BlogConnections: The YugaTech Great Gadget Giveaway

BlogConnections is a section wherein it shows some topic from other blogs I am following or news from bloggers I have known and I look up to.

I am now posting about YugaTech's contest this Christmas season. It's called "The YugaTech Great Gadget Giveaway" contests. Abe's going to give a number of gadgets to avid followers of his blog.

Starting this week, Yugatech will be doing a series of different contests for our “YugaTech Great Gadget Giveaway” with a major theme around it. It will be really simple and have easy mechanics. Our contest for this week is called “Merry Tweetmas”.

The theme for this week is Twitter and here's the mechanics:

1. Follow Follow @abeolandres and @talk2globe on Twitter.
2) Post a tweet “Just entered to win a Modu Phone. Quick! Go follow @abeolandres and @talk2globe and retweet: http://bit.ly/6e2q7O #thanks2yugatech”

For more details, you can click on the photo above to go to YugaTech's page.

SEx 101: To Facebook or not to Facebook?

- That is the question

Taken from Shakespeare's "Hamlet", this is the question tingling in my mind for the past months. You would not believe it but yes, I admit, I still do not have a Facebook account since it became so popular since last year.

Everybody I know from my family to my officemates already have an account. I guess you know how much criticisms I get when my friends asked me to add them as a friend and tell them that I don't have an account.

So why haven't I got a Facebook account? Let me tell you some of my reasons.

I have already a Friendster account which I cannot even update. Why would I bother creating another social network account if I can not even maintain my Friendster account?

Facebook is a distraction at work. I have seen all of my officemate how they become obsessed with their "farm", "aquariums", "gangs", "pets", and most recently they worry too much if the food they are preparing for their "restaurants" is already spoiled. I even know who spent playing an application until midnight even he had to be at work by 6 AM. Luckily for him, he doesn't get late yet but signs that he lacks some sleep shows up at work when he becomes easily iritated.

I know how it feels to be addicted to computer games I have been into gaming long ago and I know if I get hooked into this applications in Facebook, I might get addicted to it. I need to practice a great deal of discipline if I am going to have an account. It is always a temptation to play those games.

In our office, nobody from our department is being reprimanded or suspended for excessively addicted to the applications. It seems that even the supervisors is addicted to it. I even heard one manager asking her subordinate to cook some "turkey" for her.

Recently, Facebook become an item in the news. There was a reported murder committed after a partner changed her status in her account. There were several "libel cases" filed against people who posts a malicious post. Several groups filing a complain against Facebook for "privacy violation".

This one is a funny news about a guy pausing before he kisses his bride during their wedding. He got his phone and gave her bride hers to update their status. It was really funny when the minister said "It is now official in my book and on Facebook" that it made the crowd laugh.

There are a lot of good and bad things about Facebook. It is really up to the users how they will use it and how they can protect themselves against malicious intentions of other people.

As for me, I am still thinking and still contemplating whether to have an account or not. As for my friends, I have respected your views with Facebook, so please respect mine. Who knows I might have an account in the future. You can try searching me later. See yah!

Decisions 2010: Bilog na Hugis Itlog

I was currently signing in to YM when I noticed an article in Yahoo Insider about the Sexbomb girls doing a music video about poll automation. It is a good thing GMA 7 decided to create an educational video in a form of a novelty song.

The female group who rose to fame as dancers in the noontime show Eat Bulaga popularized songs such as "Spaghetting Pababa" and "Bakit Papa?" is now seen frequently in advertisements between GMA 7's show. It is a good initiative in part of the network on how they can educate the people on how the Election Automation Process will be done.

The music video entitled "Bilog na Hugis Itlog" has started to be shown last December 10 in between GMA shows. Hopefully this will educate people how automation works so that they can be vigilant on the upcoming 2010 election.

Here's a copy of the video:

@ Yahoo! Video

ToyTown: Take 2 at the Toy Store

It was last December 2 when Jeff asked us to check Toytown after the shift. He's planning to shop for toys for his "inaanak", nephews and nieces. We agreed to come since its been more that 2 weeks since we were there and there might be new toys. Might as well check it out again.

Here are some of the toys I did not notice last time we visited the store:

This one is a water sprinkler accesory which you can connect and let your kids enjoy while you are watering your lawn grass.

This flamingo reminds me of Kevin from the movie Up. But of course, Kevin is more colorful compared to this pink one.

You can also start training your kid to follow Manny Pacquiao's steps with this boxing gloves.

This is a Remote Controlled car that can be driven with an IR enabled control. It's powered by 2 AAA batteries. Can be played within 2m and control should not be blocked by any interference for you to be able to drive it. Not bad for a PHP200 gift for kids. Smaller version costs PHP350.

This pair of plastic dinosaurs caught my attention because of their presentation is a little bit nasty for a little naughty person like me.


I was not really planning on buying anything but I was enticed by this Terminator's T-600 head piece. Jim told me this can be used for CosPlay. You can also include a separate right robotic arms with retractable fist. But I did not notice that it has also a voice changer feature until I have purchased it the next day.

I decided to buy the head pice the next day but I did not include the right robotic arm. I purchased it for PHP800 but it was originally sold for PHP2499. It was a hefty 60% discount.

As told on the previous entry the store is open until January 15, 2010. It's located beside the Cybermall Building.

PISOBILITIES: Managing Your Personal Finance

Lately the HR department started announcing seminars regarding financial matters. It's a good thing they have decided to have this type of seminars be conducted within the company. It only shows that they are concern for the financial well being of their employees.

The email says the seminar is regarding on how to manage your finances. When I read that it was to be conducted by Colayco Foundation, I immediately told Jeff that we should attend this seminar. I have been a follower of Francisco Colayco's advocacy about financial literacy. In fact I already had the books entitled "Pera Mo, Palaguin Mo". I have been reading it for a while and Jeff borrowed book 1 and it almost took 2 months but he was not able to fully read it.

The seminar was scheduled for Thursday but due to some unknown reason, I decided to go home early that I forgot that there was a seminar scheduled by 6pm. Even the others forgot it. Good thing there was a second schedule of the seminar the following day. So we made sure that we will be attending this one sicne there are no plans of any Friday Night activity.

Since the schedule was around 6pm and our shift ended at 4pm, we decided to have coffee at Starbucks at Eastwood mall. It's been more than a week since Jeff begging us to have coffee. He's collecting sticker for the 2010 planner.

We decided to end our coffee break 10 minutes before 6pm. MJ and Andrew decided to come with on the session. It was Armand Bengco who gave the talk about how to manage your finance. Here are the few things he discussed with us:

UTANG IS A PRIVILEGE NOT A RIGHT
People tend to have a big misconception about borrowing money. They always think that its their right to borrow money. One example is banks tend to offer higher credit limit for clients who can pay their fees on time.

Pugad Baboy XI, p53

PERSONAL FINANCE
Personal Finance consists of Earning, Planning, Saving, Spending and Investing.

NEEDS VS. WANTS
This has been a principle they have been implicating in the books. If you are planning on buying something, always ask yourself if you need it or want it. It is just a simple identification between necessity and luxury.

Pugad Baboy XV, p64

ACTIVE INCOME AND PASSIVE INCOME
Active income is income coming that requires our time, skill or services. While Passive income comes from sources wherein there is no effort from us.

SOME INITIAL STEPS IN HOW TO START EARNING PASSIVE INCOME
1. Have an Emergency Fund equivalent to you 1 month salary.
2. Protect and/or secure your self.
3. Get out of Debt.
4. Build up 6 months of cash reserve in case of unexpected unemployment.
5. Find additional/new sources of income.

At the end of the seminar, Jeff acquired the 1st book of the series and I got a DVD. I am still looking forward to attend some of the other seminars in the future and hopefully it help us to attain financial independence

Wide Tube 2.0: 2012

We were warned! That's the catch-phrase that you will see on all the promotional posters of the movie 2012. A week after its opening, a friend invited me to watch it. Just the perfect time to watch a new movie because the first week is when the cinemas are filled with all people.

What really happened is my friend initiated if I want to watch the movie because she was not yet able to watch it. Turns out she wanted to watch it for free that's why she invited me to watch it. Lucky her! I been wanting to see the movie that she was on the right time.

We decided to watch it at the Gateway Cinemas. At the cinema lobby the line to the ticket booth seems to be unendless. I forgot that this was the first weekend of the other movie about the vampire and his werewolf boyfriend and a girl who wants to take a piece of them. It's just like "Tayong Dalawa". 8 out of 10 cinemas were alloted for that other movie and only 2 for 2012. The tickets I have purchased is for the last full show.

Roland Emmerich, who really likes to destroy cities in most of his movies has made another good impression on how to destroy not only Los Angeles but also Las Vegas, Washington DC, Hawaii and the rest of the world.

You can say a large portion of the production budget was allocated for the special effects. With runways collapsing before the plane can even take off, then the plane crossing 2 collapsing building with people falling from it. And do not forget the near death brush with a subway train coming from one of the landmass.

One of the scene that captured my attention was the Yellow Stone caldera explosion. It's like mother nature releasing its own brand of nuclear explosion. The tsunami's scenes were not so great and not recommended to be seen by people recently flooded by Ondoy.

In this movie, I did not see any toughness from Danny Glover as the president. When he decided not to leave for the ark, I saw it as a death wish to be with his deceased wife. And also how I wish I had the luck of Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) and his family. He was so damn lucky that nature's wrath is almost behind his butt when he was just in time to save his family from the earthquake, and then chased by exploding pyroclastic materials while retrieving a map, and was able to meet a Tibetan monk that will assist them to sneak into the ark.

Just one goof that I have noticed is when Satnam (Jimi Mistry) called Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) regarding the tsunami coming from the east. Earlier when they were in Air Force One, a crew told Anheuser (Oliver Platt) that they lost all communication on the ground. With this scenario, it is expected that phone lines are down and only satellite phone will work. Both character are using ordinary cellphone and Satnam was able to call Adrian easily. That's what I call movie luck.

If something like this is to happen, it only shows that the government will not be able save you. Money will also not save you, like for Yuri's (Zlatko Burić) situation. He was able to buy a ticket to salvation but he still end up dying the tragic way in order to save the twins.

The film only proves the old adage "If it is already your time, no matter how much you avoid it, it will come to you"

Beyond the Ringside: Did La Diva sing Lupang Hinirang correctly?

This is the first time Lupang Hinirang was sung by a Trio in the history of Pacman's fight. Jonalyn Viray, Maricris Garcia and Aicelle Santos, more known as La Diva sang the Philippine National Anthem in front of thousands of people in MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The blending of their voices was perfect. The reaction of the crowd was tremendous. There's only one thing I am certain, the National Historical Institute (NHI) will surely not forgive the trio for singing it "wrongly". They have changed again the tune of the last line and I will assure you that the NHI will be making an issue regarding their performance.

I believe that this issue will be included in the headlines by this week. So girls, be ready for it, you will be on the list of "Favorite Artists" of this two institution. You have chosen the path already taken by Martin Nievera last March on Pacqiao-Hatton fight.

My only question is "Why can't you sing the National Anthem the way it is?" Lea Salonga has been singing it abroad for numerous times and she never missed a tune.

Beyond the Ringside: Free TV Delayed Delight

There are so many items already written on the web regarding how Manny Pacquiao won over Miguel Cotto. I'll be going beyond that for now.

It is another history made in the field of sports and also for the Philippine history. Zero crime rate, no traffic jams in all roads, no rallies, even Fr. Sinnot's kidnappers released him so that they can watch Pacman's fight this Sunday. Manny Pacquiao makes the Filipino world stop for a moment when he steps in the ring.

This section for the blog "Beyond the Ringside" will show the things you'll notice before, during and after the fight.

The Free TV Delayed Delight

I can't help but compare with live streaming over the net versus free TV broadcasts. The fight was finished in less than hour since Pacman was not able to knock Cotto down on an early round. If he was able to bring him down in the 6th round, it would have been less than 30 minutes.

What's with the free TV (GMA 7) that it takes them hours to show what majority of the Filipinos already know what happened. It is already past 3 hours and still their broadcast is just half of the fight. There's too much commercial ads every after round and still during the fight , 20% of the screen is occupied with scrolling ads.

It's just really funny how the other rival network (ABS-CBN 2) spoils the fun by announcing the outcome in real time basis while showing a movie by scrolling news flash bulletin.

As we all know Free TV is always at the mercy of commercial advertisement. They will not be able to show the fight without them. That is why its called Free TV, you don't have to pay to watch. Otherwise you have other choices to watch the fight live by doing either of the following:

1. Go to a sports stadium near your area together with the "masa" endure the heat and smell of the people around you.
2. Go to a nearby mall and pay a hefty Php 300-500 to watch in the cinemas live.
3. Reserve a table in a restaurant offering a live Pay-per-view broadcast which will also cost you a sum of money.
4. If you have a cable connection, order the pay-per-view service offered.
5. Scour all corners of the net to look for a live stream link so that you can watch it without doing the other 4 options.

The only consolation you will have when you watch the delayed telecast is the blow-by-blow comments by Chino Trinidad that will really uplift every Filipino's morale.

Manny Pacquiao Wins Again

Once again Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao has proven that he is "The World's Pound for Pound King" in the field of boxing.

It was on the 12th round when referee Kenny Bayless stopped the fight to save Miguel Cotto from further injury.

Although Cotto was able to sustain the attacks of Pacquiao, he had some 2 to 3 slippage due to hard punches thrown by the latter. It was really a heart pounding moment as we watch the fight specially when the fight passed the 6th and 9th round where Pacman usually delivers the finishing knockout moment.

On the 11th round Cotto's camp is already planning to "throw the towel" but decided to continue for the last round. 55 seconds before the 12th round ends, Pacman delivered a series of rapid punches that the referee decided to stop the fight to prevent further injury to Cotto.

Congratulations to Mapanuri

I want to congratulate Jeffrey from winning the TrendLabs BlogCon's "Blog This Event!" contest. Mapanuri is one of the three entries from our department and it's a pride the winner came from us. After other department won prizes such as Skull Candy head phones, PHP 500 SM G.C.'s, and a 1TB hard drive, it's a good thing we had the grandest prize of them all.

Hopefully after this, we will see more posts when we visit Mapanuri in the future. This will be a pressure to you. He! He! He!

ToyTown: Now Open at Eastwood

The biggest toy outlet store of the season "TOYTOWN" has opened another store branch in Eastwood City. The toy store opened last November 12, 2009.

This is a recommended as an alternative place to go from the toy stores located in malls or Divisoria. There is a convenience in shopping for toys especially if you are within the vicinity of Libis, Ortigas and Pasig.

Prices range for as low as PHP 50 to PHP 3000 for large toys. Wide variety of toys can be selected from toy robots, action figures, dolls, toy cars, board games, puzzle games and many more. Brands such as Transformers, GI Joe, Batman, Star Trek, Sesame Street, and Dora the Explorer are among the toys you can select.


Gelo (Kwatro Khanto) was able to purchase 11 items for only PHP 600. Not bad for a toy collection and gifts to friends. I did purchase a boomerang for PHP 80 and Jeff (Mapanuri) plans to go back next week due to some reason :-).

Store will be open until January 15, 2010. I recommend you to visit now while the good stocks are still available.

SEx 101: The Formal Attire Syndrome

Just to inform you, SEx 101 stands for Social EXperiments 101. It's just another crazy section name for my blog. I just had an idea of doing some experiments with people and checking how they will react at a particular event or scenario.

2 weeks ago, there was an internal hiring for a higher position in our office. It's like another job interview, but only within the department. You will know who applied for the vacant position since most of them wear a formal dress code during their interview.

My team mate, Jeff dared me to wear something formal the next day to see how people will react if they saw me in that attire. I told myself, why not? I just recently bought a knitted vest last weekend just in case the need arise to wear something formal.

So I did wear a formal attire the following day and due to my excitement I lost my card holder, which holds all of my ATM card and other ID's (see the story on the other blog entry) in a cab on my way to office.

This is what the people from office did upon seeing me:
- 2 people asked me what time will I be interviewed;
- 1 team mate wish me luck;
- 5 people noticed my dress code and asked what's the occassion;
- 2 of those people concluded that I am for interview;
- Most of other people just noticed the attire and did not ask why;
- Only 3 out of 10 managed to asked if I applied for the position;

With this experimental activity I have concluded that many people tend to jump into conclusion without asking question. Only few asked me if I have applied for the position. Most of them assumed I am scheduled for interview that day.

It only reminded me what our director have mentioned a week ago during a meeting, "We do not have a crystal ball to know all what you are thinking. If you have questions do not hesitate to ask. If you don't ask, we will be just full of assumptions."

Parallax Dimension 2.0: Haunted Places

It was time for us to go home after the shift. Upon entering the transfer elevator, Mary Rose (not her real name) of them suddenly paused before entering. Upon leaving the building she told me that she saw a lady in the elevator then disappeared after seeing her (Mary Rose) staring back at her.

I have known her having the ability to see other people cannot. She has the gift to see beyond the normal plane. Later I asked her to described how the person looked, she said it was as tall as me but she can't distinguish the clothes she was wearing. I asked what the lady look like to check if she was resident of the building we work or just a lost spirit. She concluded that this one is a resident of the building since she was able to disappear immediately after knowing that somebody can see her.

It only raised my suspicions that the building is not ghost free. I have decided to see what other places usually these lost souls roam into.

ELEVATOR

Since this is where my idea started, I decided to have the elevator first from the list. Have you ever wondered why sometimes elevator opens up at a certain floor but nobody waits from the other side. Normally it might be another person pressed the button but have to attend into other matters deciding not to use the elevator. If that is not the case, chances are you have an unseen companion in the elevator. Lucky for you if you don't see or feel them, because what you don't see won't worry you.

RESTROOM

This is one of the perfect place for ghosts. How can I tell it? The place is usually cold and it has the perfect thing for supernatural doorway, the mirror. Mirrors have been long known to be a portal to the other side. It has been always correlated to paranormal principle and other superstitious belief. One example of possible haunting within the restroom is the flushing of toilets but nobody gets out of the cubicle afterwards. If it gets stinky, it ain't Moaning Myrtle in your comfort room.

LIBRARY

Have you ever tried getting a book on that far section of the library alone? Isn't there an eerie feeling watching you from the other side of the bookshelves. Books falling from the shelves on their own are some signs of hauntings within the area. Library is the best spot for spirits since they want a quiet place to stay. So the next time the librarian asked you to keep quiet better follow them and don't wait for the Others to tell you to do so.

ABANDONED HOUSE

If a house goes abandoned for such a long period of time, they tend to earn the monicker of being a haunted house. Why does abandoned house become a favorite place for ghosts? No living activity present, dark, and usually this type of houses are left by the owners due to painful memories they want to leave behind. These memories are what luring spirits to the house.

HOSPITAL

Generally, any place within the hospital is a favorite ground for spirits. It's here that they are either lost, just passing by, or tend to stay. Hospitals are the place for the beginning of life (birth), and end of it (death). This is the place they usually start to exist as a ghosts. They are usually disoriented and still thinks they are alive. That is why they tend to act normally when you see them.

CHURCHES

Yes, this place is not exempted from the hauntings. Long ago and I believe that as of today, some of the catholic churches have graves at the back of it. Long ago, when a missionary priest dies, they are given proper burial at the back of the church since it would be difficult to transport them to their place of origin. This is the common practices for foreign priest during those time. You can still see some tombstone on some of those churches today. You might be standing when you hear the mass. So are the they really haunting the place? There's a possibility that the hauntings are just memories of the dead priests, especially if they were really attached to the place. Churches also are a hangout for ghosts due to the silent environment.

Next time you'll be in these places, please make sure to be mindful even if you are alone. You'll never know if you are really alone.

Lessons Learned from TrendLabs BlogCon '09

It's been a month since my last post. I almost became one of the statistics wherein more than 90% of new bloggers tends to abandon blogging after a month without new post. As I have mentioned on my initial post (read here), I have a habit of enjoying a hobby for a short period of time.

I might have enough excuse not to post anything last September. I attended a company sponsored conference "TrendLabs BlogCon" with a theme "may kwenta kwento ko". I figured that before I post a new one, might as well learn something from some of the known blogger in the web. Maybe it was just my excuse for not posting anything :-).

To tell you the truth, I attended it because we heard that the marketing team who spearheaded the activity will give away some goodies. One of my team mate whom I invited to attend later session was able to get the cool Skull Candy headset.

So what have I learned from Jayvee Fernandez (A Bugged Life), Abe Olandres (Yugatech), Hay Men! writers, and from our own Ryan Flores (Malware Blog). Here are some thoughts that I have learned from them when I am not fighting sleepiness (I apologize! We just came from our night shift).

1. Write what you like. All of the speakers mentioned it. How will you be able to write something you do not want to discuss?
2. Make your blog your diary. If you cannot think of something to write about. Check if something wonderful or exceptional happened to you recently.
3. Blogging is a way to express yourself. You are the master here. You do not have an editor that will tell you what you should write or not. This is your channel to share your thoughts.
4. It should be a hobby or past time, not work. As mentioned earlier, 90% of the new bloggers tend to stop after a month for some reason. For my part, I am thinking blogging to be a new past time instead of playing online games. To be fair, I'll cut my playing time half and do something for the blog.
5. Read, read, read. To be able to write something you need to read other materials, other blogs, newspaper, magazines and others. This way you can expound your vocabulary and be able to be a better writer.
6. K.I.S.S. People like to read shorter topics nowadays. That is why twitter works well today.

There are other tips shared by the people but following rule number 6, it would lengthen this post and its just my excuse of cutting this topic off. There is always next time to add the other lessons learned.

Wide Tube 2.0: UP

As a young boy, Carl Fredricksen had a dream, to follow the foot steps of his idol Charles Muntz as a great explorer. He shared this dream with a girl named Ellie whom she met in a dilapitated house. It then started a friendship that blossomed into marriage. Even though they have found out having a child is not possible for them they live contentedly in their house where they first met.

They did not forget their dream to go to Paradise Falls in South America. Ellie become a zookeeper and Carl become a toy balloon vendor. They save every money they could so that they can fulfill of going to their dream place. But as time passes by, their savings had been used for other financial obligations that has to be taken care of.

As they grow older, the plan has not been executed but not forgotten. When the time Carl was able to buy the tickets, Ellie succumbs to an illness due to old age that resulted to her death. This event left him devastated causing him to be grouchy. This time his house is already surrounded by construction of tall buildings because the city is already expanding.

At one point, he had a confrontation with a worker who accidentally destroyed his mailbox. He then hit the worker causing a commotion taken by the developers as an opportunity to take him out of the way to expand their construction. Carl was then ordered by court to reside in a retirement home.

Then came the day he is supposed to be taken to the retirement facility. Carl made his own plan of lifting his house with 10,000 helium filled baloons. Unknowingly, he had taken with him Russel, a Wilderness Explorer, whom he sent to a snipe hunt day before. This is where their adventure starts when they encountered thunderstorms that took them off-course.

Russel, with the help of his GPS device, was able to to navigate the house to their destination. It was just at the opposite side of the plateau where they have been thrown of the house, and had to use their weight to keep them on the ground and walk the rest of the destination before the helium's effect on keep the house stay floating. During their journey, they encountered a colorful bird whom Russel named Kevin. They also met Dug, a talking dog because of a collar, who befriended Carl immediately.

During the course, they met Charles Muntz, who is willing to kill to capture Kevin. He even went far of burning Carl's house during their escape from him. Carl decided to proceed in his original plan of bringing the house making Russel angry about it.

Upon reaching their goal, Carl found out that Ellie wanted her to have his own adventure after her death. This made Carl decide to rescue Kevin from Charles but Russel already left earlier. Together with Dug, they chased Charles' airship "Spirit of Adventure".

They eventually rescued Kevin at the expense of the house floting down at the same time Charles plunging to his own death. They were able to take over the airship and go home for Russel's badge awarding ceremony.

The movie is not just about some grouchy old man who lost someone he love and decided to commit suicide after making his house float. It is about the journey, adventure, friendship, love and family. It shows how an old man like Carl Fredricksen, even grouchy, can be a friend to boy named Russel, who longs for a father figure. The movie is not just for children but also for adults. It is recommended to watch the movie with your grandparents.

What touched me most is when Russel asked something to Carl then asked again to "cross his heart". This struck Carl because it is a line usually used by Ellie to him. Sometimes we usually find interesting traits of a friend or a love one with another person.

It also shows that your life does not end when somebody close leaves you. Not just death but if someone close decides to leave for better opportunity or a best friend who decided to face a new stage in life. It is really hard to face some reality. You just have to face it like what Carl did, since Russel misses a father figure, he became like that and made Russel a son he never had. Together with Dug they have more stories amd adventures to tell

I wish I find my own Dug but house space forbids. For now I will settle with 2 future garfields. Feel free to download the wallpaper from the movie, click to enlarge and right click and select "Set as Background" from the options.

The Saturday that was wet but not wild

It was the last shift for the week and I was looking forward to go home and have a nice weekend. Need plenty of rest since I catch a cold last Thursday due to heavy rains when I was going to the office.

I can hear the rain splashing in the windows of the 23rd floor where our department is located. It will be a nice sleep I said to myself, this rain will keep my room at a cold nice place to sleep. An hour before my shift ends, I received a YM message from my brother not to go home early after my shift because floodwater already entered our garage and the lower part of the apartment. He already informed me that the main road (R. Magsaysay) is unpassable to vehicles.

It was around 9am (4 hours after my shift) that I decided to go home. I am a little bit tired, some of my team mates are already gone home. Since I see the sun beautifully shining, I thought the flood would have receded by now since the rain already stopped almost 6 hours ago.

Inside the LRT, I was stilll thinking if it was a good decision to go home. Upon leaving at V. Mapa station, I can see a traffic build up from Santol. That's when I realized I made a wrong move. The heavy traffic of vehicles not moving is up to Magsaysay bridge and afterwards I see what made the traffic stop. Ramon Magsaysay Blvd. was covered with leg high flood water. Only the brave vehicles dare to continue their quest to cross the road now also known as Magsaysay River.

I was thinking that the side streets will be spared from the flood but I was wrong. No one was spared from the heavy downpour of rain earlier that dawn. Here are some pictures taken from my phone.

With this situation I have seen, I will not be able to get home dry. I am not sure if the way home is dry, so I decided to head back 1 station and decided to stay at the red building famous for couples who want to spend time alone. I am not really used to go inside these places... ALONE. Bwahahaha! I wish! Maybe next time when I get stuck in a traffic or heavy rains I will make sure I have someone to accompany me there when the need to stay there arises.

I will leave you with this video I have taken from Pureza LRT station.

Scams 101: New SMS scam uncovered

Recently, my mom received a text message from a certain person who identified herself as Emma. She's telling my mother that they have met the night before in the province. She added that she was the one selling beauty products together with another person whom she named. My mother knows the other person by acquaintance. My mom got a little worried because she was already in Manila the night the person claimed they met.

Since the person whom identified herself as Emma told that she was currently at our place in the province, my mother called my father and asked if there are any guest in the house as of the moment. He said there's no one looking for her during that time. Relieved, she replied to her mysterious textmate and told her that she might have sent the message to a wrong number given by a common acquaintance. Emma never texted back again. Turns out it might be a wrong message sent.

What happened to my mom reminds me of a similar incident last Saturday, August 15. We were on our way out of the office with my team mates when I received a text message. Here's the exact message I got and I will include the number so that you can identify this scammer:

"Muzta n kau dyan sa pinas, miz n miz ko n kyo, e2 nga pla bgo k roaming, nga pla my pa2dla me dyan package mga gmit e2, ingat nlng kau palagi, miz u ol, god bles, nga pala paload muna ng 300 pnta2wg lang aq ng agency q ngkaproblma daw un pastfort q.importnti lng, d2 s # n2. 300 tnx,"

+639192929212

At first I thought it was a relative that is currently residing abroad just saying hi and giving her new roaming number. And it was really nice of them to send a package (I hope it's a gaming console they haven't used). The most touching part is they miss all the relatives in the Philippines. But wait, here's the catchy part, they need a prepaid card worth 300 PHP so that they can call the agency because they have some issues with their passport.

Well what do you know? If my common (spider) sense did not trigger immediately, I would have already sent this number a 300 peso electronic load. I will be able to do so with my own load wallet.

But as you can see, not all people can make sense after receiving a text message like this. One of the reaction they will make is since their "relative" will be sending some package to them, 300 pesos is just a small price compared to the appliances and imported goods that they will "receive" later.

Some of you would not believe that some people fall for this lame act. But some people fall for this because this kind of text messages will not propagate if they understand what it really meant.

So here are some tips I can share to avoid losing 300 bucks to this losers:

1. Do not reply to messages from unregistered number. If they really need to talk to you, they will send another message.
2. If you cannot avoid yourself from replying, ask the sender to identify themselves. The following replies can be used:
3. If they identify themselves with a name you do not know or heard of, ask more information about them. If they identify themselves as a common friend of the classmate, relative of the colleague from a previous work place, with description which is higher than the third degree of your connection in your Friendster or Facebook profile, this is either a stalker or a scammer.
4. If you are not satisfied with the information they are giving and instead luring you to give details about you, this is the time you should stop communicating with them.
5. As a follow-up to tip number 4, never identify yourself to them. This will give them an opportunity to lure you into giving up more information that they might be able to use to extort from you.
6. Kindly inform other people you know who is gullible withis type of messages. This way they will identify this "modus operandi" and will be aware of it. This lessens the chance of the culprit to fool other people.
7. You can also check other people if they know the number being used. There's a possibility that someone you know or somebody might know who is doing this act to you.

If you have other tips you can share you can add it on the comments section. These small things will be able to thwart the evil deeds of small time thief.

By the way I did reply to that text message I received last Saturday. I thanked for the package they will send and gave her the load:

"Salamat sa ipapadala mong package! Okay naman kami dito sa Pilipinas! Nakakaraos kahit papaano. Eto na nga pala yung PIN ng load na hinihingi mo - ##############. Pakiscratch na lang ng coin para magamit mo. LOL!

-PPIII

And it all begins now

Finally, after a long time, I have decided to start my own blog.

So what made me decided to start this thing in my life? Well, recently, my brother got a notebook computer for posting something good about a famous bakeshop (they also got a cake and we have not yet eaten it till today). I have also heard my officemate that you can earn extra cash from the ads and other things like product reviews (not yet planning on monetizing this blog at this early stage). Lastly, I like to practice my writing skills just like the old college days when I used to be a staff writer, later features editor, in our school publication.

Hopefully, I will be able to sustain this blog since I also have a weakness for enjoying a hobby for a short period of time and leaving it afterwards.

All I can only say right now is good luck to me and welcome to my world!