wading my way back in

Yup yup yup. I waded, waddled and wobbled. I could call it any name I want but it’s the same. Considering the numerous half-plans, criss-crossing schedules and unsuccessful arrangements in the past, I finally faced my first badminton game after almost a year of missing it.

Maybe it’s Bert having had enough of my excuses. But he sent an invite for a Saturday game, and since I got weekend MBA classes, he invited me again for a Sunday game. And miracle of miracles, I resurrected my old trusty badminton racquet from the hat stand and decided at last to join him and Richard on a burning Sunday afternoon.

It was always my philosophy that looking good in court is half the way of winning. With that in mind, I took a long time searching for the rest of my old tops I've managed to push into the bottom of the dressers. And when I finally found them, much to my dismay I discovered I've outgrown them! Where did all the dieting go?

Impressed by the wonders of black for the bulges, I half-heartedly left the comforts of an airconditioned bedroom for the ambience of Shuttle Square.

The girls in the welcome counter were obviously surprised at my arrival. But one of them immediately made me at ease when she asked, just like she used to, if I wanted a bottle of orange Gatorade. I smiled at her.

The guys were at Court 6, I was informed. And walking my way to the game fanatics that I'm joining in this hot weekend afternoon, I looked at the players in the other courts. I did not know any one of them anymore. And I guessed half of them were good, the other half was just there for the fun.

That was how I approached my game ever since I took up badminton. I was there just for the fun! And so I'd disregard those pseudo-clinic exercises or warm-ups or even the necessary stretching before playing. Winning was simply a bonus. Just hit it back to the other court, run and work up a sweat, and have fun. Simple agenda.

But toddle to the court I went. What if I would hit the shuttle this time like a girl? Oh, these badminton maniacs would throw me out!

But my hand still knew my racquet. And my feet still can run, no matter how uncoordinated they were, because I refused to learn the footwork too. And by the time I responded with a good backhand, I was already happy. And having fun.

Two hours later and my comeback called for a celebration. Notwithstanding the purpose of losing weight, we three, plus Karl, went off to the nearest Starmart and ordered large servings of siomai. Cola and chips too.

That's when Richard reminded me of the time when I started to skip the games, and not being able to join them anymore. Well I had no apologies, because work got in the way. And besides, we already managed to watch a movie together last month. Who knows, with time permitting, I can even resume my game as well.

In silence, I remembered the project proposal I need to write, a project quarterly liquidation to prepare, an MBA financial case to analyze, an international trade fair to organize. The dance classes I've started and the "Tipping Point" book I've just bought. Yup yup yup, tough call indeed.

Oh, I don't know. I'm planning to buy a new racquet, actually. I want to play again and bet again where losers pay for dinner. Grrr, second winds may be hard to come by, but they're worth the waiting. I hope one has come for me.

facilitating business linkages

I got a glimpse of how it's done through the "Seabiscuit" movie. But that was so yesterday, and I know radio stations are now computerized.

We always hear about globalization. Because of this process and convergence, new strategies arise and there is a continuing need for new ways of doing business. Ultimately, all this leads to a more competitive business environment, and the need for business linkages.

Grierson, Mead and Moyo in 1997 defined the term business linkages as "mutually beneficial commercial relationships between independent profit-oriented enterprises". From this arrangement, the parties involved will benefit from its results - specialization, diversification, improved economic efficiency, increased profits, and wide benefit dispersion.

Business linkages are important, most especially to the small, medium and micro entrepreneurs of our community. Through business linkages, they can reach their market faster, improve their business, reduce costs, increase flexibility, access financing, and improve production.

... they actually made me comfortable. There were two lady hosts. They sort of complement each other, building from what the other had said. I felt like we were just neighbors going out for a gab.

According to a material prepared by GTZ, there are three types of business linkages: vertical business linkages, horizontal business linkages, and the cluster linkage development.

Horizontal linkages are cooperative activities between firms on the same step in the value chain. This presupposes that each firm is too small to implement economies of scale in purchasing or to have the scope to serve customers with special demands. Therefore, cooperation is needed so marketing costs can be reduced through attending trade fairs jointly or by producing a group catalogue. This arrangement also allows for joint development of products. Examples are the trade and industry associations.

Vertical linkages are cooperative activities between firms along the value chain. The underlying economic rationale is that by cooperating, success in the destination market can be enhanced. An example of the vertical linkage is the relationship between a franchiser and a franchisee. Subcontracting and outsourcing to small firms is indeed a way to bring small enterprises to the mainstream economy, educating them on quality standards, increasing information flow, jointly acting on product improvement and reduction of costs.

Clusters are bigger in scope, and are an important economic development approach characterised by the identification of competitive advantages of a region or a group of local enterprises for a certain product or service. Clusters can create a joint strategy with participation of the other local stakeholders, developing the capacity of public and private business service providers.

... we pause for commercials, during which, of course, we talk some more. Imagine the hedgerow.

Grierson & Mead postulated four elements in business linkages: opportunities, information, capacity and capital. The worldwide economic pressures and domestic policies shaping the country's economy are generating various opportunities, and thus every sector is compelled to seek out efficient business solutions. Information is needed by potential partners in business linkage relationships so they will know the market opportunities, identify requirements of buyers, or evaluate the capabilities of sellers. Information about opportunity must be supported by the capacity to fulfill their obligations and meet client expectations. Finally, capital is needed to enable businesses to take advantage of the available opportunities, and relationships based on business linkages help facilitate access to credit and involve arrangements that make efficient use of capital.

With small, medium and micro enterprises comprising 99% of the Philippine economy, it is imperative that significant investment is made with this group. SMMEs have a major role to play in terms of employment creation, income generation and redistribution, and output growth for the country.

Identifying that there is a need to locate these emerging small enterprises, the Cagayan de Oro Chamber takes upon itself to identify these enterprises and bring them into collaboration and business linkages with other product and service providers. The Oro Chamber assists sub-sectors to identify and promote their competitive advantages. Moreover, the chamber will endorse these enterprises for help at the public sector level, and possibly integrate the private sector development strategy in the regional development plans.

As enterprises prepare themselves to get involved in business linkages, they must also be aware of the opportunities open to them. They should also accept that there will be transaction costs to be incurred. Finally, the most convincing argument of all is the experience of, and therefore faith in, the advantages of collaborative actions. And this can be provided by a business enterprise that has already been there.

As business linkages change the course of the local economy, the players are all winners in the end - constantly shaping the direct and indirect job creation, and participating in the growth rates of the market. Business linkages continue to contribute to the overall competitiveness of the enterprises involved and the country's private enterprise sector as a whole.

... it was the best chance to promote membership for the Oro Chamber, as well as the various activities and projects being undertaken.

* My discussion guide during the guesting at the Mom's Radio, 09:30am-10:30am April 27.

if my life were a movie

It's a night to rush on my work for the required project liquidation reports. But Mike has just finished filling in the songs in this game he got through the internet and he is too pleased to have created his life's movie soundtrack.

Naturally I want to try it for myself.

To play, you need to open your music library. Since I can't use the iPod as it's almost forever lodged in Mike's ears, and the selections in my N91 mobile are so like... aged... as my New Zealand visa, so I choose the Winamp selections in the home PC instead. And since I have dozens of folders to segregate songs for Christmas, or dancing, or those sent by Jason, and for practically any grouping possible, I pick the folder that's creatively and imaginatively labeled as My Music Collection. This is the hodge-podge compilation of songs that did not find their way to a specific folder.

Now after picking out your music library, you put the player on shuffle. Then when it plays, you type the title of the song that's playing on the corresponding questions. These are supposedly the scenes in the movie of your life. When you go to a new question, you press the next button for the next song.

It is amazingly fab and I get a good half hour chopped off my overtime work at home. But if my life were a movie, here is the soundtrack -

Opening Credits:
Perfect Day - Hoku

First Day At School:
When You Believe - Mariah Carey & Whitney Houston

Falling In Love:
Too Lost in You - Sugababes

Breaking Up:
Nobody Knows It But Me - Babyface

Prom:
Fools Like Me - Lisa Loeb

Mental Breakdown:
Fairy Tales for Two - Willie Bobo

Flashbacks:
Breakfast in America - Super Tramp

Getting Back Together:
Your Body is a Wonderland - John Mayer

Wedding Scene:
I Thought She Knew - N'Sync

Final Battle:
Deep - Binocular

Death Scene:
So Much in Love - All 4 One

Funeral Song:
Carmina Burana O Fortuna - Carl Orff

Finale:
Special Kind of Something - Kavana

End Credits:
All The Things You Are - The Swingle Singers

So I shall wake up and open the movie to a perfect day tomorrow. And should this random game be any indication of my life, then in hindsight, I never had my high school prom night because it's just for fools like me. But whew! the scenic cantata of Carmina Burana with its O Fortuna movement will undeniably deliver a funeral with queenly grandeur and aplomb.

Now I'm amused by that wedding scene.

the school on the hill

“I’m really gonna miss this school, Mom.”

“Yes Mom, I’m gonna miss this place so much!”

So I let them scuttle about, into the main hall where they used to roll out the black velvet cloth to plot the major events of world history, past through the classrooms filled with their books and maps and beads for skip counting and other materials, and down through the steps leading to the infinity pool where they learned their basic swimming strokes.

They went to the swings they really love and to the imposing rock wall that they conquered more in their minds than in their real climbs during free time in school.

I looked around and breathed in the wind that moved the leaves of the trees, looming and watching over this school on the hill. I turned to see the green playing field with the solitary mango tree where the girls and I tried to pry open a young coconut to earn our team points during one of the summer family fun days of the school. And I would never have them again.

Mike had finally come to the decision of transferring the girls to another school in the downtown area, and I already refused to disagree with him. Nika and Gela were saying goodbye to Abba's Orchard Montessori School today.

But I too, was saying goodbye this morning. I was saying goodbye to a friend. I had reached the uncomfortable decision last night and the visit here to this school that my girls are leaving was just heightening that fact. I did not want to end a friendship, but it was not my role anymore to ask why I should.

I walked down the white staircase and joined Nika and Gela. I took in the silence of the garden by the swimming pool, where the graduation and foundation day programs are conducted. From where I stood, the Macajalar Bay lays serene. I promised my friend then that if he will have the time, I'll show him this spot. Bring him here to my girls' school, to stand where the grass is green and the bay is blue. But I could forget that promise now.

I sat down with the girls. Then suddenly a windblown flower came to us, dancing in slow motion. Nika reached for it and it settled on her open hand. We were amazed with the umbrella-like feathers that gathered around its brown dried up seed.

Nika let go and it flew up. Then she caught it again. We all touched its softness. We could not tell what it is. We blew into the flimsy feathers. We did not know where it came from. We wondered where it will finally end up. It was fascinating for the girls.

I asked Nika to let it fly again. Release it, darling; maybe it will grow where it will fall. She did. It got caught up in the breeze and it went away in the sunshine and we could not see it anymore. Release it, I told myself. Do not be sad that you're losing a friend, be happy that you got the chance to know one.

Finally the certifications for good moral character were ready. We said thank you and we bid goodbye to the administration staff. Holding the documents, I led my girls to the van. We were riding off - them to their summer classes in the new school, me to my work in my new office.

It's a morning for letting go. Of a beloved school. Of a wonderful friend. But where we shall end up after this, I am sure that we will grow again.

you're the top

Tufi Duek Navy Abstract Floral Donatela Pleat Detail Top

Diane Von Furstenberg Black Silk Anthea Pleated Top

Robert Rodriguez Light Taupe Crinkled Cotton Bow Top

You're the top! You're the Coliseum
You're the top! You're the Louvre Museum
You're a melody from a symphony by Strauss.
You’re a Bendel bonnet, a Shakespeare's sonnet
You're Mickey Mouse!
You're the Nile, you're the Tower of Pisa
You're the smile on the Mona Lisa.
I'm a worthless check, a total wreck, a flop
But if, baby, I'm the bottom you're the top!

You're the top! You're Mahatma Gandhi
You're the top! You're Napoleon Brandy
You're the purple light of a summer night in Spain
You're the National Gallery, you’re Garbo’s salary
You're cellophane!
You're sublime, you're a turkey dinner
You're the time of the Derby winner.
I'm a toy balloon that is fated soon to pop
But if, baby, I'm the bottom, you're the top!

You're the top! You're a Waldorf salad
You're the top! You're a Berlin ballad
You're a baby grand of a lady and a gent.
You're an old Dutch master, you’re Mrs. Astor
You're Pepsodent!
You're romance, you're the steppes of Russia
You're the pants on a Roxy usher.
I'm a lazy lout that's just about to stop
But if, baby, I'm the bottom, you're the top!

- "You're The Top"
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter 1934

Photos: Bluefly

my visual DNA

I love interviews. Especially the kind that starts with "Tell us about yourself."

It is interesting to listen to the kind of questions people would ask. And it's liberating to know that you can play it down or lay it on thick. Having that incredible chance to identify, or even redefine, yourself. And should you be on the other side of the table, to ask "What do you think of rainbows?"

Do tell.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

is it love or the music?

The story begins when boy meets girl. Without a script but with a clear storyline, it unfolds slowly. And as if they are in front of a blue screen, the song plays as their background.

The thrill of discovery. Passenger Seat by Stephen Speaks. You Give Me Something by James Morrison. This Never Happened Before by Paul McCartney.

The rush of wanting more. On My Way To You by Barbra Streisand. Two Sleepy People by Julie London. Come Away With Me by Norah Jones.

The giddiness of falling in love. If We’re Not in Love by Patti Austin. 8th World Wonder by Kimberly Locke. Time to Make You Mine by Lisa Stansfield.

The bliss of togetherness. I Find Your Love by Beth Nielsen Chapman. The Sweetest Days by Vanessa Williams. When I'm With You by Tony Terry.

The frustration of unavailability. Dream of Me by Kirsten Dunst. Will I Ever by Side A. Someday I’ll Be Next to You by Wilson Phillips.

The realization of the futility of it all. I Can’t Seem to Make You Mine by The Clientele. Waiting in Vain by Annie Lennox. Giving Up On You by Lara Fabian.

The hurt that was just looming. 4 Seasons of Loneliness by Boys II Men. Towerblock by Julia Fordham. After You by Michael Johnson.

The indifference as a defense mechanism. Make It Easy On Yourself by Siobhan Pettit. Where Do We Go From Here by Brian McKnight. Taken in Again by Mike & the Mechanics.

The resolve to move on. They Can’t Take That Away From Me by Beverly Staunton. I Wish You Love by Natalie Cole. Always on Your Side by Sheryl Crow and Sting.

So what is it? Is it love or just the trick of music? I think I have a glimpse of the answer. I Call It Love by Lionel Richie.

women & jackets - 4th of 4

Cole Haan Black Asymmetric Collar Belted Trench Coat

"...elaborate study... by women in the pursuit of trifles..."

- Julia Ward Howe

Whim Black Cashmere Tuxedo Jacket

"...it was the truth of every woman."
- Betty Friedman

Kenneth Cole New York Black Wool Double Breasted Coat

"Because I am a woman, I must... succeed."
- Clare Booth Luce

Photos: Bluefly

women & jackets - 3rd of 4

Vakko Chocolate Suede Shearling Top-Stitched Long Coat

"...premenstrual syndrome, only time... I can be myself."
- Roseanne Barr

Cole Haan Beige Cotton-Blend Belted Trench Jacket

"And ain't I a woman? Look at me!"

- Sojourner Truth

Prada Chocolate Wool Tie-Frong Jacket

"Women have more... than just a fallopian tube."
- Barbara Hall

Photos: Bluefly

women & jackets - 2nd of 4

Elie Tahari Faded Indigo Medium Washed Jodie Jacket

"Women upset everything."
- George Bernard Shaw

Elie Tahari Faded Indigo Amira Embellished Denim Jacket

"When the candles are out all women are fair."

- Plutarch

Miss Sixty Washed Stretch Denim Carla Jacket

"Women try their luck, men risk theirs."

- Oscar Wilde

Photos: Bluefly