Last year, out of a whim, I signed up and got an online account for the local McD delivery service.  I tried it a few times, but found that it just adds another layer of stupidity to an already faulty system, so to save myself from the tension, I fell back to the phone-in delivery.

Well, I got an e-mail from them a couple of months back about a survey asking what they could do to improve their delivery service.  Out of sheer boredom and with some hope that someone would read it and know they are failing big time, I answered it.  I didn’t even care about their pseudo-enticement about an iPod nano for the 6 people out of the first 1000 who would answer the survey, thinking that as usual those would go to either to a pre-selected set of customers or the employees themselves.

I got 2 surprises.  First of, is they actually listened to customers and have eliminated the fixed-percentage delivery charge and replaced it with a Php40 flat-rate.  That in itself is a cause to celebrate, for desk-bound home workers like me.

But then, I actually won one of the iPods.  I could not believe it.  I took a bath and went to the McD office expecting a casual brush off or some lame excuse.  But lo and behold, after presenting them with the e-mail and a couple of IDs, they handed the prize over without much fanfare or hassle.

This isn’t a top of the line iPod, 4Gb iPod nano 3rd Gen, but what the hell, it’s free.  And I was still trying to revive my iPod mini. So this was a real treat.

Will I answer the next survey promising me great things next time?  I’m leaning more towards “As fast as I can”.

I was reading my daily feeds and I came upon this little tidbit regarding the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA). If you don’t know who they are, they are the agency that is supposed to handle everything regarding anything that floats on or use Philippine waters.  The first agency you’ll hear about, maybe other than the coast guard, when someone talks about a disaster at sea or on a body of water anywhere in the Philippines.

Apparently after 35 years, they were created in 1974, somebody in the freaking office suddenly had the bright idea to BUY a building instead of leasing one at Php1.8M a month.

Wow! If these are the people that are supposed to help with “the development, promotion and regulation of the country’s maritime industry”, it’s no wonder the maritime industry in the Philippines, a country with (surrounded by) a lot of water, is in the toilet.  Imagine the geniuses that have been running this agency for the last 3 decades.

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All I can think of when I found this picture was, “Gee, this guy must have watched too many Jack Ass movies.”

I was once a physics major and I could tell that this did not turn out OK.  Can’t find the next one in the series, so I can’t do an “I told you so” article on it.

Let your imaginations fly.. LOL.

Late night hosts would jump on this of course, but would it be because it’s a genuine try at humor or could it be something deeper?  Where are the latest news from embattled US car companies?  Have they been buried, or are they really just old news now and nobody cares?

I’ll be following this of course, looking for something to break the ominous nagging at the back of my brain.

Today is January 14, 2010.  My Birthday, according to records that I keep in my possession.  I’m now 35 years old.

I have contributed nothing substantial to society in general.

I have fathered a few children.

I have my own business, and if I’m honest with myself, it’s really just scraping by.  But it keeps me in cigarettes and movies, and a meal served by employed people now and then, so I’m not complaining.  I like to keep my life as simple as possible, although a lot of people would have me do otherwise.

I’ve had blogs on and off but I usually leave them to rot way in digital heaven after a while.

This is another effort in recording my thoughts for posterity and maybe someone will stumble upon it now and then, and just maybe learn something about me, or gleam a life lesson (HA!).

I can’t promise I’ll be writing regularly (I’ll try, I’ll really try), I don’t like pressuring myself into doing something since it whacks the rest of my day/week/month/year.

If you somehow stumble unto this page, please forgive me my idiosyncrasies, I’m mostly human when I choose to be.