Sep 23rd 09
Posted by Arnold in Too Personal
Today, I got another inquiry at Facebook. “Can I ask if you’re the Arnold Gamboa who worked at Manila Hotel?” I know where the question’s going. I’ve got similar inquiries before, and much more than the Arnold Gamboa that worked at Manila Hotel, he is actually, as I was told, a member of a very popular 70s “quartet” called “Apat na Sikat”. Arnold Gamboa, apparently, is a popular actor and TV personality back in those days.
Growing up, it was a huge advantage. Thanks to my mom, who probably was a fan when I was born, named me after him. At school, my name has a recall. And because of that, I had higher grades ;-)
But today, when people search for him on social networks or Google, I’m the one who’s being found. . One of the funniest, on-top-of-my-list “mistaken identity” thing was this blog post. The blogger actually thought that it was THE Arnold Gamboa that retweeted her tweet, which made her “kilig”. The worse thing is, some people actually believed and even called me “delicious”. Kinda flattering, though, if you will ask me.
So, today, let me just make this clarification once and for all:
I’m not THE Arnold Gamboa.
I’m just your typical web guy, married to a hot woman, with 2 kids, and serving Jesus where ever and whatever I can.
Come on now, do I look like 30 years older? :D
Sep 18th 09
Posted by Arnold in Too Personal
There’s no such thing as long-range planning. Let me tell you why.
- In college, I took up Accountancy, planning to be a CPA and be a manager of a multinational company at age 30. Never happened. I never thought that I’ll be a Technopreneur.
- In late ’90s, during the internet boom in the US, I planned to be there. Early 2000, got an offer from a New York company. With some twists and turns, I declined and started Team Sparrow, Inc instead with my best friend. Couldn’t be happier, but that wasn’t my plan.
- My long range plan for Team Sparrow, Inc. is to become one of the top outsourcing company in the Philippines. Then suddenly, and unexpectedly, the global financial crisis hits. We lost a big US client and we are left with the local projects. We changed course, and while I’m excited with our new business model, this is not what I planned.
- I got a laser stone operation last year. My back is aching again. And sometimes, my tummy. I’m not trying to scare my lovely wife, ( :-D ) but what if, just what if… this isn’t just a stone. Say, this is cancer and I’ll have a few years to live? The long-term plan to see my kids grow old or grow a company — it’s gone and will never see it happen.
You can never do long range planning. Instead, do scenario planning. Have an attitude of “I’ll do this… if such and such thing happens.”
Scenario planning. And live for the moment.
Do you plan to be a doctor? Or a lawyer? Or the president of a multinational company? Or become a millionaire at age 30? It’s good to have plan for your future. But don’t expect it do happen. Quite discouraging? Yes, but you need to face the realities of life. Do scenario planning instead. And live for the moment.
“Lord, I know that a person’s life doesn’t really belong to him. No one can control his own life.” Jeremiah 10:23
Sep 15th 09
Posted by Arnold in All in a days work
In a world full of distractions, one word stands out: Focus.
In family, if you want to be fruitful as a parent or a spouse, focus. There’s a lot of things that needs to be done. But learn how to give importance to what’s important and learn how to disregard the less important.
In business, I’m a firm believer of focus. While some may say that diversification is the way to go, I’d say focus on your core business and everything else follows. I know of a client that invested a lot in a project, only to abandon it because he got distracted by his other businesses.
And hey, I’m in a web application software business — notice the trend? We’re seeing simple, focused software over-powering the Microsoft-ish, “full featured” ones.
Here’s the principle: Do more by doing less. Focus on what’s important and useful. Applicable to all aspects of life, eh!?
Jul 31st 09
Posted by Arnold in All in a days work
Could it be that you know something is wrong, you’re not doing anything about it, you’re messed up and you’re suffering because of it? And you’re not doing anything about it?
My “baby” at work is my iMac 2.0Ghz with 1GB RAM pre-installed. I have this since a year and a half ago. In the past few months, my demand at work slowly increased until the time that I realize I have more than a dozen applications open. Adium, Yahoo IM, Firefox, Safari, Coda, Photoshop, iTunes (need music, baby!), Word, Tweetie and a number of other applications, working all at the same time. Why, I can’t help it, I need all of them!
This scenario has been killing my iMac. It crawls — and I mean, crawwwlll. And it’s killing me too! Until yesterday when I decided to get poorer by P1,500 and get an additional 2GB of RAM. The result? My mind can’t even comprehend, I can’t type in the words, I’m speachless … I’m just… just… this is awesome, dude! Just awesome. These applications plus all others include a Windows XP machine running via VirtualBox — all running at the same time. Will I need anything more? I’ve suffered for months and the solution is something I know, but didn’t do it because I’m just not interested.
During my quiet time today, I’ve come to thinking — isn’t this something more like life? I mean, for most of our problems, we actually know the solutions. We’re suffering because we decided not to do anything about it. It could be a wrong relationship, a wrong habit, a wrong direction in life. You know it, you just don’t want to solve it.
The reality is, with the help of God and godly friends, you can overcome that problem. It could just be an “upgrade” — an upgrade in your relationship with God, doing the right thing even if it’s hard, or just thinking about that better direction for your life.
I realize I sound preachy. But I’m not preaching at you. I’m preaching to all of us because I’m not excepted to this, too.
So, get that upgrade. I did. Look at me. I’m dancing. I’m typing with 15 high powered, memory hog applications open.
PS: Friday Night Experience at Grace Place tonight talks about the lie “I’m not good enough”. Try it. It’s happening at Tiara Oriental Hotel.
