I pleaded with the Clairvoyant to purchase a new notebook while she was in the US. It was a nice opportunity to upgrade knowing that the new processors were out and notebook prices in the US are generally significantly lower than prices here or in neighboring countries like Singapore, China and Japan, even after factoring academic discounts. The prices of computers in the Philippines are quite expensive and prohibitive to many who would prefer the standard notebooks from the netbooks that have enjoyed popularity due to their being less expensive than their "conventional" counterparts.
Previous to her US trip, I already did my homework canvassing computer prices in Singapore and Manila. I also consulted the online stores for notebooks that would be suitable for my work and preferences. We (it wasn't difficult to convince the Clairvoyant) finally decided to go for a Macbook. Given the favorable exchange rates and the low prices in the US, it wasn't difficult to also go for the Macbook Pro. And so it was that the Clairvoyant traveled and made the purchase that would usher in a new era of computers, at least in our small world.
So here I am now, copying my files to the Macbook Pro and enjoying each moment and each file copied to my folder in our new computer. That "enjoyment" is of course an exaggeration given that I generally don't enjoy migrating files from an old computer to a new one. It's tedious, time-consuming for one to transfer files while knowing that there are other more important things to accomplish. I did state "our" when referring to the new computer because it will be a shared asset, the Clairvoyant already declaring the Macbook reserved for her Saturday lectures at law school. In my case, I'll probably have custody of the notebook during the rest of the week and be able to wield its power in my own lectures as well as presentations in conferences and seminars.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Re-energizing leave
A few years ago, the UP System circulated a memo from its president announcing to administrators that they may take their re-energizing leave provided that it will be availed of during the summer break. It was assumed that at this time of the academic year there would be less activities regardless of the nature of the administrator's work.
The term administrator applies to a variety of positions and responsibilities depending on the nature of the post. The President and the Chancellor are administrators along with their respective VPs and VCs, who also have varying responsibilities (e.g., the VC for Student Affairs obviously has a different job description compared to the VC for Community Affairs). There are also the Deans of UP units who preside and manage the academic units like the Colleges and Schools. There are also the Institute and Center Directors, and Department Chairs, some of whom handle units with research and/or extension as their primary thrusts.
Load credits vary with Presidents, VPs, Chancellors, VCs, and Deans having 12 unit administrative loads that allow them to not handle courses during their terms considering that the full load for faculty members is 12 units. Usually though, they still teach a course or two depending on the needs of their mother units thereby incurring overloads. And usually too, these are graduate courses that are supposed to have less students are thereby assumed to require less work.
Directors and Chairs usually are given 6 unit administrative load credits. Thus, it is common for these to have 6 more units usually allocated for teaching. There is a one to one correspondence in the number of units of a subject to the teaching load. A Director or Chair may handle 2 typical 3-unit subjects during a semester and it is common to have overloads from additional 1 or 2 subjects. The load credits do not reflect research or extension work being undertaken by the administrator and makes declared workloads misleading and to some extent, unfair to the person.
The purpose of re-energizing leaves is to allow administrators to have a break. That break is usually a vacation that provides the administrator a breather from the pressures of work. It allows one to reflect on the more important things in life. Health and family, as one saying goes, is more important than anything else especially work. Stress from work has been cited as a leading cause of health problems and has been well documented as a major element for hypertension, heart problems and other ailments brought about by the weakening of our defenses. Once you're broken, it is just too costly to recover and it is just not worth it.
Last year, I took advantage of my re-energizing leave to vacation in Panglao Island in Bohol. It was a return after 13 years when I first visited the province. Just like in 1996, I decided to stay at the Bohol Beach Club. This year, we took advantage of a wedding invitation to vacation in Gen. Santos in South Cotabato, and Sarangani where the wedding took place. The trips were indeed re-energizing and the Clairvoyant and I had a great time. Perhaps next year we'll explore another part of the Philippines. Among those in the shortlist are Misibis Bay in Legazpi, Puerto Princesa in Palawan, and maybe Boracay. We wouldn't mind though if we take another trip to Bohol as the province promises a lot more to explore and enjoy.
The term administrator applies to a variety of positions and responsibilities depending on the nature of the post. The President and the Chancellor are administrators along with their respective VPs and VCs, who also have varying responsibilities (e.g., the VC for Student Affairs obviously has a different job description compared to the VC for Community Affairs). There are also the Deans of UP units who preside and manage the academic units like the Colleges and Schools. There are also the Institute and Center Directors, and Department Chairs, some of whom handle units with research and/or extension as their primary thrusts.
Load credits vary with Presidents, VPs, Chancellors, VCs, and Deans having 12 unit administrative loads that allow them to not handle courses during their terms considering that the full load for faculty members is 12 units. Usually though, they still teach a course or two depending on the needs of their mother units thereby incurring overloads. And usually too, these are graduate courses that are supposed to have less students are thereby assumed to require less work.
Directors and Chairs usually are given 6 unit administrative load credits. Thus, it is common for these to have 6 more units usually allocated for teaching. There is a one to one correspondence in the number of units of a subject to the teaching load. A Director or Chair may handle 2 typical 3-unit subjects during a semester and it is common to have overloads from additional 1 or 2 subjects. The load credits do not reflect research or extension work being undertaken by the administrator and makes declared workloads misleading and to some extent, unfair to the person.
The purpose of re-energizing leaves is to allow administrators to have a break. That break is usually a vacation that provides the administrator a breather from the pressures of work. It allows one to reflect on the more important things in life. Health and family, as one saying goes, is more important than anything else especially work. Stress from work has been cited as a leading cause of health problems and has been well documented as a major element for hypertension, heart problems and other ailments brought about by the weakening of our defenses. Once you're broken, it is just too costly to recover and it is just not worth it.
Last year, I took advantage of my re-energizing leave to vacation in Panglao Island in Bohol. It was a return after 13 years when I first visited the province. Just like in 1996, I decided to stay at the Bohol Beach Club. This year, we took advantage of a wedding invitation to vacation in Gen. Santos in South Cotabato, and Sarangani where the wedding took place. The trips were indeed re-energizing and the Clairvoyant and I had a great time. Perhaps next year we'll explore another part of the Philippines. Among those in the shortlist are Misibis Bay in Legazpi, Puerto Princesa in Palawan, and maybe Boracay. We wouldn't mind though if we take another trip to Bohol as the province promises a lot more to explore and enjoy.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Lakers vs Celtics
I've always enjoyed watching NBA games ever since my first glimpse in the early 80's. I remember watching the Lakers, Celtics, Sixers, Sonics and Spurs battle it out in regular season and playoff games when the stars included Jack Sikma, Moses Malone, George Gervin, Julius Erving and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. At the time, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird was just beginning a professional rivarly that was to spread to what was also a revival of the classic rivalry between their teams - the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.
I have always been a Lakers fan and have read enough about their history to know that they started out in Minneapolis. The "lake" root in the team's name actually comes from the Great Lakes in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. When they moved to Los Angeles, they retained the name of the franchise and it seemed just appropriate given that LA was beside the biggest "lake" of then all - the Pacific Ocean. I also read about the storied rivalry between the Lakers and the Boston Celtics. Boston has so far emerged the more successful team with 17 NBA titles to the Lakers' 15. Most of the Celtics' titles were at the expense of the Lakers including 6 during the 1960's when Bill Russell and company were the best team in the league (they won 8 straight titles).
I was sad when the Lakers were swept the Sixers in the first Finals series I watched on TV. I was even more disappointed to see the Lakers lose the following year to the Celtics in a winner take all Game 7. So when the Lakers won in 1985 and back-to-back in 87-88 I was ecstatic and thought they would finally string up more titles to finally overtake the Celtics in the tally. Lo and behold, the Pistons came and so did Michael Jordan and the Bulls.
In the 90's, I remained a Lakers fan while also supporting (from afar) the Bulls and the Rockets. I particularly admired Hakeem Olajuwon who in 1986 led the Twin Towers to an upset of the Lakers but lost to Boston in the Finals. I also admired the tandem of Karl Malone and John Stockton whom I believed brought the basics back to the game. MJ was, of course, terrific. Through those 90's the Lakers teams were decent enough and even made what were surprising drafts at the time including one Kobe Bryant who was to become the franchise player of the team after the turn of the century.
I think the Lakers organization was the better one compared to the Celtics in the 90's and for most of the past decade. It is already a fact that they maintained a competitiveness that eventually led to a three-peat in 2000-2002. Boston didn;t have a chance until in the preseason of 2008 when they finally came up with a Big Three revival in Garnett, Pierce and Allen. I was pleasantly surprised when the Lakers responded in kind by pulling off the trade of that year when they acquired Pau Gasol for virtually nothing before the deadline. Sadly again, the Lakers lost to a superior team, not having the toughness and enough big men to compete with the Celtics.
2009 was different with the Lakers finally hitting their stride and the Celtics meeting a roadblock in the form of more powerful opponents in the Eastern Conference. I was expecting the Lebron James led Cavaliers to meet the Lakers in the Finals but it was the Orlando Magic that emerged after beating both Celtics and Cavs in the playoffs. The Dwight Howard led Magic truly represented the best in the East but was outclassed by a Lakers team that I believed had the toughness and the finesse they needed in the previous year.
At this time, the Lakers and the Celtics seemed at it again and fated to meet in another classic. I was relieved when the Lakers pounded the Suns in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. I hope they get to exorcise playoff losses to the Suns in 2006 and 2007. I was also rooting for the Celtics in the east despite having thoughts of wanting to see the Celtics lose, too, and maybe see their chances at NBA glory fade away with the aging line-up. But I wanted to see the Lakers and Celtics meet again in the Finals, at full strength and with no excuses to offer. Maybe the Lakers can finally pull it off and Kobe can include beating the Celtics in the Finals in his impressive Hall of fame credentials. Or maybe the Celtics can win it again and frustrate LA. Whoever wins will definitely deserve it and I will be happy with the result.
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PS I'm envious that the Clairvoyant will be in Boston for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The atmosphere is sure to be electric as it is a potential series ender should the Celtics win again in Game 3. =)
I have always been a Lakers fan and have read enough about their history to know that they started out in Minneapolis. The "lake" root in the team's name actually comes from the Great Lakes in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. When they moved to Los Angeles, they retained the name of the franchise and it seemed just appropriate given that LA was beside the biggest "lake" of then all - the Pacific Ocean. I also read about the storied rivalry between the Lakers and the Boston Celtics. Boston has so far emerged the more successful team with 17 NBA titles to the Lakers' 15. Most of the Celtics' titles were at the expense of the Lakers including 6 during the 1960's when Bill Russell and company were the best team in the league (they won 8 straight titles).
I was sad when the Lakers were swept the Sixers in the first Finals series I watched on TV. I was even more disappointed to see the Lakers lose the following year to the Celtics in a winner take all Game 7. So when the Lakers won in 1985 and back-to-back in 87-88 I was ecstatic and thought they would finally string up more titles to finally overtake the Celtics in the tally. Lo and behold, the Pistons came and so did Michael Jordan and the Bulls.
In the 90's, I remained a Lakers fan while also supporting (from afar) the Bulls and the Rockets. I particularly admired Hakeem Olajuwon who in 1986 led the Twin Towers to an upset of the Lakers but lost to Boston in the Finals. I also admired the tandem of Karl Malone and John Stockton whom I believed brought the basics back to the game. MJ was, of course, terrific. Through those 90's the Lakers teams were decent enough and even made what were surprising drafts at the time including one Kobe Bryant who was to become the franchise player of the team after the turn of the century.
I think the Lakers organization was the better one compared to the Celtics in the 90's and for most of the past decade. It is already a fact that they maintained a competitiveness that eventually led to a three-peat in 2000-2002. Boston didn;t have a chance until in the preseason of 2008 when they finally came up with a Big Three revival in Garnett, Pierce and Allen. I was pleasantly surprised when the Lakers responded in kind by pulling off the trade of that year when they acquired Pau Gasol for virtually nothing before the deadline. Sadly again, the Lakers lost to a superior team, not having the toughness and enough big men to compete with the Celtics.
2009 was different with the Lakers finally hitting their stride and the Celtics meeting a roadblock in the form of more powerful opponents in the Eastern Conference. I was expecting the Lebron James led Cavaliers to meet the Lakers in the Finals but it was the Orlando Magic that emerged after beating both Celtics and Cavs in the playoffs. The Dwight Howard led Magic truly represented the best in the East but was outclassed by a Lakers team that I believed had the toughness and the finesse they needed in the previous year.
At this time, the Lakers and the Celtics seemed at it again and fated to meet in another classic. I was relieved when the Lakers pounded the Suns in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. I hope they get to exorcise playoff losses to the Suns in 2006 and 2007. I was also rooting for the Celtics in the east despite having thoughts of wanting to see the Celtics lose, too, and maybe see their chances at NBA glory fade away with the aging line-up. But I wanted to see the Lakers and Celtics meet again in the Finals, at full strength and with no excuses to offer. Maybe the Lakers can finally pull it off and Kobe can include beating the Celtics in the Finals in his impressive Hall of fame credentials. Or maybe the Celtics can win it again and frustrate LA. Whoever wins will definitely deserve it and I will be happy with the result.
----------
PS I'm envious that the Clairvoyant will be in Boston for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The atmosphere is sure to be electric as it is a potential series ender should the Celtics win again in Game 3. =)
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