In Response to "What Do You Do?"

I often get this question when I tell people my job title so I thought I would put it into layman's terms, non-hotel speak.

I am a Corporate Delphi Systems Analyst. I go in to work at the hotel featured on the picture but I work for the home office. Delphi is a sales and catering database. This software controls sales of hotel rooms, function rooms, keeps a list of all past and future group clients. It is also a tool to create Banquet Event Orders (what your party is having for dinner and if you need a microphone for that 30-minute speech).

Part of my job is that of a database administrator. I help create standards and procedures to make sure that the data that comes in is clean. That is important to me because I also mine that data through writing Crystal reports. You can ask me to pull rooms and revenue by State for lost business, and why we lost them. You can ask me for a list of clients so we can send them an e-mail blast regarding a new exciting promotion. I do sales month-end reports on a regular basis.

One aspect I enjoy is training. I must get the teaching part from my mother. I create Power Points and I teach them through Webex to anyone in the company who is willing or has been coerced to sit through them :-)

I do a lot of support work, I have my regular callers who ask me why they cannot merge proposals and I walk them through the steps. I am one of the first people they call when something is "not working." A lot of users cannot distinguish when it is a Delphi problem (which then becomes mine) or when it is something completely outside my scope of work (which sometimes also becomes mine). Of course, it is always the software and never the user !-)

I enjoy most aspects of my job. I am lucky enough to be able to just work part-time and I love the flexibility of being able to work from home on certain days. It is a far cry from what I used to do as a flight attendant or what I started out to do by studying Chemical Engineering. My work life has been interesting to say the least, I even had a stint as a Classified Line Ad Manager for a weekly publication in Hawaii.

What I am saying is that it does not matter what you do. If you have to do something, then do it well. If you hold yourself to higher standards than what other people expect, you will never go wrong.

Trust Your Inner GPS

I drove the boys to Indian Hills Camp which is quite a distance away, for their last retreat before graduating from Middle School. I was so proud, we got there first after following the GPS directions without a hitch.

On the way back, I programmed it to lead me home and there are always 4 options:
a. fastest time
b. shortest distance
c. most use of freeways
d. least use of freeways
I always choose the first one since who does not want to get home quickly? I was surprised after I reached a certain point that I was not going back the way I came; however, I trusted this electronic device. I began to get a little apprehensive when there were just few cars on the road on this busy weekday. I wanted to turn back but I did not want to waste time and I had already gotten that far. I got a "look" from a resident cleaning his driveway as I was passing through, and pretty soon there was no turning back as I was in a dirt road in a totally uninhabited environmentally-protected area. The next 6 miles were full of bumps and dust, and my imagination running wild, of myself ending in a ditch where no one would find me for days.

To make a long story short, I did get back home eventually but not through a route I would have chosen. We all have built-in warning devices. If something does not feel right, trust your instincts. Do not wait until it is too late. We all make choices in life and where we are right now is a result of those choices.

Rules for Visiting

As I am writing this, my sister is hopefully getting some rest on a Cathay Pacific flight, winging her way from New Jersey to the Philippines, to visit for about 3 weeks. I am so envious, I can spit!

I left home when I was 19 years old and in the next 7 years, I flew from Hongkong, where I was based, to Cebu at a minimum of twice a month. Since I spent more time at home than in my flat, I never thought of myself as a visitor. It was when I got married and moved to Guam that I had to adjust to seeing my parents and sisters, to every other year. More years passed in Hawaii, then finally San Diego which has technically been home to me for the past 10 years.

Whenever we plan a visit, I have found that following rules help make the visit a stress-free one.
1. Go bearing gifts - While this is not a must for my family since they are just glad to see me, it shows thoughtfulness. Besides what would the airline industry do without all the excess baggage or balikbayan boxes that most Filipinos check in?
2. Respect boundaries and schedules - not everyone can drop what they are doing to act as your personal tour guide. People still have jobs and lives.
3. Divide your time fairly - yes, you still have to spend one week with the in-laws and attend family gatherings dutifully.
4. Do not leave a mess for others to clean up. This also pertains to emotional upheavals you leave behind.

I am not saying I have followed any or all of these, just that they help :-)
Here is the most important one, do not overstay your welcome!

Taking Sides

When I watch a sports game, I normally pick a side to cheer for. It is normally the underdog if I do not know a single player. However, if they lose, it does not really matter since there was not really an emotional involvement in the first place.

What happens though when friends or marriages break up? Am I supposed to pick a side? Do I have to choose who is nearer and dearer to me? What happens to all the good memories we all had together? Do I drop him or her because it becomes uncomfortable for the other person? Perhaps it is just wishful thinking that my friendship with one should have nothing to do with the other. The intent is not to hurt one party by reaching out to the other one.

Sometimes our choices are made for us. It does not make it easier, but we deal with it because of ties that bind. I hope that there will eventually come a time when "this too, shall pass."