@ the Airport

My dad had a guest flying into Manila for a meeting, and I was asked to be the one to pick him up at the airport. It took a fair amount of effort to set up the meeting, which we learned would push through a mere day before. As such, it was on a Thursday evening that I found myself committed to carrying out this Friday morning errand.

So there I was well before the flight was due to arrive having found a good vantage point from which to look out for our guest. Thirty minutes passed. Then fifteen more. And then another quarter of an hour. Several flights had arrived and their passengers disembarked; yet no sign of our guest.

Worried I might have missed him, I called into the office; What time was his flight supposed to arrive?

Promptly, I received the exact information I already had on hand.

But as I took up my position again and began scanning the remaining faces in the crowd to look for our guest, I got another call from the office and learned, to my chagrin, that while I had our guest’s flight number and ETA correct, the flight wasn’t for Friday but rather Monday.

Whoops.

@ the Mall

I happened to duck into a Mall for dinner one evening, and was surprised to find a number of fashionably dressed people walking about. Ordinarily, I’d chalk it up to the generally uppity crowd that tends to frequent the place, but even then it’s rare to find such people as there were under one roof at any one time. As I had my dinner I caught wind of the fact that there was some function or other happening nearby, thus explaining the high maintenance crowd.

Since I had time to kill I decided to do some window shopping, where I learned that the Zara branch located in the mall happened to be on sale. Lo and behold, many of the same women I’d noticed around the mall found out about it, too, and flocked to the place. And boy did they lose it! It was almost as if they’d decided to prioritize bargain-hunting over poise, proving the point that good breeding does not expensive clothing make.

@ a Hotel

During a particularly lengthy conference session, I excused myself and repaired to the little boys room. Because the venue was a hotel — and a good one at that — the facilities were well maintained; in fact, there was an attendant stationed there to look after things.

As I finished taking care of my business, I noticed that the attendant began preparing the faucet and sink for my use. And while I washed my hands, I could see his reflection in the mirror getting some paper towels ready for me.

Now, I’ve encountered this type of “service” numerous times in many places, but this is the first time I’ve realized: oh, what pressure! Notwithstanding my fastidiousness with respect to hygeine, I couldn’t help but feel under the gun to wash my hands cleaner, and to dry them extra well. I mean, what would that attendant think of me if I didn’t?

Then, another thought: Would having attendants in place at more public restrooms encourage more people to wash their hands? I can’t help but wonder.

@ the Gym

Part of my routine when I get some exercise in at the gym is to run five kilometers. The treadmills over there have a setting for just that purpose, so they’re great that way. Lately, however, several of the treadmills have been breaking down, making it harder to chance upon an available one when I’m there.

One morning, I found one such treadmill free and thus set about my “run”. After plugging in my usual settings, I was off. Almost from the get go something was wrong. My run felt different, and I was getting tired fairly quickly. So barely ten minutes into it, I stopped, and if only because I suspected something was wrong decided to try another treadmill. I may just have been right: the first one, it seemed to me, was running slightly faster for any given speed setting.

Of course, I could be wrong. For all I know, it’s the other treadmills I’ve been using all this time that have been running slow (which would explain why the exercise hasn’t done me much good). Either way it reminds me of that brain teaser that asks, which is the better clock: the one that’s stopped or the one that’s forever running a minute late? The answer, technically speaking, is the clock that’s stopped, because at least it’s exactly right twice a day. That aside aside (ha!) I dare say that a treadmill that runs marginally fast as equally in need of repair as one that doesn’t run at all.

My standard line when foreigners ask me if there’s any sport close to Filipinos’ hearts in the same way that baseball is America’s pastime? “The Philippines is a nation of basketball-crazed short people.” It’s true! Though billiards and boxing have grown in popularity owing to the country’s world-class athletes in those activities, there’s nothing closer to many Filipinos’ hearts than the good ol’ game of hoops.

Obviously, not many foreigners realize this, so I was happy to come across a report in the New York Times about Gilbert Arenas’ recent visit to the Philippines. Actually, I generally get a kick out of reading “positive” news about the country in the foreign press; but this one particularly made my day.

Oh, and based on the comments? Agent Zero is officially a-okay in my book. Really!

[A Filipino Embrace (The New York Times)]

It took me a while to warm up to Joshua Ferris’ Then We Came to the End. In fact I’m not quite sure I ever really did.

In terms of the big picture, I can see why the book has been well received by critics. For one, it’s pretty well crafted office satire, routine drudgery, workplace intrigue, office shenanigans and all. The plot is somewhat intricately structured: the story goes off seemingly in a hundred different directions at once, teasing the readers’ interest all the while, only later coming together to make some modicum of sense. And then there’s the storytelling technique, which can only be described as a remarkable achievement because of the way it makes the reader feel less like a spectator and more a close acquaintance of the different characters involved.

Yet it was the details, as I continued to read and tried to develop an opinion of the book, that never truly resonated with me. Then We Came to the End is good office satire to be sure, but not laugh out loud funny as some critics have suggested. Mostly, this is because the requisite humor involved is overly context specific — the story takes place at an ad agency, arguably the least representative industry for corporate life, and an American one at that.

As for the plot, the novel’s unusual structure will certainly captivate some audiences and infuriate others. I lean towards the latter group. Yes, I will admit that my interest was teased as the story wore on, but there were stretches on end that were positively frustrating to plod through, their significance in the broader scheme of the plot unnecessarily obscure until well too late. And the storytelling technique? It’s fairly obvious at the end that a large part of the novel was just the author experimenting with the narrative style, and quite successfully, too. While I’m of the mind that this alone may be good enough reason to have a go at the book, even I have to ask the obvious question: all that for a gimmick?

By all accounts though, the novel demonstrates that Joshua Ferris is one talented writer. Indeed, the novel’s watershed moment is a section in the middle — uncompromisingly injected at the least predictable of places — that elicits such pathos from the reader and in the process changes one’s perspective on what the story is really about. Few writers could have pulled off much the same with greater success. But whether there is enough merit in that to trumpet the novel’s finer points I have yet to decide. Ultimately, I suppose that what sets Then We Came to the End apart is that it is a very current novel about office life (mostly) to which many should easily relate and which will strike others as so uniquely devised. As such, some will find it a tad unsettling — as I did — even as others struggle to contain their excitement over it.

This dissertation update will be abbreviated because there was more input than output this week. Spent more time poring through the key entries in the bibliography, added a couple of resources to the list, and came across a few more that I still have to process before I figure out what to do with them.

Not to mention I’m getting the ball rolling on my first proposal draft (henceforth, draft zero). From the materials I’ve gathered to date I’m of the mind that I can put something sensible together. So far, the effort’s been met with several false starts, but I intend to hammer a serviceable paper by the end of the week. Stay tuned.

Once again, my brother showed me a couple of Youtube videos that I just have to share:

Folks, meet Cyril Takayama. His Wikipedia write-up describes him as a Japanese-American illusionist. Judging from videos of his performances posted across the internet he’s cast in the same mold as Criss Angel and David Blaine, but without the blase and weird affectation the two put on for showmanship.

What’s so special about his brand of magic? Well, the videos speak for themselves. By way of commentary, however, let me say that it takes mad talent to literally bring the Lacoste brand to life…

…change the way anyone will look at hamburgers on a fastfood menu (and do notice he hasn’t any sleeves)…

…and, well, do something like this:

As these things go, I would think that there’re elaborate preparations undertaken behind the scenes, particularly with respect to the venue and equipment involved. Smoke and mirrors and all that. But even then, these are just some kinda wow.

Back in early June, Kotaku’s Brian Crescente wrote about how EA Sports ran a simulation of what was then the soon-to-be-played NBA Finals to see who would come out on top. It’s something the folks over there — both at EA (who use their games in this way from time to time) and Kotaku (who write about it accordingly) — do somewhat regularly. The results? Lakers beat the Celtics in seven.

I wanted to write about it in the run-up to the actual Finals but never got around to doing so. All for the best, I suppose: since the real thing is already over, it’s fun to compare how the actual Finals measure up.

It also goes without saying the write-up makes for a curious look into what might have been — especially for Lakers fans out there.

A particularly busy week work-wise saw little forward progress dissertation-wise, but “little” is better than “none”.

The greater part of what I accomplished this week still lay in the annotated bibliography, to which I added the following resources:

Adams, Richard Jr. H., 2006. “International remittances and the household: Analysis and review of global evidence,” Journal of African Economies, Vol. 15, AERC Supplement 2, pp. 396-425.

_____________., 1991. “The economic uses and impact of international remittances in rural Egypt,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Jul. 1991), pp. 695-722.

Ku, Hyejin, 2008. A model of international migration, remittances and real exchange rates. http://mailer.fsu.edu/~hku/remit-ku.pdf

Capistrano, Loradel O. and Maria Lourdes C. Sta. Maria, 2007. “The impact of labor migration and OFW remittances on poverty in the Philippines.” UPSE Discussion Paper No. 2007-06 (Diliman: University of the Philippines School of Economics).

Gheeraert, Laurent and Ritha Sukadi, 2007. “How remittances impact national accounts – A macro analysis.” Centre Emile Bernheim Research Institute in Management Sciences Working Paper No. 07/039 (Brussels: Solvay Business School).

Molina, Juan Jose F., 2006. Remittances, investment and school enrollment in developing countries. Doctoral Dissertation, Fordham University.

San Andres, Emmanuel A., 2006. “An analysis of remittance recipient bahaviour”. Paper presented at the Parallel Session on Familiar Themes, Fresh Perspectives during the 44th Philippine Economic Society Annual Meeting, 21-22 November 2006.

Tan, Edita A., 2006. “Overseas Filipinos’ remittance behavior.” UPSE Discussion Paper No. 2006-03 (Diliman: University of the Philippines School of Economics).

As it stands, I’m already quite satisfied with the materials I have on hand, so I’ll be moving on to going through them at length. Will still be on the lookout for more and better references, but from this point forward I don’t want to devote too much time on the paper chase anymore, so to speak.

Also, began hunting down data for a little side-project that I think can be accomplished before or coterminus with the dissertation. Honestly, it’s more armchair curiosity, but I might be able to make use of it somehow as it’s related to what I’m already looking into (so it can only help). Thankfully, it’s no big loss if it doesn’t quite pan out, either. Will see how it goes.

I swore to myself I’d avoid using my blog in this way, but I have to let it out:

Chrono Trigger is coming to the Nintendo DS. North American release (in my opinion, likely to be pushed back) will be this holiday season.

Based on the information out there, it’s a port with added features — full touch screen functionality, dual screen support, an extra dungeon and WiFi multiplayer battles. And while I’m certain that there are throngs of fans out there simply disappointed that this isn’t a straight-up sequel, the news just keeps bringing a smile to my face.

Hot damn. Can’t wait.

[Square-Enix confirms Chrono Trigger DS (Kotaku)]

Tips for better blogging of the DIY variety are common fare across the internet. The ones recently featured on Webmonkey, however, stand out for being sensible, practical and set up as an online wiki. Granted, the suggestions seem to apply more for those intent on blogging for a living, or for startup commercial blogs in general, but there’s a couple of useful tips that even the semi-serious about blogging may want to take to heart.

[Webmonkey's Tips for Better Blogging via Wired]

The research algorithm I employ remains mostly unchanged since college: develop an annotated bibliography of at least thirty sources, write a literature review based on that, then run in the direction of the research gap. Because the formula’s worked well for me so far I’ve never had much reason to go about things differently. Thus it’s upon these old habits I’ve come to rely as the dissertation work kicks into full swing.

Of course, I needn’t mention that back in the day I’d occasionally add the odd “source” just to pad my reference list ever so slightly. Now, though, I can’t be bothered with such intramurals: this is my dissertation we’re talking about here!

Anyway, in the course of gathering material I’ve neatly divided what I’ve come across into three categories: “macro” references on remittances in general as a worldwide phenomenon, “meso” sources studying regional remittance flows or how remittances affect countries other than the Philippines, and Philippine-specific literature, whether published here or abroad. Of course, my motivation for surveying such a broad spread in this manner is, first, to get up to speed with the current discourse on the topic, and just as importantly to find econometric models and estimates upon which further research can be based. So, yes, there is some method to my madness.

Most of the research I’ve done so far has been off the internet, which is both a boon and a curse. On the plus side it’s plenty convenient to find just the right kind of materials, what with remote access to the University library as well as any number of databases and academic search sites (here’s looking at you, Google Books and Google Scholar!). In the minus column, however, because it’s so easy to click, download and file away resource upon resource I’ve ended up with my own fair share of “research junk” that’ll take a while to process given the typical length and difficulty of academic papers, not to mention the fact that I read rather slowly.

Among the papers already saved on my computer, several have been earmarked for more thorough reading. Some I’ve gone through at length and know to be important, others I’ve scanned just enough but need more time to go through them carefully. Dispensing with my neat categories and annotations, the following are the materials that have made the cut:

Acosta, Pablo, Pablo Fajnzylber and J. Humberto Lopez, 2007. “The impact of remittances on poverty and human capital: Evidence from Latin American household surveys” in International migration and economic development, Caglar Ozden and Maurice Schiff, editors. (Washington, D.C.: The World Bank).

The Asian Development Bank, 2006. Workers’ remittance flows in Southeast Asia. (Philippines: The Asian Development Bank).

Bagasao, Ildefonso F., 2005. “Migration and development: The Philippine experience” in Remittances: Development impact and future prospects. Samuel Munzele Maimbo and Dilip Ratha, editors. (Washington D.C.: The World Bank).

Burgess, Robert and Vikram Haksar, 2005. “Migration and foreign remittances in the Philippines.” IMF Working Paper 05/111 (Washington D.C.: The International Monetary Fund).

Dakila, Francisco Jr. G. and Racquel A. Claveria, 2007. “Identifying the Determinants of Overseas Filipinos’ Remittances: Which Exchange Rate Measure is Most Relevant?” BSP Working Paper Series No. 2007-02 (Manila: Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas).

Glytsos, Nicholas P., 2005. “The contribution of remittances to growth: A dynamic approach and empirical analysis,” Journal of Economic Studies, Vol. 32, No. 6, pp. 468-496.

__________, 1993. “Measuring the income effects of migrant remittances: A methodological approach applied to Greece,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 131-168.

Pernia, Ernesto M., 2008. “Migration, remittances, poverty and inequality in the Philippines.” UPSE Discussion Paper No. 0801 (Diliman: University of the Philippines School of Economics).

Rodriquez, Edgard R., 1998. “International migration and income distribution in the Philippines,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 46, No. 2, pp. 329-350.

Tabuga, Audrey D., 2007. “International remittances and household expenditures: The Philippine case.” PIDS Discussion Paper Series No. 2007-18 (Manila: Philippine Institute for Development Studies).

The World Bank, 2006. Global economic prospects: Economic implications of remittances and migration. (Washington, D.C.: The World Bank).

Yang, Dean, 2008. “International migration, remittances and household investment: Evidence from Philippine migrants’ exchange rate shocks.” The Economic Journal, Vol. 118, April 2008, pp. 591-630.

It’s clearly a long way to my thirty-source reference point, but everyone has to start somewhere. Personally, I think this is a good place to start. It goes without saying that suggestions are welcome if anyone knows of materials along the same vein. Likewise, if anyone would like to know more about these resources, I’d be more than happy to share my thoughts.