Been a while...

In a world where there is war, people die needlessly everyday. In a world where there is hunger, disease, pain, sorrow, it is really hard to find something pure in this world. Something that would lift yourself up from whatever ashes you came from. Something that would give hope to the masses. Something that would say "Hey, it will be alright".

When my wife said that she has something to show me in YouTube, I just said "OK". No biggies, just another good video. She was all excited about it. When we got home, I just lied down in bed and she loaded the video. It was the video from Britain's Got Talent. Conny, a six year-old girl, sings Somewhere Over The Rainbow. I just thought hey, I've watched my share of that, kids singing sweet songs. The moment I heard her voice, I was stunned. I felt light crying, but I think I was too shocked that some of of my bodily functions are not working well. She was really good. I mean really, really, really really, REALLY GOOD! I know it's a cliche, but her voice was of an angel. It was pure, from heaven, from God. She made feel that I was not worthy of hearing her voice. It made me feel unpure, but at the same time she was cleansing me. I hardly say nice things about stuff that I see or hear. But this one is really way up my list of things I want to hear again before I die. Enough of me, here watch it yourselves....

I always wanted to be a star. When I was a kid, I wanted to be in everything. Not necessarily be "in" like trendy but I want to be always in the loop. Sometimes, I do crazy things just to be noticed.

What is it like being the "star"? Everyone around you knows who you are. Just hearing your name would get reactions like "Ah yeah I know him" or "Yeah, he's from _____, right?". Everyone does know you. BUT, does everyone like you? You may be popular, you maybe a household name. But who is around you? Who holds your hand and says nice things about you even if you're not around?

I just learned one thing, the hard way. It's better to be at the background, laying low and keeping things "steady", rather than be in the spotlight and wither away.

It's been a long while since my last entry....

My PC acted up again. It's because we cannot browse some secure sites and I have been trying fix the damn thing. I looked every on the web to fix my prob but it was in vain. Still looking though.

I have just finished reading Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. I read that during the Da Vinci Code fever. I wanted to read something and that's one book I liked reading again. I am still facinated by the Illumiati brands. It looks so cool. The symmetry was brilliant. I don't know if the brands were actually a historical fact or a made thing by the author. Still, it's brilliant. And what is more brilliant is this....

I started playing RF again. I started playing back when it was just starting with LevelUp PH. I grew tired of it coz I had to shell out dough. I was browsing and found a private server that is free. So I downloaded the client and viola, lvl 23 Bellato dude. Hehe, nice...

I'll ping you guys with updates....kinda slow today.....

Been a while huh....Sorry for not updating my blog as usual.. I have been kinda busy for the past few days, and my eyes are hurting when I stare at the PC for a while. Maybe I need glasses again.

Well my wife tagged me and I need to write 7 random things about me. Well, I can tell you a lot of things but let's start with these 7:

1. I don't like to be told what to do. Maybe because of my boastful nature. I mean I know what right things to do, just don't tell me ( like this task ).

2. I am a jack of all trades, but a master of none. I am a very quick learner, but I tire out fast and move on to the next new thing. It's like I know a lot, but I do not really consider myself an authority to any of them.

3. You can leave at any place that has a TV with cable, PS2 with games that I like, a DVD player and some Pancit Canton and I'll be ok for weeks to come. Just give me food and something to do and I will be quiet.

4. I like reading books. I don't really love reading but I would rather have a good book on a cool Sunday afternoon rather than go to a bar Saturday night.

5. I don't have one music preference. My CD collection ranges from Vienna Teng to Tears for Fears to Godsmack to Pearl Jam. If I like it, I'll listen to it ( and I don't care what you think ).

6. I always wanted to have some special power, preferably something that would not alter what I look like. I like the power of The Shadow. You know, the Alec Baldwin movie where he plays a hero that can cloud people's minds. That's cool.

7. I am a tinker. I like to try things that has machinery. I often play with our old TV set. Not play like a toy, but open it up and check if all transistors and capacitors are working. Sometimes, my brother yells at me because he can't find his tester.

So that is it. And like the good blogger that I am, I tag Enoc, Larry, and Den.

Ok so here it goes...

I took a leave today because my wife is overdue on her check up with the doctor. We decided we'll go today since this will be the only time that the two of us can get out of work. So we went to my sister's place to get my mom ( who will undergo checkup as well ) and we hung out till 3:00 pm before we called the clinic. Then we found out the doctor was out and she'll come back next week. Great, we are from Cainta and the clinic is in UST. Cab fare gone to waste. Anyways, so that it will be a productive day, we decided to go to SM Megamall to buy a new bed ( since one of our dogs punctured our beloved airbed ).

It was nice to be in SM Mega again without tome pressure. Usually, my wife and I are at Mega to hang around till she has work or till I have work. It's nice to walk around the mall again, I feel like I'm back in college. Anyways, after eating we went in search for the illustrious bed that is "swak" in our budget. We went to CitiBeds and they only sell Orthopedic mattresses which costs around P 54,000 - P75, 000 for a Queen size bed. As my mother-in-law would say, " Inyo na yang kama nyo!". So we decided to go to OurHome. That's from Citibeds in Mega A 4th floor to OurHome Mega B Basement. Great. Walkathon. Good thing, we were able to find a bed we liked and that is within budget. So we asked how long the delivery would take. The salesman said, " Ano ba ngayon? Thursday? So bali Thursday next week po. " Fantabulous. Our backs can't wait that long. Too bad for the sales dude, he was kinda nice though. Since we're there, my wife decided to check out Bioresearch. I checked out a video agem store. I went to pick her up and I saw her drooling over a baby Sharpei. She usually does that so I just let her. Then suddenly she told me she wanted to buy it. " I-uuwi ko na sya". " Ok. Bilin mo.", I said. Wrong answer. She had the money to buy the puppy. I had to drag her out of the store or else we will have a new member of the family. we called a cab immediately and started to go home.

On our way home, I remembered there was no food left at our place. So I said we can go to Sta. Lucia Mall and check out beds there. At the same time, I can buy dinner. So to the mall we went. I checked out and bought a PS2 game first. Then on our way to the furniture section of the mall, I saw a DVD player. I kinda promised myself that I will buy my mom-in-law a DVD player. Since I was standing there, I bought one. The salesgirl had all the spiels she needed. Very unusual in this part of the country. So there, I have a new DVD player. Off to the furniture section. My wife looked at the mattresses and found the same bed we found at Mega, at its cheaper. We immediately bought it, and asked when it will be delivered. The sales guy said he can deliver it that night. Cool. So I paid the guy, bought dinner and went home.

Now I am sitting on my new bed, and I have been up for 30 hours now....

More energy, mas happy.....

I just woke up. Well, technically my dogs woke me up. My wife told me, " Aga aga blogging na agad. ADIK! ". I told her, " Di naman, just checking out stuff lang....". And checking out stuff I found a cool test. Want to know what villain you are? The link's below. Me...I am...

Apocalypse
You believe in the survival of the fittest. You believe that you are the fittest


75% Juggernaut
72% Dr. Doom
65% Kingpin
59% Mr. Freeze
58% Lex Luthor
57% Magneto
56% Mystique
56% Dark Phoenix
56% Venom
54% Catwoman
53% The Joker
52% Riddler
44% Poison Ivy
42% Green Goblin
40% Two-Face

Click here to take the "Which Super Villain are you?" quiz...




cool....

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”

- Marcus Aurelius

I came across some blogs of some people I know (not from the blogosphere..I mean really know like friends, office mates, the like). Majority of them rants about work. I understood why they felt that way, because at some point I felt that way too. There was a point where I thought that I was going through a battery test everyday. Have you felt like everything that you are doing was, is, and will be wrong? Yeah, exactly what I felt too. I already did everything that I needed to do but they still look for something else to shove up my ass. I'm drifting away from the topic....

Well, I just have one thing to say to the people who rant about work. Everything is about PERCEPTION. What is Perception? It is defined as "the act or faculty of apprehending by means of the senses or of the mind". Too long. One word meaning...."understanding". It is how you understand things around you. It is how you see things. It is how you react based on a physical or psychological stimuli.

Now that it is defined, what is the common ground there. In the last three lines lies the solution, YOU. It is, was, and always will be YOU. YOU have to change the way you see things. Why? Because one thing that you have to remember in solving any kind of problem is to start with what you can control. Do not dwell on things you do not have control over, you can't change those. And in this situation, what is that one thing that we can control. Yourself. You have to change what you are seeing, or at least look at it from a different angle. If you are pissed at someone, instead of focusing on the what he is doing to annoy you, why don't you focus on why he is acting like that. Maybe he has a problem at home. Maybe he just got himself into some deep shit and he is asking you to join him. Maybe it's Let's-make-every body's-day-like-hell day in his own little planet. Once you have the reason, understanding will follow. Once you understand, then you can change your perception of things. Then the healing will begin, you'll start to feel better. And the people around you will start feeling better. And the people around them. So on and so forth....

It's really hard at first, but once you knacked the first one, it'll be a piece of cake. And this skill is a life saver, too. It'll relieve you of some stress, making you a more positive individual.

I know, it saved mine....=)

It has been a while since I posted here. Well, two things....

1. The Artic Freezer and the HDD came Monday morning ( when I was sleeping..Air21 you rak!). I had to install the freezer immediately coz I want to see it work during the hot summer afternoon inside my hot summer bedroom. Installation was really easy. You just have to be careful on hitting transistors and cables that are enatangled inside my PC. It's during these times that I am reminded why I can't be an onsite PC tech. My hands are too damn big to fit in the narrow spaces in the PC. Anyways, I was able to install the freezer, and turned my PC on. As usual, my first try always fails. I checked the thing and reseated it. Then it turned on, opened Windows normally. The next thing to open Asus PC Probe ( a software that cam with the mobo to check voltages and temps ). Lo and behold, the temp that was playing around 65 - 80 degrees cam down to 38-45 degrees! Wow, and it's noon! The reviews for this CPU cooler was nice but I was not expecting it to be this effective. Brownie points for Artic Coolers!





2. It's time for the hard drive. I bought a 160 GB IDE Seagate. I borrowed an IDE cable from an officemate and the mobo was not reconizing it. I tried to slave it from my primary IDE and now I am sure it's the cable. I went to SM Megamall to buy one Ultra ATA cable. As soon as I got home from work I installed the new cable and attached the HDD. It recognized it and it is working perfectly fine.

After installing those two, I transferred all my needed files to my new HDD and reformatted the old HDD to have one primary HDD with one partition.

That is why I was kinda busy these past few days. Thanks for everyone who dropped by to check on my blog since I was out. I promise to make up for the lost time.

Next project, a decent computer table and a high end chair. Anyone who knows a good place I can buy these things please leave a comment. All I see in the malls are the generic tables and the big and bulky office tables. I just want a sleek and small pc table. About the chair, if you have been to station 168 in Makati Ave., those are the chairs I am looking for.

Sorry for making my post a classified ad.

My CPU is kinda running at 60-75 degrees Celsius. I don't know if it's the weather or what but it is running hot. So I decided to buy a cooler for my CPU and a 160 GB hard drive. I checked out TipidPC.com and found a reputed seller and made a deal. I had my wife deposit the money in his account and he shipped the goods via Air21. ETA Saturday. Perfect coz it's my of and I will have time to install the cooler and the hard drive and reformat my PC.

(ramble mode on)

I waited all Saturday for the delivery but ladyluck has frowned on me (yet again). I started waiting around 9:00 am. I called Air21 at 2:00 pm and asked what was the status of the package. They told me it was for delivery. Ok, I waited. It was already 4:00 pm and still no delivery. I called again. This guy was obviously new, he got my details and he said that as much as possible they will try to deliver it before 8:00 pm. Wow, there goes my day. I thought well hey, I'll just install it Sunday, no biggie. 7:00 pm, no delivery. I called Air 21 again, the guy who answered seemed ok. He told me that it was coming from QC ( I live in Cainta for crying out loud, why is it in QC??!?!!? ). Anyways he escalated the case and said that it will be delivered today. I asked him if it is not delivered today, when will I expect it? He said, in a very perky voice, "Ay sir! Monday na po kasi hindi po kami nag dedeliver ng Sunday." One hour till the deadline and I just got this very important detail. I told him that their commitment has the same meaning as opening a can of tuna fish. And that if I do not get my package, it will be hell to pay on Monday.

I work in a call center. Some of you may think that working in a CC is an easy job. We provide world class customer service. I do not care which call center you are from, all of us provide world class service to our customers because if we do not we won't last a day. Saying this, I am convinced that in the Philippines, customer service is not one of the things business owners prioritize. Well, big companies in particular. I do not know what, but in the US, if a company did his customers wrong, it's a mortal sin. If it was proven that this company has very poor customer service, they are out. The BBB ( Better Business Bureau ) will haul their assess and shred their licenses. Here, they will just smile and say "Ay sir! Monday na po kasi hindi po kami nag dedeliver ng Sunday."

crap...

(ramble mode off)


Well, I just wanna get that out of my system. I'm just thinking, when will the government guard us from these kinds of people? I mean yeah, the country is in shit right now and it's really hard to maintain a business that is why we have to sacrifice and one of the things we sacrifice is our customer service people ( whew! long sentence ). Question sir...when was the country NOT in shit? Every year you say, ( in a very Bill Luz kinda accent ) " Business is not looking up in the Philippines this quarter." With that kind of service, lemme guess why?

Since it will be election time in the next couple weeks, I wish some senatoriables would have something i their commercials such as:

1. Lahat ng jeep hanggang pituhan na lang!! Wala nang siksikan!!!
2. Ang chickenjoy sa Jolibee laging bagong luto!!!
3. Wala nang lupapay na french fries!!!
4. Wala nang tatayo sa mga bus!!!
5. Lahat ng nagbebenta ng DVD, ALAM ANG BINEBENTA NILA!! Hindi puro "Kumplet sison yan ser!"

If wishes were fishes, the world would be an ocean...hay

I would like to thank Larry for this. Of all the online personality tests I have taken ( and that is a lot ), this would have to be the best. Nice graphics and everything. I do suggest you check it out...

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

I have not watched it...yet...but the buzz in the office was it was great. The story was predictable but the effects made up for it. It was already a hit before it actually opened here in Manila. I had to tell everybody that no one is allowed to talk abouot the movie until Monday, just a respect for thos who has not watched it. I already yelled at two agents for telling the story while I was there. Talk about martial law.

Here are some early reviews I found atRotten Tomatoes

"You sharpen the human appetite to the point where it can split atoms with its desire; you build egos the size of cathedrals; fiber-optically connect the world to every eager impulse; grease even the dullest dreams with these dollar-green, gold-plated fantasies, until every human becomes an aspiring emperor, becomes his own god... and where can you go from there?"

-Al Pacino as John Milton in the Devil's Advocate

I love this movie. For one, Al Pacino's my favourite actor ( next to Jack Nicholson and Tommy Lee Jones ). The reason why I like him is how he delivers lines. Lines that will stick to your head and tell your grandchildren about. One of my faves was from Scent of a Woman (""I know exactly where your body is. What I'm looking for is some indication of a brain." ). Cool. Clever. Nice.

(ramble mode on)

I posted this line in my previous blogs before. The reason I did that is because I hated ( and still hate ) people who beef themselves up too much. Is it just me? Or are some people overdoing it? There is such a thing as too much. One pure example of this is what some organizations are doing to their members. Some organizations are saying " We are the best!", "You belong in the company of excellence". I mean, yes, you have won awards. You have been on the top for so long that you have mushrooms growing on your feet while you're up there. But my question is, do you have to rub it so much on ALL of our faces?

I guess some people need that. There was a point in my life when I needed people to tell me how good I was. I needed adulation, I needed admiration. Some people use it as a go-go juice to motivate them in finishing a hard task. Well if you think about it , yeah, it makes sense. Everyone needs some grease now and then. What I really don't like are people who constantly remind themselves that they are the best, even at times when they are obviously not. It somewhat like hypnotizing yourself in believing that no one is above you. You are the greatest, best, most admired person in the world. That everyone is soooooo envious of you just because of the simple, significant fact that you are YOU.

Now tell me....how can you have REAL friends if you can stay REAL to yourself...

(ramble mode off)

I always watch TV when I was a kid. But my family did not want me to watch tagalog movies. The most tagalog I watched was Batibot. It became a habit and I kinda liked watching series with my brothers. Series like A Team, Mission: Impossible, and my all-time favourite, Macgyver.

We often joked about him, saying that he can get out of anything. I remember this episode where he stopped a chemical leak from a tank by sealing it with a bar of Nestle Crunch. My brother always said "Pwede kang magkape kahit na nasusunog na bahay nyo basta kasama mo si Macgyver." Yeah, I think he would get out of that situation with his eyes closed and hands tied behind his back.

I was browsing through YouTube and I saw this link. It's a video of a guy playing the theme song of Macgyver using his acoustic guitar. The thing that blew my mind was the accuracy of the whole thing. I mean, it was really really close to the actual song. Here check it out yourselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1CZ7yCgkOM

The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.
Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)

I had a TL back when I was an agent that said one thing is needed to succeed in his team, BALANCE. He thought us to balance our metrics, making sure that we do not leave out other metrics while we try to improve on the critical ones. I use this ideology in all the teams i have handled.

Every time someone from work rants about stuff, I always say " God is a God of Balance, he will balance things out. Balance is also the reason why Albert Einstein believes in life after death. He said that the energy in the universe is constant, one energy will constantly transform in another form of energy. That is why he believes that when we die, we just transform in another form of energy, our souls. Balance. Even the Yin and Yang is about two opposing forces that compliment each other. Again, balance...

So what does that have to do with me. Well, the reason why I believe so much in balance is because everyday I feel that God is balancing me out. If I have a very shitty day at work, I will have a great day at home. If I feel great at work, something would go wrong at home.

Today was a good example. I had a great day at work. Friday, last shift. I was able to do all of the things I needed to do. I had a great time, extra ordinary day, people are in high spirits and stuff. After a great day, I went home to my wife, talked and ate my baon ( it really defies the term "baon" if you can't eat at work ), and my wife slept while I opened my PC to dust the parts. After putting them back together, NO POST NO VIDEO. Meaning, the thing has power but nothing on the screen but beeps. I tried to troubleshoot it, but to no avail. I decided to bring it to a computer shop. I carried the case under the blistering heat of the 12 o'clock sun. and then there was no trike, they had a meeting. So I walked out of the subdivision, and walked some more to the shop, carrying my PC, at 12 0'clock noon. Great. The damn thing was fixed and that is why I am now blogging.

Balance....

I remember this "thing" sometime back during my freshman year in college. It was Baz Luhrmann's "Everybody Wears Sunscreen". This is one of my favourite songs. The thing I like about it is that I can relate to this song. I mean, after 10 years since last I heard it, I can relate a lot to some of the lines. Here I'll show you:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of '97... wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be IT.

The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists

whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my

own meandering experience.

I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Never mind. You will

not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.

But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at photos of

yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much

possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.

You are NOT as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective

as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles

in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind

that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with people

who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead,

sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only

with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing

this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most

interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their

lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have children, maybe you

won't, maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your

75th wedding anniversary.

Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much

or berate yourself, either. Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it, or what other

people think of it, it's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance. Even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings; they are your best link to your past and the people most

likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on.

Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get,

the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern

California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too

will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young prices

were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe

you'll have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is

a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal,

wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

I am a gaming addict. From the time I hung out on computer rental shops ( not a cyber cafe coz they were only renting console games ), to the time I got my first gaming console, a fabulous Family Computer ( costs around P800 that time ), I was spending hours on games like Contra, Adventure Island, Robocop, etc.... If there was one game that I am sure that all of us played, it has to be Super Mario Brothers 1. Not the other versions, the original one.

I received this link through a friend. This guy is amazing. He took the game in 5 minutes. The sheer acrobatic moves he made during the game, the way he jumped over the Hammer Brothers, the flying ducks, the cacti in the tubes, how he managed to jump and jump from the holes, and he did all of this without dying nor without any special item ( no mushroom, no star, no flower power ), it's amazing. I wonder how long he practiced. Talk about too much time on their hands.....

http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/04/super_mario_bro.html

Well another set of weekend is over. If you're working the night shift like I do, you know that you 2 days off is just like one whole day.

After my shift, I went straight to STUH (UST hospital) to meet my baby. She is getting an OGCT. Medical students know what this is, for us normal people, it's a more intensive blood test where you have to fast for 6 hours and then they will get blood samples every hour for the next 3 hours. Talk about torment. My wife hates needles, and she loves eating so I will leave it at that.

After that we went to my sister's place to rest. But we weren't able to rest coz my mom "missed" us so much she went on and on about things going on in my family. Boy Abunda could make one full year of stories for the Buzz with my family's issues. Good thing my brother will fetch my mom going back to the hospital so we had a ride back.

We knew the doctor would be late. She normally comes in 12 noon on Saturdays, but she had a family thing so she came around 3 pm. We waited a good 3 hours for her, but we already knew that. My body has the ability to rest just by resting my head on anything that can hold it up so I kinda dozed off while waiting. Also, this weekly wait time is a good QT for me and my wife.

After that we went home. Figured what to eat and I started playing with my PC. Then we slept. Woke up. Played with my PC again and my wife played with our dogs. I switched to playing PS2 and my wife switched playing with PC. Then it's Monday again. Have to work tonight.

Rest day?....Well I was able to rest for a day. Right.

If some of my friends are checking this blog now and then, they already know that I am really not a blogger.

Well, now I think I will be able to update this blog more often. For the first time in all the places I moved to, I already have a DSL line installed. So, expect some changes in the things I blog. Mostly, it will be about my baby and my UPCOMING baby boy! Yeah!

Cool....