Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
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.
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.
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.
Monday, March 08, 2010
Friday, March 05, 2010
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Monday, March 01, 2010
RT @DrySpring: Nicole Fuentes Interview with BookWenches about "Keeping Her in the Light": http://ow.ly/1cHhJ
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
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
Monday, February 15, 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
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
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
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
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
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Epic US NCAA Big East Game: Syracuse win over UConn in 6OT game
Was working when I caught sight of this news item. And it was jarring in a way. Six overtimes. It ended past 1:00 in the morning. And one player played all but 3 minutes of the entire game.
From ESPN: Syracuse survives longest game in Big East history with epic win over UConn
--Andoy Castellano22 March 2005
From ESPN: Syracuse survives longest game in Big East history with epic win over UConn
--Andoy Castellano22 March 2005
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
71 KG and counting
No disrespect to my friends who have always been a bit heavier than me, but I never imagined I'd get heavier than 145 pounds (about 65KG plus change). When I visited the doctor last week, I was officially at 71 kg. And I don't like it.
So now, after talking about my test results (normal BP, no more pus in the urine, and except for the relatively high cholesterol everything else is a normal blood chemistry), I'm on a low cholesterol diet.
Of all the diet suggestions out there, I've decided to follow my friend Rach's suggestion. Oatmeal for breakfast and half-rice with dinner, and watch the animal fat. This is going to be hard to do. But I guess it should work. I do need more soup, vegetables, fruits and less of fried food.
Rach mentioned that she's been having (unflavored) oatmeal for breakfast for the past seven years.
I also have another friend who has oatmeal for lunch at the office. Albert has been having a big battle with his weight for some time now.
And now I'm in the same boat: oatmeal on a regular basis. Waaaahhhh!!!! It does need some getting used to. So far, I've had oatmeal for lunch and/or breakfast these past few days. I really need to get down to around 140 pounds. Though I think I would be more comfortable with 135 pounds (and back to a skinny butt, hehehe).
Oh well. This will need lots of work.
--Andoy
24 February 2009
So now, after talking about my test results (normal BP, no more pus in the urine, and except for the relatively high cholesterol everything else is a normal blood chemistry), I'm on a low cholesterol diet.
Of all the diet suggestions out there, I've decided to follow my friend Rach's suggestion. Oatmeal for breakfast and half-rice with dinner, and watch the animal fat. This is going to be hard to do. But I guess it should work. I do need more soup, vegetables, fruits and less of fried food.
Rach mentioned that she's been having (unflavored) oatmeal for breakfast for the past seven years.
I also have another friend who has oatmeal for lunch at the office. Albert has been having a big battle with his weight for some time now.
And now I'm in the same boat: oatmeal on a regular basis. Waaaahhhh!!!! It does need some getting used to. So far, I've had oatmeal for lunch and/or breakfast these past few days. I really need to get down to around 140 pounds. Though I think I would be more comfortable with 135 pounds (and back to a skinny butt, hehehe).
Oh well. This will need lots of work.
--Andoy
24 February 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
An Alternative Side to Life
Doing some research, I came across this blog.
http://path-lighter.blogspot.com/
Enjoy!
-- Andoy
11 February 2009
http://path-lighter.blogspot.com/
Enjoy!
-- Andoy
11 February 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
President of the World
During the run up to Barrack Obama's Presidential Inauguration, I heard a phrase which struck me as odd. He was called the "President of the World." I guess it must be true. And Obama's predecessor certainly proved that moniker.
I've been a hermit since the start of the US Presidential campaign, and didn't really care one bit whether it went one way or another. I was just happy that the election would mean that George W. Bush's presidency would be about to end.
But in a big way, Pres. Bush really was the "President of the World." His Presidency was felt by the whole world. When the US economy melted down, the rest of the world teetered on the edge of the abyss, looking down at where the US was taking them. I all fairness, it was not his fault that 9/11 happened, or that Iraq didn't have any weapons of mass destruction (which he admitted just before he left office), or that the housing loan and financing meltdown happened on his watch. He can't even be blamed for winning against Al Gore. (The last is definitely true. Al Gore lost Tennessee! If he had won his home state, he didn't need to win Florida, where George's brother was Governor. But I digress.)
Another aside, tt's too bad that Bush was the butt of jokes from day one. But everything was there, From his daughters' driving under the influence, to his mispronouncing "nuclear." Bill Clinton may admitted to taking a whiff of marijuana when he was in college, but George W. Bush was called a cokehead in some media.
All in all, George W. Bush will be remembered for the worse economic recession since 1964, and for the worse military record since Vietnam.
I guess that in that sense Obama really is more, or should be more of a "President of the World" than his predecessor. For one, he's an African-American and not a WASP. Another is that he seems to have a bigger grasp of world issues than Ex-President Bush. And he also seems to be more of an intellectual in the mold of JFK. But time will tell if he will live up to it. Meantime, the world is fueled by his messages of optimism. The world is really excited about this one.
I'm just happy it's him. But it's just too bad that the McCain campaign was one of a self-destruct example, imploding upon itself. At one point it looked like an Obama-Clinton race, rather than McCain vs. (Obama or Clinton).
Good luck to the new US President. The rest of the world is watching.
I've been a hermit since the start of the US Presidential campaign, and didn't really care one bit whether it went one way or another. I was just happy that the election would mean that George W. Bush's presidency would be about to end.
But in a big way, Pres. Bush really was the "President of the World." His Presidency was felt by the whole world. When the US economy melted down, the rest of the world teetered on the edge of the abyss, looking down at where the US was taking them. I all fairness, it was not his fault that 9/11 happened, or that Iraq didn't have any weapons of mass destruction (which he admitted just before he left office), or that the housing loan and financing meltdown happened on his watch. He can't even be blamed for winning against Al Gore. (The last is definitely true. Al Gore lost Tennessee! If he had won his home state, he didn't need to win Florida, where George's brother was Governor. But I digress.)
Another aside, tt's too bad that Bush was the butt of jokes from day one. But everything was there, From his daughters' driving under the influence, to his mispronouncing "nuclear." Bill Clinton may admitted to taking a whiff of marijuana when he was in college, but George W. Bush was called a cokehead in some media.
All in all, George W. Bush will be remembered for the worse economic recession since 1964, and for the worse military record since Vietnam.
I guess that in that sense Obama really is more, or should be more of a "President of the World" than his predecessor. For one, he's an African-American and not a WASP. Another is that he seems to have a bigger grasp of world issues than Ex-President Bush. And he also seems to be more of an intellectual in the mold of JFK. But time will tell if he will live up to it. Meantime, the world is fueled by his messages of optimism. The world is really excited about this one.
I'm just happy it's him. But it's just too bad that the McCain campaign was one of a self-destruct example, imploding upon itself. At one point it looked like an Obama-Clinton race, rather than McCain vs. (Obama or Clinton).
Good luck to the new US President. The rest of the world is watching.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
And a Jump Back to theReality of the Tropics
For a while there, I was hoping that the cold weather would last a while, even if only for another week or two, or till the end of February. But no luck, Since last week, the temperature has been steadily going up, and as long as the sun was showing, we had summer weather for the better part of the day.
Oh well, it may be low single digit temperature for Germany, for instance, but I'm okay with the more normal 26 degrees Celsius here in Marikina.
--Andoy
22 January 2009
Oh well, it may be low single digit temperature for Germany, for instance, but I'm okay with the more normal 26 degrees Celsius here in Marikina.
--Andoy
22 January 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
And The UPCAT Results Shows
Well, Darwi didn't pass. That's according to the online listing. That's okay. At least she already has a choice. And she may decide to take the entrance exam at PUP.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Darwi Passed the USTET
Yup, she passed the UST Entrance Test. She applied for the Hotel and Restaurant Management program. And she passed. At least I won't have to worry where about where she'll study. Some consider the HRM program at UST as being the second best in the country, with St. Benilde on the top of the list. This comment was from a UST student, so I would tend to believe him. (Besides, he's got a good rep, he's running for honors in his course.)
Part of the admissions process for the UST HRM program is an interview. Darwi asked if that meant that she was not yet accepted into the program. I think UST has the interview more to get to know the student than for anything else. (Kenneth had an interview before taking the exam at St. Scholastica's College Manila. But that was to see if he really had the aptitude for music and to see if he really wanted to enroll in the course.)
It shouldn't have come as a surprise, but she still wanted to take the exam at PUP, still for the HRM program. Still, I was surprised, though. But she wanted to take the exam at PUP because her classmates were going to take it. Opinions vary about the program, but the majority place PUP in the top 4 schools for that course. I got that opinion without taking into account that I have three brothers who graduated from PUP.
Now, I just wish Darwi also passed the UPCAT. HRM at UST may be good, but UP is UP. And besides her ninang was graduated from HRM at UP. Will have to wait for the results of the UPCAT then.
--Andoy
15 January 2009
Part of the admissions process for the UST HRM program is an interview. Darwi asked if that meant that she was not yet accepted into the program. I think UST has the interview more to get to know the student than for anything else. (Kenneth had an interview before taking the exam at St. Scholastica's College Manila. But that was to see if he really had the aptitude for music and to see if he really wanted to enroll in the course.)
It shouldn't have come as a surprise, but she still wanted to take the exam at PUP, still for the HRM program. Still, I was surprised, though. But she wanted to take the exam at PUP because her classmates were going to take it. Opinions vary about the program, but the majority place PUP in the top 4 schools for that course. I got that opinion without taking into account that I have three brothers who graduated from PUP.
Now, I just wish Darwi also passed the UPCAT. HRM at UST may be good, but UP is UP. And besides her ninang was graduated from HRM at UP. Will have to wait for the results of the UPCAT then.
--Andoy
15 January 2009
Coldest I can remember since...
This has got to be the coldest start of the year I can remember since the early 1980's. That's a lot, considering I'm comparing Marikina weather to UPLB during the early 1980's.
In those days, there was real strong north wind and the people in the campus walked a lot more weird than normal. Either they walked slower -- because of the cold they can't move fast. Or they moved fast -- really fast -- maybe to get the blood going.
Kenneth gave a weird comment the other day. He said that he's glad to ride aircon FX to the Katipunan LRT station, because it's warmer inside the vehicle. Even Darwi agrees, and she sometimes rides the (very slow) buses.
On my desktop, it says the temperature is at 22 degrees Celsius. Yesterday the numbers didn't go higher than 24 degrees. That's almost like Tagaytay weather during March or April. It's been hovering from 21 to a high of 28 these past few days. But that's according to the internet server. Reports on the news, however, say that the temperature has gone down to as low as 18-19.
Maybe it's old age, but I wear sweaters most of the time. And I spend almost all my time indoors. There was a time last week when I found myself wearing a thin jacket on top of my sweater. When it's cold, I usually wear my tie-dye pants. I've been using it as a pajama for some time now. I need to get myself some sweat pants to go along with the sweater. I remember Lilia reminding me that that's the reason I won't migrate to the US, Canada, or anywhere where they have four seasons. I get easily cold.
One thing though which hasn't changed, I haven't been heating my bath water. I still enjoy the (very) cold water streaming out of the shower. hehehe
Galit galit na kapag bumaba pa ito ng 16 degrees!
--Andoy
15 January 2009
In those days, there was real strong north wind and the people in the campus walked a lot more weird than normal. Either they walked slower -- because of the cold they can't move fast. Or they moved fast -- really fast -- maybe to get the blood going.
Kenneth gave a weird comment the other day. He said that he's glad to ride aircon FX to the Katipunan LRT station, because it's warmer inside the vehicle. Even Darwi agrees, and she sometimes rides the (very slow) buses.
On my desktop, it says the temperature is at 22 degrees Celsius. Yesterday the numbers didn't go higher than 24 degrees. That's almost like Tagaytay weather during March or April. It's been hovering from 21 to a high of 28 these past few days. But that's according to the internet server. Reports on the news, however, say that the temperature has gone down to as low as 18-19.
Maybe it's old age, but I wear sweaters most of the time. And I spend almost all my time indoors. There was a time last week when I found myself wearing a thin jacket on top of my sweater. When it's cold, I usually wear my tie-dye pants. I've been using it as a pajama for some time now. I need to get myself some sweat pants to go along with the sweater. I remember Lilia reminding me that that's the reason I won't migrate to the US, Canada, or anywhere where they have four seasons. I get easily cold.
One thing though which hasn't changed, I haven't been heating my bath water. I still enjoy the (very) cold water streaming out of the shower. hehehe
Galit galit na kapag bumaba pa ito ng 16 degrees!
--Andoy
15 January 2009
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Storm crow
It's 3:30 in the morning, I'm wearing boxers and my legs are cold. I should be wearing pajamas or my tie-dye pants. I have a malong here somewhere (it's actually Lilia's) but I'm not sure if I want to use that just yet.
I'm not complaining about the cold. It's December and January and it should be cold. In fact, it's colder this time around compared with the past couple of years. It's cold because it's raining and been raining or cloudy since New Year's Eve. The weather for the whole of December was funky. Not "changeable" nor "unpredictable" but more like "out of the ordinary." The reason I say that is because, although the weather is cold, strictly speaking it's not cold because of the North wind. It's been cold because of the cloudy weather with drizzles and rain, and wind blowing mainly from the south.
There are a lot of reasons for the cold weather, except for the wind blowing from the north.
Twenty five years ago, I was wearing jackets and sweaters for December till early February. There was a time I was wearing denim pants when crawling to bed with the windows shut.
This is really funky weather. And I guess the concept of global warming is true. Global warming leads to freaky weather. This time, there's practically no cold north wind to speak of. For all the typhoon damage last year, there was a drop in the number of storms.
If all of these changes happened during the last 25 years. I don't want to think about what changes might happen during the next 25 years. Or ten years.
I'm going to bed.
--Andoy
9 January 2009
I'm not complaining about the cold. It's December and January and it should be cold. In fact, it's colder this time around compared with the past couple of years. It's cold because it's raining and been raining or cloudy since New Year's Eve. The weather for the whole of December was funky. Not "changeable" nor "unpredictable" but more like "out of the ordinary." The reason I say that is because, although the weather is cold, strictly speaking it's not cold because of the North wind. It's been cold because of the cloudy weather with drizzles and rain, and wind blowing mainly from the south.
There are a lot of reasons for the cold weather, except for the wind blowing from the north.
Twenty five years ago, I was wearing jackets and sweaters for December till early February. There was a time I was wearing denim pants when crawling to bed with the windows shut.
This is really funky weather. And I guess the concept of global warming is true. Global warming leads to freaky weather. This time, there's practically no cold north wind to speak of. For all the typhoon damage last year, there was a drop in the number of storms.
If all of these changes happened during the last 25 years. I don't want to think about what changes might happen during the next 25 years. Or ten years.
I'm going to bed.
--Andoy
9 January 2009
Monday, January 05, 2009
The Kid and the Princess (and if she had a choice, she would have wanted to be a Jewish Princess)
I received a text message from a friend of mine this past New Year's Eve. I thought it was an ordinary text message. It came from a long time friend from UPLB and truth is, we don't really try hard to keep in touch. A text message every few months is all we can come up with. Sometimes, I send a text message for an invite to coffee or something, and the reply is along the lines of, "I'm sorry but I can't come because I'm in the _______ (fill in the blanks: Mindanao, two time zones away, etc.)
There are times I wake up in the middle of the night after having a dream about her. The dreams border on nightmares. And I force myself to wake up, and I do. I wake up with a scream, a shudder, sweating, and shaking.
I admit I have carried a lot of emotional baggage because of her. All 25 years of baggage.
Somehow the latest text message was a pleasant surprise. It was an affirmation, or a recognition of what I am to her. It was a good day when I received that simple line she sent.
Now I can stop pining.
Yup, roses are black... sometimes.
--Andoy
5 January 2009
There are times I wake up in the middle of the night after having a dream about her. The dreams border on nightmares. And I force myself to wake up, and I do. I wake up with a scream, a shudder, sweating, and shaking.
I admit I have carried a lot of emotional baggage because of her. All 25 years of baggage.
Somehow the latest text message was a pleasant surprise. It was an affirmation, or a recognition of what I am to her. It was a good day when I received that simple line she sent.
Now I can stop pining.
Yup, roses are black... sometimes.
--Andoy
5 January 2009
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas 2008
We had a fun Christmas this year, even though there were some members of the family who weren't there with us.
Bert is still in the Middle East of course. But he did call. The conversation we had was upbeat and sad at the same time. We were discussing the future and my current situation. There are some things I need to discuss with him.
And then there's Lilia. I had looked forward to sleeping in our old room. But sad to say, she didn't manifest herself last night. Oh well, once is enough I guess. Though there were at least two separate manifestations, one at Lavender and the other at Novaliches.
As usual, we had Christmas eve at my parents' place and then went to Novaliches, to Lilia's folks in the morning. I'm still having some sleep deprivation headache. Mild headache.
Was able to take lots of pictures during the exchange gifts last night. But not too many pictures at Novaliches. I'll have to double the effort at picture taking this New Year. We might celebrate it at Novaliches (as usual) but plans are still up in the air.
It was a good Christmas celebration. I'm happy. And the kids are happy.
--Andoy
25 December 2008
I've posted the pictures.
Bert is still in the Middle East of course. But he did call. The conversation we had was upbeat and sad at the same time. We were discussing the future and my current situation. There are some things I need to discuss with him.
And then there's Lilia. I had looked forward to sleeping in our old room. But sad to say, she didn't manifest herself last night. Oh well, once is enough I guess. Though there were at least two separate manifestations, one at Lavender and the other at Novaliches.
As usual, we had Christmas eve at my parents' place and then went to Novaliches, to Lilia's folks in the morning. I'm still having some sleep deprivation headache. Mild headache.
Was able to take lots of pictures during the exchange gifts last night. But not too many pictures at Novaliches. I'll have to double the effort at picture taking this New Year. We might celebrate it at Novaliches (as usual) but plans are still up in the air.
It was a good Christmas celebration. I'm happy. And the kids are happy.
--Andoy
25 December 2008
I've posted the pictures.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
A Dip in the Road
I am at a big crossroad. Not a nexus. A crossroad. Or more like the caves of Moria, where the path has three paths to choose from. I hesitate.
I am afraid of what is happening to me. I am depressed. I want to cry but I can't. I shake. I need coffee, but I'm trying to cut down on it. It's the gas, you see. I burp a lot of gas on a bad day. And that hurts. I've got medication for that.
There are some people I would want to have talked to. Or with. One just got out of the hospital for an operation. There is one other, but I have tried to set an appointment for about three years, and no go. And then there's this language instructor I know, who I cannot get myself to talk to. It's complicated, I dearly want to talk to her, but I can't. We decided not to see each other with exception of coffee. But things broke down after that. She hates me. The best I can hope for is that we can meet sometime in the future. For coffee.
There's only one other person I talk to about it right now. The words are seeping in and I am trying very hard to move forward and out of this funk. I have to get up and look to working and to take care of my family and my friends.
My natural hardheadedness keeps me from understanding things which I am hearing. And that includes the things I say.
I'm having a difficult time. I cannot concentrate on my work. I am dying. I am going crazy.
It's this time of year when I sorely miss Lilia. I miss her a lot. I've had ups and downs during Christmas. But it was bearable with Lilia. She handled the Christmas lists and the shopping.
Sadly, I have wanted to cry since late August. A good cry. But it hasn't happened yet.
I am coping. I am now making breakfast for my kids. Waking at 4:30 or 5:00AM to cook breakfast.
Lilia takes care of a lot of things. Not least is the budget and the school opening and Christmas shopping. She cleans the house. I live here but have not cleaned it as much as she did. She took care of us. I miss her a lot.
I feel I am dying. The pain is back.
There's the five stages of death: anger, denial, bargaining, depression and acceptance. I have accepted that she is gone. But only now is anger seeping in. And the depression keep coming back. Ano ba???!!!!
I am trying to keep it together, and not show it for the kids. But it is very painful. I guess the pain shows as well.
I can go on and on with this rant. This is a stupid cycle. And the best I can do is do one task at a time.
--Andoy
16 Dec. 2008
I am afraid of what is happening to me. I am depressed. I want to cry but I can't. I shake. I need coffee, but I'm trying to cut down on it. It's the gas, you see. I burp a lot of gas on a bad day. And that hurts. I've got medication for that.
There are some people I would want to have talked to. Or with. One just got out of the hospital for an operation. There is one other, but I have tried to set an appointment for about three years, and no go. And then there's this language instructor I know, who I cannot get myself to talk to. It's complicated, I dearly want to talk to her, but I can't. We decided not to see each other with exception of coffee. But things broke down after that. She hates me. The best I can hope for is that we can meet sometime in the future. For coffee.
There's only one other person I talk to about it right now. The words are seeping in and I am trying very hard to move forward and out of this funk. I have to get up and look to working and to take care of my family and my friends.
My natural hardheadedness keeps me from understanding things which I am hearing. And that includes the things I say.
I'm having a difficult time. I cannot concentrate on my work. I am dying. I am going crazy.
It's this time of year when I sorely miss Lilia. I miss her a lot. I've had ups and downs during Christmas. But it was bearable with Lilia. She handled the Christmas lists and the shopping.
Sadly, I have wanted to cry since late August. A good cry. But it hasn't happened yet.
I am coping. I am now making breakfast for my kids. Waking at 4:30 or 5:00AM to cook breakfast.
Lilia takes care of a lot of things. Not least is the budget and the school opening and Christmas shopping. She cleans the house. I live here but have not cleaned it as much as she did. She took care of us. I miss her a lot.
I feel I am dying. The pain is back.
There's the five stages of death: anger, denial, bargaining, depression and acceptance. I have accepted that she is gone. But only now is anger seeping in. And the depression keep coming back. Ano ba???!!!!
I am trying to keep it together, and not show it for the kids. But it is very painful. I guess the pain shows as well.
I can go on and on with this rant. This is a stupid cycle. And the best I can do is do one task at a time.
--Andoy
16 Dec. 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Health Issues
Darwi had acute gastroentiritis last Thursday. She got home not feeling well. She went to the home of one of her classmates, along with some others in her group where they had dinner. Unfortunately, even before dinner she vomited. And she was not able to eat much that night.
She told me when she got home that she was embarrassed that she vomited at her friend's place. I was just glad she got home safe. She didn't eat any that night, and had a slight fever. If she had diarrhea that evening, I would have taken her to the hospital. We had decided that she won't attend class the next day, and instead we'd go see the doctor. She was relatively okay during the weekend, but I as since she was not yet feeling very well, I had her rest on Monday.
And with me, I had postponed visiting the doctor for some time now. I've had gas problems since last week. It subsided somewhat during the weekend, but when Monday came and I was still feeling some pain, I had to have it checked. I'm feeling better now. But the gas keeps coming back. Not as painful as before, but it's really a bother.
Now if the dementors would just keep away so I could get some sleep, then that would make my day.
--Andoy
11 December 2008
She told me when she got home that she was embarrassed that she vomited at her friend's place. I was just glad she got home safe. She didn't eat any that night, and had a slight fever. If she had diarrhea that evening, I would have taken her to the hospital. We had decided that she won't attend class the next day, and instead we'd go see the doctor. She was relatively okay during the weekend, but I as since she was not yet feeling very well, I had her rest on Monday.
And with me, I had postponed visiting the doctor for some time now. I've had gas problems since last week. It subsided somewhat during the weekend, but when Monday came and I was still feeling some pain, I had to have it checked. I'm feeling better now. But the gas keeps coming back. Not as painful as before, but it's really a bother.
Now if the dementors would just keep away so I could get some sleep, then that would make my day.
--Andoy
11 December 2008
Paquito Sanchez
My brother-in-law passed away this past weekend. Paquito was 49. He left behind his wife Grace in Canada and four children. His eldest is studying nursing in FEU while his three other kids are all in Canada.
Binigyan na siya ng taning sa buhay noong isa pang taon. Ang sabi ng doctor ay wala na silang magagawa para sa kanya.
He has had multiple operations. Part of his lung was cut, along with his stomach and several feet of his intestines.
I'm happy that he survived more than a year after being discharged from the hospital. For me, it's some sort of bonus time. But I am not okay with this.
What's sad is that he was not able to see his youngest daughter since he came back from Canada. She planed in with her older brother this past Tuesday. The youngest sibling had wanted to go visit as well, but there was not enough financing available for all to go back to the Philippines. Grace elected to stay in Canada. Though it was her sister who footed the bill for the two kids to fly back.
No, I am not okay with this. It felt like a slow creeping depression which I experienced last Sunday, when we went home. On Satuday, we went to the house in Novaliches, for the wake, and stayed overnight. From there, we went decided to do some shopping just to be ahead of the Christmas shopping rush. This was more or less a spur of the moment thing, as I didn't know when I would do my Christmas shopping.
I guess it did show that I wasn't in the mood for Christmas. Maybe not yet. Maybe not really this year. It was not like a "bah humbug" kind of feeling. It was just like sleep walking. I didn't have any plans to buy anything, but still took the time to do so.
Paquito was the youngest of Lilia's brothers. I guess I did try not to be too much affected by his death. But that's that. And the feeling of emptiness just creeped in.
Supposedly there are several stages when getting the news about death: anger, denial, bargaining, depression, acceptance. With Lilia, I am hovering between depression, acceptance and anger. With Paquito, I have accepted it before it ever happened, but I am still in denial.
I don't like it. I absolutely hate it. He's gone, and there's nothing much I can do. But I don't have to like it.
--Andoy
10 December 2008
Binigyan na siya ng taning sa buhay noong isa pang taon. Ang sabi ng doctor ay wala na silang magagawa para sa kanya.
He has had multiple operations. Part of his lung was cut, along with his stomach and several feet of his intestines.
I'm happy that he survived more than a year after being discharged from the hospital. For me, it's some sort of bonus time. But I am not okay with this.
What's sad is that he was not able to see his youngest daughter since he came back from Canada. She planed in with her older brother this past Tuesday. The youngest sibling had wanted to go visit as well, but there was not enough financing available for all to go back to the Philippines. Grace elected to stay in Canada. Though it was her sister who footed the bill for the two kids to fly back.
No, I am not okay with this. It felt like a slow creeping depression which I experienced last Sunday, when we went home. On Satuday, we went to the house in Novaliches, for the wake, and stayed overnight. From there, we went decided to do some shopping just to be ahead of the Christmas shopping rush. This was more or less a spur of the moment thing, as I didn't know when I would do my Christmas shopping.
I guess it did show that I wasn't in the mood for Christmas. Maybe not yet. Maybe not really this year. It was not like a "bah humbug" kind of feeling. It was just like sleep walking. I didn't have any plans to buy anything, but still took the time to do so.
Paquito was the youngest of Lilia's brothers. I guess I did try not to be too much affected by his death. But that's that. And the feeling of emptiness just creeped in.
Supposedly there are several stages when getting the news about death: anger, denial, bargaining, depression, acceptance. With Lilia, I am hovering between depression, acceptance and anger. With Paquito, I have accepted it before it ever happened, but I am still in denial.
I don't like it. I absolutely hate it. He's gone, and there's nothing much I can do. But I don't have to like it.
--Andoy
10 December 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
SM Marikina: Bright! Very Bright!
The SM Mall near our place opened last September 5, which coincided with my birthday. For about a month before the opening, me and my family have been joking about going there on opening day. Unfortunately, some things happened and we ended up at Sta. Lucia on September 5.
It was a good thing we didn't go to SM Marikina on opening day as the place was supposedly packed. There were a lot of people checking out the new mall. Among other things, there were free film showings. Oh well. (And if I had known, I would have gone there too.)
So, finally, after more than a month and a half, I found myself going there because Globe Handiphone/Wireless moved from Robinson's Marcos Highway to SM City Marikina.
Even from the outside, it looked small. It looks a lot smaller than SM Centerpoint in Sta. Mesa. But it did have a better looking facade with the glass wall which was about a third of the width of the building, and from the first-floor to the top.
I didn't put much significance to the glass facade. Until I stepped into the building. And it was bright inside. It was very bright inside from all the sunlight streaming in through the glass wall. I did enter the mall before noon time, and the building faced south-west, catching the afternoon sun straight on. Walking around the building the northern side facing the river, also had an ample glass wall. As a general rule, SM Malls have always used bright lights inside. And the bright lighting plus the natural lighting coming in through the glass made the interiors very bright indeed.
As an added bonus, the place looked airy. But this was maybe because of the relatively wider hallways. At least, the hallways are wider than most of the SM Malls, like MegaMall, Centerpoint, Manila, North EDSA, Fairview, and Cebu and relatively wider than Southmall. It's almost as wide as the center area of SM Makati.
In terms of being light, and sunny, SM Marikina compares favorably with Ayala Town Center. In fact, the only place I've found about the same amount of natural light would be Ayala Center Cebu. And Ayala Center Cebu has about as airy an ambience as that of SM Marikina. (Amend that, Ayala Center Cebu is a lot more airy.)
Yes, I've been to SM Mall of Asia. Once. Or twice. And I don't really like it. It has more room. But the place stinks from Manila Bay's breeze and it has a sheen of dirtiness to it.
It was a good thing we didn't go to SM Marikina on opening day as the place was supposedly packed. There were a lot of people checking out the new mall. Among other things, there were free film showings. Oh well. (And if I had known, I would have gone there too.)
So, finally, after more than a month and a half, I found myself going there because Globe Handiphone/Wireless moved from Robinson's Marcos Highway to SM City Marikina.
Even from the outside, it looked small. It looks a lot smaller than SM Centerpoint in Sta. Mesa. But it did have a better looking facade with the glass wall which was about a third of the width of the building, and from the first-floor to the top.
I didn't put much significance to the glass facade. Until I stepped into the building. And it was bright inside. It was very bright inside from all the sunlight streaming in through the glass wall. I did enter the mall before noon time, and the building faced south-west, catching the afternoon sun straight on. Walking around the building the northern side facing the river, also had an ample glass wall. As a general rule, SM Malls have always used bright lights inside. And the bright lighting plus the natural lighting coming in through the glass made the interiors very bright indeed.
As an added bonus, the place looked airy. But this was maybe because of the relatively wider hallways. At least, the hallways are wider than most of the SM Malls, like MegaMall, Centerpoint, Manila, North EDSA, Fairview, and Cebu and relatively wider than Southmall. It's almost as wide as the center area of SM Makati.
In terms of being light, and sunny, SM Marikina compares favorably with Ayala Town Center. In fact, the only place I've found about the same amount of natural light would be Ayala Center Cebu. And Ayala Center Cebu has about as airy an ambience as that of SM Marikina. (Amend that, Ayala Center Cebu is a lot more airy.)
Yes, I've been to SM Mall of Asia. Once. Or twice. And I don't really like it. It has more room. But the place stinks from Manila Bay's breeze and it has a sheen of dirtiness to it.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Gundam 00: The First Season
I may not have watched all the Gundam series, but I would admit to being a fan. In fact, I remember buying a Gundam model before any Gundam series was ever shown on local TV. At the time, these toys were just on display and nobody was buying them.
(Come to think of it, it seems that one reason nobody took notice of these toys at that time were because of several things: these are not Voltes V or Mazinger Z; the Gundam anime series weren't being shown yet on local TV; and/or the toys needed some assembly. I would guess the latter.)
Moving forward to 2008, and here's the latest incarnation of the Gundam series. Gundam 00 is still mecha, but with more neurotic main characters than ever before. Sure Gundam Wing had four boys who were each loners and neurotic, but in Gundam 00 the main characters are not just hung up with something, they're also bishounen types.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I've always thought that the bishounen was a counter-foil to the protagonist. Much like the noh drama having a shiite (protagonist) and a waki (antagonist), the characters have masks which portray the emotions or thoughts of the role. Here, much like the noh drama, the counterfoils also have their own sidekicks. And there's a musical interlude every so often.
This is not a bishounen fest (nor a babe fest, for that matter) but for the most part there is more technical emphasis on the mecha than in most anime or even compared to earlier Gundam sagas. And the machines are more vulnerable Gundams.
There is however quite an emphasis on being slightly large, though still within the norms (I think). The tech girls are have big boobs. At least that's two girls with big boobs out of three in the cockpit. And the main strategist is tall and sophisticated, she has her own mini-bar, in her quarters, on Ptolemy which is a mothership and control center for the Gundam fleet. The guns are also slightly large. Or in the case of the sniper (called, fittingly enough, "Lockon") a very big sniper gun. Big! Really big!
As a mecha series, this is violent. But some of the characters are more violent than others. I would say that there are some who are certifiably insanely violent, and they're on both sides of the fence. Real psycho types. Though I would respect them more than the other types who are too cool under pressure. Cold blooded with ice in their veins. And two of them are girls.
Oh, and one schizoid.
Yes, I like the graphics. Yes, I like the story. Yes, I like the series even without the great graphics or the immersive story. So sue me!
The second season is soon to begin in Japan. And the first season is about to shown in the US.
This series rocks!
(Come to think of it, it seems that one reason nobody took notice of these toys at that time were because of several things: these are not Voltes V or Mazinger Z; the Gundam anime series weren't being shown yet on local TV; and/or the toys needed some assembly. I would guess the latter.)
Moving forward to 2008, and here's the latest incarnation of the Gundam series. Gundam 00 is still mecha, but with more neurotic main characters than ever before. Sure Gundam Wing had four boys who were each loners and neurotic, but in Gundam 00 the main characters are not just hung up with something, they're also bishounen types.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I've always thought that the bishounen was a counter-foil to the protagonist. Much like the noh drama having a shiite (protagonist) and a waki (antagonist), the characters have masks which portray the emotions or thoughts of the role. Here, much like the noh drama, the counterfoils also have their own sidekicks. And there's a musical interlude every so often.
This is not a bishounen fest (nor a babe fest, for that matter) but for the most part there is more technical emphasis on the mecha than in most anime or even compared to earlier Gundam sagas. And the machines are more vulnerable Gundams.
There is however quite an emphasis on being slightly large, though still within the norms (I think). The tech girls are have big boobs. At least that's two girls with big boobs out of three in the cockpit. And the main strategist is tall and sophisticated, she has her own mini-bar, in her quarters, on Ptolemy which is a mothership and control center for the Gundam fleet. The guns are also slightly large. Or in the case of the sniper (called, fittingly enough, "Lockon") a very big sniper gun. Big! Really big!
As a mecha series, this is violent. But some of the characters are more violent than others. I would say that there are some who are certifiably insanely violent, and they're on both sides of the fence. Real psycho types. Though I would respect them more than the other types who are too cool under pressure. Cold blooded with ice in their veins. And two of them are girls.
Oh, and one schizoid.
Yes, I like the graphics. Yes, I like the story. Yes, I like the series even without the great graphics or the immersive story. So sue me!
The second season is soon to begin in Japan. And the first season is about to shown in the US.
This series rocks!
Monday, October 06, 2008
Wearing the ring... Again
I never really knew my wedding ring was kept since I had it repaired (altered? enlarged?) but I was pleasantly surprised when I found it again. I was rummaging among some of Lilia's things trying to find a pair of scissors. And among some of the knick knacks were the rings we've had repaired.
I wasn't really trying to find it. And was not really thinking of wearing it. But it was there. And I wore it. It's now of a good fit, but a bit tight going through the knuckle. I should still be able to take it out anytime I want to. Just needs a little bit of getting used to. And I need to remember to take it off every so often. Or maybe not.
Yes, finger still hurts a bit till now, but, at least, the ring is not pressing on the finger anymore.
I wasn't really trying to find it. And was not really thinking of wearing it. But it was there. And I wore it. It's now of a good fit, but a bit tight going through the knuckle. I should still be able to take it out anytime I want to. Just needs a little bit of getting used to. And I need to remember to take it off every so often. Or maybe not.
Yes, finger still hurts a bit till now, but, at least, the ring is not pressing on the finger anymore.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Slow September, Fast Hours
This is my day: I wake up, get some breakfast, work on the computer, have some lunch, work some more, merienda (and maybe take a nap after merienda). The kids arrive and I stop working when they do. After dinner, I continue working till around I don't know what time. Get some sleep and then I wake up with a start.
This has been the longest September I have ever experienced. The funny thing is that the days seem to go by so fast. Is it me or am I in some kind of a time warp where time suddenly has a mind of its own?
Weirder and weirder.
This has been the longest September I have ever experienced. The funny thing is that the days seem to go by so fast. Is it me or am I in some kind of a time warp where time suddenly has a mind of its own?
Weirder and weirder.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
And moving forward...
Something happened two weeks back. My wife died. I'm writing this now hoping that I can move forward as I have not been able to. Dying is like a hump for the survivors. I admit I could not let go because I don't know how.
I was working that night. And it was a pleasant surprise that the kids and Lilia went to bed early. Around 10pm, Lilia had to get up and pee. Passing by the open door she saw me still working and told me to get some sleep lest I get sick.
Two hours later, I heard a bang with her on the floor prone with her hands across her chest. I turned her on her back and I tried to revive her. Didn't work. The past two weeks have been a blur.
It seems that everything is moving so fast.
The house is a mess. Two renters moved into the apartment on the house's ground floor. And we had to move our things out of there. We haven't cleared out Lilia's things. But we were able to pack her clothes. These would be sent to Bolinao for distribution there.
(For several years now, my parent's have been bringing old clothes to Bolinao, almost twice a year, for distribution to relatives who are not as well off as we are. The rest of the family pitches in and segregates old clothes for this purpose.)
On the advice of friends, the kids and I have done some re-arranging. We've taken out some chairs. These are now being used by one of the renters. We've put the computer in the living room. So when I work at night I am sitting with the couch to my back. That's where Lilia died by the way. And I just have to keep looking behind my back at the sofa.
The last photo we had together was during the storm.
I took a work-at-home internet-based job so that I can watch over Lilia. The daily commute was a good two hours in the morning and more than two hours in the evening. That was not good. And considering that she got hospitalized in June, I thought that working from home was a no-brainer. Three weeks later, I find myself at home and alone.
I haven't been listening to mp3 songs lately. Most of the songs are downers or from Kenneth's emo playlist. It would have been okay if it was Kenneth playing the guitar, then Darwi and I would be singing along.
I am not into a depression. I am staring at it and keeping away as much as I can.
But after two weeks, I still can't let go. I don't know how. I am not a teetotaler, but I'm no drinker either. My focus right now is work and the kids.
They're teenagers now, with Kenneth a freshman fine arts student and Darwi graduating from high school. They should be able to take care of themselves if I leave them at home. But I'm not very comfortable leaving them.
We've had some household activities which we do as a group. These were all Lilia's tasks before. She didn't give these tasks for us to do. Now we do the household tasks. But poorly.
How do I let go of a twenty year marriage?
I've known Lilia for 25 years. Deep she is. That one has seen the future. And she has seen the now. Lives in both she does.
Lilia sleeps on the couch. She has her legs elevated as well as her head and torso. Kinda awkward methinks. The legs have to be elevated because of her allergy and varicose veins. Her upper body has to be elevated because she has an enlarged heart. Every so often she groans and moans from a bad dream, and I have to wake her up. (On the other hand, I also have those dreams where I literally cry out for help for somebody to wake me up.)
We've got a small place. Two bedrooms, one was formerly occupied by the kids and the other by me and Lilia. I asked Kenneth to move out of the other bedroom and room with me. I guess I did that so that I won't be afraid of sleeping. We don't close doors here. Never been a habit.
I'm moving forward. But I still have this very physical pain in my chest.
Sometime soon it won't be as painful. I hope.
--Andoy
3 Sept. 2008
I was working that night. And it was a pleasant surprise that the kids and Lilia went to bed early. Around 10pm, Lilia had to get up and pee. Passing by the open door she saw me still working and told me to get some sleep lest I get sick.
Two hours later, I heard a bang with her on the floor prone with her hands across her chest. I turned her on her back and I tried to revive her. Didn't work. The past two weeks have been a blur.
It seems that everything is moving so fast.
The house is a mess. Two renters moved into the apartment on the house's ground floor. And we had to move our things out of there. We haven't cleared out Lilia's things. But we were able to pack her clothes. These would be sent to Bolinao for distribution there.
(For several years now, my parent's have been bringing old clothes to Bolinao, almost twice a year, for distribution to relatives who are not as well off as we are. The rest of the family pitches in and segregates old clothes for this purpose.)
On the advice of friends, the kids and I have done some re-arranging. We've taken out some chairs. These are now being used by one of the renters. We've put the computer in the living room. So when I work at night I am sitting with the couch to my back. That's where Lilia died by the way. And I just have to keep looking behind my back at the sofa.
The last photo we had together was during the storm.
I took a work-at-home internet-based job so that I can watch over Lilia. The daily commute was a good two hours in the morning and more than two hours in the evening. That was not good. And considering that she got hospitalized in June, I thought that working from home was a no-brainer. Three weeks later, I find myself at home and alone.
I haven't been listening to mp3 songs lately. Most of the songs are downers or from Kenneth's emo playlist. It would have been okay if it was Kenneth playing the guitar, then Darwi and I would be singing along.
I am not into a depression. I am staring at it and keeping away as much as I can.
But after two weeks, I still can't let go. I don't know how. I am not a teetotaler, but I'm no drinker either. My focus right now is work and the kids.
They're teenagers now, with Kenneth a freshman fine arts student and Darwi graduating from high school. They should be able to take care of themselves if I leave them at home. But I'm not very comfortable leaving them.
We've had some household activities which we do as a group. These were all Lilia's tasks before. She didn't give these tasks for us to do. Now we do the household tasks. But poorly.
How do I let go of a twenty year marriage?
I've known Lilia for 25 years. Deep she is. That one has seen the future. And she has seen the now. Lives in both she does.
Lilia sleeps on the couch. She has her legs elevated as well as her head and torso. Kinda awkward methinks. The legs have to be elevated because of her allergy and varicose veins. Her upper body has to be elevated because she has an enlarged heart. Every so often she groans and moans from a bad dream, and I have to wake her up. (On the other hand, I also have those dreams where I literally cry out for help for somebody to wake me up.)
We've got a small place. Two bedrooms, one was formerly occupied by the kids and the other by me and Lilia. I asked Kenneth to move out of the other bedroom and room with me. I guess I did that so that I won't be afraid of sleeping. We don't close doors here. Never been a habit.
I'm moving forward. But I still have this very physical pain in my chest.
Sometime soon it won't be as painful. I hope.
--Andoy
3 Sept. 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Missing Photos
I never gave it a thought that a website will disappear. But then
again, it was bound to happen. That's the reason websites are not
cited in academic publications: because website contents can change,
the link can disappear or the whole web page disappear.
again, it was bound to happen. That's the reason websites are not
cited in academic publications: because website contents can change,
the link can disappear or the whole web page disappear.
So now I have a bunch of blog entries without any links to pictures.
Moving forward, I have two choices, suck it, or do something about it.
I choose the latter: I'll recreate the postings using another photo
site on the web. In a leisurely fashion as I would be trying to find
the pictures first. And then post them on the photo website. This
would take some time.
Meantime, I've been busy. Writing. This could be a full-time job.
And working from home.
-- Andoy
Antonio Castellano, Jr.
Cell No: +63 915 466-3214
{thesaurus: (n.) an small extinct lizard with a large vocabulary.}
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Boston Wins and I am Looking Forward to Next Year
Final score: 131-92. Boston wins the NBA Championships. Lakers can go home and lick their wounds. Maybe next year. I just hope the next Celtics-Lakers finals doesn't come along in another 21 years. I'm
looking forward to another Celtics-Lakers NBA finals next year. And hopefully with different results.
-- Andoy
18 June 2008
Sorting Serial Numbers... huh???
I've had experience with various customers over the years, as I've been employed with several IT vendors usually on the delivery end. But this is the first time I've encountered a client which wants the machines' serial numbers sorted. I have no idea what relevance the sorted serial numbers have on their system, but the reason cited is because the company does their own asset tagging and want the items delivered to be sorted. I don't understand. Really, I don't. The reason I say this is because companies (specially large companies and government offices) have asset tags with property asset numbers. These are the ones with relevance. Other numbers printed or written on the tags are supporting to the property asset numbers. In that case, the machine's serial number's significance is to ensure uniqueness.
Looking at it from a different viewpoint, why are the machines not sorted according to serial numbers once these are shipped out of the vendor warehouse? One reason I see is that this ensures that machines from any single batch are distributed randomly across several vendors. This ensures that if there's any problem with a batch, no single customer takes the brunt of the error. Imagine if you bought a whole bunch of electric bulbs all from one bad batch, and these start exploding one by one, you would have to ask yourself why all of this happened to you, and to you alone? It starts getting personal from there. Batch randomization makes sense for the manufacturer.
Serial number sorting isn't so bad. Ten items in a box gets sorted pretty fast. But if the delivery gets to the point of thirty boxes of ten items per box, this starts getting pretty messy pretty fast. How about 2,000 items, with ten machines to a box? Or one set of three different items, each with their own serial numbers, and the order is for 1,000 sets? And you have only four people to sort these out? The only intellectual exercise you have here is the planning. Implementation gets to be pretty dumb, rote and repetitive pretty fast.
Just another rant.
--Andoy
18 June 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Linux Experiment Ends... due to the hard disk
A while back I installed Linux on my home PC. It was okay, an old Fedora distro. No problem it works fine and I really wanted to play around with it a bit. The real problem was that it was installed on top of WinXP using a third hard disk. A 4GB hard disk which is more than five years old, maybe closer to ten years old. Another thing going against the experiment was that I still didn't have internet access at the time I installed it. Would have wanted to see the performance on the net. That would have been fun.
But after this and that, and the hard disk being beyond the expected lifetime, it was beginning to show its age. At first the disk sounded very old school, like an old IBM 360KB floppy disk during boot up of an IBM XT compatible (going a wheezy/nasal "ka-zzhinng-eh ka-zzhing-ah hheengg heengg heeng"), or worse, sounding like a 10MB hard disk from thirty years ago (like a chicken with sore throat clucking "tock-tock-tock ka-shheeeghuee ka-shheeeghue"). But this only happened about once every hour or two after being booting up to Windows.
For about two weeks, I was thinking of deleting the third hard disk and reverting back to WinXP boot up. Okay, I procrastinated. And then I got busty last week, with Lilia at the hospital, I only spent about two to three hours a day at home taking a nap and changing clothes. (The kids weren't home, they were with my parents.) The PC was still running fine, except for the intermittent sounds from the third hard disk.
And over the weekend, the hard disk with the Linux OS died a natural death, from old age.
Which left me with a PC which could not boot up. Good thing I had a ready of things to do, to uninstall Linux. Simple enough to find the XP install disk, then going to the recovery console and running FIXMBR. Well and good, but for a while there, I forgot the administrator password and had to type in several possible passwords before hitting on the correct one. FIXMBR done on the console and rebooting I was able to have the PC up and running WinXP.
Next hurdle was the second hard disk. It was tagged by Windows as unformatted. I was about to give several names a call before I remembered that the internet was up and running. A simple search for a utility to "unformat" a partition, a little effort at understanding the command-line text-based interface, with almost literate computerspeak/technicalese and a reboot, and the hard disk was recovered without a problem.
So there, I found out how easy it was to uninstall Linux on the PC. Just needs some patience. A lot less patience than if you were uninstalling Windows. By the way, though installing Linux does need more technical knowledge, it's a lot less of a chore than theautomated install process for Windows.
So now I am back to a single OS machine. I'm still going to go back to Linux sometime soon. Or maybe using a second machine or even a third PC. I can wait.
-- Andoy
17 June 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
The One Ring
After more than five years of telling myself that I will have my ring fixed, I finally did. I had the ring cut and taken off my finger.
I have only one ring, the only piece of jewelry I wear, and that's my wedding band. It's just there on my right ring finger. Sitting at the base, like a good ring should be. Unobtrusive. Sometimes I twirl it around the finger. Otherwise, it is not noticeable. Except for the slight pain as it presses on the muscle.
After the ring was cut and taken off, I found out that it was two (ring sizes) too small. I have not taken it off for more than eight years. Or ten. I'm not sure. But I remember that it had been pressing painfully against my finger for a long long while. It might have started pressing on the muscle around the time I stopped taking it off. Which was around the time I gained 10 pounds in a month. And then added another 10 pounds, also in a month, five or so years later. I weighed about 115-120 pounds when I got married. I'm now at 140 (hovering between 136 to 145).
I am told that this would be temporary, and the pain would go away in a month. I hope so. But I guess the scar would be there for a while.
-- Andoy
-- Andoy
16 June 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Lilia's hospitalization
Lilia was hospitalized this week due to cellulitis of her right leg. It sounds painful, looks painful and personally, I don't want to find out how painful really is. Suffice to say, that Lilia was crying when she told me how painful it was. At which point I told her we should get her to a hospital and in which case, the more she cried, begging me not to have her confined. We compromised on a visit to a doctor.
She was prescribed antibiotics at first but on the follow-up checkup, there was no other alternative but to be confined in order to have the antibiotics administered intravenously. After several days of that, her leg had improved. She was discharged this morning, but with still a regimen of oral antibiotics for the next few days.
The main reason she doesn't want to be confined is because she is still traumatized after her prior stay in the hospital due to a gall bladder stones complicated by pancreatitis. That was painful.
She's out now. And taking another maintenance medicine.
--Andoy
14 June 2008
She was prescribed antibiotics at first but on the follow-up checkup, there was no other alternative but to be confined in order to have the antibiotics administered intravenously. After several days of that, her leg had improved. She was discharged this morning, but with still a regimen of oral antibiotics for the next few days.
The main reason she doesn't want to be confined is because she is still traumatized after her prior stay in the hospital due to a gall bladder stones complicated by pancreatitis. That was painful.
She's out now. And taking another maintenance medicine.
--Andoy
14 June 2008
Monday, June 02, 2008
... and a month and a half later, Lakers and Celtics go to the dance
A while back, I wrote about the Lakers and Celtics meeting for the NBA Finals.
This should be fun.
-- Andoy
-- Andoy
2 June 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Irene's Birthday
Posted pictures from Irene's birthday: Evolving stories, poems, pictures, images...
Irene is now based in Singapore and she planed in last May 18, her birthday for a two-week vacation. Original plans were for a family outing. But one thing leading to another, not all us siblings were there. Will be posting pictures from the outing next time.
-- Andoy
26 May 2008
Monday, May 05, 2008
A disk crash and a recovery
My hard disk crashed last night. In a way, I was expecting it as we've just moved and the PC got moved around more than most items. I was actually prepared for it, I had a backup and recovery program which made weekly incremental backups.
That was not the problem. Things started going weird from there. I have three hard disks on the PC: the system disk; the data disk; and a Linux system disk. (For one reason or another I have not been able to access the two other disks when using Linux. I have not had time to experiment on it.) These are three physical disks with single partitions each. So I am pretty sure that the chances of a hard disk crash for all the disks at the same time is very slim indeed.
First thing I did, once I found out that I couldn't boot up on my primary, I tried to reboot using Linux. But since it was riding on top of Windows, it did not boot up. Just a lot of hard disk activity.
Next, since I have the backup program, I tried to find the recovery CD first. And since we've just moved and the data CDs have not yet been taken out of the boxes, I have not had the time to do a cursory (ocular?) inventory. On the first pass, I wasn't able to find the recovery disk. I had to resort to the OS install. Booting up from the install disk, I ran into an error message I have not encountered before: a blue screen with a short message, the gist of which was "hardware error" with a hex number on the next line. No other line followed.
At which point, I tried to change the hard disk data cable connections, doing different permutations, taking out one hard disk, changing BIOS settings, changing boot up settings. I had to have a break. To calm down as it was getting to be very frustrating and I was on the verge of a panic attack. I didn't have the time, nor the energy to fix a big problem. That would have to wait till the next weekend.
After watching some TV, and some snacks (corn puffs), I went back to the CDs. Finally found the recovery CD, and was able to start work on the data recovery. Insert the CD, boot, choose the backup file and wait. After a relatively long wait, which should have felt like a short wait, the system disk was recovered and the PC was able to boot up just fine. However, it turns out that the last full back up I had was last December, with weekly incremental backups. I had to mount the last incremental backup (made the evening before we moved). This made the backup a virtual drive. And I had to copy the files from there to the system disk, which turned out to take much longer. I copied several folders last night. And I will have to copy several more till I can get to where the PC was two weeks ago.
All in all, a much shorter exercise than prior experience with hard disk recovery. But it could have been a much shorter procedure, if the full backup was more recent.
Once all of the recovery is done to my satisfaction, I would have to set the full backups on a more frequent schedule.
--Andoy
5 May 2008
5 May 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
A New Residence
In the past twenty years, this would be our seventh residence. But it would be more from scratch than ever before.
My brother bought the house last time he was in town. It was a three-door apartment at that time. And what he planned was for me, my siblings and Mama and Tatay to live there. My family would be living on the second storey, my sister and her family on one of the ground floor apartments and my parents and brother in the other one. Several months down, this is just about to come true. Me and my family is moving in. The rest will follow as events have overtaken the plans.
The original plans included some renovation to the structure: raising the first floor roof and ceiling; adding a veranda on the second floor; increasing the area of the second floor; minor plumbing repairs; electrical rewiring; repairing some of the walls; etc. Not much really but it does sound like a lot.
Instead of all of those things, we're moving in with practically just a more livable improvement. We had the second storey floor repaired. It does need a flooring surface, like linoleum or vinyl tiles. The bedroom doors have to be replaced. Currently these have been removed. The rear wall needs to be replaced. hmmmm And the front door, which looks like a gate, should look like a front door.
But it is livable. It is a viable residence. Something we could repair and renovate as we live in it.
We can't bring everything with us. The china cabinet for one. And I'm not sure at all if we need all the cabinets. Or if we have space for them. The computer would most probably be placed beside the TV and beside the sofa. Which is just beside the dining table. hehehe
No, I am not complaining. I am actually and truly grateful and enjoying myself. For all the right reasons. This will be home. As did all the prior six residences.
--Andoy
26 April 2008
My brother bought the house last time he was in town. It was a three-door apartment at that time. And what he planned was for me, my siblings and Mama and Tatay to live there. My family would be living on the second storey, my sister and her family on one of the ground floor apartments and my parents and brother in the other one. Several months down, this is just about to come true. Me and my family is moving in. The rest will follow as events have overtaken the plans.
The original plans included some renovation to the structure: raising the first floor roof and ceiling; adding a veranda on the second floor; increasing the area of the second floor; minor plumbing repairs; electrical rewiring; repairing some of the walls; etc. Not much really but it does sound like a lot.
Instead of all of those things, we're moving in with practically just a more livable improvement. We had the second storey floor repaired. It does need a flooring surface, like linoleum or vinyl tiles. The bedroom doors have to be replaced. Currently these have been removed. The rear wall needs to be replaced. hmmmm And the front door, which looks like a gate, should look like a front door.
But it is livable. It is a viable residence. Something we could repair and renovate as we live in it.
We can't bring everything with us. The china cabinet for one. And I'm not sure at all if we need all the cabinets. Or if we have space for them. The computer would most probably be placed beside the TV and beside the sofa. Which is just beside the dining table. hehehe
No, I am not complaining. I am actually and truly grateful and enjoying myself. For all the right reasons. This will be home. As did all the prior six residences.
--Andoy
26 April 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
NBA Finals. The possibility exists...
At this point where there's a lot of popular players across a lot of teams, and there is no single team with a conceded advantage, anything can happen, and any team has a chance to win the NBA Finals. However, after having said that, it is a wonder that nobody has talked about the possibility of the top two teams after the regular season fighting it out for the Finals. Against all historical data, nobody is talking as yet of a Celtics-Lakers (or Lakers-Celtics) Finals.
The thought that this is being pushed out of the collective consciousness is a wonder. It can be explained by the simple fact of popularity. There are other teams which are more popular. And these two teams have not been heavy contenders for some time now. But not this year. Start of the year brought Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to the Boston. They have been looking tough since the start of the season.
And just when the trade deadline was coming along, Los Angeles got Pau Gasol into the fold. This was supposed to be a project which might bear fruit in the near future. Looks like the future came a little early.
Celtics-Lakers. The continuing rivalry which by the looks of it will continue for at least another three years or until the contracts of the stars run out and comes time to rebuild again. Something to look forward to.
I'm a Lakers fan, but if the above match up does happen, Lakers in six games. Or Celtics in seven. I really doubt anyone can win against the Celtics on a seventh game this year.
-- andoy
-- andoy
25 April 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Kenneth and Darwi, updates
Kenneth has decided to go to St. Scholastica's college to take a up Fine Arts. He informed me about this during the weekend. This is good news, I guess. That ends the speculation as to course and school. He was accepted to Music Education at St. Scholastica's as well as Computer Science to FEU-East Asia College and at Mapua (Makati Campus).
--andoy
Darwi's birthday today. Happy Birthday! She's sixteen. I'll be posting new pictures of her soon. She'll be in her senior year in high school and should be taking college entrance exams soon.
--andoy
14 April 2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Another page layout edit
wala lang. hehehe I just thought I'd shake things up a bit. But not too much.
--andoy
12 April 2008
--andoy
12 April 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Not Dead Yet
The phone's demise was badly reported. It's back and working. Only yesterday did I find out that it does not charge through the USB if the connection is also being used to transfer data to and from the computer. In fact, it seems that the phone is using up its own power when connected as a USB flash drive, it does not draw power from the computer.
So there. I tried my luck in connecting the phone, again, and for the nth time to the PC hoping it would get recharged. It did. And it's working fine.
Now to keep in mind to keep it charged.
--andoy
10 April 2008
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Dead Phone
My phone died. Or maybe not yet dead. Just that I can't charge the batteries. First the charger died a week ago. I was forced to borrow Darwi's phone. She's got a charger, whereas I would be forced to charge my phone via a USB connection on a computer. I intend to get a new charger, but wasn't able to get around to it last Saturday, being too tired from work deploying terminals to Zambales.
Now after several days of charging via the USB, the phone dies. I am not sure why but it might be related to USB problems on some PCs. There are some motherboards which USB power have destroyed USB devices. I should know. I had a USB flash disk fried because of such a USB connection.
Strategy now is to try other computers and see if the phone would charge. Would have to go buy a new charger soon. Soonest being Saturday. Or when I can spare the money.
Meantime, I can receive text messages and calls (I think) using the office-issue phone, but I can't use it to make a call or send SMS.
Communication wise, I am isolated. Not good.
--andoy
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
The Mt. Samat Adventure
When I was growing up, Mt. Samat was the venue for the annual celebration of Araw ng Kagitingan, formerly Bataan Day, commemorating the day Bataan fell to the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. The Mt. Samat Memorial shrine was built in the late 1960's.
I was within the area about two weeks ago and just had to make a quick trip to the site. I was with a team deploying EFT POS to a chain of LPG stores in the Bataan area, and we were within an hour's drive of the memorial. We left the store at Orini just past 4:00pm, went to Balanga to withdraw money from the ATM (it being the only place in the area where there's an BPI or Landbank ATM. And were at the highway crossroad to Morong by 5:00pm. I was with Tony, the technical guy and Mang Louie. And while on the way, we were also trying to search for a convenience store or sari-sari store where we can buy some bottled water. Mang Louie noticed a fruit stand offering buco juice. We had fresh buco juice, straight from the buco. We left the roadside stand around 5:30 or thereabouts.
Off we went to the shrine. Not getting lost as there were landmarks all the way to the intersection, With the van climbing, we noticed that there were no traffic on the road up the mountain. We only saw one group of hiders going down, a couple on a motorbike also going down and a road crew painting lanes. It was already 6:00pm when we got to the gate where a big sign said "Touring hours from 8:00am to 5:00pm." Only thing to do was to turn around and take some pictures along the way.
Obviously, that was the first time any of us had ever gone to the shrine. hehe All in all, it was fun. Didn't get to see much of the shrine, but the road trip was great.
--andoy
8 April 2008
I was within the area about two weeks ago and just had to make a quick trip to the site. I was with a team deploying EFT POS to a chain of LPG stores in the Bataan area, and we were within an hour's drive of the memorial. We left the store at Orini just past 4:00pm, went to Balanga to withdraw money from the ATM (it being the only place in the area where there's an BPI or Landbank ATM. And were at the highway crossroad to Morong by 5:00pm. I was with Tony, the technical guy and Mang Louie. And while on the way, we were also trying to search for a convenience store or sari-sari store where we can buy some bottled water. Mang Louie noticed a fruit stand offering buco juice. We had fresh buco juice, straight from the buco. We left the roadside stand around 5:30 or thereabouts.
Off we went to the shrine. Not getting lost as there were landmarks all the way to the intersection, With the van climbing, we noticed that there were no traffic on the road up the mountain. We only saw one group of hiders going down, a couple on a motorbike also going down and a road crew painting lanes. It was already 6:00pm when we got to the gate where a big sign said "Touring hours from 8:00am to 5:00pm." Only thing to do was to turn around and take some pictures along the way.
Obviously, that was the first time any of us had ever gone to the shrine. hehe All in all, it was fun. Didn't get to see much of the shrine, but the road trip was great.
--andoy
8 April 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Holy Week and TV
When I was younger, Holy week TV was practically non-existent. The only thing you can watch would be Father Peyton's Rosary and the Stations of the Cross series. And that would not show Jesus's face. Of course there would be the biblical movies in theaters, and on some TV spots. Movies like "The Robe", "Samson and Delilah", "Ten Commandments", etc. Nowadays, there's series marathons. Admittedly, I got caught up in one of the marathons. And "7th Heaven" is addictive, it makes sense and a whole lot more fun to watch end to end.
There was a time my family filleted and dried their own daing for Holy Week. That was something. Specially considering that in those days, samaral (barangan) was a low priority buy and not very popular fish in the 70's. There was even that one time when we dried fish roe (samaral) for Holy Week. I can't remember when was the last time I had dried fish eggs.
There was also one other thing which we did before, and that was to go to one church and pray upon the Stations of the Cross. Sometime back this changed with a lot of families. There was more mobility, people wanted to be away from home, in a way, and still be in the Holy Week mode, those with cars started visiting churches, as much as possible, it became a sort of church pilgrimage running around town and the nearest provinces going to twelve churches. Twelve churches?!! I find it hard to understand as the concept and tradition of Visita Iglesia loses meaning when you spend more time driving and travelling than praying. Just my take on the matter. If some people think that way, that's their problem.
Times have really changed.
--andoy
21 March 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Recruiting Freshmen
This past Saturday, my son Kenneth took an entrance exam for BS Computer Science at a school in the university belt. I've heard of developments within the school and how it has practically spun out the Computer Science program to a new college, complete with a new building and other facilities. In fact, the new college is quite aggressive in asserting it's position as a serious place for training future IT professionals.
I was surprised that the entrance exam was free. Surprised because the university has an entrance exam fee for its other courses. That's okay, by me. There were other surprises: the exam is done through a PC, results to be given out after an orientation and tour of facilities. There was even a free lunch for the examinees (and their parents/guardians who were waiting for the exams to finish.)
I didn't take part in the tour of facilities and laboratories as I was at an internet shop coordinating to fix a problem at a client site. (One tech guy going from one client branch to another, three of them in fact, and another one by phone support; and another guy at the Makati office updating the data on client/server software. While also on the line with the client PM to fix the GPRS connection with their provider.) But that's a different story I would rather not go into.
Like most of the new IT schools, the college is a collaboration between IT companies and the (older) university. Though I don't really buy the definition of courses that they gave (which is the same definition of courses a lot of the other colleges and universities have given): BS Computer Science is for the traditional course heavy on theory and languages, whereas BS Information Technology focuses on "new" technology, specially web-based or internet technology. All in all, this is one aggressive school. I just don't know if Kenneth would choose this and the course.
--andoy
17 March 2008
I was surprised that the entrance exam was free. Surprised because the university has an entrance exam fee for its other courses. That's okay, by me. There were other surprises: the exam is done through a PC, results to be given out after an orientation and tour of facilities. There was even a free lunch for the examinees (and their parents/guardians who were waiting for the exams to finish.)
I didn't take part in the tour of facilities and laboratories as I was at an internet shop coordinating to fix a problem at a client site. (One tech guy going from one client branch to another, three of them in fact, and another one by phone support; and another guy at the Makati office updating the data on client/server software. While also on the line with the client PM to fix the GPRS connection with their provider.) But that's a different story I would rather not go into.
Like most of the new IT schools, the college is a collaboration between IT companies and the (older) university. Though I don't really buy the definition of courses that they gave (which is the same definition of courses a lot of the other colleges and universities have given): BS Computer Science is for the traditional course heavy on theory and languages, whereas BS Information Technology focuses on "new" technology, specially web-based or internet technology. All in all, this is one aggressive school. I just don't know if Kenneth would choose this and the course.
--andoy
17 March 2008
A Rant: Globe's Patchy Service
I cannot take it any more. This is a rant.
For the past few days, I have been having problems with Globe Telecom's SMS service. Admittedly, I am one of millions of Globe Pre-paid phone subscribers who use the UNLITXT service. For me, it is less a matter of the all-day unlimited texting, but more about not worrying of the cost per SMS message sent. I subscribe so that I don't worry about the cost, even if it might be more expensive that way. I send the registration, a confirmation is sent back to me informing me of the service start and for how long, and I use the service. Five days worry free for me. Worry free that is, until the that point where suddenly the service stops for one reason or another, or a message note appears as "message not sent." This is ridiculous. No network advisory beforehand, just the "message not sent" warning after you try to send a message.
Me, I'm a casual user. No problem. But I do know of a whole barangay of dried fish vendors who are dependent on SMS for sales to their middlemen. They receive the message, the dried fish gets packed and sent by bus, and the transaction gets paid by GCash. And a day without a text message is a day without sales or collection. Walang kita! The vendors would be dependent on the roadside buyers. Imagine a thousand peso transaction per text message. These people earn more from their deliveries. That is how powerful text messaging has become. Patchy service is not acceptable.
End of rant.
--andoy
17 March 2008
For the past few days, I have been having problems with Globe Telecom's SMS service. Admittedly, I am one of millions of Globe Pre-paid phone subscribers who use the UNLITXT service. For me, it is less a matter of the all-day unlimited texting, but more about not worrying of the cost per SMS message sent. I subscribe so that I don't worry about the cost, even if it might be more expensive that way. I send the registration, a confirmation is sent back to me informing me of the service start and for how long, and I use the service. Five days worry free for me. Worry free that is, until the that point where suddenly the service stops for one reason or another, or a message note appears as "message not sent." This is ridiculous. No network advisory beforehand, just the "message not sent" warning after you try to send a message.
Me, I'm a casual user. No problem. But I do know of a whole barangay of dried fish vendors who are dependent on SMS for sales to their middlemen. They receive the message, the dried fish gets packed and sent by bus, and the transaction gets paid by GCash. And a day without a text message is a day without sales or collection. Walang kita! The vendors would be dependent on the roadside buyers. Imagine a thousand peso transaction per text message. These people earn more from their deliveries. That is how powerful text messaging has become. Patchy service is not acceptable.
End of rant.
--andoy
17 March 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)