Frank Came Back

Frank came in the office today.  He needs to sort out his accounts, stocks and whatnot.  It was good to see a cheery face in the middle of stressed working people.

But because he emptied out his office before the year ends (as his official day of retirement), he squatted at Tom's office to do his paperworks.  And even if he is no longer my boss, I am as eager as before to help and assist the old man.

Afterwhich, we (with Bea) loaded the CRV and went to Capitol Ville to meet Luke and Shang. And Frank treated us out for pizza and pasta.  Food was loads, we didn't even finished everything. And after a lot of stories of how our Christmas Celebrations went, we pack up and went back to the office and Frank went home.

That was it.  Frank came back. But not for good.  But I know, that's not the last we got to see of Frank. With his experience in the water and wastewater industry spanning for about 46 years, he will be just taking a short rest and he will be back in the game again... maybe as a consultant or a water company owner... no one knows. :)

Come Together

The office gave Frank a special night, paying tribute to his contributions to Manila Water for the past 10 years. The current and previous Mancom were all present. The two past presidents of Manila Water, Sir Tony Aquino (now Ayala Land's President) and Energy Secretary Rene Almendras,  were Frank's dearest friends.   Likewise the Ayala Brothers, Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala and Fernando Zobel de Ayala have graced the event.

The party, named "Come Together", was themed after the beatles, Frank's favorite band. All the tables are named with the band's album while Frank's picture was edited into the Beatles Band tarpaulin. All the songs were Beatles. The best part: food was delicious and overflowing.

It was an emotional event. Tears fell when the AVP played showing Frank, and vid messages of some people he has worked with. And more tears fell when Frank gave out his speech. I have expected this to happen knowing Frank being one of the most sensitive men I know. He himself broke his momentum when he somewhat choked on the tears he has been refusing to shed.

After the formal program has been done, it became much more fun as people started dancing and photographers are going everywhere to take pictures. The managers, although dressed in their cocktail and semi-formal do was up to putting their hair down.

It surely was a fun night and has made Frank special.

Cupcakes Heaven

It was planned for 2 days.  The deliberation as to whether to push it was more than the time spent for planning.  But the ultimate factor is that we don’t want the old man to feel that people has changed.  That people doesn’t want him anymore.  And I don’t want him to feel that the new man is more important than him.  Nothing beats the greatness and the wisdom of the old guy.

So just when we decided on putting it off and pretend that we had nothing for the old man, they gave the surprise for the new man’s birthday. So it was a emergency.  I was already in a panic texting and emailing Sheena and Tom of how we could do it in less than 2 days.

The Plan

            A lot of ideas came up until we decided on the seemingly easiest and less expensive.  The Cupcakes.  The plan was to give Frank 62 cupcakes from 8 till 5.  And we are to build a cupcake tower to symbolize his cake made of the 62 cupcakes he would receive.  So at every hour or so, groups of people per department come in at Frank office to greet him and give him a cupcake...courtesy of Sheena and I who were decorating cheap cupcakes at his pantry.

So at the end of it, we requested his wife to give the final cake which was a 6 in chiffon cake that we ordered and placed at the topmost part of the tower.  When his wife came it was when we started singing the Happy birthday song and the floor joined us like it was a natural thing.  Then we loaded the presentation we made and it was a sure hit. We had asked the Department Managers to use Frank in a sentence (regardless of meaning) and a lot of it were so funny... and the ending was a parade of Frank's pictures and how he has contributed to the company.

I don't know if he was teary eyed or if he cried at all but I for one got up in the middle of the presentation because I was welling up.  Then we feasted over the pancit which magnificently arrived just in time... ah.. it was really in the nick of time... so as the forks and plates that we requested Tom to bring.

It was a blast and it surely made Frank's day... mission accomplished!!!

(SAD) Announcement

Sad anouncement..but as I told Frank, I'll take with me the wisdom towards this movement..this changes.