Pyrophobic

What are you afraid of?

Not many people know I am pyrophobic. My fear of fire has its origin when I was a little nine years old. Our stove then was a kerosene stove, the pressurized burner portable type. One time, as it was being put to use, I saw the fire coming from it billowed up, almost touching our ceiling. It was good that the one who operated it (can't recall now who s/he was) had a presence of mind that s/he was able to release the air and turn off the pump knob. Since then, I never wanted to go near or, worse, operate a kerosene stove.

And The Biggest Loser Is...

Our own Biggest Loser Contest had ended last Friday coinciding with our office's Christmas Party. Would you believe, the top three biggest losers were all males? Ren was third placer, losing 9 lbs. Kim was second placer, losing 10 lbs. And the biggest loser was Resty, losing 13 lbs.

Let's Party, Animals

The themed Christmas Party of our office was, as expected, fun-filled just like its predecessor Hawaiian Party of the DTI Direct Call Center which our office manages. What made our unit's animal-themed party more special was the group effort to make it exciting and memorable. Special mention should be given to our angels Kia, Jam, and Yhen and archangels Kim, Ren, and Aye for the all the preparations including the making of the masks and the video presentations (it was too bad, though, that the video done by Aye met some technical difficulties that the final product was not shown. Nevertheless, we still enjoyed watching the raw footages).

Of course, the ever reliable assistance of Ate Myrns, Ate Genie, Mang Doms, and Lyn could not be underestimated. Ditto, with Resty and Mang Joebar and our colleagues at the other division headed by Tita Rems, together with Tita LV, Tita Baby, Tita Belen, Mel, Au, and Ric. Even our resident angels at the call -center - Hazel, Eden, Glev, and Hedy - made extra effort in preparing their costumes. And our generous lioness queen (who should be the runaway winner of the best costume award but declined since she's the prize donor), Tita Anne, made sure that each of us would take home something,

We are looking forward to having another themed-party next year. This early, the staff have already something in mind, which our boss also likes: Walt Disney Movie Characters.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Now it can be told!

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Direct Call Center, of which I am a part of, won the Most Innovative Idea Award in the Functional Group category of the annual DTI System on Performance Rewards and Incentives (SPRints). The idea of putting up a call center that aims to provide DTI clients a "no wrong door" reply to their queries came from the DTI Anti-Red Tape Technical Working Group (ARTTWG) and our office was tasked to manage it.

We have to give credit where credit is due. While the idea was brought up by the DTI ARTTWG, it was really Assistant Secretary Baby Baua who orchestrated everything to have the call center established with the able support of Office of Special Concerns (OSC) Officer-in-Charge Lydia Guevarra, Management Information Service (MIS) Director Lizzie Cabrera, Financial  Management Service (FMS) Director Ireneo "Boy" Vizmonte and the other bureau directors who allowed their staff to man the call center once a week on a rotation basis. Of course, I won't forget the call center agents who have been instrumental in the continued success of the DTI Direct.

Now on its third year of operations, the DTI Direct has proven to be an invaluable mechanism in addressing the concerns of the Department's stakeholders, particularly the consumer and business sectors. Lest this article be accused of being self-serving, I will just let the continued operation of the call center speak for itself.

One of our volunteer agents and an officemate, Ric, was also an awardee for the Best Clerk Functional Group category. Three from our division who were nominated by our OIC Director to the Best Supervisor (that's me), Best Technical Staff - Specialis Level  (Kia), and Best Secretary (Ate Genie) categories did not make it.

Well, that's life. You win some, you lose some. Our defeat will never prevent us from doing our work to the best of our abilities and capabilities.  The fact that our boss recognizes our performance is already something to be proud of. Speaking for myself, I have been an awardee thrice, twice as a specialist and once as a senior specialist. Recognition is an incentive but this is not the be-all and end-all of everything. My time will come when I shall be recognized as an outstanding supervisor and so with Kia nd Ate Genie in their own categories.

In all fairness, the winners in the categories where we were fielded deserved the recognition they got. But this we cannot say in other categories and I'd rather keep my mouth shut than name names. After all, the winners themselves will find it in their hearts if they truly deserved the awards conferred on them. Besides, we still respect the decision of the committee no matter how different it may be from our own preferences.

When Babies Get Sick (Part 2)

We thought our youngest daughter would be okay after we had brought her to the emergency room of Divine Mercy Hospital around 5:30am yesterday for vomiting. Since the initial finding was just a mild UTI, she was not given any medication but was only advised to be given more liquids and for further observation at home.
 
When we arrived home at around 8:30am, she was able to go back to sleep. When she woke up after one hour, she started throwing up again. When she had vomited thrice, we decided to bring her back to the hospital and this time she was attended to by a resident pediatrician who ordered a complete blood count test to rule out dengue as among the possible causes of Charm's condition.

Thank God Charm was dengue-negative. Just like the attending physician, the pediatrician also advised us to bring Charm back home for further observation. She was just advised to take glucolyte for her mild dehydration. However, if Charm could not tolerate its taste, there's no other recourse but to bring her back for confinement.

When we got back home, Charm was able to take 1 oz of the 7-oz preparation of oresol before she went back to sleep. After two hours, Charm woke up and I fed her with Skyflakes. After some time, there she was again vomiting. As per her doctor's advice, I had to make Charm take her oresol 5-10 minutes after she would throw up. I did just that. But when she had vomited five times, I thought I had to bring her back to the hospital and request for her confinement because I could no longer bear seeing her vomit again. Before I brought her back to the hospital, I called wifey, who was attending a grand reunion of former officemates that time, and told her about my decision. I also told her she need not worry and just go on with the party but requested her to leave early so she could be at the hospital soon.

At the hospital, Charm vomited one last time. When wifey arrived, Charm was already feeling better. It was wifey's turn to take care of our youngest child and my turn to go home to rest.

Before I went back to the hospital this morning, I got a call from wifey telling me that Charm had some rashes on her neck and forehead. The attending physician had not yet arrived so Charm had to deal with her rashes for the meantime. When the doctor had made her rounds and saw Charm's rashes, she did not give her any medication since it was only localized. Instead, Charm was put under observation again for her rashes.

When wifey went home to take a bath and attend to our two daughters, I asked her to bring the antihistamine we had at home since I already told the nurse to ask the doctor if Charm could already be given it because she had been itching and she started scratching her neck. There was no available antihistamine at the hospital's pharmacy and I could not go out to buy one because I was all alone attending to Charm. It's good that I remembered we had one at home.

When Charm's attending physician visited her this afternoon, she requested another CBC to check if she's finally okay so she could be allowed to go home tomorrow. Thank God, the CBC test was encouraging. Tomorrow, Charm will be back home. I would have wanted to fetch them from the hospital but I have a two-day training starting tomorrow. This time, it was wifey who urged me to proceed with the training and she would manage arranging for Charm's dispatch tomorrow with the help of our maid.

I pray that by tomorrow Charm will be back to her usual self -- playful, talkative, and cheerful. I shall go home early after our training and see my baby waiting for me at our veranda.

When Babies Get Sick

Parents would never want their children to get sick. But we cannot prevent them from getting sick. The least we can do is provide them with immunization shots so that when certain diseases strike them, the impact on them would be mitigated.

The Two-Hour Mass

I am used to attending a one-hour mass as most Catholics are. But the mass I attended last Tuesday, together with some of my staff and our boss, was a little different because it took us some two hours before it was finally over.  No, I'm not complaining. In fact, I would have stayed even longer had the officiating priest extended the celebration to another half an hour or so. Who would not give an extra hour or two to God who has given us all the time in this world to do whatever we want?

The Vigilant Consumer

I am a vigilant consumer and I'm proud about it.

The Call Center Like No Other

It has been three years since the DTI Direct Call Center was established. An initiative of the Department of Trade and Industry's Anti-Red Tape Technical Working Group (DTI-ARTTWG), the DTI Direct Call Center reinforces the "no-wrong door" policy to provide accurate information and quality response to its clients. Our bureau has been tasked to manage it and, modesty aside, we have been able to do our responsibility very well because of the effective leadership of our Offier-In-Charge and the unwavering support of all the staff and the volunteer agents and  partner bureaus as well.

My Long Lost Kumpare

After more than a decade, I finally saw again my kumpareng Eugene last Monday in, of all places, Divisoria when wifey and I went there for Christmas shopping.  He was a good friend from our former office and one of my eldest daughter's godfathers.