September 28 outreach!

At last the day came to help pull teeth and heal people. My friends and I helped out in a medical-dental mission I co-organized at the biggest barangay in the Philippines. It was located at the gym near AMPAPP (Ang Muling Pagkabuhay ng Ating Panginoon Parish). More than a hundred fifty aching biters/snappers were pulled out by the team headed by Doc Aga, the Executive Secretary of the Philippine Dental Association. They were helped by friend DMD Noemi and assisted by registered nurses and other volunteers in the quick two-hour operation. It was like a production line of first anesthetizing a group of people, and then the systematic extraction. I was surprised that within twenty minutes of settling down, the first tooth was already done! And three immediately after!


More texts and the first pictures to come later. Hang in there.

And..here they are! This was the day that the dentists were on center stage! Literally..they were on the stage. The doctors were below the stage.



Doc Dzen and Nurse Marose writing the common prescription for dental patients. Pages of a tickler notebook were used in place of prescription pads. Ballpens used were lent by volunteers. I'm proud to say that they were returned to their rightful owners after use! There was no need to put a sticker with a label "Stolen from...".





Here is Doc Noe applying anesthesia to the patient patient. The anesthesia takes effect within 5 minutes, when injected on the lower jaw, faster when on the upper jaw.








The Sanitize team was in charge of disinfecting the dental instruments used. Three basins with the chemicals were the wash basins for these three "gypsy girls". The Cotton team supplied the cotton that were needed to stop bleeding. Initially I thought assistants were needed to maneuver the patients' heads but there was no need for that.







Patients patiently waiting for their turn. The dental patients were half the number of the medical patients. More than three hundred were given check-ups by only three doctors. Make that "medical" doctors. My dentist friend Glenda said that she was also a doctor. Dentist to be specific.



Photo of the gym as we left for the tour of the bukid.


I asked Ate Lydia to tour me around their place. She was the one from AMPAPP's Social Service department who wrote me a letter requesting for a medical-dentals. I wanted to see how else I can help them out by survevying their area. Volunteer Krysta (my loyal WYD buddy!) accompanied me. Our "tour guides" were Inang Buen and Ate Jessica plus her husband and youngest daughter Bebe. She has a name but I forget now what. Let's call her as her mother calls her.

This is Bebe.
They call it the bukid since it was like that, and mostly the relief from AMPAPP goes to that place since it was the poorest of all the Kapatiran places. The Kapatiran is the local organization of a certain area. We were with Inang Buen, the head of Kapatiran Siete. The bukid was precisely their area.

Where to get low-cost training PCs

I am looking for low-cost training PCs. I started to do so last Tuesday and I realized so far the best bet is Netopia's training site proposal. At least the one in Waltermart Pasong Tamo. Conveniently located, and near eateries, and even the moviehouse. Cost-effective for trainees as many as 18. Problem is I only have one-sixths of that number.
When I registered Crossover LC's name, I placed the working capital as Php 100,000. My seatmate said that I should have just insisted to the ale on the counter that it's much less than that. The higher the capitalization, the higher will be the payment for a business permit. Haay. I just wanted to use a name but because I had to do it legally, I realize it's not that simple. I think with the advent of my first client (crossing my fingers na hindi maudlot!), what I guesstimated as my working capital may be correct. So..God help..please give me a stream of projects!
Last night I surfed Openpinoy.com and found out they're like another HMR. I'll check them out soon. Branded Pentium 4 with flat monitor costs less than 7,000! I also surfed to Yugatech to find out I can assemble a mini PC with Intel Atom processor that costs only 3,000. With the other necessary paraphernalia, I dunno how much that will be.

Outreach on Sunday, Sept. 28

Two months ago I received a request letter from a parish sent by fax. I was amused to read my name with the title "Dr." They thought an outreach with a medical mission must have a doctor as its organizer! But no, I used to aspire to be one, and it never materialized. I guess I'm just a doctor in my heart.
For the third year in a row, the less privileged have benefited from activities I have organized for their bodily and spiritual health. The next one will be a whole afternoon affair in the biggest barangay in the Philippines - in Bagong Silang, Caloocan. Networking with people, the number of volunteers is impressive. A group of 14 dentists care of Doc Noemi, 3 MDs, and 11 nurses, plus other volunteers will help more than four hundred locals. Medicines and supplies are taken care of my generous donors. This is all possible with the collaboration of Maam Chuchi and the Ang Muling Pagkabuhay ng Panginoon Parish people. Thanks to all.

Crossover LC's possible first client!

Barely a day old, Crossover had its prospective first client call me up! It's not the other way around anymore when the thing could be termed a client call. The Singaporean lady-client representing a headhunting firm called while I was in the training room. Like any good person inside a classroom, my phone was on silent mode so I knew I missed her call when I checked my phone. I emailed as a reply, and the back-and-forth communication finalized costs which they approved. By about next week I will have the first three (buena mano!) trainees. Now I just need to know where to get low-cost machines...hmmm....

Salamat sa hulog ng langit!

Jurassic niche

They say in business that you have to have your niche. Thanks be to the pioneering company where I spent close to six years of my life (post salad days eaten away), I can say I do have a niche in conducting the same subjects I went back to that firm for. That was post Y2K years, and still, there was a demand for Cobol programmers. The yeare 2001 was the year the WTC was bombed, and it nearly retrenched me. Good thing the dreaded thing didn't happen and I still was employed.

The company I worked for could have been the pioneers of Philippine BPO, now that that term is so much in vogue. The group that started it was the group that resigned from its mother company to follow their feel that offering services outside the company will surely boom. Sad thing the mom co. didn't heed so the opportunity was seized by the rebel group. They had their niche - offering consultancy services to US companies that needed a more cost-effective way of computer systems development and maintenance, mainly in the "jurassic" mainframe world. In short, they outsourced a part of that to Philippine hands. That was their niche.

Working for them also put me in the niche of training greenhorns the ever needed subjects of Cobol, CICS, JCL, and DB2. I wholely thank the company for giving me the rare opportunity of training rare subjects. This is the reason why I am now where I am, teaching CICS. Providence also guided me to email an inquiry to the school. Within two hours I had an answer. They were in need of an instructor like me.

A different kind of mix

My friend Nancy's and my favorite halo-halo is Chowking's. I usually order the petite halo-halo as my dessert after the wanton noodles. I discovered the great taste (no, not the coffee) of Chowking halo-halo many, many years ago but this year they made it extra special with the kind of ice shaver they use. (In my previous blog I said I had to fetch money from the house because I leave my moolah there to avoid the temptation to pass by Chowking after schoolwork). The ice shaved is of a finer type and it blends well with the ingredients. This time their ube is softer and smoother in texture. Yummy!

Here comes Goldilocks without the three bears. After the BNR, I walked to where I was eyeing a foreclosed property in M. Antonio at shady barangay Pio del Pilar. At the corner of Pasong Tamo and Lacson (is it?) was the old branch of Goldilocks my family and I used to frequent when I was a kid. It was my chance to try out their version of halo-halo! I wished Nancy was there to try it with me.
It took around ten minutes for it to be served. It was worth the wait. Instead of the halo-halo in the usual parfait glass or bowl, the halo-halo was presented on a plate. The ingredients were enveloped in two thin crepes, and there was a small scoop of ice-cream beside them. The presentation was nice, it really enticed me to eat...this different kind of mix is great! If you happen to pass by a Goldilock's restaurant, try it. I hope you will like it as much as I do.

The day I eventually registered my business name

I am enjoying my life as a freelancer. Yesterday after the half-day training in MITC TOP, I walked along Buendia to get to DTI. Though I left the huge umbrella in the school, I had a gut feel I wouldn't need it. (I didn't since luckily the rain didn't come). When I arrived at the DTI, I learned that they have another site to welcome business name registrations. Lady Guard said I should make it sooner since they only let in a number of registrants a day. Even if it meant not being in the cut off number, I just had to visit the new office. It wasn't so far away - only ten minutes walk at the Trafalgar in de la Costa Street.

For more than a month I had been trying to register the business that was at the back of my head - the learning center. Done online, one can really expect to have the name approved after a looong time. The first time I registered a name, it was disapproved. I applied for another name and up to now they haven't gotten back to me.

When I was already at the Trafalgar, my patience was tested again since the elevators weren't that fast to pick me up. The elevators there were the same at the Makati Municipal Hall where you wouldn't know at which floor the elevator is currently based. There were about six of them but still it seemed like forever when finally elevator D picked us up. If you are not familiar with the elevator at the Munisipyo or at the Trafalgar at that, there is a contraption in between elevators where you press the floor you want to reach. Then the LCD will flash which elevator will service you. It took like fifteen minutes! And so many warm bodies in a narrow lift! Felt like a sardine in a can or even a warm body in a crowded sauna.

So finally I stepped out to the 12th floor. DTI at last. I asked the ate from the window how face-to-face registration is different from the online one. She said that was mush faster because the approval is in realtime. I asked till what time they are open since I was encouraged to go to the house and get money for the registration! She said only about 100 are accomodated over the day and she gave me the tip to come in very early since some come as early as 7:00 am and the priority numbers then can be as many as 60. She observed that there was no sign yet by the guard that the cut-off was reached so I just may be able to get a number yet. I leapt for my chance. Wow! I was registrant #100, the last of the mohicans! Hahha. Then I inquired from Manong Guard what time they are open. He said till 4:30pm. So I got the application form and duplicate for sole prioprietorship BNR (business name registration) and headed home. I thought I can come back at 4:00 since they close 30 minutes later.

I went home to fetch not a pail of water but to the money for the BNR. I left 3:30 and told myself I can just walk there. But I thought otherwise because there was a commotion on the road. A possible bank robbery. I became a little uzi too and got the information from mamang sekyu's that the robbers entered BOI to get to the new East West Bank. What? Rob a newly opened bank? The robbers might be lugi. I detoured to the eskinita that brings me to the major thoroughfare. So jeep was my mode of getting there. Better that than the fat burning briskwalk intended, than being caught in the middle of a gunfight.

The elevators at the Trafalgar were consistent. Waited about 10 minutes to get to the 12th floor. So I entered the office and asked if they called PN (priority number) 100. They got mad because according to them I was there too late. Hmmm...closing time was 4:30 right? I was there 30 minutes before closing time. Government offices have a different culture, don't they. In private banks they will still accomodate you as long as you came in before closing time. I had to contend with the snide comments of gov comrades kesyo what was my priority number etc etc. I knew I was the last with PN #100 but one said there was another at #103..should I believe that? I saw Manong Guard put up the cardboard that says "No more priority number" when he gave the last one to me.

With patience I explained about what Manong Guard told me. In the end they still accomodated me but with many side comments. I saw they were really annoyed.

The good thing about this is that. I need not wait a million days to have my business name registered! TADAH! A new business name is born: CROSSOVER LEARNING CENTER!!