How Can You Give Back If You’re Not Wanted Back?

I want to be an expert in UX design. I keep myself updated with UX design methods and principles by reading relevant books and articles, and apply what I learn in projects I am working on. After 10,000 hours of experience, I shall become an expert in this very specialized field.

I want to master HCI. My biggest dream is to join a great institution where I can meet other experts whom I can exchange insights with, actually learn new and great ideas, and gather inspiration from.

I want to teach interaction design. The talent and knowledge is useless if you keep it to yourself. I want to make everyone aware about its importance and in the process discover those whom I share the same level of passion in learning about it.

But two of these I can only do if I have *it*.

Pagod na ako, tama na.

Clicking the Close Button

I was writing a blog post earlier and just like in my previous attempts to make one, I ended up discarding it midway after losing the drive to write. That moment, I was given the hardest question to answer:

For me, this dialog box is beyond just closing a tab.

After a year of studying and doing interaction design, I became more keen about how interfaces are made to work. For this instance, have you ever wondered why the focus is on “Leave this Page” and not on “Stay on this Page”?

The answer is simple: the intent is there. Or not.

The assumption is that you deliberately clicked the close button with the very intention of navigating away from the page. Yes, you might just have accidentally clicked it, but from the browser’s standpoint, you are trying to close it.

Remember, there are no tailor-fit responses from commands. Commands follow a certain set of rules and guidelines on what to execute and how to respond. So, if the close button gets clicked, it will attempt to close the window. It will never think on its own that you just clicked it by accident.

And the dialog box? The developer, in my case of WordPress, just wants to be sure about the intent. Imagine, after spending hours thinking and typing your post, closing without publishing just does not make any sense. Yes, probably you have the very intention of discarding the post, and of course close means close, but they just want to be sure.

A great deal of interaction design revolves around psychology and extensive research is being carried out in the attempt to understand how people interact with interfaces. We currently have an implicit standard (or unwritten rules) on how interfaces must be designed, but none exists a standard that fits all.

Paradis !

The past months have been really stressful for me, though not as intense at last year, but finally I’m getting my well deserved break. The Kee will be out of town from Saturday, 02 April to Tuesday, 05 April with limited access to internet. You can reach me through my Globe number.

Tomorrow, I will be in paradise.

Road to Wellness

People have been getting concerned about my sudden weight loss. Yearly executive check-up is just two months away. So, before something gets detected, I will start shaping up with this game plan:

1. STRICTLY follow medication. No shot, no meal.
2. STRICTLY no desserts during weekdays. Only one (1) is permitted on weekends.*
3. NO bottomless drinks (i.e. soft drinks, iced tea), sweetened drinks maximum of 330ml/day.*
4. ONE AND A HALF cup of rice per meal only.
5. Work out three (3) times in a week MINIMUM.

* If you see me breaking this rule, you can get the article involved from me, or demand to be bought the same article or any of equivalent value.

This is a good way to develop my sense of discipline.

Closure

“When a door closes, a window opens” they say, and I have to totally agree with that.

I do not know if it is actually a sad moment or I am just keeping things real, but as the year closes, some windows that have opened in my life have to be closed as well–be it opportunities, dreams, or relationships.

A lot of things have changed.

Some opportunities have been missed.

People came and left.

I would have to confess that letting things or people go can be really hard. As Tom Stoppard had put it, every exit is an entry somewhere. It may sound cliché, but 2011 is a year of change–not just for me, but I believe for most people too.

But there is of course a reason for everything. Maybe, just maybe, some things have failed to count, or make a mark.

Cabin Depressurization

Do you pay attention to the video that they show you whilst waiting for take off? Remember the part about cabin depressurization–should it happen you have to put on your oxygen mask first before the children?

It goes that way because you need to take care of yourself first before you can properly take care of others.

Wanted: Booooooooooks!

I am not really a fan of books–I prefer reading articles online and I only read what really interests me. But earlier today (technically, that’s yesterday) I dropped by Fully Booked while waiting for dinner and found some really interesting books that I wanted to buy. Since I doubt that I can get an iPad by December, it’s impossible for me to get all these titles for a low price. So if you happen to have them, please let me borrow. Below are the titles in no particular order (Amazon links provided):

(1) Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan and Charles Burck (Crown Business)

(2) Seizing the White Space: Business Model Innovation for Growth and Renewal by A. G. Lafley and Mark W. Johnson (Harvard Business Press)

(3) Harvard Business Review on Business Model Innovation by Harvard Business School Press (Harvard Business Press)

(4) BlackBerry: The Inside Story of Research in Motion by Rod McQueen, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis (Key Porter Books)

(5) What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown and Company)

(6) Talent Is Not Enough: Business Secrets For Designers by Shel Perkins (New Riders Press)

(7) Real Business of IT: How CIOs Create and Communicate Value by Richard Hunter and George Westerman (Harvard Business Press)

(8) Riches in Niches: How to Make It Big in a Small Market by Susan Friedmann (Career Press)

(9) Your Idea, Inc.: 12 Steps to Building a Million Dollar Business – Starting Today! by Sandy Abrams (Adams Media)

(10) Sticky Teams: Keeping Your Leadership Team and Staff on the Same Page by Larry Osborne (Zondervan)

Just give me a ring!

Our Own Way

This is my life’s soundtrack as of the moment. There isn’t much message from this song, but I’d definitely have to agree with the opening lines:

“No matter what they tell us, no matter what they teach us–we can’t deny what we believe in. Life is ours, and we live it our way.”

On a lighter note, this makes a good club music! Thanks to Louis for sharing me this track.

Gool

I am really happy that for the past days I’ve been getting my much sought after lone time. Often I would ask myself where am I leading my life now, what my goals are and when can I say that I have become successful. Here are some of them:

I want my research project to rock

There’s not much that I can do about my grades to get Latin honors (doh). I would have to be honest this is the only thing I look forward to about school. If this makes a difference and hopefully gets published, I may rest in peace–well that’s an exaggeration, there’s 5 more below!

I want to be healthy, and live healthy

Like what my family would always tell me, I cannot get to my dream if I do not take care of myself. I hate to use this but it’s true: mens sana in corpore sano, a sound mind in a sound body should always be my mantra. I am quite having a hard time expelling nicotine from my system and my throat is lusting (yes) for a bottle or two of beer every week. Plus the sweets of course, which are slowly killing me.

I want to be a usability expert

Ala Jakob Nielsen, yes! I really enjoy my current line of work as this is how I’ve imagined myself to be. I am really happy by the wisdom being passed on to me by my boss and I like the way he changed my way of thinking in designing. If this project we’re working on kicks off and makes it big time, how this experience changed my way of thinking is definitely something worth sharing.

I want to get an MBA degree abroad

This will help me with my long term goal in life (related to the next one). I’d rather be commuting everyday and put the car money for my education, I just really want to get my masters degree in business in a reputable school abroad. If only I have kept all the money I’ve been getting in my “projects” for the past 5 years, I have more than enough to achieve this goal. This is the last thing I want for myself before starting a family.

I want to provide opportunities

There was a time when everyone sees me as trash already. Melodramatic, yes but at that time some people saw me and (I think) saw my worth. I won’t forget these people and I want to do the same to others who also have unseen potential and only need some kicking to be unleashed.

I want to have a great family of my own and provide them a good future

I placed this one last as this is will cap off the first five that I have mentioned. I just want to be the best dad my kids can have and be the best husband to this girl that I really really love.

Forgive the writing style and grammatical errors. I just realized I’ve already lost my writing skills.