The Price You Pay For Being Free

I do not even know if I could write this post while I am hearing our neighbor's hidden singing talent which I guess should be kept hidden for the good of all mankind!

It is very difficult to concentrate on what you are doing if you hear something as unpleasant as what I am hearing now. It is equally hard to get my well-deserved good-night sleep.

What have I done to my neighbor for me to suffer sleep deprivation under his hands, or should I say under his voice?

But I guess this is what I pay for being free. How ironic. There is still something I need to PAY for a thing which is for FREE. The FREEdom we are enjoying right now is not as FREE as we think. The freedom to do what we want to do even if it is annoyingly annoying in the middle of the night comes with an expensive price which we do not have to pay, but other people around us have to. 

As ironic as it may seem, we should not let other people pay the price of the freedom that we have. Just like buying something at the grocery, you should pay what you buy. Respect and being responsible are the best payments you can offer in exchange of your freedom to do the things you wish to do. Respect the same freedom other people have. Be responsible in exercising your own freedom. 

This post may not reach my neighbor, but sharing this lesson with my loyal blog readers is the best way to start the change that I am hoping for. 

Thank you for sharing your time with me. You may not be here suffering with me (and I guess you do not wish to), but the fact that you are reading this makes me feel blessed of having you in my life. 

'til my next one! Time to try to get my good-night sleep!

Pay on!
~Lyndon Jason
 

The Fight Against 'S'

Welcome back to Lyndon Speaks!

After the geeky post that I had a couple of days ago, here is a new post written the way my posts used to be. =)

However, this post is another milestone for Lyndon Speaks as this would be my first post entirely dedicated to promoting wellness at work.

Are you taking stress from work to a whole new level? Is it becoming a major major hindrance in your social life? Is stress from work your new definition of an "ideal work"?

Worry not! Here are some tips on how to reduce, if not eliminate, that dreaded 'S' word from work. This is taken from http://www.tandurust.com/online-health-tips/stress-relief-exercises-tips-at-work.html

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Q: Sitting long hours at the desk causes various kinds of stress. How can I reduce this stress?

A: Long office hours sitting at one place can cause various ailments such as weight gain, joint pain and hypertension. If you are working on a computer your eyes get strained. Even your back can get stiff and cause backaches. Make it a habit to splash cool water on your face every 2 hours or so. Get up from your chair and walk around for a few minutes each hour. Place some plants near your desk and look at the green plants periodically. This may help you calm down. Instead of plants you may also want to keep some scenic posters close by. Keep the area near your desk net and clean.

Q: What about eating (diet) during office hours? Eating too fast and too much causes any harm? How can I regulate that?

A: its a good idea to eat small meals frequently. Drink enought water, maybe 1 glass every 2 hours or so to keep yourself well hydrated. Eat oily fish, yogurt and high carb foods like whole wheat sandwiches that help you fight stress. Avoid consuming too much sugar or caffeine.

Q: I get tense when i have to give speeches or make presentations or train other people in a classroom. How can I lower that pressure?

A: Adrenaline gets your heart to pump blood faster. This makes you tense. To avoid this try to meditate a few minutes before you start your class or meeting. To avoid anxiety close your eyes, take a deep breath and move your head slowly from one side to another by stretching your neck muscles. Rest the back of the base of your head in your palms for a few minutes.

Q: I have a busy schedule each day and do not get time to relax at work. What should I do?

A: Use your breaks when you get a chance. During the break get ou of your seat and walk a bit. If you have some more time, chat with your colleagues about things other than work. Close your eyes and try to see scenic pictures such as green mountains, the beach side or whatever makes you feel good. Drink a glass of water. Take a few deep breaths and try not to think about work at all.

Q: I take a long time to commute to and fro to work. What exercise can I do to relax my muscles and mind?

A: If you are not driving, you can try various things like rolling your wrists, rolling y our head and stretching your neck muscles, rotating your feet in a circular motion around the ankles and try to feel the stretch. If you are driving do these stretches while waiting at a traffic light. You can also do this before you start your journey and after you reach your destination.

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Wouldn't it be great that you enjoy your work and at the same time living a healthy lifestyle? Try these tips and you'll surely have a different standpoint for work.

I guess that would be all for now. Always remeber to have fun in whatever you do and never ever stress yourself out!

Let us all join forces in the battle against that 'S' word from work!

'til we meet again...

Health on!
~Lyndon Jason
 

My Weekday in Java

GEEK MODE!

Let me share with you my typical day through a Test Script.

For those who are not in the Software Development, Software Testing, and Software Programming worlds - this may be too much for you. But don't you worry, normal blog posts will resume after this geeky post. =)

To my fellow techie-guys - ENJOY! =)

/* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
package myWeekdays;

import com.thoughtworks.selenium.*;
import org.testng.annotations.*;
import org.testng.Reporter;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.text.DateFormat;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
import jxl.Sheet;
import jxl.Workbook;
import jxl.read.biff.BiffException;

public class MyDay {
private Selenium selenium;
private Boolean assertChecker;
private String errorShot = System.getProperty("user.dir") + "\\SomethingIsWrong\\";
private String inputFile;
protected static HttpCommandProcessor proc;
public void setInputFile(String inputFile) {
this.inputFile = inputFile;
}
public String getDateTime() {
        DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("MM.dd.yyyy");
        Date date = new Date();
        return dateFormat.format(date);
    }
public String getLunchTime() {
        DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("hh:mm");
        Date date = new Date();
        return dateFormat.format(date);
    }
    public void assertElementPresent (String elementName, String description){
     assertChecker = selenium.isElementPresent(elementName);
if(assertChecker.equals(false)) {
String fileName = description + "_" + getDateTime() + ".png";
selenium.captureEntirePageScreenshot(errorShot + fileName, "");
}
return;
    }
@BeforeClass
public void setup() throws IOException {
setInputFile(System.getProperty("user.dir") + "\\WhatINeed.xls");
File inputWorkbook = new File(inputFile);
Workbook w;
try {
w = Workbook.getWorkbook(inputWorkbook);
Sheet config = w.getSheet(0);
String myDay = config.getCell(1, 0).getContents();
String happyThoughtsAndPatience = config.getCell(1, 1).getContents();
proc = new HttpCommandProcessor("localhost", 4444, happyThoughtsAndPatience, myDay);
selenium = new DefaultSelenium(proc);
selenium.start();
selenium.windowFocus();
selenium.windowMaximize();
}
catch (BiffException e) {
Reporter.log("I am not in a good mood!");
e.printStackTrace();
}

catch (Exception e) {
Reporter.log("My day is a mess!");
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
@Test public void myMorning() throws IOException {
setInputFile(System.getProperty("user.dir") + "\\WhatINeed.xls");
File inputWorkbook = new File(inputFile);
Workbook w;
String[] idleTime = { "30000" };
try {
w = Workbook.getWorkbook(inputWorkbook);
Sheet config = w.getSheet(0);
Sheet sheet = w.getSheet(1);
String myDay = config.getCell(1, 0).getContents();
String speed = config.getCell(1, 2).getContents();
String timeOut = config.getCell(1, 3).getContents();
String waitTime = config.getCell(1, 4).getContents();
String breakfast = sheet.getCell(1, 1).getContents();
String outfit = sheet.getCell(1, 2).getContents();
selenium.setSpeed(speed);
selenium.setTimeout(timeOut);
selenium.open(myDay);
selenium.waitForPageToLoad(waitTime);
selenium.click("link=Wake Up Ring");
selenium.waitForPageToLoad(waitTime);
proc.doCommand("watchA4jRequests", null);
selenium.click("link=Morning News");
proc.doCommand("waitForA4jRequest", idleTime);
selenium.type("whatToEat", breakfast);
selenium.click("link=Take a shower");
selenium.waitForPageToLoad(waitTime);
selenium.type("whatToWear", outfit);
selenium.click("link=Prepare to leave home");
selenium.waitForPageToLoad(waitTime);
assertElementPresent("IsEverythingOkay", "NeedToDoWhatIForgotToDo");
selenium.click("link=Leave home");
selenium.waitForPageToLoad(waitTime);
selenium.click("link=Ride to office");
selenium.waitForPageToLoad(waitTime);
assertElementPresent("IsTheRideAndTrafficOkay", "NeedToInformTeamForComingInLate");
}
catch (BiffException e) {
Reporter.log("Nothing to eat. Nothing to wear.");
e.printStackTrace();
}

catch (Exception e) {
Reporter.log("Cannot go to work. Need to inform team.");
e.printStackTrace();
}

}
@Test (alwaysRun=false, dependsOnMethods = { "myMorning" })
public void atWork() throws IOException {
setInputFile(System.getProperty("user.dir") + "\\WhatINeed.xls");
File inputWorkbook = new File(inputFile);
Workbook w;
String[] idleTime = { "30000" };
try {
w = Workbook.getWorkbook(inputWorkbook);
Sheet config = w.getSheet(0);
Sheet sheet = w.getSheet(2);
String waitTime = config.getCell(1, 4).getContents();
int hoursAtWork = 0;
String softwareTestingAndMeetings = sheet.getCell(1, 2).getContents();
String osgLunchOrSMXLunch = sheet.getCell(1, 3).getContents();
String thingsToDoWhileIdle = sheet.getCell(1, 3).getContents();
String currentTime;
String exactLunch = "12:00";
selenium.click("link=Open up all needed files and things to do");
selenium.waitForPageToLoad(waitTime);
proc.doCommand("watchA4jRequests", null);
selenium.click("link=Chat");
proc.doCommand("waitForA4jRequest", idleTime);
selenium.click("link=Eat Snacks");
proc.doCommand("waitForA4jRequest", idleTime);
while(hoursAtWork < 8){
selenium.type("workWorkWork", softwareTestingAndMeetings);
assertElementPresent("isWorkOkay", "ReportThatWorkIsNotOkay");
if(assertChecker.equals(false)){
selenium.type("WhatToDo", thingsToDoWhileIdle);
}
currentTime = getLunchTime();
if(currentTime.equals(exactLunch)){
selenium.type("Lunch", osgLunchOrSMXLunch);
}
hoursAtWork++;
}
selenium.click("link=Logout");
selenium.waitForPageToLoad(waitTime);
}
catch (BiffException e) {
Reporter.log("Running out of Tasks.");
e.printStackTrace();
}

catch (Exception e) {
Reporter.log("Something is wrong. Maybe it is a sign to.... =)");
e.printStackTrace();
}

}

@Test (alwaysRun=false, dependsOnMethods = { "atWork" })
public void afterWork() throws IOException {
setInputFile(System.getProperty("user.dir") + "\\WhatINeed.xls");
File inputWorkbook = new File(inputFile);
Workbook w;
String[] idleTime = { "30000" };
try {
w = Workbook.getWorkbook(inputWorkbook);
Sheet config = w.getSheet(0);
Sheet sheet = w.getSheet(3);
String waitTime = config.getCell(1, 4).getContents();
String gimmiks = sheet.getCell(1, 2).getContents();
selenium.click("link=Are there gimmiks for the night?");
selenium.waitForPageToLoad(waitTime);
assertElementPresent("GimmiksSet", "JustGoHome");
if(assertChecker.equals(true)){
selenium.type("nightOut", gimmiks);
}
selenium.click("link=Go home");
selenium.waitForPageToLoad(waitTime);
proc.doCommand("watchA4jRequests", null);
selenium.click("link=Read");
proc.doCommand("waitForA4jRequest", idleTime);
selenium.click("link=Midnight Snacks");
proc.doCommand("waitForA4jRequest", idleTime);
selenium.click("link=Watch TV");
proc.doCommand("waitForA4jRequest", idleTime);
selenium.click("link=Sleep");
}
catch (BiffException e) {
Reporter.log("Gimmik planning failed.");
e.printStackTrace();
}

catch (Exception e) {
Reporter.log("Unable to go home! Stranded? or BASAG from the gimmik? =)");
e.printStackTrace();
}

}

@AfterClass
public void tearDown() {
selenium.stop();
}

}
/* ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- */

Java on!
~Lyndon Jason

 

Work Smarter

Working Harder - This may get you on top, but at what expense? - the time you have for your family? - the time you have for your friends? - the moment you have for yourself? Are you ready to trade your time beyond the 8 hours of work just to finish everything that needs to be done? Are you in for the stress that comes with working hard? Will the praises and commendations suffice all the hard work you have given? Have you ever thought that "working" and "harder" are two negative words combined to form something far worse than what they are on their own?

Maybe it is time to Work Smarter!

When you work smarter, you not just rush things and get everything started and finished through hard work. When you work smarter, you always plan what to do and think if it is the best way you can do your work. When you work smarter, you gather your experiences - may it be the successes you have or the downfalls you endured - and use them. When you work smarter, you think how to make things easy - not harder. When you work smarter, you can surely balance your time between work and other things. When you work smarter, you may not need the extended hours for additional work. When you work smarter, there will be more time to play - and play harder!

A consistent honor student from pre-school to grade school until high school, graduated high school with the highest honors and distinction, graduated college with the prestigious Dean's Award, received consecutive acclamations on work - one given being the second highest, consistently received simple "good work" notes, and successfully maintaining work-life balance - look at what working smarter brought me!

The hard worker may make his way on top, but the smart worker is already on the highest highs when the hard worker gets there! Just my two cents!

--------------------oOo--------------------

'til my next one! See yah!

Smarts on!
~Lyndon Jason
 

Teachers

Doctors - persons licensed to practice medicine
Engineers - people trained and skilled in the design, construction and use of engines or machines, or in any various branches of engineering
Nurses - people formally educated and trained in the care of the sick or infirm
Policemen - those member of a police force or body
Businessmen - men regularly employed in businesses
Priests - people whose office is to perform religious rites and especially to make sacrificial offerings
Politicians - persons active in party politics
[reference: http://www.dictionary.com/]

These are just few of the many groups of people who are important in our daily living. Imagine life without them. Will our lives be the same? Will Earth still be the planet where life exists? I guess the answer to both questions is no. We can't imagine life without these people. Life may cease to exist without them. We may not admit it, but most of us depend on these people. Medical patients depend on doctors and nurses. For us to be able to make work easier we depend on engineers. For safety and security, the policemen are there for us. For spiritual guidance, priests are there to listen to us. We can think and enumerate a lot more professions and groups of people who we depend on. But most of the times, we tend to forget the most important people there is, the people responsible for giving us those we depend on, the people who are behind the glory of those we esteem, the people we call our TEACHERS.

Teaching is the profession that teaches all other professions. Without teachers, there will be no doctors, engineers, priests, and businessmen. Without teachers, a child may be at lost early in their lives. Without teachers we may not become the persons we are right now.

Teachers are there to educate us, to mold us into becoming the doctors, the engineers, the businessmen that the world needs. But have you thought of the most important role a teacher plays in our lives? A teacher INSPIRES us - inspires us to learn, inspires us to do the things we want to do, inspires us to become the persons we are right now.

Unlike doctors, engineers and most workers, teachers do not instantly reap the fruit of their labor. They need to patiently wait, more or less, 20 years before they see what they have worked for. But having to know that they have inspired even a single individual to become a good and responsible person makes the waiting worth it.

In my opinion, teaching is the noblest of all jobs! And with what our teachers sacrifice in order for us to have the best quality of education that we can have, I regard teaching not as a profession but as a DEVOTION!

It is in our practice that we give a special day to tribute the important people in our lives. We have Mothers' Day, Fathers' Day, Valentine's Day for our loved ones, and more special days marked in our calendars. Today, October 5th, as declared by UNESCO, we pay tribute to the unsung heroes of every generation. Today, we pay tribute to our beloved teachers. Today, we celebrate World Teachers' Day.

Let us all say our thanks to our teachers for the inspiration they have given us. Let us thank them for being our second parents. Let us thank them for all that they have provided us. But what is more important is to remember them not only in this day, but in the other 364 as well.

I am very much thankful to have crossed paths with great teachers. I have gained a lot from them. I am very much lucky to have met people who have shaped me into the person I am right now. But I feel very much blessed because God did not only give me a mother, He also provided me a life-long teacher of my own - Mom!

My mom may have chosen to work for a higher-earning job, but she did and still continue to devote herself in giving inspiration to students. Back then, when I hear her previous students brag about what they have become every time we meet them, until now when I hear the testimonials her students and other people give her, makes me always say: "That's my mom!". I am very proud of my mother because she has not just raised an only child, but she has as well raised thousands of other children and made them the persons they are now.

I may have a lot of teachers during my school days, but Mom, you will always be the best teacher I ever have. Happy Teachers' Day Mom!

--------------------oOo--------------------

I guess this is it for now. Thank you all for sharing another of your time with me. 'til my next one!

Teach on!
~Lyndon Jason

 

You've Made Me Stronger

You've made me stronger - This may be what Raissa Laurel says to whoever threw the bomb at the final day of the Bar Exams in Taft, Manila. One supposed-to-be a happy Sunday afternoon turned out to be one hell of an experience to those hurt by the inhumane blast. A lot got injured, including Raissa Laurel who was needed to get her feet amputated because of the injuries she got from the nightmare that was. News about what she suffered flocked the evening Sunday TV and continued the day after. But what got everyone moved was her optimism towards the ordeal that she had. Instead of crying her lungs out because of what had transpired, she served as an inspiration to everyone by having a positive outlook in life. Hope never left Raissa as she tells everyone that it would never be the end for her, it would never be a hindrance from pursuing her dreams, it would never stop her from living her life.

You've made me stronger - A shout-out that Kean may have given to the accident that he experienced a couple of nights ago. Tweeps following the Callalily's lead vocalist were surprised with a tweet from Kean that he had a car accident. From his tweets, the horrific accident looked like something that may have ended his life. But the singer/actor tweets that he was lucky to get out from the frightening mishap unharmed. Kean's being back in his work, his tweets, and the simple 'feels good to be alive' posts are enough proofs that he is much stronger in taking his second shot at life.

You've made me stronger - a scratched-up line from a song used by heart-broken people all around the globe. Very much used as it is, this still gives a lot of hope and strength to those who fell out of love and to those left by people they loved. This line makes everyone believes that ending a relationship is a way to start a new one, maybe a better one. This line motivates those star-crossed in love to start anew, move on, and learn. A simple line that keeps the fire burning for those who have been hurt by this thing everyone calls love.

You've made me stronger - Yes, you, my loyal blog readers, are making me stronger and wanting me to post more. Your love and support gives me the urge to continue blogging. Your usual comments and messages are more than sufficient to keep my creative thoughts working. You are the reasons why Lyndon Speaks keeps on improving from its humble beginnings until today. Now, Lyndon Speaks is supported on both desktops and laptops/notebooks. It is now compatible with 4 of the major browsers: Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari. And now, Lyndon Speaks invades the iPhone as it is also working on the mobile device. Take Lyndon Speaks with you where ever you go by placing a link on your iPhone's home screen. All of these - because of you! Thanks guys!

You've made me stronger - No one deserves this line more than God, Himself. It is He who undeniably makes you and me stronger! All praises should go to Him.

--------------------oOo--------------------

I guess this is it for now. 'til our paths cross again!

Stand on!
~Lyndon Jason