I (Heart) PH: Philippines Benefit Concert

HEY Y'ALL. WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

On Monday, August 6, 2012 Tropical Storm Haikui hit the Island of Luzon, Philippines triggering disastrous flooding with more than 808,697 persons affected and displacing over 250,200 people to evacuation centers. Since then, several other storms have impacted metro Manila.  For this reason, our team, Project Overflow is mobilizing once again to produce a benefit concert, “I (Heart) Philippines”—and we need your help.

OUR GOAL IS SIMPLE.

Raise an overflow of support for those devastated by the 2012 typhoons in the Philippines.

COLLABORATION FUELS OUR EFFORTS.
Project Overflow proudly presents "I (Heart) PH" featuring Mitchell Grey, Triangle Offense, Giselle Sera Josef, VCR band, EXP from Movement Crew, & Joe Nunez Photography on September 28, 2012, 7:30pm at St. Clements Church (Hall) 271 Lafayette Avenue Hawthorne, NJ 07506. 

TAKE ACTION. 

A $20.00 ticket feeds a family of four, impacted by the floods.

Reserve your tickets online or donate.  Any amount will help and is tax deductible.  Donate online via http://projectoverflow-efbevent.eventbrite.com/

100% of the proceeds go directly to relief and rehabilitation programs in Manila, Philippines. 

WE’D LOVE TO CONNECT.

Drop us a line. Stay in touch.  We’re looking forward to connecting with you.

Find and Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/projectoverflow

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/projectoverflow.

Email Enrique for more info: ecarlos@projectoverflow.org

Common Responses to Tragedy: Tropical Storm Sendong

In the last few years, several large natural disasters devastated the Philippines like Typhoon Ondoy. Most recently, Tropical Storm Sendong slammed Cagayan de Oro. As a result, there are equally several natural responses. Here's a few I've observed:

Naysayers

It's the same thing all over again. They should have invested in flood levees. Those people should know better. That donation money never goes to the right individuals. My contribution doesn't get very far. It's all a scam. They got what was comin'. The government is out of whack. Why am I reading this post? You get the point.

Information Transfer

It's content around the water-cooler. We're compelled (smh, omg) and feel for victims and survivors, but that's about it. We go back to our offices, homes, churches and life goes on.

We empathize by sharing. Increasing awareness towards helping a tragedy seems like the right thing to do. A few likes here and there and we're done. Here's a few headlines we use for the posts:

• Let's continue to pray for them.
• Have you seen this video?
• How tragic!
• I can't believe this is happening.

Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with sharing info. It increases awareness for help, but seldom is there any ownership of responsibilities. At most, it requires a group of movers.

Movers

The ability to foresee and plan is imperative. In fact, it is necessary. However, there are times when unexpected twists come along despite preparation. Movers plan for detours. Not only do they transfer info, they share knowledge and provide opportunities to help.

Like my friend, @jaylegaspi says, "sometimes we are the greatest answers to victims' prayers and needs". The Red Cross is a group of movers that are great in responding to tragedy. Here's more info, http://www.redcross.org.ph/donatenow.

In addition, the UNICEF Philippines site is available for donations here, https://donate.unicef.ph/emergency-donation.php.

Who's on your list? If you have movers in your area or know of individuals/organizations contributing to this latest tragedy, let me know.

Fire, Fire!

If you’re a web developer, designer or part of the system development life cycle process, it is not uncommon for us to be simply digesters of direction. Besides, our work demands adaptability and change, right? If content is incorrect, we fix it – on the fly. Of course you can, it’s easy!

Add this div here. Build this table there. Write this code. It should be client-side vs. server side. The list goes on.

But, it’s not easy. You know that. Furthermore, this type of “do it now” thinking begs the question – what are you putting off that needs to be accomplished today? When you say yes to “fire, fire, fix it now”, another task suffers. While multi-tasking is highly sought out in resumes, reality is, you can only work on one task.

Whatever that task is will require your undivided attention. So, how do you prioritize?

You've got two options. Extend the deadline or decrease the requirements.

Pick one, not both.

Stacked on new requests are existing milestones. If you choose to maintain the deadline and requirements along with what’s being worked on, something will break.

This is tough. It requires hard conversations which means you have to either extend the deadline or decrease your requirements. It may even require speaking with your manager about an unsustainable workload which he/she can help align.

What's on the line? Remember, your job matters. The work is important. Like the great philosopher Smokey the Bear says, "only you can prevent forest wildfires". When you say yes to another fire, something else will burn.

Decrease the scope or extend the deadline. What's it going to be?