Working Out

My friends and I have been playing badminton every Saturdays and it feels great. To have a regular exercise and an activity to look forward to other than work really helps relieve stress. I have been thinking to play twice a week but I still have to figure out where will I fit badminton to my busy schedule during weekdays. Plus, getting friends to join you is another thing. You have to organize at least 5-6 players to play for 2 hours. One hour is not enough because you are barely warmed up and just starting to get the hang of it and suddenly your 1 hour has lapsed.

One of my co-workers decided to join us 2 weeks ago and I was impressed by the way he moved. It was his first time to play in a real badminton court and his smash and power is really good. I would say, given about 2-3 months of regular play and training, he will be a good player. His secret.... he regularly goes to the gym to workout for years and has maintained a good and healthy lifestyle.

He has been convincing me for weeks to join him during his workouts but i really can not include it to my schedule. My work extends up to 6-7pm and i hurry home sometimes to cook dinner or just spend time with my wife and my son. I still have work on Saturdays and my only off-Sunday is for church and lunch at my sister's house with her family, my mom and my dad. If only if i have one more day between Sunday and Monday, I am sure it will also be filled up with all sorts of activities.

Just yesterday, i had to meet a client at Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. I was with my co-worker since i have been training him for a month now. We were on our way back to our office in Quezon City but got stuck for 2 hours in EDSA because of the EDSA People Power Anniversary celebration. I had to return some stuff to the office because Thursday is my car's coding day. It was past 7pm, traffic is still at a standstill and i have to go home. I then decided to just wake up early, go to the office before 7am to avoid the coding scheme and return things to our office. Now, i wondered what to do from 7am-830am? My co-worker suggested to go to the gym and i guess it was a good idea. It was really fun. It was my first time again since college days and i miss lifting weights. A lot has changed since then, i learned to use a few machines and now i am eager to go to my next session. I am not really into building a great physique but i remembered i do enjoy working out. And it is a inexpensive sport since gym fees are really affordable, except if you enroll to high class gyms that charge thousands per month. Going to the gym is fun and i plan to do it regularly. It is really nice to include sports to your regular routine and i cannot wait to start swimming and biking again. Will i still have time? I really hope so.

Goal Setting

Recently, as the head of the sales team at work, I had the chance to talk to my subordinates about visualizing our goals. These goals are set at the end of the year or possible for two years which will help us be reminded everyday that in order to achieve our goals, we have to work hard. I mentioned that besides having goals like paying off our debts, improving our savings, having a good health, we have to make goals which are tangible and can be purchased and seen. These goals should be attainable and realistic given that we will get our commissions every month when we hit our monthly sales target. Here are the goals made by my team:

1. An original and affordable Tag Heuer watch
2. A good laptop, possibly a Mac
3. A Nikon Digital SLR
4. A new car paint
5. Magic Sing Videoke Set
6. A trip to HongKong Disneyland
7. Pay off a land title
8. A good quality mountain bike
9. A nice ref
10. 15 or 16 inch magwheels

These goals may be too simple for some people but to us it will be a big achievement. Hopefully with the right attitude and teamwork, we may be able to pull it off and be one step closer to our end of the year goals. Good luck and God bless to us all.

Getting a New Mobile Phone

It has been almost 5 years since I last bought a new mobile phone. My phone has already retired, even after several attempts to revive it, like replacing the original battery and the original casing. In case you are wondering, it was a Motorola L6 model and it has been with me even before I met my wife. This Motorola model has been my only phone for years and i just got a new one last year for office use. I am planning to buy a new one, just a simple and affordable phone which I can use for personal use. I have been planning to buy a Samsung phone but just like Nokia models, most of them are a bit expensive.

Recently, I noticed LG and MyPhone phone units are more affordable and has a wide range of models to choose from. I would love to have touch screen phones but most of them are way above my budget. I am also considering phones that have a qwerty keypad which saves time while texting compared to traditional phones. I really hope that when I decide to buy a new phone, it would also last for 4-5 years or longer.

Here are my choices:
1. My Phone Q21 - features: dual sim, GSM GPRS, 2.2" 220 x 176 pixels, SMS, MMS, Chat, Email, MP3, MIDI, True Tones, Bluetooth, 1.3 megapixel, 1000 entries, Micro SD up to 2GB, 220 min talk time
2. LG GW300 - features: 240 x 320 resolution, FM radio, bluetooth, micro SD up to 4GB, 262K colors, MP3 player, internal memory 15MB, 2.0 megapixel