http://www.makepovertyhistory.org

A Picture Paints A Thousand Words

8/31/2005 03:22:00 AM
Image hosted by Photobucket.com Okay, I can come up with a lot of half-wit quips for this picture:

You're better off bald.

You look like a hosed down version of Carrot Top.

The wacky hair can't take the focus off your eyebags.

What are you doing in the Women's section of a department store? And is that a shoulder bag you're carrying?

---

So I guess shocking pink isn't my color. Caren and I were trying out wigs in Shopwise Libis after our MBL game 2 weeks ago. I was looking for an afro but they were fresh out.

Which File Extension Are You?

8/30/2005 08:40:00 AM
I found this quiz linked on mungkey's blog. It looked interesting.


You are .mpg You live life like it was a movie.  Constantly in motion, you bring pleasure to many, but are often hidden away.


Half-lame, half-amusing -- exactly the type of person that I am. Pfffft. Sorry. Just bored and tired. I'd better head on home.

Or maybe I can entice you to take the quiz too.

This Last Week of August

I just realized a very important fact -- It's hardest to wake up on Mondays.

Oh well. I got over that one quick when I realized that I had to come in early for training. Scratching my head and smacking my lips, I looked at the clock to see what time I had to get to work and how much time I had left, and realized I was two hours late. Ah yes.

I fixed up quicker than usual, wearing my favorite blue long-sleeved shirt that Caren gave me, and the usual black pants. Monday is business attire day. I contemplated wearing a tie, then decided to just be loose today -- no tie. Black shoes, still looking a bit shiny, they should work. I packed my newly bought orange mouse into my backpack, and I was done. The corporate working man ready for battle.

Image hosted by Photobucket.comI want to talk about my new mouse. It's a thing of beauty. Encased in clear plastic with the scroll wheel glowing blue. Though I kinda don't like the way that tiny red lightbulbs light up whenever I move the mouse. It reminds me of those squeaky baby shoes that light up and squeak whenever the kid walks here or there. However, my mouse blinks when you don't hold it. It calls out to me. How cute is that?

---

I got to work, and I realized that this is my last week on the evening shift. Finally, at least 2 months of normal days and nights! It sucks though, that I'll be earning 30% less (what a difference Night Differential pay makes!). That means 30% less spending for 2 months. The horror! If I really think about it, it's bad timing. My birthday is in 2 months, and Caren's in less than 30 days. Again, the horror! Oh well, I guess I'll have to make do.

I worry about the people I leave behind in my old shift. They're good kids(actually, they're all older than me, except for one girl who's 22 and can kick my ass in Tae Kwon Do), but they're relatively new to the job. I, the proverbial mother hen, will be leaving them to fend for themselves. I am letting them loose. Good luck to the world. I hope they'll be okay and that the other seniors will watch out for them now and then. They're good kids.

And so begins my countdown. It is tuesday today. 3 more days. One last week, and I'll be waking up to the sun again.

I just want to say...

8/27/2005 07:37:00 AM

Happy Birthday Ice :)



I hope life has treated you good, bai. Bahala na si Batman! =)

Take 2

8/26/2005 07:09:00 AM
I've been using after-office hours (in case my bosses start bloghopping)to continue working on making my blog look owned and original as it can be -- and I think I've made a few dents into that possibility. I've cleaned the layout, fixed some of the tags, mix-matched my colors (This is a lie. My website is mostly black and white). I think it looks presentable enough. But it doesn't end here. More updating to come.

---

It's that time of the week again! No, not my menstrual cycle. I don't have one. I'm a guy, if you haven't noticed. It's friday again! My most favorite weekday. Why? Simply because it means the weekend is here! Duh.

Anyway, if you've been following my posts, I've declared Fridays as Rants/Raves day (See last friday's post). Every Friday I complain about something, and also rave about something else. How's that for an almost surefire post every friday? At least I can add 1 entry per week that I can read myself (I find the stuff I write funny sometimes. Like reading the Sunday comics).

And awaaaaay we go.

Here's this week's rant:


Now THAT was a pretty long rant. I apologize, I've been fuming on this for too long. I'm even thinking of starting a different blog for this topic. Nah. I'd be wasting my time talking about him -- a notion I'm not particularly very excited with.

And for this week's RAVING news --


---

Alright, I think this post has gone on looooooong enough. In case you haven't noticed, you've already wasted half your friday reading this. :) Sorry.

Anyway, it's a friday! So go do what you do and make sure you do it right. Peace.

As if you haven't noticed...

8/25/2005 08:12:00 AM
I've changed the look of my blog. FINALLY. A design simple enough I could finish in a couple of hours. I tell you, I've been away from web designing so long i was choking on my tags.

Most of what you see here is inspired from the other layouts of many blogs out there. But the real inspiration for this lies here.

I'm still moving stuff a bit to the left and right, so at times the blog may not look right in your browsers. But I am now happy to say that this is one task I finally on the verge of finishing. After this, who knows? A comeback career in web design? No. At least not in the near future. Heck, I have enough in my current job to keep me occupied. But this definitely is a start.

This actually perks me up a little. Working on the page design along with posting stuff makes it much more interesting.

How do you all like my new logo?

The Eraserheads Project

8/24/2005 06:19:00 AM
Highfiber, a Filipino online community that I frequent like the 3rd floor 7-11, is one of the most innovative and unique online forums that I have ever found (Pinoy Exchange is too generic and too Megamall). That's why I've been hooked on Hi-fi for almost 2 years now.

Now Hi-Fi has come up with a project to pay homage to the greatest band the Philippines has ever produced, The Eraserheads. The community is compiling all songs from all(including EPs) albums into an online repository that every fan can enjoy. So I really implore you to dig up your hi-quality (sorry, they'll only accept anything from 192kb bitrate or higher) Eheads MP3s and upload them. Support the cause!

To see the current list of songs, visit http://www.highfiber.org/eraserheads.

Life and Basketball

8/23/2005 08:59:00 AM
We played another game last Saturday for the Gillette MBL Cup, and we lost, heartbreakingly, by a point. The slimmest of margins. I can't believe we lost that game, leading by 8 points 2 minutes remaining. Then, like we did the whole game, we let them hit open shots through fastbreaks and 3 point shots. Unbelievable. We just couldn't play defense. Leading by 2 with 26 seconds remaining, the other team played for a 3 point shot -- and it went in.

We actually had a chance to win the game. 1.3 seconds remaining. Our best player asks for the ball, and we give it to him. We execute a perfect inbound, a perfect pass thrown close to the basket. Alley-oop. So open. Missed. Oh well.

It was a good shot that just didn't go in. Tough break. If we won that game we would be the leaders in the standings right now, perfect 3-0 record with 2 games left in the eliminations. Instead we're bunched in the middle with the other teams now.

Amazingly, I don't feel bad about the loss. Sure, it was disappointing at first, but I'm thinking we deserved that defeat, to humble us. I felt that if we had won, it would have gone to our heads, and we wouldn't be playing hard the rest of the eliminations. Alright, I really AM just making excuses. We lost fair and square. Play better next game. Simple as that.

--

The time is 9:08 AM, and I'm still at work. I've already rendered more than 3 hours' overtime, trying to finish my transition documents. I'm moving most of my workload to my teammates, because next month, I'll be a morning person again, 5AM - 2PM. That's off-business hours to our friends in the States, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'll be working less. Ah, the nature of an outsourced job. My body will never behave the same again, changing schedules every so often.

I just visited my cousin's blog, where he wrote about his escapades in his short visit to CDO. He wrote it so well that I started feeling homesick. I missed my sisters. I missed my friends. I missed my school. I missed my favorite hangouts. I missed driving my car. However, I still feel like I belong here in Manila. Cagayan de Oro is too small for me to realize my too-big dreams, but it will always be a place where I want to go back. Someday, I'll return and stay for good. Where my final sun will set.

Manila is my stepping stone. The launchpad to the stars. My job, my work, all tiny pebbles that cause ripples resonating in a big pond. And my girlfriend lives here. It seems my heart has found its place too. I always smile when I think about Caren. :) (See?)

I'm not really sure why I'm writing about my hometown and Manila all of a sudden. Maybe nostalgia, maybe because I owe it to myself, maybe I have brain fart. It's just that sometimes, I need reasons to fill in the gaps to my story, and I always find answers when I look back to where I come from. 'Lumingon sa pinanggalingan.' Sounds like a good plan. And when I think like this, I also think about my other friends who have left CDO to fuel their dreams -- Aldion, Nat2x, Ron Michael, my cousin Gio, the Girls - Girlie, Jan2x. Everybody else. Everyone is chasing something. But do we all really know what it is? I doubt it. But I'm hoping it doesn't stop any one of us from going on. Because when I seem them keeping at it, I'm inspired to do so myself. And it feels good.

Friday is Rants/Rave day

8/19/2005 06:30:00 PM
Okay... I've decided to set aside one day per week, Friday, to talk about personal stuff. Well, not REALLY personal stuff, but stuff that has been tugging at my innards or compel me to slap myself. Just small stuff, really.

I guess this would be an example --

'Dear Diary,

While I was walking to work today and was ready to cross the street with a bunch of other pedestrians, I noticed that in between the gaps of cars that were rushing to cross the intersection, people were darting here and there, crossing the streets with abandon, when the DON'T WALK sign was still blazingly on. And when the sign finally changed to WALK, there were only three of us law-abiding citizens left, looking at each other, surprised that not one of those jaywalkers had been turned to roadkill by the most maniacal drivers in this side of the world.

I said to myself, 'This country isn't going anywhere.'
It really tugged at my innards, compelling me to slap myself.

Till next time,
Don'

Now how's that for an example. Anyway, life is not all about the bad things. Don't sweat the small stuff, I always say (and my annoying conscience whispers back, 'but it's the little things that make you whole,' Tsk. Sad but true.) There's the really good stuff too. I'm also going to write about something good that happened during the week. At least I won't depress whoever's reading this. I don't want to read headlines like 'Woman jumps from 36th floor after reading blog,' Brrrr. Anyway, as I was saying, I'd like to end each Friday entry on a good note. At least, it makes me feel good going into the weekend (hopefully you'll hear about that story next friday).

Alrighty then! On to the next entry!

Halina sa Parokya

I just got myself a copy of Parokya ni Edgar's latest album, 'Halina sa Parokya' (don't ask how :P), and I have to tell you, this is their best album EVER. It is also contains the funniest tracks I've ever heard since listening to those Weird Al songs of the 90's. It's typical Parokya at it's best. Chito Miranda is still probably on crack to be able to write the lyrics the way he does. But he is, after all, the heart and soul of Parokya, and they've got themselves a hit right here. I'm willing on betting they get Album of the Year honors for this.

Here's the album details for all you lovers (of music) out there --


artist : parokya ni edgar
album : halina sa parokya
source : CD
year : 2005
genre : opm alternatib
quality : VBR ~193K/s 44100Hz Joint Stereo
playtime : 63:20 (min:sec)
size : 88.5 MB

track listing
-------------
1. halina sa parokya (3:12)
2. walang nangyari (3:49)
3. para sayo (4:12)
4. gitara (4:02)
5. victor could (2:23)
6. papa cologne (3:17)
7. nandito (4:22)
8. mang jose (4:07)
9. telepono (5:56)
10. kayang kaya kaya? (3:49)
11. bagsakan (3:27)
12. the ordertaker (4:05)
13. muli (4:56)
14. name fun (2:24)
15. first day funk (2:34)
16. pedro's basura mix (3:38)
17. first day funk (+) (3:00)


I really recommend this album. Though I don't know how long it can keep me laughing, I'm sure the songs are still tolerable enough to listen to again and again. This will be staying on my player for a while.

The Best News the World Will Ever Know

8/17/2005 11:45:00 PM
Greater than the invention of fire or the wheel. Greater than the Pyramids. Heck, if aliens came flying in we wouldn't even give a damn. That's no news compared to the news that, our very own, Ron Michael Khu, has jumped on to the bandwagon and created his very own blog!

Feast your eyes and finetune your other senses! This will be the best blog the world will ever read! Songs have been made, men have lived and died, countries raided, constitutions drafted, just to find out what goes on in that mind of the biggest little man on the planet!

And hopefully Ron will prove me wrong about the blog being short-lived. So while he's contemplating that, everbody check it out here!

PS: This may be the sickest plug ever.

1 Year

12 Months. 52 weeks. 365 1/4 days.
I don't want to waste my time computing how many hours that totals to.

Anyway, today marks my 1st year in my current job. So far so good. Satisfying, challenging, and fresh. Something new to learn everyday. And a mild surprise from management: a raise. Not much, but enough to be felt and feed me for a few days more.

I kinda like my job and I enjoy it. At least, unlike my friend urly, who sez he is now the corporate bitch, I haven't been branded as that just yet. I'm hoping that a promotion will come next, but I'm happy enough being where I am, and I'm happy to know that management is happy with my work. That's a lot of happiness there. Happy, happy, happy.

Honestly, I hope that this will be the last job I will have to wake up to. When I want to quite corporacy, I hope to be running my own business. That's ages from now though, so I'm focusing on being good at this job.

So here's to me, and every corporate slave trying to make a living. Rise up and overcome.

Pick-Up Lines for Dummies

8/16/2005 04:39:00 AM
Link

Now, I've never really found a use for cheesy pick-up lines. In fact, I don't use them at all. I think the best way to go is to be your witty, charming self. Starting a conversation and leading it is always a good step towards landing yourself in the good graces of the beautiful woman you've been eyeing ever since she entered the room. Be honest, be (or at least, SEEM) genuinely interested, and smile easily. Should work any day of the week.

But if really, really, REALLY can't help but try to seem macho and unoriginal, then try the link above. Just don't say that I didn't warn you. You'll probably get slapped in the face, or kicked in the balls if you're really that lucky -- but don't ask yourself why. You deserved it. Smart-ass.

If you're having trouble clicking on the link, paste the address below in your browser.
http://linesthataregood.com/

10 Best Resources for CSS

8/15/2005 09:43:00 PM
Now who am I to post a link for the 10 best CSS resources on the web, when even my own blog is sitting on a borrowed template on a free blog hosting website?

Well, I just happen to have a keen interest on it, of course. And (tsk, I've said this probably a thousand times over) this site is going to undergo a major overhaul. I've scheduled that for September. I really hope to get it done this time. And I really intend to use these sites as reference. I tell you, they are really good.

If you can't get to the link above, try pasting this link in your browser.
http://www.sitepronews.com/archives/2005/july/20.html

Google Instant Messenger?

Is Yahoo! really in trouble now? Google moving in on the Instant Messenger market? There are rumors. But when a rumor involves a company with megajillions of bucks, they can just buy into the rumor and make it a reality! They really don't have anything to lose, do they?

Well, I've already said too much, and the Google Secret Police are already at my door ready to taser me up my nose till I forget I even thought this up. So read the news here, and keep the memory on!

Basketball stories

I just got home from playing ball. I just love this sport. I'm not too good at it, but I guess my enthusiasm and spitfirish competitive spirit more than makes up for what I lack skill-wise.

I'm currently on a team that's playing in the Gillette Metropolitan Basketball League Vector Cup. I mean, it's not the PBA or something, but it's definitely filled with every basketball fanatic whose not a baller with skills mad enough to be making a living out of basketball. Competition is good, and the league is organized, so I'm happy I'm playing in it and getting playing time. There are 17 guys in our lineup, so I'm happy getting 15-20 minutes a game in a forty-minute game. They turn to me to help bring the ball up, and to get myself open on the break, or find a spot on the perimeter and shoot threes.

I'm playing with great guys, so it's been fun. Even better, we're still unbeaten (2-0) in the 2-week old tournament. We have 3 or 4 games to go before the end of the eliminations, so I hope we at least finish in the top two so we can keep playing.

More info on the league found on this site.

More stories later on... hopefully.