982 NCAA Championship game which the Heels beat the Hoyas on a game-winning jumper by the legendary Michael Jordan. The winner will go on to Atlanta for the Final Four.

Coincidentally, both teams are sponsored by the Jordan Brand.

Debriefing P&G

My whole week is devoted to doing a ton of presentations for the entire P&G population. Each session is about two hours and I do two to three a day. This is in preparation for their annual strategic planning workshop this coming Sunday.

I guess the most annoying part is saying the same damn things each time out.

I ain't complaining though. Just another day in the office.

Sparta!!!

I finally caught the movie 300. I've heard nice things about it that I made sure I found time to sneak it in my hectic calendar.

I have only one complaint. I think the film had a very anticlimactic ending. The 300 Spartans went through so much, waging war against the neverending Persian army yet they died boring deaths. How can such strong and valiant men die in such a measly, mediocre way.

Anyway, 300 is a great watch. I enjoyed the violence more than anything. Fills my once-in-a-while thirst for gore.

March Madness 2007

After the first weekend, my Tournament Bracket is in major disarray. Four of the eight teams I chose to reach each of the regional finals are out of the running. I have UNC, Texas A&M, Wisconsin and UCLA reaching the Final Four. I'm still good with all picks except for Wisconsin. UNLV scored a huge upset over the Badgers in the second round of the Midwest Regionals.

I got the Tar Heels winning it all in Atlanta. They meet the USC Trojans later this week in the Sweet Sixteen at New Jersey.

Oh yeah, did I mention Duke got punked out of the first round?

Calatagan, Batangas

Just got back from a successful and fun planning workshop with the IT folks. Never imagined the team being about 30-plus-strong now considering they were less than half of that during the same period last year.

The beach wasn't what I had in mind but it was okay. Nothing fancy or anything. Highlights involved island-walking - yes, the sea was only about waist-deep so you can walk your way to the nearest islands about 20 minutes away. During low tide, there ain't much water left. The seabed rises forming land bridges across the islands.

I was expecting to see a throng of laptops being lugged around but only one person had to work offsite to attend to an urgent issue. The rest had their thinkpads tucked away, if they even brought them. I never picked up mine so it was a waste of space altogether.

It fun having everyone in IT forget about work and its accompanying concerns and issues even for just a weekend. We're back to our normal lives come Monday and it's business as usual once again.

Thinkpads for Wakeboards

I'm joining the IT Strategic Planning workshop tomorrow at Batangas. It's an overnight event for all the IT folks across all accounts and business units. There will be no deskside assistance for anyone in IBS tomorrow. Hope they got everything covered cause help is nowhere near.

I'm foreseeing a mix of the sun, the sand, and a sea of laptops with wireless broadband.

MTV Asia > MTV Phils

MTV Philippines is back and I'm not so sure I'm digging it.

Sunrise for Sunrise

I was up by 530 am this morning for the Sunrise Strategic Planning session. They were having the workshop at Club Manila East in Rizal and the meeting place was at Eastwood. Had to meet some of the HR people who I'll be facilitating with at around 7.

We had over a hundred of the Sunrise folks come in and join. It was a bit difficult having to contain a them under one roof. It was fun though. They were very participative and eager to get work done and enjoy.

Props to their steering committee and the whole IBM AP team for a successful stratplan.

Year 1

I spent my first year anniversary in IBM having dinner and drinks with Larry and my teammates at Jaipur. He wanted to acknowledge the achievements of the team within the past three months. Admittedly, we were hard-pressed to produce results since the start of the year. Props to everyone for a damn good job.

Fittingly, I am celebrating my first year with the people I've work with everyday. As I slowly begin transitioning myself out of WFM, they see me less and less each day. I hate to say this, but in due time, my presence will hardly be felt at all.

Larry gave me the opportunity to make the final toast, I guess as a way of saying goodbye.

To the Workforce Management team... Thank you for a wonderful year. Here's to more achievements for you guys....

Cheers!

No more 20/20

I had my eyes checked the other day. It seems I'll be needing eyeglasses soon. I'm actually looking forward to it. Now, I have a reason to buy one and to use up my optical health benefit.

Going a step further, I was trying out frames even before I had my eyes checked.

Talk about excitement.

The grandfather account

Season starts this Friday.

Let's go. Bring it on.

Piso for every Juan

Cebu Pacific's One Peso Seat Sale for all destinations is one big baloney. It's quite impossible to book seats, plus their website cannot accomodate multiple searches unlike other airlines. I bet they only set aside a few seats per flight and not all flights carry the promo.

HR Strategic Planning 2007

We had our HR Stratplan session yesterday over at the Oakwood Suites. It was a whole day event with most of us staying overnight for the informal activities. All I can say is that it was very successful. We're expecting a phenomenal year ahead of us.

Oh and did I mention that the after-party was whack? Props to everyone who stayed til the wee hours of Saturday morning. Can't say if the headache was worth it, but it's definitely close.

This undoubtedly raised the benchmark for future stratplans.

Chosen challenge

I was just handed the toughest business unit assignment. It's been confirmed that I will be taking on the HR Business Partner role for the P&G account. Being the pioneer client, this team has been deemed the most demanding account in terms of HR issues and concerns. This stems from the time that P&G sold its employee services division to IBM, paving the way for IBS to be launched in 2004.

I'm looking forward to work on this difficult challenge. Admittedly, the task on hand comes out as daunting and pressuring but with the guidance of the rest of HR, I know I'll do a decent job to say the least.