The Week Before Christmas and Everything is Happening So Fast

It's Christmas Week. I'm not sure if anyone else has called it that,
but for me, the week which has Christmas stuck there somewhere is
Christmas week. It includes the two weekends (think of the weekends as
bookends on a bookshelf). That one week is just part 1 of Christmas
celebration. The main part, as the early part of December is the
run-up or prequel, prologue or foreplay. And then there's part two,
which extends from Christmas week, to the following weekend and is
mainly New Year's celebration.

This is the crazy season.

The craziness starts in the gift-giving. And then moves to the binge
eating. And then to the crazy schedules where you have to meet
everyone and see everyone and drop off gifts, and so on. After the
first week of December, everything moves to high gear, and zooms past.
No time to have that headache, no time for a sick leave, and even if
there was a typhoon (a TYPHOON in December -- which I've experienced
before), there is no excuse for the craziness celebrating Christmas.

I am not a Scrooge, but it does get really crazy to the extremes. I
have experienced back-breaking gift giving in my time. I was giving
away wine before it was fashionable. I gave pinot noir and zinfandel
before people even realized what reds and rose were. I was giving
Gundam Zoids toy models before these became hot items. But some days
you just have to ask yourself what you were thinking or what you were
doing.

The past few years, I have receded into a shell. I have not celebrated
Christmas as much as I should. This year though, I have started to go
out and hang loose with old friends. Hopefully, I can keep this up and
get out of my shell, and stop being a recluse. Moving forward is not
just a day to day thing, it should be a focus for me.

Though there is the urge to blink, or just nod off and wake up
sometime in January, I'm keeping my eyes peeled and will enjoy
Christmas this year.

To one and all, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Enjoy and Keep Safe.
Bask in the love, express it and share. Peace!

/andoy
20 December 2010

The National Novel Writing Month Challenge: 20K words and counting

The month is past its halfway mark. The NaNoWriMo schedule should have the novel at 25,000 words by now. I have 20,500+ words on my novel.

I am happy with my progress, and just to make sure that I do finish on time, I have increased my daily word count quota to 3000 words. The stats say I need to do 2,200+ words a day to finish. That should give me some allowance.

I used a method which would allow me to write at my own pace, and supposedly would not hinder me with what thinking about what happens next. I started to write the novel without thinking about the story. I wrote parts of it, a little at the end, and then a snipped at the middle. Until I got a hang of the story, and found an arc I can follow. The non-linear way I used also allowed me to insert other material instead of editing the existing text. Additionally, I can put in more words in between what I had already written.

I post the daily word count on FB, in order to keep me motivated. I am heartened by the show of support I am getting.

For a while there, I thought I ran out of ideas on what to write. I wasn't writing yet, but early last night, I thought that there was nothing to write, and that the arc itself would not be able to supply me with more ideas. After I had started the next chapter, I got the feeling that there would be more fillers, or that the scenes would write themselves to fit the cavities, as it were.

I'm doing good. I started one week late, and now on track to finish about 5 days before the deadline.

I'll start public posting of some materials soon. I hope to have some innocuous and vague chapters written which I can post without giving away the story.

An offshoot of this challenge is that I now have a good feel of writing 3,000 words a day of narrative.

testing all over again

testing all over again

Arts in the City Presents Camille Lopez-Molina with Mary Anne Espina

Arts in the City season gala opens with a recital by the Philippines own prima donna soprano, Camille Lopez-Molina. She will be assisted by Mary Anne Espina on the piano.

Arts in the City Concert and Recital Series is a venue for the country's seasoned classical performers. The series is produced by Mr. Antonio Cojuangco's Arts in the City in cooperation with Maskara Productions.

Venue will be at the Bonifacio Arts Center, FVR Park 26th St., Bonifacio Arts Center, Taguig,
Metro Manila, Philippines.

Ongoing: 1ST NATIONAL ORCHESTRA FESTIVAL 2010

Ongoing until September 25, is the 1st National Orchestra Festival. A gathering of some of the best Philippine Orchestras in an exciting festival of performances. The participants include FILharmoniKA, the Manila Symphony Orchestra, Angono Chamber Orchestra, UP Orchestra, the UST Symphony Orchestra, the PREDIS Chamber Orchestra and Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra.

Venue is the Cultural Center of the Philippines Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (CCP Main Theater) at 8 o'clock in the evening, from September 21 to 25.

For more information, please call the CCP Box Office at (63 2) 832-1125 local 1409 and direct line at (63 2) 832-3704.

Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra

PREDIS Chamber Orchestra

Manila Symphony Orchestra

UST Symphony Orchestra

FILharmoniKA

Angono Chamber Orchestra

UP Orchestra

New Pentax K-5 for advanced amateurs and prosumers

Pentax has just released the K-5 which is set to replace the K-7 for the advanced amateur/prosumer segment of the DSLR market.

Among its feature set, several stand out, including:
-- 25fps 1080p HD video with and HDMI port for viewing on HDTVs;
-- improved high dynamic range (HDR) capture, along with an improved image alignment for handheld shots. You would normally use a tripod to get the multiple EV spread shots to get the baseline photos for blending to an HDR photo.
-- a stainless steel chasis with a magnesium alloy cover, along with a full weather sealing and coldproof. This would make the camera more rugged than most other models around. It would be great to bring along for any weather condition.
-- extended low-noise low-light capability, which can be pushed to an ISO sensitivity of 51,200.
-- a burst mode of up to 7 frames per second.

Considering its feature set, the K-5 is a step ahead of the Canon 550D and the Nikon D90, which are now their respective manufacturers are calling their entry level models. The price is also a step up at an MSRP of $1,599 (body only).

Most cameras which have been released in the past year have been focusing on better video capabilities, bigger and more innovations for the viewfinder LCD display, and a more affordable price point. At this price point, there are enough features to entice amateurs to upgrade from their older model entry-level camera and move a step up. The changes made on the body answer makes sure that this is a rugged model, and time would tell whether it lives up to its promise of durability.

To all UPIS '80 Batchmates, come and attend the Meeting on Friday March 26. Malapit na po ang Reunion!

To all UPIS '80 Batchmates, come and attend the Meeting on Friday March 26. Malapit na po ang Reunion!

odd moment in time when suddenly I feel everything has changed and that the change is real and permanen.

To all UPIS '80 Batchmates, come and attend the Meeting on Friday March 26. Malapit na po ang Reunion!

To all UPIS '80 Batchmates, come and attend the Meeting on Friday March 26. Malapit na po ang Reunion!

To all UPIS '80 Batchmates, come and attend the Meeting on Friday March 26. Malapit na po ang Reunion!

To all UPIS '80 Batchmates, come and attend the Meeting on Friday March 26. Malapit na po ang Reunion!

To all UPIS '80 Batchmates, come and attend the Meeting on Friday March 26. Malapit na po ang Reunion!

To all UPIS '80 Batchmates, come and attend the Meeting on Friday March 26. Malapit na po ang Reunion!

To all UPIS '80 Batchmates, come and attend the Meeting on Friday March 26. Malapit na po ang Reunion!

To all UPIS '80 Batchmates, come and attend the Meeting on Friday March 26. Malapit na po ang Reunion!

To all UPIS '80 Batchmates, come and attend the Meeting on Friday March 26. Malapit na po ang Reunion!

Anti-Virus for Windows

One of the reasons I went for Linux was the sheer stupidity of using a virus laden operating system like Windows. Any ad for an anti-virus program will tell you that 30,000 new viruses are created every day. These include mutations, revisions, escalations, evolutions and the odd totally new revolutionary virus flavor.

The funny part about viruses is that there is no single anti-virus program which can protect against all the viruses out there. Even the best anti-virus programs can only detect 95% to 98% of all viruses. And to think that it takes a while (a day or two or a week or two) before the virus signature is included in the program's database or virus definitions. Until that time, the PC is vulnerable.

But that's just the paranoid me talking.

So with (at least) 2 anti-virus programs running, as well as (at least) 2 anti-spyware programs also running in the background, I have to ask, is it all worth it? For a while there, I thought it was. Yup, I thought having all these programs running in the background keeping the PC safe (rather, keeping Windows safe) gave me some peace of mind.

But at what price?

You start up the machine, and it takes forever. The anti-virus and anti-spyware programs have to check for updates, and do a preliminary scan of memory and boot sector, and important programs. And only then can you really start to run your Windows programs. Or at least try to make them run, for the most part the programs crawl because of all the programs running the background, accessing the internet stream, accessing the hard disk, accessing the data being read by the hard disk, and generally keeping the system resources too busy to run the programs you need to run in order for you to work.

Another funny thing which happens is when you have one anti-virus program running (lurking) in the background, while you have another anti-virus program in the foreground scanning the hard disk. This gets worse when a virus is found. Each of them will block another, because the other one is accessing an infected file. The programs will ask for user intervention to allow the other program to access a file (for deletion).

Going Linux, I thought I had evaded and left all this crazy virus business behind. It turns out that even if linux does not have native viruses, Windows viruses still exist in the system. Simply put, if a file is infected, and I copied it into Linux, it might not infect my PC, but it would still be there. So if I run a Windows program (through WINE) it might still infect other Windows programs and files in my PC. It's also possible to infect flash drives (improbable, but possible). More probably, the virus on the Linux machine would not infect the Linux OS, but it can infect Windows PCs on the local area network.

Bottom line, since I have a netbook on the LAN, then it is vulnerable not just from the internet or shared files, but also from Linux PCs. The Linux PC wouldn't feel anything, but the Windows PC would be hurt bad.

Sometimes Windows Still Surprises Me

Bought a replacement CPU the other week and had a chat with the sales person. Got a case with power supply, no keyboard, no mouse, a mother board with a processor. I told the sales person I was assembling with some spare parts. I have spare SATA hard disks, memory and a (256MB) PCI-E video card. He asked me what the memory speed was, and I said 400, at which point he mentioned that it might not work with the newer board and processor. Okay, got that. I added memory to the bunch.

And then he asked what OS I used. I asked why, how would that affect my purchase. He mentioned that 32-bit Windows uses only up to 3GB (or thereabouts) and a 4GB memory would be hobbled. He suggested that I install 64-bit Windows instead, since the processor was 64-bit anyway.

It got me thinking about it a bit. Getting home, I backed up my files and proceeded to install and re-format one hard disk for Ubuntu Linux 9.10. I had used 9.04 till then, and was very much satisfied with how fast the PC boots up. I didn't install the 64-bit version, but still Linux was able to detect and make use of all 4GB memory. (On linux, the command on the terminal is "free -m" which shows memory usage.)

Oh well. Maybe I'll be installing Ubuntu 9.10 (64-bit) another time. But for now, I'm happy with what I got.

"The Cove" wins Oscar's Best Documentary! Yay!

The UPIS 1980 blog site is now open: http://ping.fm/X7HMK

The UPIS 1980 blog site is now open: http://ping.fm/tVcKO

We're preparing for 30th Anniversary reunion. Follow our Facebook Page: http://ping.fm/zbJQR

And of course, the netbook - the only computer at home running on Windows - has a virus. Just great!

I now have an excess of parts which could not be assembled to form one working PC. Working on a spare netbook.

And then it got worse. The PC with the failed hard disk didn't have an SATA support.

One PC's hard disk (PATA) failed. And the other PC's motherboard died.

Had just spent 7 hours diagnosing 2 PCs. And then things went downhill.

On WordPress, the UPIS 1980 Reunion page is http://ping.fm/ht0da

We're preparing for 30th Anniversary reunion. Follow our Facebook Page: http://ping.fm/6Cze6

The UPIS 1980 blog site is now open: http://ping.fm/DHnYY

The Vox UPIS 1980 Reunion Page: http://upis1980.vox.com

On Tumblr. http://ping.fm/HMBR0, the UPIS 1980 Reunion blog.

The UPIS 1980 blog site is now open: http://ping.fm/VvBz6

The UPIS 1980 Reunion blog on Posterous.com: http://ping.fm/rqDqZ

The UPIS 1980 Reunion mirror blogs are also open. On LiveJournal: http://ping.fm/dPLKG

The UPIS 1980 blog site is now open: http://ping.fm/oWJlX

We're preparing for 30th Anniversary reunion. Follow our Facebook Page: http://ping.fm/5dD69

Visit the UPIS website: http://ping.fm/hGuGQ

RT @VeronicaTanBK: Well done is better than well said.
- Benjamin Franklin

RT @DrySpring: Nicole Fuentes Interview with BookWenches about "Keeping Her in the Light": http://ow.ly/1cHhJ

UPIS Batch 1980's 30th Anniversary reunion: follow the Facebook Page: http://ping.fm/kuogM

Visit the UPIS website: http://ping.fm/KbKDE

tired and sleepy, and my work day hasn't started yet.

RSS Feeds for Multiple Sites

First off, what are RSS feeds. RSS is the logical successor to what in the late 1990's was called "push technology." It's basically a sign-up service, where a website update is sent to the client's feed reader.  This is not an email service, though there are email clients and webmail which can double up as RSS readers. 

Nowadays, RSS is defined as "really simple syndication."  And it really is simple.  It's so simple that most bloggers can activate this on their blog without any problem at all. It's just an option switch, turning Atom/XML on.

The good news is that RSS sends a message to RSS aggregators informing them that the website has been updated. And the aggregators broadcast this to other aggregators.  And if you are signed up to receive the feed, you're informed of the update.  Why is this a good thing? For the blogger or website owner or webmaster, he doesn't have to maintain a subscription list, and have the email sent to the subscribers.  Maintenance wise, that is so neat.

And as I mentioned earlier, even a newbie can have RSS turned on.  And with that, the world knows when a blog is updated.  This is an advantage because even without knowing it, the blog is being listed for search engines. There's no need for the search engine spider to go to the site and crawl all over the directories.

On my part, the last point is the one I really like.  Significantly, this can be extended further by submitting the RSS feed or channel to more RSS aggregators. This is part of my job. It makes the blog more easily seen by search engines, and has a positive impact on page rank.

The fun part is that I do also this on my own and for free with some other blogs I like reading. It's my way of sharing these blogs with the rest of the world. (Of course, this works only for publicly readable posts. Private posts stay private.)

--Andoy
16 Feb. 2010

Posting to Multiple Sites

Lately, I've been experimenting with posting on multiple sites, not just for status, micro-blogs and blogs but also for pictures.

Maybe, that should be specially for pictures. Lately, I've been into multiple sites for social media networks, and other sites. It's a bother to update all of them at the same time. This way, I update once, and all of them get to receive the updates.

For posts, I've been using Ping.fm. For pictures, I found Pixelpipe. The good thing about both is that you can use your phone to send pictures from your phone directly to the sites (via email) or you can use WAP (specially for Ping.fm).

Pretty cool.

--Andoy 15 Feb. 2010

had 2 whole green olives, 2 slices black olives, 2 caper pcs, and a slice of pickle. new kind of midnight snack.

watching THE BIG BANG THEORY season 2. feels like reviewing for an exam.

in a taxi in the middle of traffic and the driver says: "akala ko ba walang traffic sa marikina."

in a taxi in the middle of traffic and the driver says: "akala ko ba walang traffic sa marikina."

valentine's day sucks. feeling anti-social. hiding under a bed seems like a good idea just about now.

pixelpipe also features photo updates/submission via email.

thinking of expanding pixelpipe pipes to include a whole lot of picture sharing sites.

thinking of expanding pixelpipe pipes to include a whole lot of picture sharing sites.

crashing; there are days i swing from cabin fever and a touch of agoraphobia; officially going crazy

tired, getting hungry and imploding

crashing; there are days i swing from cabin fever and a touch of agoraphobia; officially going crazy

sleepy and brain-fried. good night.

loaded a firefox plugin for posting pics to multiple sites. i think it worked. yay!

like a hamster running on a wheel... round and round it goes.

The Circuitous Route of Social Network Linking

Am experimenting with forwarding my status updates and posts on Social Networks. What I really want is to post once and it gets published in a lot of other places. 

I tried it first with Plurk. I set up Plurk to send the post to Twitter as a tweet and to update the Facebook status.  This works fine. But it does not extend itself that far. For what it's worth, I've been using WAP to send to Plurk, to post to Twitter tweets, because I can't send tweets directly from my phone.  Yup, I send tweets from my phone.  In the roundabout way I've just described.  The way things are, that's going to be the way it's going to be.

I also use HootSuite to view and post tweets as well as view feeds from Facebook. 

Now, I am experimenting with Ping.fm. Several advantages:
1. I can use WAP to send to Ping.fm. As long as I have a cell phone signal, I can post.
2. it can connect to 36 social network sites (of which I've activated 10 of them (gtalk status, yahoo profile, multiply, hi-5, blogger, twitter, facebook, linkedin, myspace and plurk).

A brief note: as part of my job, I need to register to a lot of websites. I have a list of more than a thousand websites and this list is going to get much longer.

3. Anent to the above, if I register to a new social network site, hopefully, I can add this to Ping.fm and update from there.
4. I have the option to use Hootsuite to post to Ping.fm.  I have Hootsuite.com up on the browser about half the time I'm on the computer, and that's a lot longer than I stay on Meebo, YM or Skype.

Disadvantages:
1. I still have to check which accounts get updated, and if it's tagged as a status or as a blog post.
2. Plurk is not cooperating. Or is behaving in a weird manner. I've disabled Twitter and Facebook forwarding on Plurk. It worked part-way. The status updates, tweets and posts don't go to Twitter, but they still go to Facebook. This will take some more tweaking before I get it right.
3. I can use WAP to send to Ping.fm. As long as I have a cell phone signal, I can post. (this could be addictive)

Another brief note: I know I have accounts with Flickr, AIM, WordPress, Delicious, Diigo, Vox, TypePad, PhotoBucket and Yahoo Meme, but I'm still thinking of reasons to connect these to Ping.fm.

--Andoy
11 February 2010

bookmarking. any interesting links out there? send them to me and I'll queue 'em

feeling like it was a short nap. a senryu moment without words.

yup, reading in bed. a real book, not a PDF.

watching CAPRICA eps. 3. Intriguing.

almost morning and thinking of hard bound books.

if this works it simplifies a lot of things.

testing ping.fm for micro-blogging and status updates on multiple sites. this should be fun.

Old school game, 3dtris now web-based flash game: http://3dtris.de