This includes you.
No, I'm not sorry.
Sometimes, I'm an idiot, too.
(But only sometimes.)
The truth hurts, sure.
But being an idiot isn't so bad.
It means you often don't know when to quit, which more often than not is a good formula for success.
It means you tend to dream big. And isn't it awesome to have dreams?
It means you're the stubborn one who refuses to believe that all hope is lost, because a lot of the time it isn't (it just seems that way).
It means you don't listen, when stupid people say you can't.
It means you're capable of trust. And faith. And love.
So no, it isn't so bad to be an idiot.
If only you were smart enough to see why.
31 March 2010
28 March 2010
The Umbrella Academy: Dallas
The Umbrella Academy's first story arc, Apocalypse Suite, was a gem.It was offbeat. A tad strange. Unapologetically tried to be too cool for school -- and succeeded magnificently.
Ah, but its second arc, Dallas, may just be even better. For any number of reasons:
It picks up where Apocalypse Suite left off, showing what's become of the ragtag superhero team cum foster family after having just saved the world.
It involves ridiculous amounts of (comic book) violence, time travel, and explains why "Number 5" is possibly the most terrifying member of the Umbrella Academy.
It allows Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba to offer their own twisted fiction version of John F. Kennedy's assassination.
Best of all, the trade paperback comes with a short and sweet introduction by Neil Gaiman.
I think I'll stop there. I know I had you at "The Umbrella Academy."
25 March 2010
Philippine State Policies [Presentation Thursdays]
View this presentation on Slideshare.
Some slides I put together back when I was teaching, as a by-way-of-introduction to the Philippine Constitution. These are from Article II. While not at all aesthetically pleasing, they are straightforward and thereby rather effective.
I find it interesting to revisit this from time to time, if only to be reminded of what our government should live up to (as opposed to what it has become).
You'll have to forgive the mangled text on a couple of slides. That's a quirk of Slideshare's conversion algorithm. I would think the slides appear fine in the original file.
[About Presentation Thursdays: Every now and then, on a Thursday, I post a presentation from my archives and include some accompanying commentary not just about the content but also my thoughts on designing it. The presentations can also be viewed and downloaded from my Slideshare page]
22 March 2010
Ask Not
In business:
Ask not how many people bought your product, but instead how many people actually use it.
Ask not how to make a sale, but instead how to secure the repeat business/repeat sale.
Ask not if there are any complaints about your product or service, but instead whether your customers think it's worthwhile to tell you if something's wrong.
Because:
If people buy what you're selling but don't use it, they will fail to see its value and eventually stop buying.
Anyone can make a sale. But it's customers who come back time and time again that makes businesses viable.
If customers care enough to tell you what it is you're doing wrong, chances are they'll also work the hardest to tell non-customers about the wonderful things you're doing right.
Ask not how many people bought your product, but instead how many people actually use it.
Ask not how to make a sale, but instead how to secure the repeat business/repeat sale.
Ask not if there are any complaints about your product or service, but instead whether your customers think it's worthwhile to tell you if something's wrong.
Because:
If people buy what you're selling but don't use it, they will fail to see its value and eventually stop buying.
Anyone can make a sale. But it's customers who come back time and time again that makes businesses viable.
If customers care enough to tell you what it is you're doing wrong, chances are they'll also work the hardest to tell non-customers about the wonderful things you're doing right.
19 March 2010
Shades of Grey
One of Jasper Fforde's endearing qualities as a writer is his knack for taking full advantage of his chosen medium. Take his Thursday Next
series as an example -- the premise of which already pays tribute to what the written word has to offer -- and more specifically his concept of the footnoterphone. Allowing his characters to engage in conversation outside of the main body of the text, it's obviously a gimmick, albeit an amusing and imaginative one. Yet it is equally a device (pun intended) that only makes sense in the pages of a book.In today's multimedia age, would screen adaptations of Fford's novels ever be in the cards? Perhaps, but only with great difficulty (and that's a good thing). Nowhere is this more evident than in his latest series, Shades of Grey
, which is difficult to imagine in any medium other than print.Once again, it's an alternate-reality England readers are introduced to, where a mysterious Something that Happened has eliminated nearly all trace of the world as we know it today. This new world is a colortocracy where people's perception of color across the visible spectrum dictates social norms and class structure. The protagonist is one Eddie Russet, a young man with an above average perception of red, who eventually falls in love with a "Grey" named Jane. In between, the realization dawns upon Eddie that all is not as it seems in their neat and orderly world, setting the stage for a story with subtle political undertones (both literally and figuratively).
Try adapting that to a medium other than print!
It's an engaging read because of Fforde's wit, creativity and affinity for details, yet therein lie both the strength and weakness of Shades of Grey. The concept of the colortocracy and the minutiae Fforde has thought of to explain how such a system might work is simply astounding. After all, to imagine what it might be like to view the world seeing only one color and positing what social implications this may have is no mean feat. In addition, the resulting symbolism gives added dimension to the social commentary. Unfortunately, as he has been guilty of in the past (read: Thursday Next) Fforde tends to err on the side of excess: once the novelty wears off, the surfeit of detail otherwise slows down the plot development, resulting in a drawn out middle and far-too-quickly-unfolding end.
Thankfully, it would appear that Fforde intends Shades of Grey to be the first of a trilogy. If so, readers can hope that this first book gets the "opening remarks" out of the way so he can move on to much more plot-driven, evenly paced storytelling.
Immersing oneself in Jasper Fforde's world, whether via Thursday Next, Nursery Crime, or now, Shades of Grey, is to experience stories almost wholly integrated with the printed medium, and thereby best enjoyed precisely as they are. It was Marshall McLuhan who coined the phrase "the medium is the message." Somehow, this rings particularly true of Jasper Fforde's work, and never more so than with Shades of Grey.
16 March 2010
Born to Run
Cutting to the chase: Christopher McDougall's Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen
is a great book, whether or not you're interested in running. In fact, chances are that if you aren't, after you read it you soon will be.On the surface, the book is about three things: first, the indigenous Mexican Tarahumara tribe whose prowess for distance running has achieved renown of near-mythical proportions; second, the life of Caballo Blanco, a runner with a mysterious past who has gone native and now lives mostly with the Tarahumara; finally, Caballo's attempt to stage an ultramarathon pitting the Tarahumara against some of America's elite ultrarunners. Weaving these themes together, the book inevitably offers various other anecdotes and insights into the science and psychology of running.
On a personal note, one aspect of the book I did enjoy was how it was paced very much like going for a run. It starts off a little rough, leaving the reader to wonder why we should care at all about McDougall's interest in the Tarahumara and Caballo Blanco. Then it hits its stride, owing to several colorful anecdotes about ultramarathons like the Leadville 100 as well as profiles of several superathletes who participate in such events. The book picks up the pace around the time it starts to relate how Caballo's "underground" ultramarathon begins to come together/unravel, with interesting departures into the movement towards "barefoot running" and the development of what ultimately would become the Nike Free line of shoes. Like many runs, the book threatens to falter before reaching the finish line, offering a relatively lengthy evolutionary perspective on running just when readers may be more interested in how Caballo's race turns out (or doesn't). That hurdle crossed, the book neatly wraps things up, and what started out as a winding lengthy story suddenly seemed to have gone by much more easily or quickly than expected.
Am I reading too much into it? Maybe. But you'll know what I mean if you read Born to Run yourself. And you won't regret it.
13 March 2010
Ready?
No, you aren't ready. To move on up. Answer when opportunity knocks. Make the big jump. Take on the added responsibility. Stick your neck out. Volunteer. Stand up and be counted. Take that risk. Make that commitment. Start a family. Begin all over again. Give up the ghost. Accept the consequences.
But that's not why you fail. You fail because you lack imagination. Gumption. Pride (but not arrogance). Faith. Maybe even a sense of humor.
Face it: if you waited until you were really, truly, 100%, feel-it-in-my-bones-you-betcha-by-golly-wow ready, the moment would've passed, you'd've been beaten to the punch, life would've passed you by.
The truth of the matter is that no one is honestly ready. Why else do we often find ourselves surprised/blindsided/nonplussed? Granted, maybe there's something to be said about some people being more prepared than others. Dig deep enough, though, and you'll see that anyone who claims to be Ready is flat out lying.
Accept the fact that you aren't ready. You may never be. But don't let that small detail keep you from going for it, taking that chance, holding your breath, taking the plunge. Seth Godin is right: that little voice you hear that tells you that you can't/shouldn't/mustn't is just the resistance. Face it head on. It means you're on to something. And the fact that there's a part of you that knows you aren't ready is precisely what will make achieving whatever you set out to do a true work of art.
The next time your lizard brain whispers to you, "You're not ready. What if you fail?", remember that there is only one reply:
What if you succeed?
But that's not why you fail. You fail because you lack imagination. Gumption. Pride (but not arrogance). Faith. Maybe even a sense of humor.
Face it: if you waited until you were really, truly, 100%, feel-it-in-my-bones-you-betcha-by-golly-wow ready, the moment would've passed, you'd've been beaten to the punch, life would've passed you by.
The truth of the matter is that no one is honestly ready. Why else do we often find ourselves surprised/blindsided/nonplussed? Granted, maybe there's something to be said about some people being more prepared than others. Dig deep enough, though, and you'll see that anyone who claims to be Ready is flat out lying.
Accept the fact that you aren't ready. You may never be. But don't let that small detail keep you from going for it, taking that chance, holding your breath, taking the plunge. Seth Godin is right: that little voice you hear that tells you that you can't/shouldn't/mustn't is just the resistance. Face it head on. It means you're on to something. And the fact that there's a part of you that knows you aren't ready is precisely what will make achieving whatever you set out to do a true work of art.
The next time your lizard brain whispers to you, "You're not ready. What if you fail?", remember that there is only one reply:
What if you succeed?
10 March 2010
In-Flight Entertainment 13
Here's another round of bullet reviews for films seen in transit that were previously unseen in theaters (by me, of course):
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. It's pretty decent kids' entertainment for sure. But I still say the concept is damn strange. Maybe it worked better in the book?
The Damned United. While most sports films stick to the tried and true formula of "underdogs overcoming adversity to achieve unlikely success," this story of Brian Clough and his stint as manager of Leeds United surprised because it was anything but. It's really a story of the pride that comes before the fall, woven together in the subculture of 1970s English professional football. I thought Michael Sheen was brilliant in Frost/Nixon; he's even better here as a borderline egomaniacal Clough. Timothy Spall also does great work in the film as well. All in all, a great film, especially for those interested in English football.
District 9. Very compelling science fiction. Sure, I was taken aback by the more than occasional violence and gruesomeness, but the overall creative vision of the film and its accompanying social commentary are truly something (even if the latter is a tad contrived). The more I think about it, District 9 is the movie that Cloverfield wanted but failed to be.
An Education. What a delightful film. Based on British journalist Lynn Barber's memoirs, it's a wonderful coming of age story that also offers a peek into the culture and values of 1960's England. A lot of credit has to go to the cast, particularly a very charming Carey Mulligan, as well as to Nick Hornby's screenplay (which is good, even if it does occasionally try to be too clever for its own good). And may I just say that Peter Saarsgard and Ewan MacGregor are probably twins separated at birth? I submit the latter could play the former's role and it would still have been pretty much the same film.
In the Loop. An interesting satire about the horsetrading that goes on behind the scenes in the corridors of power, but not entirely my cup of tea. Yes, I loved the very biting British putdowns (not to mention the inventive cussing that seemed to have no end), but really I didn't care much for the story other than the underlying critique that the Iraq war was a total sham. If anything, I think the biggest kick I got out of watching the movie was the surprise of finding Anna Chlumsky among the cast, all grown up from her My Girl days.
The Informant! I tend to like Steven Soderbergh's work. He did good in the way he directed this film, adding touches here and there as if to "wink-wink" at the viewer and convey that there's something not quite right with what's going on (because, indeed, that's exactly the case). Matt Damon does well in his portrayal of executive turned informant turned scam artist Mark Whitacre, and if there's anything a little off-putting in the film it's in finding Joel McHale cast as an FBI agent (though he acquits himself quite well throughout the movie). All in all, it's one of those movies that I enjoyed enough to wish I'd gone ahead and read the book first (and that's a compliment).
Inglourious Basterds. I don't really get Quentin Tarantino. I thought I was beginning to partway into Inglourious Basterds, until it became clear that this was an alternate reality take on World War II -- and I just have to wonder what the hell was the point of that. That said, it's entertaining most of the time, perhaps because of the effort the actors put into it. Brad Pitt? Yeah, he's awesome here. But it's really Christoph Waltz, who reminds me a lot of Tim Roth, that steals the show.
The Invention of Lying. It's an interesting premise: what would the world be like if no one could lie, and what would happen if someone suddenly discovered how? Unfortunately, that's about all that's good in this otherwise snooze-fest of a movie. Whatever novelty it has gets old fairly quickly, and it doesn't help that Ricky Gervaise's dry British humor is just a little too dry for its own good.
Law Abiding Citizen. Sort of like Se7en with a twist, I suppose, and entertaining up to a point. Jamie Foxx portrays the right amount of hubris for a district attorney direly in need of some humble pie, while Gerard Butler is convincing enough as a mad genius capable pulling off some rather inventive acts of revenge. The point where the suspension of disbelief ends, though, is when the advanced technology and heavy artillery get thrown into the picture. Also, it fell short at the end of showing genuine remorse in the two main characters. Sure, there was an effort, but the script was rather anemic in that regard.
Michael Jackson's This Is It. Long live the King of Pop. 'Nuff said.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. It's pretty decent kids' entertainment for sure. But I still say the concept is damn strange. Maybe it worked better in the book?
The Damned United. While most sports films stick to the tried and true formula of "underdogs overcoming adversity to achieve unlikely success," this story of Brian Clough and his stint as manager of Leeds United surprised because it was anything but. It's really a story of the pride that comes before the fall, woven together in the subculture of 1970s English professional football. I thought Michael Sheen was brilliant in Frost/Nixon; he's even better here as a borderline egomaniacal Clough. Timothy Spall also does great work in the film as well. All in all, a great film, especially for those interested in English football.
District 9. Very compelling science fiction. Sure, I was taken aback by the more than occasional violence and gruesomeness, but the overall creative vision of the film and its accompanying social commentary are truly something (even if the latter is a tad contrived). The more I think about it, District 9 is the movie that Cloverfield wanted but failed to be.
An Education. What a delightful film. Based on British journalist Lynn Barber's memoirs, it's a wonderful coming of age story that also offers a peek into the culture and values of 1960's England. A lot of credit has to go to the cast, particularly a very charming Carey Mulligan, as well as to Nick Hornby's screenplay (which is good, even if it does occasionally try to be too clever for its own good). And may I just say that Peter Saarsgard and Ewan MacGregor are probably twins separated at birth? I submit the latter could play the former's role and it would still have been pretty much the same film.
In the Loop. An interesting satire about the horsetrading that goes on behind the scenes in the corridors of power, but not entirely my cup of tea. Yes, I loved the very biting British putdowns (not to mention the inventive cussing that seemed to have no end), but really I didn't care much for the story other than the underlying critique that the Iraq war was a total sham. If anything, I think the biggest kick I got out of watching the movie was the surprise of finding Anna Chlumsky among the cast, all grown up from her My Girl days.
The Informant! I tend to like Steven Soderbergh's work. He did good in the way he directed this film, adding touches here and there as if to "wink-wink" at the viewer and convey that there's something not quite right with what's going on (because, indeed, that's exactly the case). Matt Damon does well in his portrayal of executive turned informant turned scam artist Mark Whitacre, and if there's anything a little off-putting in the film it's in finding Joel McHale cast as an FBI agent (though he acquits himself quite well throughout the movie). All in all, it's one of those movies that I enjoyed enough to wish I'd gone ahead and read the book first (and that's a compliment).
Inglourious Basterds. I don't really get Quentin Tarantino. I thought I was beginning to partway into Inglourious Basterds, until it became clear that this was an alternate reality take on World War II -- and I just have to wonder what the hell was the point of that. That said, it's entertaining most of the time, perhaps because of the effort the actors put into it. Brad Pitt? Yeah, he's awesome here. But it's really Christoph Waltz, who reminds me a lot of Tim Roth, that steals the show.
The Invention of Lying. It's an interesting premise: what would the world be like if no one could lie, and what would happen if someone suddenly discovered how? Unfortunately, that's about all that's good in this otherwise snooze-fest of a movie. Whatever novelty it has gets old fairly quickly, and it doesn't help that Ricky Gervaise's dry British humor is just a little too dry for its own good.
Law Abiding Citizen. Sort of like Se7en with a twist, I suppose, and entertaining up to a point. Jamie Foxx portrays the right amount of hubris for a district attorney direly in need of some humble pie, while Gerard Butler is convincing enough as a mad genius capable pulling off some rather inventive acts of revenge. The point where the suspension of disbelief ends, though, is when the advanced technology and heavy artillery get thrown into the picture. Also, it fell short at the end of showing genuine remorse in the two main characters. Sure, there was an effort, but the script was rather anemic in that regard.
Michael Jackson's This Is It. Long live the King of Pop. 'Nuff said.
07 March 2010
Random Travel Notes 13
This is the lucky thirteenth installment of Random Travel Notes, the "briefest trip to New York and back again" (also known as "it's now or never to present your dissertation proposal").
Missing the wife. I'd done this before and been away for months at a time a few years back, and it didn't phase me. Now? I'd say the first thing that came to mind was how much I wish the wife could've come along on this trip.
Come to think of it. While waiting for my connection in Hong Kong, the odd thought came to mind: What ever happened to the Northwest pilots who overshot their destination? Now there's one news story that quieted down too soon.
Viand. Funny how airlines make an effort to enlist executive chefs to jazz up their meal offerings. The way I see it, no matter how airlines dress up their in-flight menu, the choice still boils down to: chicken, fish or beef.
Longest. Ash Wednesday. Ever. I left on Ash Wednesday; I arrived in New York on Ash Wednesday. I think the Almighty will forgive me for breaking the fast and not abstaining during the trip, if only because traveling such a distance is hard enough with a normal diet.
Cabin Fever. For the first time, I managed to take the direct flight to New York from Hong Kong. It has its pros and cons. On the one hand, it's much more convenient from the standpoint of getting more uninterrupted sleep while in transit, as well as not having to be bothered with collecting one's things and deplaning for a layover. On the other, it's significantly more expensive (and how!), and I must say that at some point I began to wonder if I was going a little stir crazy from being in such cramped quarters for so long a time.
Border Patrol. I suspect I've made remarks to this effect before, but it seems to me that immigration officers in New York are much more straightforward to deal with as compared to other ports of entry into the United States. This is not to say that they're more lenient -- I find that Homeland Security professionals are pretty serious about their work regardless of where they are -- but rather that there's much less added baggage in the way they process travelers. In San Francisco, for instance, there's just too many questions unnecessary questions asked and suspicious glances offered (or maybe I'm just paranoid). In New York? Much more businesslike. I would think it has something to do both with the city culture and the volume of visitors they process. That said, is it just me or are immigration officers trained to ask you questions without actually looking at you?
Misquote of the day. From the flight attendant, upon landing: "Please remain seated as the jetway is not yet connected to the gate." Now wouldn't that have been scary?
Hello, Friend. I met up with my good friend Carlo while I was in New York. He'd just moved there some time ago, though we saw each other last when he was visiting and while I happened to still be living there. I asked him if he managed to meet up with any of our other friends that have also visited the city, and his reply was that I was probably the one person he's seen the most in New York. Thinking back: he was right. He'd visited when I first moved to New York and started grad school, visited again right when I was moving out having finished my coursework, and here I was with a chance to see him again now that I was scheduled to present my dissertation proposal. Personally, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the next time I get to see him will be when I graduate.
The upside of BPO. Something I realized: Because there are no call centers in Manhattan like there are in Metro Manila, there are few places to grab a bite to eat at 3am. Sure, I've heard New Yorkers trumpet "the city that never sleeps" schtick over and over again, but as far as I'm concerned they don't know what that really means until they experience the convenience of a 24-hour MiniStop right when you get the munchies at an ungodly hour.
When the jet lag set in. I was fine for all of two days when I arrived. Then past midnight (EST) on what should have been the third day, I was roused from my sleep by several beeps from my phone. There were a couple of work-related messages from people who didn't know I was away. After that, my sleep cycle stayed out of sync for the remainder of the trip.
Dissertation Proposal -- Done! The presentation of my dissertation proposal went well, thank you very much. By that yardstick alone, the trip was well worth it.
Out of sight, out of mind. I didn't realize how much stress I was under until after I was done with the scheduled presentation. Strictly speaking, there wasn't much for me to do prior to that as the paper had already been written, slides prepared, and feedback from the very people to whom I'd be presenting to was already in hand. Really, all I had to do was show up and deliver the presentation. Still, after the presentation it felt as if a huge load was lifted off my back. I must be getting soft in my old age.
How's the weather. Overall, I was lucky that New York experienced good weather for most of my trip. Right before, there'd been a couple of snowstorms; a few days after I left, there would be a couple more. While I did experience the rain that preceded these on my last full day in the city, I'm glad that the weather cooperated, making the trip possible and allowing it to go on without a hitch. Well, aside from a delayed to my outbound flight, which in the grand scheme of things hardly counts.
Chuga-chuga-choo-choo! While waiting to board the flight home, there were a couple of kids running around outside the departure gate. One was Chinese (the flight back would also be via Hong Kong, of course); the other Caucasian. Apparently, they were pretending to be trains, exclaiming "Chuga-chuga-choo-choo!" and making quite a ruckus from one end of the waiting terminal to the other. As I watched, it struck me that these kids probably wouldn't be able to understand each other given the language barrier, and yet here they were happily playing together to their hearts content. Truly, childhood is its own universal language.
Again with the forms. It happened again: once more, I ended up on the receiving end of customer feedback forms. I rest my case.
Litmus test. It bears mentioning that prior to boarding my return flight home I was on the receiving end of the new security procedure whereby passengers are randomly screened for traces of explosive chemicals. My hands were swabbed, the swab was analyzed by some machine, and only after the results came back (thirty seconds later?) was I allowed to proceed on. Surprisingly, it doesn't take as much time as I thought it would when I read about the new procedures in the news; still, multiplied by the number of travelers that might have to go through this -- I wasn't the only one, so there's no discrimination here folks -- it can potentially be an enormous hassle if this security screening becomes SOP.
A-team, B-team; New and old. On the way to New York, I ended up on noticeably newer aircraft, with well trained crews, on flights that weren't full. I think there's something telling in that. For the journey home, I noticed I was in relatively older aircraft, slightly less polished crews, and the flights themselves packed to capacity. I think there's something telling in this, too. For each, though, I can't say what exactly.
Missing the wife. I'd done this before and been away for months at a time a few years back, and it didn't phase me. Now? I'd say the first thing that came to mind was how much I wish the wife could've come along on this trip.
Come to think of it. While waiting for my connection in Hong Kong, the odd thought came to mind: What ever happened to the Northwest pilots who overshot their destination? Now there's one news story that quieted down too soon.
Viand. Funny how airlines make an effort to enlist executive chefs to jazz up their meal offerings. The way I see it, no matter how airlines dress up their in-flight menu, the choice still boils down to: chicken, fish or beef.
Longest. Ash Wednesday. Ever. I left on Ash Wednesday; I arrived in New York on Ash Wednesday. I think the Almighty will forgive me for breaking the fast and not abstaining during the trip, if only because traveling such a distance is hard enough with a normal diet.
Cabin Fever. For the first time, I managed to take the direct flight to New York from Hong Kong. It has its pros and cons. On the one hand, it's much more convenient from the standpoint of getting more uninterrupted sleep while in transit, as well as not having to be bothered with collecting one's things and deplaning for a layover. On the other, it's significantly more expensive (and how!), and I must say that at some point I began to wonder if I was going a little stir crazy from being in such cramped quarters for so long a time.
Border Patrol. I suspect I've made remarks to this effect before, but it seems to me that immigration officers in New York are much more straightforward to deal with as compared to other ports of entry into the United States. This is not to say that they're more lenient -- I find that Homeland Security professionals are pretty serious about their work regardless of where they are -- but rather that there's much less added baggage in the way they process travelers. In San Francisco, for instance, there's just too many questions unnecessary questions asked and suspicious glances offered (or maybe I'm just paranoid). In New York? Much more businesslike. I would think it has something to do both with the city culture and the volume of visitors they process. That said, is it just me or are immigration officers trained to ask you questions without actually looking at you?
Misquote of the day. From the flight attendant, upon landing: "Please remain seated as the jetway is not yet connected to the gate." Now wouldn't that have been scary?
Hello, Friend. I met up with my good friend Carlo while I was in New York. He'd just moved there some time ago, though we saw each other last when he was visiting and while I happened to still be living there. I asked him if he managed to meet up with any of our other friends that have also visited the city, and his reply was that I was probably the one person he's seen the most in New York. Thinking back: he was right. He'd visited when I first moved to New York and started grad school, visited again right when I was moving out having finished my coursework, and here I was with a chance to see him again now that I was scheduled to present my dissertation proposal. Personally, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the next time I get to see him will be when I graduate.
The upside of BPO. Something I realized: Because there are no call centers in Manhattan like there are in Metro Manila, there are few places to grab a bite to eat at 3am. Sure, I've heard New Yorkers trumpet "the city that never sleeps" schtick over and over again, but as far as I'm concerned they don't know what that really means until they experience the convenience of a 24-hour MiniStop right when you get the munchies at an ungodly hour.
When the jet lag set in. I was fine for all of two days when I arrived. Then past midnight (EST) on what should have been the third day, I was roused from my sleep by several beeps from my phone. There were a couple of work-related messages from people who didn't know I was away. After that, my sleep cycle stayed out of sync for the remainder of the trip.
Dissertation Proposal -- Done! The presentation of my dissertation proposal went well, thank you very much. By that yardstick alone, the trip was well worth it.
Out of sight, out of mind. I didn't realize how much stress I was under until after I was done with the scheduled presentation. Strictly speaking, there wasn't much for me to do prior to that as the paper had already been written, slides prepared, and feedback from the very people to whom I'd be presenting to was already in hand. Really, all I had to do was show up and deliver the presentation. Still, after the presentation it felt as if a huge load was lifted off my back. I must be getting soft in my old age.
How's the weather. Overall, I was lucky that New York experienced good weather for most of my trip. Right before, there'd been a couple of snowstorms; a few days after I left, there would be a couple more. While I did experience the rain that preceded these on my last full day in the city, I'm glad that the weather cooperated, making the trip possible and allowing it to go on without a hitch. Well, aside from a delayed to my outbound flight, which in the grand scheme of things hardly counts.
Chuga-chuga-choo-choo! While waiting to board the flight home, there were a couple of kids running around outside the departure gate. One was Chinese (the flight back would also be via Hong Kong, of course); the other Caucasian. Apparently, they were pretending to be trains, exclaiming "Chuga-chuga-choo-choo!" and making quite a ruckus from one end of the waiting terminal to the other. As I watched, it struck me that these kids probably wouldn't be able to understand each other given the language barrier, and yet here they were happily playing together to their hearts content. Truly, childhood is its own universal language.
Again with the forms. It happened again: once more, I ended up on the receiving end of customer feedback forms. I rest my case.
Litmus test. It bears mentioning that prior to boarding my return flight home I was on the receiving end of the new security procedure whereby passengers are randomly screened for traces of explosive chemicals. My hands were swabbed, the swab was analyzed by some machine, and only after the results came back (thirty seconds later?) was I allowed to proceed on. Surprisingly, it doesn't take as much time as I thought it would when I read about the new procedures in the news; still, multiplied by the number of travelers that might have to go through this -- I wasn't the only one, so there's no discrimination here folks -- it can potentially be an enormous hassle if this security screening becomes SOP.
A-team, B-team; New and old. On the way to New York, I ended up on noticeably newer aircraft, with well trained crews, on flights that weren't full. I think there's something telling in that. For the journey home, I noticed I was in relatively older aircraft, slightly less polished crews, and the flights themselves packed to capacity. I think there's something telling in this, too. For each, though, I can't say what exactly.
04 March 2010
Dissertation Proposal [Presentation Thursdays]
Below are the slides I used for the presentation of my dissertation proposal to my faculty panel. I decided on a clean and simple aesthetic, which I thought would be appropriate for the occasion. Amusingly, or perhaps ironically, my mentor opined that the slides were good but "too flashy" for her taste. I stand by the decision, though: as easy as it would have been to design something along the lines of "death by Powerpoint" (and an argument could be made that such would have been appropriate, too, in a way), I just couldn't abide the thought.
Since the purpose of the presentation was to get approval for the topic, the slides aimed to communicate the thought process behind the research I've already done. This might seem odd for a "proposal", but the truth is that a dissertation proposal is itself a semi-complete paper and not simply a statement of "this sounds interesting and I would like to do research on it for kicks." Hence, because a considerable amount of reading, hypothesis testing and analysis had already gone into developing the proposal (as well as a fair amount of missteps along the way), I felt it was important to take the panel through this process in order to get their support and guidance for where I thought the research was headed.
The early slides were fun to make. Images were from creative commons-licensed photos I found on Flickr (here and here). I particularly like the two bar graphs on Philippine remittances that I made to illustrate why the Philippines is a unique remittance-recipient economy. The play on colors per section was something I just settled for to add variety; while they're obviously unnecessary I think they turned out well enough without being overly distracting.
Delivering the presentation made me realize how difficult it is to effectively present numbers. Getting through the lengthy section that reports my initial regression results was a struggle, suddenly having to grapple with talking about these in a coherent and interesting way (without much success, mind, but I soldiered on). I once thought learning the econometric techniques were hard; there's a good case to be made that presenting these may be even harder.
(Note for the curious: the summary results are just screen captures from the paper that makes up the proposal. It was easier to go about it this way rather than encode the results all over again.)
Ultimately, I think I managed to showcase my value-added through these slides. There's a lot lost in translation by just reading through the slides without me actually presenting them, which on balance is how effective slides should be, methinks. To belabor the point, consider the following version of the slides, to which I have added some explanatory annotations:
A final tidbit: in the runup to the presentation day, I resisted the temptation to read through both Nancy Duarte's Slide:Ology
and Garr Reynolds' Presentation Zen Design
, which were pending on my reading queue. I'm sure there are any number of tips I could've picked up from those books; yet I was scared they'd make me feel bad about my slides.
That said, my presentation went well, which means I'm that much closer to finishing with my PhD.
Now all that's left to do is get the work done.
[About Presentation Thursdays: Every now and then, on a Thursday, I post a presentation from my archives and include some accompanying commentary not just about the content but also my thoughts on designing it. The presentations can also be viewed and downloaded from my Slideshare page]
View this presentation on Slideshare.
Since the purpose of the presentation was to get approval for the topic, the slides aimed to communicate the thought process behind the research I've already done. This might seem odd for a "proposal", but the truth is that a dissertation proposal is itself a semi-complete paper and not simply a statement of "this sounds interesting and I would like to do research on it for kicks." Hence, because a considerable amount of reading, hypothesis testing and analysis had already gone into developing the proposal (as well as a fair amount of missteps along the way), I felt it was important to take the panel through this process in order to get their support and guidance for where I thought the research was headed.
The early slides were fun to make. Images were from creative commons-licensed photos I found on Flickr (here and here). I particularly like the two bar graphs on Philippine remittances that I made to illustrate why the Philippines is a unique remittance-recipient economy. The play on colors per section was something I just settled for to add variety; while they're obviously unnecessary I think they turned out well enough without being overly distracting.
Delivering the presentation made me realize how difficult it is to effectively present numbers. Getting through the lengthy section that reports my initial regression results was a struggle, suddenly having to grapple with talking about these in a coherent and interesting way (without much success, mind, but I soldiered on). I once thought learning the econometric techniques were hard; there's a good case to be made that presenting these may be even harder.
(Note for the curious: the summary results are just screen captures from the paper that makes up the proposal. It was easier to go about it this way rather than encode the results all over again.)
Ultimately, I think I managed to showcase my value-added through these slides. There's a lot lost in translation by just reading through the slides without me actually presenting them, which on balance is how effective slides should be, methinks. To belabor the point, consider the following version of the slides, to which I have added some explanatory annotations:
View this presentation on Slideshare.
A final tidbit: in the runup to the presentation day, I resisted the temptation to read through both Nancy Duarte's Slide:Ology
and Garr Reynolds' Presentation Zen Design, which were pending on my reading queue. I'm sure there are any number of tips I could've picked up from those books; yet I was scared they'd make me feel bad about my slides.That said, my presentation went well, which means I'm that much closer to finishing with my PhD.
Now all that's left to do is get the work done.
[About Presentation Thursdays: Every now and then, on a Thursday, I post a presentation from my archives and include some accompanying commentary not just about the content but also my thoughts on designing it. The presentations can also be viewed and downloaded from my Slideshare page]
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