Chain of ideas - subordinate leadership

The phrase "good leaders are good followers" we can deduce that leaders became good ones because they had been good followers in the past.

But is not only limited to that deduction. Leaders themselves are followers as well. Take military structure for example.

Privates are subordinates to sergeants who have several levels of sergeant-hood.

Sergeants are subordinates themselves to military officers ranging from 2nd Lieutenant up to Colonel. Each officer in that level is subordinate to the next.

These officers are themselves subordinates to various generals from the brigadier to the five-start general with each general subordinate to the one with more stars on their shoulders that what they have.

These generals are likewise subordinates to the senior officials of their defense departments which has it's own hierarchy.

The defense hierarchy is also subordinate to the Commander-in-Chief which is the head of the state or sovereign.

Government leaders themselves are subordinates to the will of the people (in democratic countries as far as I remember). In some cases, the government leaders are subordinates to their campaign contributors, businesses, and, for the case of male leaders, to their wives. :)

This can go on this time considering the "people."

But who is the "leader-est" of them all? Well, each to his own belief. :)

Potty time - daylight saving

A most common problem with the working folks like myself is getting to the office on time. And the major factor that is involved in being successfully in the office is t-i-m-e. Time that people say you do not have. But time is what you have.

Take for example your wrist watch, mobile phone, pager, computer, wall clock, or alarm clock. What do they all have? Time!

In order to be in the office early without having to reset your daily schedule is to reset your time pieces.

The most effective resetting I have had is putting my time pieces in various times of advancement - i.e. advance the time that you see from the real time.

What I did was set my watch, my computer's time , and my mobile phone 30 minutes in advance and our dinning room wall clock to about 45 minutes in advance.

Looking at the time when I open my eyes gives me jolt and sets me on a rushed start. By the time I get to the dining room to have some milk before leaving, I realize that I am already running late and try to rush things and be in the office well before 8:00.

On the down side, once you get the hang of what the real time is, you get back to getting late.

All you need to do now is to really work hard to leave early. Well, you can always set your time piece back to the right time and have someone else reset the time to the previous advanced state. :)

Potty time - cooking tips

Another concept during drought.

A friend of mine came home late and came in hungry. Our staple during hours beyond the reach of waiting for a regular meal (breakfast, lunch, supper) is a pack of noodles. So when he got home, he immediately opened his supply box and took out two packs of noodles.

But before he could cook, he is facing several problems. Two to be exact. One, we have no more water. Two, our electric stove is busted.

Being a brilliant guy that he is, this is what he did:

1. Raid the softdrink supply and get four bottles of clear drinks (my friend chose Mountain Dew).
2. Pour contents of the softdrink bottle on a pot.
3. Get an iron (the one used for pressing clothes) set it up securely where the plate faces the ceiling.
4. Put the pot on the plate and set the iron to the highest temperature rating, in this case the setting for ironing wool.
5. Bring the pot to a boil and just follow the instructions on cooking noodles.

I was not able to get a taste of the "gourmet" cooking but I saw him gobble up the noodle including the yellowish soup.

Bath time - on saving water

There was this time when drought came upon us. Tap water supply is rationed such that we only have water from 4:00 to 8:00am and from 6:00 to 10:00pm. This poses a big problem in a household with almost a dozen boys sharing one bathroom.

Solution 1: Collect water

Buy large plastic drums (previously used to contain unknown fluids) and store at least 2 drums of water. Fill in the drums when water starts to flow in the morning and at night.

For drinking water, take home as much plastic bottle that you can collect from your day out to store drinking water in. This way, you'll never pass the night thirsty.

Solution 2: Maximize the availability of water

Make it a point to take a bath within the period where there is water. Since most of us leave well before 8:00 in the morning, we bathe between 5:00am and 7:00am. And based on Solution 1, we fill in the drums while we bathe. In the evening, it is advisable that you go home early. Arriving home early allows you to clean-up before the water flow is reduced to trickles.

Use this time to fill in all empty water bottles, do your laundry, and water the plants.

Solution 3: Recycle

Here's the trick! Get an empty pale, straddle it and take a bath collecting water in the pail along the way. You can also wash your undergarments on top of the pale while you're at it. This will allow you to collect used water that will be enough to flush your toilet.

Also, brush your teeth near your garden and sprinkle gurgled water on to the plants. Who knows. your plants may become well protected against cavities. :)

Chain of ideas - resale of automotive parts

List of resellable automotive parts:

1. car battery - you leave your car outside at night, the next day you try to start the engines and nothing happens. You pop the hood, no more batteries.

2. side mirror - you park your car in a busy street to do some business. You come back, no more side mirror.

3. mags - or you return home and notice that your mags are gone!

4. wheels - or come back to your car and find that it is propped up with no wheels left.

And then you go to your friendly car dealer to buy what you lost. Lo and behold! What you lost is there! :)

Chain of ideas - resale of public utility

List of resellable public utility items:

1. water meter - got wrench? will steal. water meters are often removed from their attachments for resale by thieves.

2. electric power line - black outs are not that bad. enterprising individuals take this opportunity to steal power cables. with some courage and some luck, they get away without being electrocuted.

3. cable television line - no need for blackouts here.

4. telephone line - copper wires are best sold on a per kilogram/pound basis.

5. electricity - just tap in to somebody's power line or even from the mains. other venture capitalists allow other people to tap in to their power lines and charge them a fixed monthly rate.

6. water - a rubber hose here, a t-connector there, tap into the main water line and voila! free water.

7. telephone - all you will need is a plier, some telephone wires, and a cheap phone unit.

8. cable connection - a more sophisticated connection is needed here. it is called a signal splitter.

NOTE: these are illegal activities and are punishable by law.

Chain of ideas - Filipino and Italian

One day, I was asked by my wife to cook some food. I have no idea what to do then. It was a good thing I was tuned in to one of our favorite cable channels in the office - The LifeStyle Network.

The show was featuring Italian cooking at that time - the pizza. Then I suddenly remembered one episode of another show from that channel where the "bachelor" cooked pasta for his friends. In that same instant I thought "hey! if Italians eat pasta and Filipinos eat rice, it can therefore be concluded that pasta to Italians is rice to Filipinos!" And so came the answer to my previous problem: what to cook.

I went to the kitchen after the show and looked at what I can conjure from the fridge and cupboard. I found the following items:

1. left over rice from last night
2. tomatoes
3. tomato sauce
4. garlic
5. onions
6. left over fried beef strips
7. butter

I began then began dicing 1 tomato, 4 cloves of garlic, and 1 bulb of onion while I thawed the left-over rice with tap water and the beef strips at room temperature.

I then proceeded to sautee the diced tomato, garlic and onion in a small slice of butter. After such time that I believe the tomato was cooked enough, I added the beef strips. I drained the water from the rice pot and mixed the rice with the sauteed ingredients as if cooking fried rice.

I poured a bit of soy sauce on the concoction and sprinkled some salt.

After I am satisfied with the way the rice was cooked, I added some tomato sauce on the pan and mixed the contents in low heat.

In under 15 minutes I have the Filipino version of the pasta ready for munching.

It tasted good and was among the best "inventions" I have made along with my mechado-adobo cross.

I will share that recipe once I get my thoughts organized on how I did it then.