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Netflix’s Death Note: [Personal] Review

Director Adam Wingard's Death Note is basically a Final Destination bootleg with the manga's name. It's flat, unnecessarily gory, and incoherent. Its promising moments are completely swept under the rug of its overall disjointed narrative and out-of-character acting.

I love Death Note. It's one of my all-time favorite series. I even have merch from my weaaboo days (haha). But I've also never been a fan of manga adaptations–not even anime (to an extent; I'm looking at you, Full Metal Alchemist and Shugo Chara season 3), and especially not of Western movies. Hollywood has YET to produce a decent manga adaptation, and this one is right up there with M. Night's The Last Airbender.

I'm not sure how these directors do their research, but by and large their end products wind up looking like their "research" is pretty much just looking up the plot on Wikipedia and making what they will of that. Netflix's DN is the absolute barebones of the wonderful masterpiece that is Ohba and Obata's Death Note. It's even more disappointing if you think about the fact that Death Note's "absolute barebones" is still a good material to work with, and we STILL end up with this bastardization.

First of all, I, at least, have no problem with the setting. To begin with, Netflix did say this was an Americanized version of the original. It makes sense that they'd change the names, considering this is set in Seattle. I did appreciate that 'Mia Sutton' is not too far from 'Misa Amane' as far as the composite letter are concerned lol. My biggest problem was the characters themselves, but I'll focus on 2 to keep this from being indecently long.

Light Turner is not supposed to be Timmy Turner's older, emo brother and is an average kid whom no one understands and happens to be good at Math and doing other people's homework. The core of Light's character is his PERFECTION. He is so far above average that he's completely detached from the rest of the world. That god complex was the entire reason he even took and managed to assume a 'god' character. It's literally the core of Death Note. Light is supposed to be the perfect son, perfect student, perfect citizen. Everyone loves him and looks up to him. And HE knows that. People don't need to tell him; he knows for himself he is BETTER than others. That's how Kira came to be in the first place.

Netflix's Light Turner is a wimpy loser with absolutely no depth as a character. He is completely one dimensional. He responds to dark and violent situations with darkness and violence. He is bullied so he fights back. His mother is murdered so he kills the murderer. It's a completely overused narrative that puts the essence of Light Yagami, antihero extraordinaire, straight into the chopping block.

From the get-go, his character is completely wrong. He is introduced as a nerdy kid who earns lunch money by doing other kids' homework. He has zero charisma. He's at the bottom of the food chain. He has absolutely nothing of what it takes to become the god that is Kira. The way that Light Turner was written would never have let him become anything larger than life; it just made him a vindictive bully who happened to be able to kill.

(A very dangerous combination–but for all the wrong reasons.)

Which just obliterates the central theme of Death Note altogether, and throws out the window the very foundation of what made the original work.

Second, this film is unnecessarily gory. Sure, a certain degree of violence is expected when it comes to murder, but Wingard just made this entire movie a B-rated slasher film with his slow-motion death scenes–something he just PACKS the whole movie with and spotlights on like it's the most important aspect of the story when it's totally secondary (if not completely an afterthought) in the original.

It's not even realistic. Light sees a BULLY (not a criminal; just a run-of-the-mill playground bully) antagonizing a schoolmate, he's handed a murder weapon for a TEST RUN, and he immediately, without a shadow of a doubt, writes 'decapitation' as the method of death? He chooses something that is exceedingly difficult, unnatural, and very, very specific for the first time he's trying to kill someone? He doesn't even UNDERSTAND what's going on; he's just had a massive Poltergeist experience. How was it possible for him to suddenly have enough presence of mind to write down an oddly specific method of death for someone who isn't even evil, just mean? That doesn't bode very well for Light as a person, let alone someone who's about to play god.

Throughout the movie, Light visibly struggles with his actions. He has no certainty. He kills with the Death Note but he lacks the inherent motivation for it; he only does it because he has to. Nothing about the characterization of Light Turner remotely suggested that he has what it takes to rule the world, as what he is essentially doing when he dictates who lives or dies (or tells your story lol). But then–all of a sudden, 5 minutes to the end of the movie and he explains this elaborate scheme where he undoes Mia killing him and transfers the ownership of the notebook back to him and basically just manipulated space and time so suit his needs.

That is a completely Light YAGAMI thing to do (and something he HAS actually done numerous times in the original). Nothing about Light TURNER's character and actions suggested he was capable of that. How convenient that 2 minutes before the police gets to him, he suddenly taps into his inner high-functioning psychopath and concocts an über-complicated plan to not die but kill 3 people and destroy one theme park along the way.

Where did that inner 'HIGH FUNCTIONING' part come from? Nearly two hours to have shown that Light's brilliant mind goes beyond solving Calculus problems and thinking up oddly particular methods of dying, and you choose the last five minutes to cram that in.

How very high school.

But enough about Light. Now we go to another important character–L. Considering that these 2 are the only ones they retain from the original (excepting Ryuk, but that's another point). L is one of the most brilliant minds in the world, but instead the movie showed him as nothing more than a weirdo that throws tantrums and only needs the FLIMSIEST of proofs to say he "knows" and he's "right". 

The original L does operate entirely on the gut feeling that Light is Kira, but he sets out to prove that. To him, nothing is ever damning enough and he won't settle for anything less than seeing Light actually murder someone right before L's very eyes. Movie L suddenly "just knows". Nothing about his actions suggests that he has the means to prove that Light is Kira; if anything, he's trying to make it so that things DO go with his conclusion, whether or not it's actually true. The real L is nothing like that. He backed down when his proofs didn't go with his conclusions. L believes in justice, first and foremost. He's almost childlike in his black-and-white convictions (I have a screenshot of this panel, so my receipts are in place). This L just doesn't capture that innocence. 

By itself, the movie isn't THAT bad. It only becomes a terrible crapfest when you have the original to compare it with. Netflix's Death Note can stand alone as a slasher/horror/thriller film to Netflix and chill with if you are holding it to itself, but never make the mistake of reading/watching the original brilliance that is Ohba and Obata's Death Note first.

I do have a real concern with the keeping of the name "Kira". Kira is just the Japanese pronunciation of "killer". Japanese people literally were calling Light, "Killer". Why did Wingard keep the Jap pronunciation? What purpose did it serve other than that 5-second line where L says it was to mislead investigation to thinking Light was Japanese? Why is there even a need for that? Was that supposed to be a nod to the Japanese root of Death Note? It may have been a pure intention on the director's part, though, but it was unnecessary, if not even reeking of whitewashing–but I'd digress and hope for the best.

[portfolio-ni-rizza]

Avengers: Endgame [Personal] Review

After 11 years and 21 films, we get the culmination to a cinematic franchise unlike anything we've ever seen before, and it is everything we expected it to be–even the bad ones.

What Avengers: Endgame does well, it does REALLY well. It's hard to imagine, at this point, any other franchise being able to churn out an output of this caliber. On the other hand, what Endgame got wrong, it got VERY wrong. And it's all the more frustrating to think they would never have gotten this right, anyway. Even with its (debatably) best release to date, the MCU still failed at the one thing it never got right: it's female heroes.

(But, to be fair, Marvel perennially disappoints every other character who isn't played by Robert Downey Jr., so no surprise here.)

So let's start with Endgame's biggest, most disgusting, but easily solvable mistake: killing off Black Widow.

To give credit where it's due, the Marvel comics was made at a time when women were still largely seen as less than a person; when their worth only went as far as their ability to hold babies in their wombs and arms. And with the MCU being heavily based on those materials, it's not surprising that the movies carried these oppressive sentiments too.

Even so, the MCU wasn't made in the 40s. Majority of it is set today, for today's audiences. So the fact that it still chose to carry those misogynistic, outdated values is just plain ridiculous. 

And the Black Widow, in all her iteration be it in the comics or movies, is still very much a product of those values. She is very rarely, if at all, portrayed as a person on her own, without being defined by her connections to others–specifically the men around her. In the MCU, this was most obvious in her god-awful portrayal at Whedon's Age of Ultron. She was the classic damsel in distress: just another girlfriend/wife character whose express purpose was to be saved by a man, and be a platform with which to show HIS heroics. Worse, Widow explicitly called herself a "monster" during AoU when she was talking about, of all things, being sterilized.

Umm... what? She thought herself a "monster", not because she kills people in cold blood, topples world organizations, and threatens the peace of nations... but because she can't be a mom?

Yikes.

AoU was already a massive fall from grace for Black Widow, from whom we finally got to see some well-deserved badassery, and definitive lack of sexualization, with The Winter Soldier JUST ONE MOVIE AGO. But what's even worse was that this same trope was covertly exploited again in Endgame with–literally–Black Widow sacrificing herself because Hawkeye has a (dead) family.

It's like, hey girls! If you don't have a family of your own, then feel free to throw yourself off a cliff! 

The MCU and its proliferation of male directors and producers never, ever knew what to do with Black Widow, so I imagine it was with a sigh of relief that they FINALLY got rid of her, the first chance they get. And if you think I'm making this up, guess again: Endgame writers themselves (Stephen McFeely, Christopher Markus) said, and I quote, "Her journey, in our minds, had come to an end if she could get the Avengers back."

That's it. That's the sum of Black Widow's character. She was always just a supporting role. She was never a plot. She was just another plot device. If her male colleagues can do their heroics, then her purpose for existing, in the writers' minds, has been served.

Never mind that Natasha Romanoff had the most character development in the entire franchise. Never mind that she was a direct support to 4 of 5 of the other Original Six, and was literally instrumental in making THEM into the heroes they were (Iron Man's recruitment, the Hulk's pathetic and flimsy lullaby, her partnerships with Hawkeye and Cap).

Maybe it might have been easier to take if she was as discarded as Hawkeye. But Black Widow didn't simply disappear in the mainstream storyline for periods of a time with a convenient explanation: she has always been at the center stage in one form or another. Always in conjunction with another character, sure, but THERE, regardless, which is more than we can say for Hawkeye, who really only appears (extensively) in Avengers movies.

But despite how central Black Widow actually is to the entire MCU, she still gets fridged at the first opportunity. Now that Marvel can safely say it has other females on the Avengers roster, they don’t hesitate to throw Widow under the bus (or off a cliff), and still manage to over-glorify and cloyingly romanticize female martyrdom at the expense of helping her male colleagues along. And she didn’t even get the send-off she deserved (hell, even Gamora had more drama around her death). They mourn her for all of 5 minutes, then she gets a passing mention in Tony’s funeral. Now a point can be argued that Iron Man is a public figure, he deserves a funeral, etc. etc., but think about the people who actually attended. None of them were outsiders. They were all, in one form or another, people in the Avengers immediate circle. There was no press. No cameras and grieving audiences ala Superman’s send-off in BvS. So why couldn't–didn't–they acknowledge Natasha Romanoff?

But it’s not over. Knowing full well that people will be angry at chucking off the MCU’s first real, if laughably flimsy, attempt at diversity, Endgame decides to soothe our ruffled feathers with, no surprise, fan service. The MCU may have killed off one of its most important female characters (both inside and outside the context of the cinematic universe), but fans can have 2 minutes of gIrL POwEr! Watch Captain Marvel zoom across an army of aliens (Where was she the whole time, by the way? Infinity War heavily implied a much important role for her, and they certainly touted her as the “strongest Marvel character” but she was completely useleess for 3/4s of the film… and barely on the last quarter), while the other sTRoNg ladies of the MCU have got her back!

Because 2 minutes is enough to compensate for a decade’s worth of callous disregard, of course.

And while those 2 minutes were certainly awesome and easily one of the highlights of the films, there’s no denying that it was all a blatant, pathetic attempt at pandering to a group Marvel never really much cared for. And those 2 minutes show you precisely what the MCU still is: a movie about boys, made by boys, for boys, who still don’t know how to handle women as people.

As amazing and kick-ass as those 2 minutes had been, they were an aberration in a longline of blatant disregard for female characters, and they could have easily been removed from the film because they contribute very, very little to the Infinity Saga’s narrative. McFeely and Marcus are even the first to admit: they only kept that scene in because it was “too fun”.

And just in case you think I’m just an angry, man-hating femi-nazi at this point, who only cares about fighting for women’s rights insofar as it puts me above men, look how Endgame also treated its male cast. Ant Man was nothing but a fussy, whiny, worrywart who couldn’t do the ONE thing that was supposed to be HIS thing: the quantum realm (guess who made that work? Iron Man!). Captain America was a selfish jerk who potentially messed up the entire MCU as we know it because he can’t get over his first crush (guess who was a selfless, self-sacrificing kid from New York? Iron Man!). The Hulk suddenly, miraculously lost the very essence of his character–his struggle between being Bruce and being the Hulk–with just a few punchlines about how he just decided to get the best of both worlds, as if he never could have possibly thought of that before, as if his struggles and demons never overwhelmed him so much to the point where he literally tried to kill himself (but guess, AGAIN, whose struggles and demons we DID see? Iron Man, of course you silly ninny!). Iron Man was given the VERY BEST of each of these characters, because duh, he’s Iron Man. Never mind that a SHARED cinematic universe wouldn’t have worked without other people to share it. Like the past three Avengers, Endgame is just another Iron Man movie. 

Thank GOD he’s dead.

Finally, FINALLY Iron Man is gone. The overrated, over-powered Golden Boy will darken the Marvel Cinematic Universe no more, and we might finally get a film franchise that DOESN’T unflinchingly throw its characters under the bus for the chance to give its poster boy his 15 seconds of glory. Looking back at how Russos, and the production team behind Endgame, shamelessly claimed that Endgame is the story of Cap, Widow, and everyone who didn’t get their screen time on Infinity War, it is all the more irritating to watch 3 more hours of plot-armored Iron Man “saving the day”.

And that’s the tea for today.

PS: Can we talk about the fact how the ending with Cap literally ruined the entire movie (and universe) because of his messing with the timeline?

[portfolio-ni-rizza]

Water AI Pipe Predictor (W(AI)PP) and Water Above Ground Optimizer (WAGO) are designed to take you from complexity to clarity. We've condensed decades' worth of engineering and asset management expertise, specifically in the water industry, into two, powerful apps, so you can quickly and confidently make the right investment on the right assets, at the right time. 💡 Learn more: www.arcadisgen.com #Water #WaterIndustry #AssetManagement #WaterAssets #Pipes#AboveGroundAssets

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There has never been a more urgent time for businesses–and individuals–to accelerate their digital transformation and embrace the power of automation and data. 📙 Read more: https://lnkd.in/gJbreMd #Digitization #DigitalTransformation #Data #Automation #UVO

[portfolio-ni-rizza]

Creating profitability and optimizing investments

The Coronavirus pandemic has forced many businesses to reevaluate their operational costs in order to survive in a landscape where demand has now become compromised. Beyond helping the venture to survive, business decision support can and should now mobilize growth and assist with refining a more targeted impact and value for customers. 

There are various digital applications that can assist businesses with identifying key assets, their various vulnerabilities and subsequent optimization options. But while these solutions are often engineered to manage thousands of assets and a multitude of different optimization scenarios, they do not necessarily adjust at pace to rapidly changing events and data in an agile, resilient and expedient manner. In this period of grave economic uncertainty, the ability to instantly respond to unexpected and constantly evolving situations can make or break an organization.

The urgent need for asset optimization

All organizations need data analytics, regardless of the quantity of data they're working with. However, as things stand, existing solutions are only accessible to enterprise-level companies, leaving behind smaller-sized organizations without access to high-quality, valuable and actionable insights. This status quo makes sense, to an extent. Business analysts who bring in several years of expertise generally work for companies that have a proactive need for their valuable time and skills, such as working on projects that involve large fleets of vehicles and IT infrastructures, dealing with tens of thousands of records that require large processing power. Given how sophisticated and all-encompassing most market-available data analytics tools are, it's easy to see why smaller-sized organizations who only work with small quantities of data, and even less legroom in their budgets, get left-behind. The insights that companies can get from analyzing and interpreting their data is crucial to their success. With how competitive industries become in the last few decades, and now with the added complication of a global pandemic and worldwide lockdowns, companies that do not adapt a flexible business model and constantly update and improve their operational processes can suffer great losses. The ability to optimize assets effectively and efficiently is, therefore, a given. Maximizing operational asset performance while lowering operational costs is especially prudent during the current economic uncertainty. Asset optimization involves developing all assets of an asset, across all stages of its life cycle, not only to extend to its lifetime, but also to reduce maintenance costs and maximize its use, for however long possible. What asset optimization looks like specifically varies from company to company, but the fact remains that data—the knowledge of your resources and what situations you expect to face in their life cycle—is invaluable to ensuring you're able to get the most out of it. Naturally, at a time of widespread economic crisis, minimizing costs is at the forefront of most companies' concerns. Asset optimization is an effective way of achieving this, while boosting profits that can allow for greater cash flow, liquidity and, ultimately, resilience. Put together, all these can give companies longer business sustainability and improved services for customers.

Balancing cost, risk and performance across portfolio for long-term profitability

Asset management and optimization is key to balancing costs, risks, and performance. When a company is able to fully capitalize on its resources, it is better able to achieve its objectives, meet the needs and expectations of stakeholders, manage risks and any potential threat to its operations and goals, and secure prolonged, sustainable operational excellence and success. Your overall outputs, processes, and even organizational culture benefit greatly from an improved and robust asset optimization strategy. When you optimize all aspects of your assets across their individual life cycles, there comes a natural shift in focus towards performance and customer outcomes rather than just a simple maintenance work, which can not only significantly improve the quality of these outputs at the modular level, but could ripple out to the other facets of your business as well. By focusing not only on short-term considerations but also on actively planning for long-term circumstances, you likewise improve sustainability and resilience. Data is, of course, crucial to this endeavor. Data analytics plays a central role in ensuring smarter investment decisions, from more efficient procurement and supply chain choices, planning for outcomes and preparing for uncertainties, to regulatory compliance and adherence to governing policies. Business decisions need to be informed by the records, reports and numbers, and processed thoroughly by the right analytics tool in order to produce the best options and alternatives you can take given the circumstances. It follows, therefore, that having the right tools will be instrumental in improving your asset optimization strategy and, by extension, your business itself.

Data in. Insights out.

This appetite for accessible and universal asset management support has inspired analysts and consultants at Arcadis Gen to craft a lightweight but high-performance solutions—two characteristics often viewed as mutually exclusive by many software engineers. But that's precisely what we achieved with Universal Visual Optimizer. UVO is bite-sized solution with enterprise-level capabilities, designed to process complex scenarios to inform project and capital investments of varying scopes and contexts, without the hassles and overhangs of traditional solutions. It requires no installation—or any background in data science, for that matter—and can be accessed through a web browser from any location. UVO takes 4 simple steps to optimize your data: filter, modify, optimize, visualize. Appropriately, we designed each step to correspond with one working tab. You start by uploading your core files under the Filter tab. This is the only step that requires user configuration. Here, asset metadata, such as asset names, class or descriptions, and their subsequent solutions (i.e., the various options that can help rectify, improve or repair the specified business assets) can be plugged into the web application. This information includes risk, condition and investment values allocated for each solution and year of impact. Next, from the Modify tab, loaded assets and timesteps can be selected or excluded and defined as a baseline plan for later comparison within UVO. Afterwards, you can generate and compare multiple scenarios in the app under the other two tabs. Under Optimize, you will find a scenario wizard where you can specify your goals and bounds. This scenario wizard can be bypassed if you're working with specific details, allowing you to manually input your goals and bounds within a specified number of years. This may be useful for businesses with defined budgets and targets given a certain time frame. And finally, all user generated scenarios can be saved for comparison under the Visualize tab. Risk, condition and investment values can be compared over time. A scheduler view is also generated for the convenience of project coordinators and managers who want to view investment decisions in a modulated calendar format for easier visibility. This was precisely what our partners at the Bayside Council in Australia had done in our recent partnership. Using UVO, the municipality specified a set of KPIs for public restroom conditions, informed by an internal audit process. We converted these metrics into overall risk and condition scores that were then processed and visualized by UVO. The app helped the council improve their public service strategy which, ultimately, benefited the general public as well.

Conclusion

The user-friendly focus of UVO, coupled with Arcadis Gen’s proactive service support line, makes this innovative and agile asset optimization application a first point-of-call for a multitude of organizations including Transport for London and others. UVO helps organizations, regardless of their size and complexity, to go from data to decision within minutes. Learn more about this revolutionary app by booking a demo today or requesting the fact sheet.

Read the article here.

[portfolio-ni-rizza]

Working remotely and inclusively: inclusion amid a world in lockdown

Home is where the heart is—and, in the middle of a global lockdown, it is now also where the work is.

Our homes are traditionally where we live, not work. But the current environment has forced all of us into entirely new arrangements in a matter of days that, in normal circumstances, would have taken months of careful planning and a healthy dose of change management. Even so, we are nothing if not adaptable.

There is great opportunity for us to re-evaluate our goals. Right now, there is an abundance of information and well-meaning advice on how to work productively at home. There is little account given, however, on what it actually means to work from home. This is why we have identified areas of focus around this new working set-up, ranging from the practical and functional aspects to the emotional and behavioural.

Empathy for varied home lives

In the middle of a health crisis, it’s important to remember that the focus of a company’s day-to-day running should be on the health of its people. This starts by acknowledging, understanding, and accepting that people’s home lives are drastically different from their office lives.

Some people live alone; where they were once surrounded by co-workers, they may now be working in total isolation. Being physically disconnected from everyone else can take a huge toll on people’s mental health, so setting up regular check-ins is one way to support these team members. A quick call everyday keeps them connected, engaged, and feeling valued.

These check-ins or ‘virtual coffees’ needn’t be work-related at all. Here at Arcadis Gen, we found that providing an informal channel where people can simply share how their day is going has done wonders for our team’s morale. Communities are strengthened and formed, even when everyone is working separately. And in this new age of self-isolation, virtual connections become all the more important.

On the other hand, other households are so full of people that finding space to concentrate on work or just be alone with their thoughts is extremely difficult—even impossible. Companies need to have empathy for these less-structured dynamics. These colleagues may have their windows thrown wide to let the air in (especially as the warmer months come in), and street traffic may be audible. They may even have kids, parents, or pets chime in during a conference call. We don’t always have control over these types of distractions, and companies need to accept and accommodate this difference between a controlled office space and the everyday happenings in a house.

As home working becomes the new normal, we are seeing another, more human side of our employees. For companies, this is an opportunity to get to know your people even beyond the walls of their cubicle.

Having enough of the right tools

Once we knew were to be banished to our homes for the foreseeable future, it was quickly apparent that technology and gadgets are now basic necessities. We need them to do our work, our kids use them for home-schooling, and all of us stay connected with the outside world through our screens.

But now that technology is as indispensable as food and shelter, it raises another issue of privilege. Even considering only those lucky enough to have jobs that can be done remotely, not everyone has equal access to these tools. Some may need to share their computers with their family or roommates; others may be working with older and failing techs. In such cases, companies can initiate a sharing/recycling solution instead.

By providing these means to their employees, companies not only help their people be more productive ‘at’ work, but they help their people, period. And we are already seeing the incredible value of this sharing/recycling initiative here at Arcadis Gen.

Among our UK-based employees, we have colleagues now find more time for themselves, to relax or concentrate on work, because they were sent an extra device for their kids’ use that reduced the pressures (and squabbles) of trying to share. We have co-workers who sent back their older, personal laptops for repairs and are now not only able to work more productively but have been able to connect with more people than before.

And the more the boundaries of home and work are blurred by the pandemic and ensuing global lockdown, the more pressing is the case for companies to provide the necessary tools (and some) to help their employees cope with the trying times.

Sensitivity to biases and discrimination

With people’s professional lives now overlapping dramatically with their personal lives, how do we deal with—and avoid—the bias surrounding either? We are in our homes more than ever before, and that, together with the concern of the spread of the coronavirus, means that we are likely doing more cleaning washing and cooking than we have ever done. Studies have consistently shown that the burden of domestic chores falls on women, so the current situation means that for many women their overall workload, whether for the office or their home chores, may have exponentially increased as well.

Many others are also at greater risk due to prolonged lockdowns. Breadwinners may be more hard-pressed to earn as supplies dwindle faster the longer their families are forced to remain indoors. There may be colleagues who worry about their financial security as employment dynamics continue to shift. And there may be some whose problems are more personal, as in the case of those living with abusive relations.

Assurance is the best thing companies can give their employees in these times of uncertainty. Assurance that there is help for them if needed, and the knowledge that they will not go through these difficult times alone. The key is to work closely with your teams and foster even greater trust among one another. Whenever possible, assure them that, first and foremost, they have employment security with your company. If this is not the case, assist them with their back-up plans by guiding them to professional bodies or organisations where appropriate.

Ultimately, just let them know that you have their backs.

The New Normal

We are truly living in a new normal now. We need to accept and embrace that working at home is not only different in itself, but the experience is likewise different for each of us. We must be more flexible and empathetic, recognise that people are under incredible pressure right now, ensure we look out for one another in a way we maybe haven’t before, nurture an environment where people feel able to raise concerns and also seek practical ways to support them. Our people did not bring their homelife to their workplace; their work came home with them. And ultimate, that is a truly new way of working!

Read the article here.

[portfolio-ni-rizza]

The 5 Commandments of Sharing an Office Space

Coworking spaces can be a truly magical place. You get your work done and let your hair down in an open, collaborative, and supportive environment where you share a space with people who likewise share your values, or even your goals. But sometimes, all it takes is one person talking a little too loudly or carrying on a little too comfortably, and that magic disappears into thin smoke.

Coworking is based on the principle of sharing a space with others. And for all that coworking offices are all about giving you independence and freedom in your work, this doesn’t mean independence and freedom from basic human decency. So to help keep you from being that guy, we’ve rounded up the 5 rules of sharing an office space to ensure your coworking life is a smooth-sailing journey.

I. Thou Shall Use Thy Phone Voice

We all have a phone voice. It’s the voice you unwittingly use when a recruiter calls you and interviews you over the phone, or when your bank rings you to remind you of a missed due date. It’s a soft-spoken, well-modulated voice that says: I’m a professional!

And it’s precisely the kind of voice that you should have when inside coworking spaces. This isn’t to say that you have to treat every conversation like a job interview or an assurance that yes, you’ll be paying your overdrafts as soon as possible, thank you so much for understanding, you’re too kind, but it does help to remember that you’re still in a professional setting and, therefore, expect to act with more than a modicum of professionalism. One of the surest signs that a person is getting too comfortable in their environment is when they start to use their outdoor voice indoors, so just be aware of how loud and rowdy you can sound.

Don’t forget that before anything else, you’re all there to work, so save the shouty, excited chatter for when you and your office friends are not at work.

Long story short, you’re sharing an office, you are not the only one there, so keep it down.

II. Thou Shan’t Stink Up The Premises

Look–we totally understand what it’s like to emerge victorious from the apocalypse that is Metro Manila traffic, and we don’t hold it against anyone who happens to carry the scent of that battle with them.

And while it’s completely understandable that you’d want to freshen up before you start your day, be mindful how scent can carry in an enclosed, air-conditioned space. Have care when you use your perfume or fragrances–or pretty much anything with a strong scent.

That being said, your baon can also be the office’s public enemy number one. No matter what you think, you’re not the only getting a whiff of your grandma’s binagoongan or the karenderya’s adobo. No one wants to smell like a high school cafeteria, and, really, you shouldn’t be eating at your desk anyway. You’re not just leaving behind a strong scent, you’re also leaving crumbs and foodstuffs in your workstation, and a dinner party for the resident vermins. Gross.

III. Thou Shall Take Care of the Amenities

The entire point of coworking spaces like Weremote is to provide you with a convenient place to work, where all your basic professional needs–and more–are readily met. Workstations are fully-furnished, and supplementary amenities like printers, phones, and other equipment are available for anyone who needs them. The operative term here being anyone who needs them–not just you.

Respect office amenities; don’t hog them for yourself and especially don’t damage them. If you find that you will need certain facilities for a prolonged period of time–say, you need the phone booth for two days for an important meeting–let management know ahead of time so that they can set up a schedule where you can use it for as long as you need, without inconveniencing anyone. Cleaning up as you go is a big factor to consider too, since you are using a shared space. Always return things the way you found them.

This applies to every little thing like putting markers back where you found them, returning the chairs to their rightful place, turning off the air conditioning when it’s not being used, or asking around if people are okay with the room temperature being changed.

And if you find that an equipment is damaged, be sure to tell management immediately so that it can be addressed at once. No one signed up for jammed printers and disconnected telephone lines, after all, so it’s everyone’s duty to make sure everything is in working order.

As a good rule of thumb: If you use it, WASH IT, If you spill it, WIPE IT , If you drop it, PICK IT UP! Those coffee mugs ain’t gonna wash themselves, and it’s not fair to people.

These sort of things makes you a decent human being.

IV. Thou Shall Respect Boundaries

Coworking spaces are much more informal than traditional office spaces, and while this is of course the entire point of these innovative work areas, sometimes it can lead people to let their guards down just a little bit too much.

The space might be painted in playful colors and murals, and there might be a game room that invites to you to play and not just work, but don’t forget that it is still a workplace, first and foremost. Maintain professional boundaries, even with your closest work friends, while inside the premises. Don’t horse around, or engage in antics that would bother the other workers sharing the space. This means no The Office level pranks, and definitely no harmful jokes and horseplay.

And boundaries aren’t limited to physical boundaries. Emotional and mental boundaries are also in full effect inside office premises. Do not make offensive jokes or comments. Don’t willfully act in a way that makes people uncomfortable, and treat everyone with kindness, or, at the very least, civility.

And if you or anyone you know have encountered harassment or offensive behavior of any kind while in the premises, do not hesitate to report the situation to management. Weremote has a well-trained staff and HR personnel prepared to deal with complications such as these, and we are committed to ensuring you work safe and feel safe in our environment. Approach any member of the staff, or head straight to reception so we can address situations like these as soon as possible.

V. Thou Just Be Mindful

At the end of the day, the best thing you can do to ensure a harmonious work life in a coworking space is to just be mindful. Be aware of how loud you can be when you speak, and remember to use your indoor voice. Be aware of the scents you carry. Be mindful of shared spaces and amenities, have care with how you use them. Be mindful of how you treat others, and remember to respect boundaries and limitations.

Be aware of what you do and the space you occupy, so that you don’t trod on others. Courtesy is a simple matter of just not being rude, and it starts by being mindful of yourself and your actions.

Coworking can be an incredible experience and opportunity, and all it takes is a few, simple courtesies to ensure that everyone has a great time. It is not actually unheard of to get voted out of a coworking space for being too much! So the next time you work in a coworking space, don’t forget to follow these basic commandments, and you should be good to go.

At Weremote, we keep it simple: “Be the person you want to work with”.

Read the article here.

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Coworking 101: What Exactly is a Coworking Space and Why Do I Need One?

Welcome to the 21st century working world!

With millennials making up more and more of the modern labor force, the traditional office setting is also seeing a gradual but drastic change as it accommodates its newer members.

Gone are the days when everyone clocked in at 9 and went out at 5, sitting in the same cubicle for eight hours straight, five days a week, and remaining with the same company for decades on end.

The younger generation is bringing in new technologies, values, and practices, steadily redefining the professional landscape into one that favors flexibility over stability.

And as office workers change, so does their workplace. From the traditional desk-and-chair, square cubicles that characterized the old office landscape, we now transition to coworking spaces.

These simple but revolutionary spots are on the rise in major metropolises across the globe, but just as with anything new and unfamiliar, the idea of coworking spaces might draw a blank for many people. So if you’ve ever heard the term but scratched your head in confusion, you’re definitely in the right place.

Read on for all the things you need to know about coworking spaces – and why you need one, too.

The What Now?

In a workforce populated by employees who value teamwork and collaborative efforts, it comes as no surprise that the coworking industry is becoming the preferred option for leasing office spaces. Unlike the traditional office setup, coworking employees are not limited, physically or otherwise, to interacting only with those in the same company or industry. These like-minded people share everything from space, to network, and even ideas and core values, allowing for a collaborative, supportive, and collective workflow and environment.

And coworking spaces are exactly that: they’re places where a group of people–literally any group of people–can work together. They’re designed to function like a regular office space, but look and feel completely different from the traditional desk-and-chair setup.

Coworking spaces are basically just one big open area where groups of people can come together and do work, whether they’re together as a team, or alone as individuals. In a way, it’s the adult equivalent of your college library, where you can go in to work any time you want and stay for as long as you need.

These Coworking Spaces have all the basic functionality of traditional offices. You have desks and comfortable chairs, meeting spaces, sockets, charging stations, and a solid internet connection, and even a well-stocked pantry.

Like your school library, most coworking spaces come with common area that’s just one big, open room with long desks where people can huddle together to work. There are meeting and private rooms to the side for those who need more privacy, and hot desks are available to reserve for those who need their own work area.

But even with the more private areas, coworking spaces are primarily designed to be as open and inclusive as possible, in order to encourage collaboration and networking among its occupants. Closed-off cubicles are rarely found in a typical coworking space, and even reserved desks are still relatively open.

This design intentionally keeps with the values of the working millennial, who prefers open and circular conversation as opposed to the more hierarchical structure of traditional companies where an idea has to go from Point A first before it reaches Point B.

SPACES INSIDE A COWORKING SPACE

There are different areas inside the average co-working space, designed to meet different needs. Weremote in Ortigas, for example, offers the following innovative spaces:

The Common Area

The main area is an open floor space with tables that can easily seat at least five of your team, which is a perfect arrangement for startups or group works. Amenities like dry erase board, projectors, and other similar tools are available to better facilitate your meetings. Although you share the general space with other occupants, Weremote provides packages that would guarantee your team will always have a place to sit.

Private Suites

But if you’re company needs a little more privacy while you draft out top secret documents, Weremote and other coworking spaces also offer a suite made precisely for that. Although they are a tad pricier than working in the common area, the added costs of renting private offices are well worth it, when you’re essentially getting your own office space, complete with desks, chairs, storage, and other office equipment.Dedicated Desks

These seats are perfect for those who prefer going solo and having a spot to call their own. Similar to having your own cubicle at work, dedicated desks always guarantee you a seat in the buzzing and thriving coworking community.Hot Desks

Unlike Dedicated Desks that are all yours, Hot Desks are shared between users who rotate use of their shared office space on a schedule. This setup is perfect for those who aren’t always in town, or don’t always prefer to use a shared workspace, and wouldn’t mind having someone else warm their seat while their out. This is also generally a cheaper alternative to dedicated desks.Meeting Rooms

Of course, work is still work and sometimes you have to talk to people about things you don’t necessarily want others overhearing. Meeting rooms are the perfect solution. You can rent them out per hour or work out an arrangement with the space if you’ll find yourself using it often enough. The meeting rooms at Weremote are fully equipped with topnotch facilities to cover all your conference essentials, from the mundane comfy chairs to high-tech telecom tools, it’s even more affordable if you book it for the whole day.

Podcast Studio

The 1st coworking space in the country to come with a fully-furnished recording studio. Weremote offers this facility for anyone looking to start or record their podcasts and other audio materials. This studio is complete with high-quality sound equipment to allow you to record–and broadcast, live–good content. Perfect for trainers or coaches that wants to record their learnings or your modules, too.Photo Studio (Coming Soon!)

And for those looking to snap their latest product, a photo studio is also available for rent in this coworking space–and this coworking space alone. Designed to be on par with any professional photography studio, Weremote’s studio has overhead and stand-alone lights, backgrounds, and every other equipment you’ll need for that A-grade marketing material.Event Space

Whether your startup is hosting a launching party, or you’re a freelancer looking to hold a workshop, coworking spaces like Weremote also offer an events area that could comfortably hold a good number of attendees (Weremote, for example, can host up to 150). The great thing about getting this particular service from coworking spaces is that they’re fully equipped with all your event’s needs. At a fixed price, you no longer have to worry about setting up and cleaning after your event, as the space will take care of that for you. Event spaces are perfect for workshops, trainings, and other similar professional events.Virtual Office

One of the trickiest things that startups have to deal with is the office space: specifically, your company’s business address. In order to be a registered company, you need to list down a physical address for contact and documentation. Weremote offers you that. It provides innovative and modern office solutions by not only giving you a mailing address for all the bills and documents that come with any business endeavor, but even offers call answering and mail handling services as well, ensuring you are always up to date on your correspondence. It’s significantly cheaper to hire out a virtual office than it is to get an actual, physical place–and would work much the same way, anyway. Did we mention, you’ll get coworking freebies too if you sign up for a Virtual Office in Weremote?

For Whom?

So who actually does use coworking spaces?

The short answer: anyone.

The long answer:

Startups

Startup businesses are the most frequent users of coworking spaces for various reasons. For starters, a group of people is more likely to need a dedicated space to come together and work, as opposed to a solo individual who could simply take their laptop to the nearest coffee shop and work there. The more people you have on a startup, the more need you also have to find a spot to do your work.

Moreover, the farther along you are in your business, the greater your need for an office space as well, where you have less distractions and more access to equipment and amenities needed in a professional setting, including basics like a fast internet, a common space that can fit all of you, boards and papers to jot down ideas, and the like.

As a startup, it’s also more likely you’re not as financially stable as you would be once your company has properly taken off, so budget may be a little tight, even for basics like office space. Coworking spaces are perfect because of how flexible the arrangements are. You don’t have to commit to a long-term office lease, and the space already has all the equipment you need to work.

Coworking spaces are definitely a cheaper and more efficient alternative to traditional office spaces.

Other than their cost-effectivity, coworking spaces also offer more non-tangible benefits:

You’re open to the other teams and individuals sharing the area, which improves your chances at networking.

Even a simple chat while waiting in line with a stranger for the coffee machine can be an opportunity to build connections.

Two teams working beside each other can even merge into a bigger team because of the nature of sharing a working space.

Startups can recruit more people in their team, can loop in potential investors, and even snag a future customer because of the open layout of coworking space.

Freelancers

Another familiar face to the coworking scene is the freelancer. Many freelancers do not have a fixed working space, generally because they prefer non-structured arrangements. As a result, the flexible set-up of a coworking space is the perfect match for them.

Many freelancers also work from home, because it could be significantly more comfortable than a crowded coffee shop (imagine working in your PJs, in the comfort of your snuggly bed!), but this set-up isn’t necessary optimum for productivity. You can get too comfortable when working from home, which is why it’s recommended to get out of the house every once in a while.

Coworking spaces are great for the full-time freelancer because they’ll get all the benefits of a traditional office (a dedicated space to work, a concentrated environment not riddled with distractions, a supportive network of people who are in a similar situation) without the constraints of one (like having to clock in and out at fixed hours, only having the one, same spot to work, etc.).

While a typical seat lease in a sharing space may be pricier than, say, a single cup of coffee at your local café, the former is still an all-around better arrangement.

How so?

Coworking spaces are designed to be a place of work—one where you are guaranteed to be productive, providing you with what you need to work your best. There is no pressure you might be overstaying your welcome because you finished your coffee hours ago, and the noise and clatter around you are not mindless distractions, but productive conversations of people doing their professional business.

And if that proves a tad too much, you can easily secure a private corner where you can be alone with your thoughts and work in more peace and quiet than you can expect from a café.

As an added bonus, there’s coffee (and food, and, in some lucky cases, even beer on tap!) in the coworking pantry, too.

Others

Of course, anyone who’s in need of a temporary work space is welcome to a coworking space.

If you have a passion project that you want to focus on during the weekends, a coworking space is the perfect venue for you.

If you’re setting up a project with your friends but can’t find a place where you could all sit together and focus on work, a shared office is your go-to.

If your company is hosting a seminar but your office is too small, and everywhere else is too expensive or needs a lot of work, a coworking space has your back.

If you’re a big organization looking for a separate space to host a networking event, or you have a product launch coming up, a coworking space should be able to accommodate your needs easily.

The highly versatile coworking space is what makes it incredibly attractive to the modern office worker, and why it’s well on its way to revolutionizing traditional office spaces.

What’s in it for me?

There are numerous benefits to getting a spot in a coworking space. As a matter of fact, a study by the Harvard Business Review found that professionals working in coworking spaces thrived higher in their professional careers than their counterparts in traditional offices.

The reason, they found out, had less to do with the physical environment of the coworking space itself, and more with the intangible, and less-direct benefits of working in one.            

The work is more meaningful

People who work in coworking spaces generally have more control over what it is they’re working on – the projects they’re handling, the type of clients they’re meeting, etc. When they have this freedom, they find more value in the tasks itself, and they’re more likely to accomplish something because they genuinely want to get the task done, rather than finishing it to turn something in to their bosses.

An important insight HBR gleaned from this study was that people in coworking spaces found meaning “in the fact that they could bring their whole selves to work.”

The typical occupants of a coworking space are so varied in the nature of their work and their industries, that each one brings something unique to the table. There is less pressure for them to be anyone but themselves, unlike in traditional office settings where there is both overt and subtle need to fit in.

Another way a coworking space user finds more meaning in their job is through the collaborative culture inherent in an open space as such. People are not secluded from one another, and, more importantly, they are rarely in direct competition with each other.

The lack of a fundamentally competitive environment allows more open and honest interactions, where people are more likely to want to see each other succeed in their respective fields. Too, as no one does the exact same thing as another, each person’s unique skills and expertise become all the more valuable.

You have more control of your environment

As mentioned above, those who work in coworking spaces typically have more autonomy in their jobs, which is a significant advantage in and of itself. You don’t need to put in strict hours – you can clock in whenever you want, and stay for as long as you need, especially as coworking spaces are open 24/7, or offer round-the-clock packages that would allow you to work as early or as late as you need, whenever you need to.

You’re also not boxed, literally and figuratively, in the same small space for hours at a time. When you use a coworking space, you can easily move around the whole office to find a spot that best suits you, be it in the heart of the floor space, surrounded by a dozen other coworkers, or in a quiet little corner, tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the main area.

This is an especially important advantage for those in the creative industry, who could struggle with the monotony and repetitiveness of the traditional office environment.

More importantly, however, coworking spaces are not just about autonomy. There is a certain structure to this work space that guides people’s routines and keeps them from simply doing what they want, the way they might do when they are completely in control of everything, as when they’re at home, for example. Because you’re paying for your spot, you’re bound to return to your coworking space and actually get some work done in order to get your money’s worth.

Being in this space also means you’re surrounded by people who are likewise working, which can bolster your own motivation to work. As the Harvard Business Review found out, “paradoxically, some limited form of structure enables an optimal degree of control for independent workers.”

There is a better sense of community

Everyone in a coworking space is on the same boat as you, which makes it easier to connect with them. Again, the open layout plays a considerable part in helping you network, but the similarity in your situations also fosters a sense of camaraderie you don’t always get in a classic office setup.

And unlike in an office where you’re more likely to feel compelled into playing nice with someone you see everyday for hours at length, interactions are less forced in a coworking space. Introverts can keep to themselves if they choose, but those looking to network, or simply talk with others, can do so because they genuinely want to.

As HRB found, interactions in coworking spaces are generally more positive because people see the potential in every connection they forge. In other words, they’re not forcing any small talk because they have to, but they’re conversing with others because they actually want to hear what the other person has to say. As a result, the networks you can make in a coworking space are more likely to be genuine and enduring because you’re also more likely to be honest going into one

It’s better for your budget

Renting a coworking space might mean you’re paying upfront, but the investment will readily pay for itself.

If you’re a startup company or a small business, the cost of getting, furnishing, and maintaining an office space of your own is nothing to scoff at. Many aspiring entrepreneurs have been discouraged from pursuing their businesses because of the cost it takes to start one, and even finally launching said business does not put you in the clear.

In addition to the capital needed to get in the materials and labors, a dedicated space to work in is no middling expense either, and as more and more businesses crop up in the metro, office space becomes a more precious – and pricey – commodity.

With a coworking space, you get all the benefits of traditional office setups, at a fraction of the expense.

To begin with, you no longer need to buy and furnish a space–you can simply rent it for as long and as often as you need. If your team can create your products at home, and only need to meet up occasionally to discuss logistics or meet with clients, you can rent a coworking space to provide you with all that you need to hold a proper, professional meeting.

Likewise, if you’re a startup with a growing number of team members, but not yet enough clients to strike out on your own, renting a coworking space will give you a place to meet and do your work regularly.

As a freelancer, the payoff is in the amount of work you’re able to do in an environment specifically designed for you to be productive.

If you regularly work from home, it can be a challenge to keep yourself motivated at all times. When you go out in public, there are hardly any areas of peace and quiet where you can sit down and focus on your tasks without being distracted by the constant – and loud – chatter of the people around you.

In a coworking space, you can comfortably meet with clients and partners, and discuss the important details of your projects without having to yell to hear each other over the noise, or worry that your confidential work might be overheard by the wrong ears. And when you’re able to rake in more work, and produce much better quality outputs, it’s easier to reel in a better paycheck as well.

You have work-life balance

But perhaps the biggest advantage of coworking spaces is that its design and structure is fundamentally conducive to pursuing the ever elusive, sometimes mythical work-life balance.

In a coworking space, you only actually work when you have to. If you know there is nothing on your agenda for the day, you don’t have to get up at 5 AM, drag yourself through one of the world’s worst commutes, and “show up” at work only to simply sit idly in your desk for the next nine hours.

You no longer have to live for the weekends, either, and you’re available to go out and have fun whenever you have nothing on your plate. If you’re a night owl, you can say goodbye to the dreaded early morning shifts, and instead sleep in like your body is naturally wired to do, and start working only when you can actually get some work done.

When you are better able to segregate your work from the other aspects of your life, your overall well-being is improved as well.

You no longer have to compromise your physical health by going through a hellish commute every single day, and you can readily take a sick day whenever you do need to have a lie-in.

You can also take better care of your mental health when you’re better able to rearrange your schedule to one that doesn’t stress you so much.

Your social life also sees a marked improvement when you’re more readily able to see your friends because you have no overtime, or bond with your family without needing to wait for the weekends.

On a whole, it is easier to be happier about your work—and, more importantly, your life outside of it—when you work in a coworking space.

There is no understating the benefits of working in a coworking space. Here’s a roundup of the reasons why coworking spaces can do you a world of good.

You have the flexibility in your workload and schedule that traditional office setups can’t offer.

You are more likely to be productive because you’re able to work only when you can and have to, and, as a result, you find more value in the tasks themselves.

You create better quality outputs because you have more job satisfaction, and you are surrounded by a community that understands where you’re coming from and can better support you.

You can network more easily too both because there are less physical boundaries between you and your colleagues, and because your coworking community is generally made up of different individuals from varying areas and industries, thus creating less competition and more collaboration.

It is also a more cost-efficient setup because you can choose your work hours, and you are not required to show up when it is too inconvenient for you.

You can select a package that works well with your professional requirements as well as personal preferences, letting you use the space as often as you need if you have an important, urgent project, or as seldom as possible if you’re travelling around.

The environment itself is designed to boost productivity, by creating specialized spaces where you can focus on your work without the distractions abundant in other spaces like your home or your favorite coffee shop.

In conclusion…

If you’re freelancing full time, starting your own company, managing a small business, or just generally looking for a space to get some work done without being boxed in an office, you need a coworking space.

A coworking space is a workplace shared with like-minded individuals, designed to have all the functions and comforts of a traditional office, but without the restrictions (and drama) of one.

You can have your own desk and work only when you actually have to.

Your work becomes more meaningful because you have more control over it, and you’re doing it for the sake of accomplishing the task, and not only because your boss asked you of it.

You don’t have to break the bank to find a space for your team to work and launch your company.

Above all, you can actually have that coveted work-life balance when you have more control of your work so that it doesn’t take over your life.

And if you’re looking for a coworking space in the bustling, pulsing heart of Metropolitan Manila, look no further than Weremote Coworking in Ortigas. Located at 2F, Building C, Metrowalk Commercial Complex, Meralco Avenue, Pasig City, Weremote puts you firmly at the center of Manila’s vivacious urban living, where you’re a stone’s throw away from major business establishments, in an enviable location that client, customer, or partner can readily access.Plus, Free Parking!

For more details, shoot us an email at hello@weremote.com or leave a message to +63-917- 623-3674 or (+63) 2 216 3429. Weremote is open 24 hours on weekdays, from 7 AM Monday to 7 AM Saturday.

Read the article here.

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8 Tips For Staying Motivated To Exercise In Winter | RecXpress

We’ve all been there: temperatures at the single digits... the sky dark despite the hour and outside still with everyone ensconced at home... you, perfectly toasty in your comfiest PJs, under mounds of fluffy blankets and pillows... and suddenly, you remember: you have to hit the gym in ten minutes. Must you, really?

The short answer is yes, you definitely must. Even if it’s long past Beach Body Season, you should still keep up a workout regimen. As the saying goes ... “Summer bodies are built in winter”. But for those who (understandably)prefer the warmth of their homes to the frigid cold outside, here are eight ways to stay motivated to workout in winter.

STAY COZY

If you can’t stay in the warm indoors, then bring the warmth out with you. Put on all the layers you need, keepingin mind that you’ll be moving around in them a lot. If you’ll be exercising outside, bundle up with comfy shirtsand jogging pants. Thermal underwear is also a lifesaver. Just remember that you’ll eventually be warm fromyour exertions, so don’t overdo the layers.

A nifty trick is get started while still indoors. Do a number of jumping jacks, jog in place for a few minutes, orjust do an extended version of your regular warm-up so the temperature difference doesn’t hit you too bad.

GET ON A NEW PROGRAM

Summer workouts usually happen early in the morning or late at night when the weather’s most likely coolest, so switch it up this winter and workout when the day’s at its hottest.

Given that this will almost always be at lunch time, adjust your regimen so you can get the bulk of your work on your lunch break. Find a gym that’s only a short distance away from your work, or see if your building comeswith its own fitness centre. If this isn’t an option, you can always go on a lunch run around the area, evenactually picking up your lunch while you’re at it.

Smaller workouts like aerobic exercises are great for a smaller time frame, because you can easily set-up in asecond. Just be sure to eat after the workout.

STAY INSIDE

The gym is perfect during the winter. It’s definitely warmer than the sub-zero outdoors, and there’s a goodchance you’ll have the place to yourself (or at least, not be jostled as much during the warmer months) when everybody’s shutting themselves inside.

Imagine getting on the treadmill without having to wait in line! Think about a clean, dry bench press! Imagine not having that pressure put in just a few more minutes, or a few more weights, because you somehow feel like others are silently judging you (they’re not)!

Definitely hit the gym during the winter and take advantage of the down season to squeeze in all the workoutsyou didn’t have time (or space) to try on more crowded days. Ask the management if there are any special events, promos, or discounts happening to really make the most out of the opportunity.

RUN IN THE SPRING

Sign up for a challenging spring marathon (think 10k, cross-country, etc.–the harder, the better) and create a new training regimen for that event. For that added incentive, specifically look for ones where you have topay for your slot, so you’re more motivated not to let your money go to waste. Train steadily and continuously throughout the winter, taking advantage of the above-mentioned tips on your practice runs.

EAT HEALTHY

Apparently you really are what you eat, so when you eat warm, comfort foods, you’re more likely to want to stay warm and comfy at home rather than up and active outside. Stock up on nutritious, well-balanced meals to give your body the fuel it needs to combat the cold and stay in top shape.

Try switching your regular foods with super-charged versions every once in a while, especially on days whenyou need an extra boost. For example, instead of just getting regular coffee, try one that’s loaded with otherenergy-boosting ingredients to really give you that much-needed pick-me-up.

LISTEN TO SUMMER

Many winter tunes are mellow jams perfect for the cozy and lazy vibe, so stay clear of these carols when working out. Instead, load up on upbeat summer hits to better get into that energetic vibe. Download the songs that remind you most of warmer months, lively parties, brilliant sunshine, and all the other things that make summer a fantastic time to workout.

Take this little mental exercise up a notch by dressing in summer colors and patterns. This nifty trick isn’t somuch as to make you forget about the winter chill, but to make you look forward to that sultry summer heat.

TAG A FRIEND

Whether it’s “the more, the merrier” or “misery loves company”, there’s no denying that having a friend alongcan really brighten up a dreary winter workout.

Get your friends on board with your workout regime, and even consider signing up with them on the marathon. Sync your goals so you’re really all in it together, and help to keep each other on track especially for theoccasional, expected lazy day.

BE DISCIPLINED

Ultimately, motivation, or “the general desire or willingness of someone to do something”, can be a fickle thing, and, therefore, not to be counted on to tide you through the long, arduous winter. While you and your friend might feel inspired to run a 10K today, a change in weather tomorrow might make you feel differently. With that being said, it’s infinitely better to face your fitness goals with something that would stay with you in the longrun: discipline.

Disciplining yourself can undeniably a challenge onto itself, but the rewards are definitely worth it. You’ll maintain a routine that significantly improves your body and overall well-being, and you constantly get the satisfaction of a job done–and a job done well at that.

You don’t have to worry about feeling bummed because of the cold because your body is all set to do whatneeds to be done anyway. At the end of the day, being disciplined means you don’t have to constantly struggleto push yourself to feel like doing things–you know you’ll get them done.

MAKING THE MOST OF A GYM MEMBERSHIP

Working out in the winter can be a walk in the park–literally and figuratively–with the right mindset. Warm upproperly before heading out. Time your workout when the sun is shining. Hit the gym. Sign up and train for a spring marathon. Eat the right foods to keep your energy. Listen to summer beats that get you moving in the warmer months. Get a friend to keep you company.

And above all, have the discipline to keep at your fitness goals especially for those times when you just “don’t feel like it”. You can also take out a membership in a no-contract fitness club like Rec Express where you can receive guidance from expert trainers, and not worry about getting stuck in contracts that can be so insanelystrict.

READ THE ARTICLE HERE.

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Timberland Heights “Clamor Build” campaign Instagram video

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UNIDO ISO 9001 roll-ups

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With love, from someone who struggled to switch degrees | UPM

Kids, if someone ever asks you what college is like, tell them it’s like an amusement park.

Now, a lot of people think that life, in general, is one giant, frankly overrated, roller coaster with its ups anddowns and all that cliché, but that’s too narrow of a trope. See, a roller coaster is one ride. You can ride it anynumber of times if you’re patient (or brave, stupid, etc.) enough, but at the end of the day, it’s still the same thing as it had been from the very beginning. Now while a roller coaster seems like a sound metaphor for life if you don’t believe in reincarnation, the same thing can’t really be said for college.

An amusement park is a dozen different rides, a dozen different attractions, and a dozen different things toexperience for the first time. But while there are people who can ride a roller coaster from start to end and think of it as the Ride of their Dreams, let’s face it; true love doesn’t come the first time around for majority of us.

Sometimes you have to go through nine TV seasons in nine long years to find The One.

And sometimes, you have to hop of the roller coaster and comb through the entire park just to find that one ride.

See, degree programs are a lot like carnival rides. In the beginning, you’re on the roller coaster. And you’reexcited. You’re trying something new for the first time. You’re meeting fresh faces for the first time. You bond over mutual first-time-ness, and it’s a wonderful new friendship forged on a wonderful new adventure. Youhave a whole new world ahead of you, and it’s as terrifying as it is thrilling, but you’re not alone. And it’s okay. It’s perfect.

But then suddenly, it isn’t.

You look ahead, and suddenly you couldn’t see anything ahead of you. You don’t know what’s in store for you. You begin having these second guesses if you have made the ride choice in this ride. Uncertainty rears its goshawful head, and suddenly, it’s not a roller coaster anymore. It’s a racing, raging Contraption of Doom.

And the worst part is, you’re the only one that thinks so. No one else is having the same problems as you.

So you get off.

In a stunt that puts Agent 007 to shame, you shimmy out of your car, you pull out your parachute, and you jump off. You know it’s a hit or miss, but you do it anyway. Because you couldn’t stay on that ride any longer. Because it’s no longer a ride–an attraction set out for your enjoyment; for you to have fun. It’s a torture chamber onwheels that leaves you scarred in places that can never be seen by the naked eye, can never be felt by the bare touch.

See, I wish it was just my inner Shakespeare talking with all this melodrama. But the thing is, a lot of peopledon’t realize that being in the wrong, figurative place can really destroy a person. Being in the Wrong DegreeProgram is when you give it your best, when you give it your all, when you do every (legal) thing you can, but itstill isn’t enough. You still get that DRP. You still get that 5. You still get that failure.

The ride isn’t even half way to the end, but you’re already crashing and burning. So you take that leap of faith and leave. But then you find out that it’s not the end of the tragedy.

Sometimes, people are lucky enough to escape the Raging Contraption of Doom on the first shot. Others aren’t. Your parachute snags. Your foot catches on the car. Your units are not enough for the Office of University Registrar to even pass on to the department where you want to transfer. It’s one thing or the other, but thebottom line is, you’re stuck.

So you take things slow. If you couldn’t go in one fell swoop, then you slowly, but surely unbuckle yourself from the roller coaster.

You start taking classes related to your chosen program. You cram all your general education courses. Youattend all these classes where you literally do not know anyone, and you’re the only one different. You’re the only one who doesn’t belong. You’re the only one who hasn’t been on the Ferris wheel since the beginning; the only one who do not share mutual first-time-ness.

You’re all alone. And you still have one foot on the roller coaster.You’re floating.

A lot of people don’t give “floating” students credit. They should. It’s not easy to be trapped in akimbo; to not becompletely one thing, but never exactly the other. You’re no longer Computer Science, but you’re definitely not Organizational Communication. You don’t hang out with your friends from the roller coaster any more, but youdon’t have anyone from the Ferris wheel to play with either.

It’s lonely.

That’s the frightening thing about shifting, I think. Even when you have shifted. Even if you are on the Ferris wheel now. Even if you are finally in Organizational Communication. You never truly, truly belong. You will never know the feeling of spending your entire college life with these people. You weren’t there from the beginning.They have memories you will never be part of; only given vague, untouchable glimpses of. And sure, they may be your friends now, but there will always be that impassable barrier that will always, always be there no matte what you do.

But it doesn’t have to be all there is to shifting. It’s a whole new degree program; a whole new ride. Sure, your friends already have a past, but the ride goes on; reaches new heights. There are vantages they haven’t been to; vantages you will be there with them now. There will be rough moments, but you’re no longer alone. You havethem, much as they have you. And it’s still an amusement park, it’s still a ride, and even though it’s terrifying sometimes, even if it’s tumultuous and shaky, it’s still fun. It’s still wonderful.

It’s still an adventure.

[portfolio-ni-rizza]

COMELEC holds mock elections at Robinsons Ermita | Rappler Philippines

Michael Jackson leads presidential race; Ariana Grande tops vice-presidency.

(UPDATED) Manila, Philippines—The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) held a mock election at theRobinsons Mall, Ermita, Manila, on 13 February 2016. A total of 66 of the expected 100 mock voters participatedin the event.

Elections began at 7 a.m., but the first voter only arrived over an hour later. According to mock elections chairman, Raymond Apostol, this was likely because of the regular mall hours beginning at 10 a.m., “Baka iniisip nila dahilmall, [mamaya pa magbubukas].” (“They probably think that because it’s a mall, it won’t be open until later.”) Heclarified that election precincts will begin operations at 7 a.m. sharply, regardless of the location.

The first voter, Roly Ligtas, describes the process as “fast” and more convenient than the previous elections. He finished his votation in under five minutes.

Meanwhile, COMELEC chairman Andres Bautista visited the site for inspection. “We want [the elections] to be convenient and comfortable for our voters.” Former chairman Sixto Brillantes, Jr. arrived shortly as well, castinghis vote in the precinct.

At 10:30 a.m., Chairman Apostol opened the votation to all, regardless of their districts. Voters were generally satisfied with the process, finding it better and easier than the previous elections. Officials and participants alike believe they are ready for the actual election proper on 9 May.

The mock elections closed at 12 noon, without any incidents. Machine-tallied results were immediately printedand displayed, and Michael Jackson led the presidential race by 20 points. Ariana Grande topped the vice-presidentiables with 12 points.

The results of manual counts are still being verified.

READ THE ARTICLE HERE.

[portfolio-ni-rizza]

Ganito Kami Noon, Eto Na Naman Kami Ngayon | Rappler Philippines

The return of Nayong Pilipino.

GANITO KAMI NOON.

The Filipino nation is a proud, enduring testament to history; the fruit of humankind’s efforts at progress, interspersed with a lifestyle crafted around nature. It is a nation deeply rooted to its past; its identity found in thetimeless natural beauties and strong, lasting edifices.

Nayong Pilipino had been an homage to the past; a nod to the history that had made us who we are. It was a place of reconnection; a way to travel while never leaving the premises. Nayong Pilipino had been a hub of the Filipino nation, with its realistic replicas of some of the Philippines’ greatest landmarks. It had been a one-stop visit to the7,107 islands of the archipelago, a stone’s throw away from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), from its founding in 1969 until it was forced to close in 2001. It was relocated to its current site in Clark Pampanga in 2006, but it would be eight more years before Nayong Pilipino returns to its full glory, once again bringing theirhistory to the Filipino people.

ETO NA NAMAN KAMI NGAYON.

Today, Nayong Pilipino has found a second home at the heart of Rizal Park, in the bustling streets of MetroManila. Situated within Luneta’s Orchidarium, Nayong Pilipino brings with it the familiar “Pinoy design, Pinoy feel,and Pinoy craziness.” According to Mr. Stephen Lou Rili, a member of the Nayong Pilipino foundation’s humanresources and talent management, this new park is not simply another branch, “Hindi siya, ‘Puntahan mo angisang Nayong Pilipino na parke, napuntahan mo na lahat.” (“It’s not, “You’ve been to one Nayong Pilipino park,you’ve been to all of them.”)

Nearly five decades since its founding, Nayong Pilipino once again brings to light the rich, dynamic Filipino culture. Some fifty miles away from its sister site, Nayong Pilipino Rizal Park focuses on yet another aspect of the Filipino nation--its people. Whereas its predecessor weaves the tale of the Philippines’ past, the Nayong Pilipino in RizalPark is all about the present and the future of the country. “It’s not only the landmark, not only the ancient housesthat completes the Philippines,” Rili says, “It’s us--our culture, our actions, our happiness, our [hospitality].”

However, its present branch in Rizal Park is only temporary. Nayong Pilipino will eventually relocate to Parañaque, near the City of Dreams and Solaire Resort. Rili estimates another three or four years to the park’s completion, but the project is now well underway. The existing branch in Rizal Park acts as a teaser for the coming Parañaquebranch, where the foundation will actively hold a series of publicity events to market the future site.

To promote the idea that the Manila chapter of Nayong Pilipino shifts focus from the past to the nation’s present and future, the park will spotlight the unique culture of modern Filipino people. It will hold displays like flash mobs where the actors are clad in Barong Tagalog and Baro’t Saya enticing park goers to visit Nayong Pilipino andtaking selfies with their audience, or locals in traditional Ifugao garbs, folk dancing to modern Filipino pop music such as Yeng Constantino’s Chinito.

Although trademarks of the original Nayong Pilipino will still be present in the upcoming Parañaque branch, suchas the bodies of water and scale models of natural landmarks, the main attractions will be the Filipino talents. “Fiestas, talento natin, ‘yung galing natin sa pag-awit, sa pag-arte, sa pag-shadow play... tututok tayo ngayon sa kung ano ang nagpapasaya talaga [sa atin]--tayong mga Pilipino,” (“Fiestas, our talents, our prowess in singing,in acting, in shadow play... We’ll focus on what really makes [us] happy--us Filipinos ourselves.”) Mr. Rili shares.

The new park will aim to define what makes a Filipino today and in the future. “Hindi lang tayo nakapasok sa kung ano ‘yung ‘noon’... We evolve as a people.” (“We are not only fixed in what was the “past”.)

READ THE ARTICLE HERE

[portfolio-ni-rizza]

Confidently beautiful, with a well-constructed argument | Rappler Philippines

“Walang proof na ‘pag mas matagal sa puwesto, mas magaling ka.”

Grace Poe is out to prove to the world—the universe, rather—that experience is not an issue if you have a confidently beautiful heart in the right place—and more than a few well-placed, well-worded facts and arguments.

Let met get this straight: I am, in no way or form, campaigning for any of the candidates, but if you were to askme how I’d rather perform in my next public speaking class, I’d definitely want to pull off a Grace Poe—all calm demeanour and firm resolve. She came into these debates with hardly anything more than the Citizenship Issueto introduce herself to the public, and now she’s stepping off that podium as the poster girl for the ideal student (or so the Internet goes: “’Yung kaklase mong nag-aral nang bongga para sa exam.”).

Experience is undoubtedly a fundamental aspect of national governance. After all, over a hundred million lives are at stake here, and we definitely need a little bit more than book smarts and theoretical stock knowledge to get us through the next six years. But Grace Poe with her singular term in a national seat, and hardly a few years in public service is out to prove that experience is not the be-all end-all of good governance, and the presentplans and future actions hold more weight than any past achievements can have. This much she makes clear, as she handles question after weighty question with a poise deserving of a Miss Universe crown--all in the span of a minute and a half.

In fact, Poe seemed so determined to get this point across, she actually manages to be the only to satisfactorilyanswer her questions. The other candidates, all well-seasoned veterans who have served public office for wellover a decade, had been vague, if not downright off-tangent in their responses (can I just say, defending theexistence of political dynasties is not the same as addressing the problem on whether or not they should be, at the very least, regulated by the law). Although to be fair, the 90-second time frame was positively not enoughto address salient national issues, no matter how obvious the answer may have been. The public needs to hear solid, viable platforms, and a minute cannot possible do that justice. Still, Poe manages to work with what she has and delivered some conceivable plans of actions--all, it is worth mentioning, without bringing down any of her competitors.

Suffice to say that when Poe promised for a fresh perspective in public office, she managed to bring that in withthe debates--the debates that had been mostly about, as seems to be customary, empty, ambiguous and vague promises, and never-ending mudslinging. At the very least, she brought well-mannered wit and elegantly- veiled sass to the table. A refreshing break indeed from the usual crude quips of the Duterte, the cheesy jokes,pick-up lines of Defensor-Santiago, and the repetitive spiels of Roxas (“tuwid na daan”) and Binay (“effectiveand decisive leader”).

Poe’s exemplary performance in the first round of presidential debates has definitely set the stage for hercampaign, and she has proven herself to be on equal footing as her more senior peers.

Whether or not this will translate to improved chances of presidency is still all up for, pardon the pun, debate.

READ THE ARTICLE HERE.

[portfolio-ni-rizza]

SAP and UNIDO join forces to enable UN Sustainable Development Goals with innovative technologies | UNIDO

Walldorf and Vienna, 17 October 2017 — SAP SE and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization(UNIDO) today announce the signing of a joint declaration to advance the 2030 Agenda for SustainableDevelopment and monitor its implementation, in particular in the area of inclusive and sustainable industrialization, by utilizing innovative technologies including analytics, reporting, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and others.

The joint initiative will focus on the development of an innovative platform, SAP Digital Boardroom, to monitor, manage, and report on the Sustainable Development Goals and their industry-related targets. “SAP Digital Boardroom allows UNIDO groups to gain visibility across their entire organization, consolidate achievements on the SDGs and document their impact on people’s lives. Through data integration, the solution provides a single source of truth for strategic decisions, and that is critical for success in the fast-paced digital economy,” says Isabella Groegor-Cechowicz, Global General Manager for Public Services, SAP.

This new initiative demonstrates SAP’s commitment to the 17 UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development, which also includes membership of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD) andIMPACT 2030.

“With SAP as a partner, we are making progress under the 2030 Agenda by harnessing the power of new technologies to overcome the digital divide and achieve prosperity for all,” commented Hiroshi Kuniyoshi, Deputy to the Director General of UNIDO.

READ THE PRESS RELEASE HERE.