Friday, July 30, 2004

"History repeats itself" but, do I have to allow it or not, is the main point why I need a lot of thinking to do...

Thursday, July 29, 2004

It's about time to shop for additional wardrobe. With few thousand pesos, I went to SM - North Edsa and bought myself 4 slacks, 5 blouses, and a pair of shoes. I was surprised that I'm now one size smaller... or, maybe I had lost some weight while trying on those stuffs???

Paul Denise just followed me after their PE dance practice and helped me carry those items. As usual, his service is not free! He demanded that he must have that back casing for his cellphone. As expected, when he had the casing, I have to pay also for the installation charges!!! Whew...

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

I finally picked up my old PC after broken fan clip had been replaced this afternoon. Many thanks to Tommy, Branch Manager of Starapple Computers for the minimal charges; likewise to Tony, who ordered the fan clip from their supplier and, to Bebot, who reinstalled windows XP.

Sunday, July 25, 2004

My brother, Egay and his family visited us and had lunch with us along with Ate Neth and her children. I was expecting my younger sister, Pacette, to join us but due to bad weather, she decided to stay home.

Ana brought her specialty, Dinuguan and mouth-watering puto (rice-cake). We had Pizza Hut and KFC party early evening after watching I, Robot. My mother was very pleased to see her children enjoying each other's company.

Wish we could do it every weekend. Yet, do you know what we missed? To hear the Sunday mass! Glad, Tintin, the wife of my son, attended the afternoon mass...

Meanwhile, Nasser, my brother who is older than Egay, arrived today from Dammam, Saudi Arabia but, due to our previous misunderstanding, he didn't bother to say hello.

Friday, July 23, 2004

A 5-year old 8th storey SIA Bldg. at the corner of Padre Rada and Juna Luna Streets in Tondo, Manila collapsed:

This SAi Bldg was constructed 5 years ago, based on TV news reports. Residents and office employees were advised to vacate the building after loud thud were heard twice, early Friday morning.

The SAI building started leaning Friday afternoon.

There were no casualties nor injuries reported...

except major inconvenience to motorists who were trapped in a big traffic jam around the vicinity.

Tuesday, July 20, 2004

The whole nation is rejoicing upon knowing that Angelo dela Cruz is finally freed from Iraqi militants. That only shows those Iraqi militants were not "Al Qaeda" members but, Iraqi nationalists who just wanted to clean up Bush mess...

Ironically, I haven't heard of other news other than Angelo dela Cruz. The safe release of Angelo dela Cruz is not only dramatic but, full of hypocrisies. Most TV news channels were featuring dela Cruz while they are forgetting that he's just one of the over 80 million population that needs attention from the government. Everybody would like to help Angelo and his family, just to "ride" with his popularity and attention he's getting from the media. But, no one has heard of the ten Filipino OFWs who were stranded in Iraq due to lack of Iraqi security personnel to convoy them out of Iraq and I have read in one of the newsletters that these OFWs are running short of cash.

Anyway, thank you, Lord God, for granting our prayer requests. At least, for once, the whole nation was united in praying for Angelo, who became an instant symbol of the Philippines! God has many ways to correct Arroyo's mistakes (supporting George W. Bush to war Iraq) and since WMD was just a lie, Angelo became a great instrument to pull our humanitarian forces out of Iraq.

Monday, July 19, 2004

I feel better today and starting to recover from influenza. House was a mess, dirty kettles were piling and flooring needs thorough cleaning.

Just in time, when I was almost done with the chores, my son, Paul Denise, along with his cousin, Jojo, and Jojo's three classmates arrived mid-afternoon. They had pre-lims exam in the morning and Jojo told me that one of his classmates is celebrating his birthday today. Too busy finishing my task in the kitchen, I nodded, and saw them staying in the balcony. I didn't realized they're going to celebrate his classmate's birthday in my house until they bought some beer and chips. What's worse, heavy downpour of rain prompted them to stay indoor, their shoes marked my sparkling floors!

My son is supposed to review for his remaining exam tomorrow and he's here accomodating Jojo's classmates on their drinking spree. Jojo later received a service call and he left his classmates with Paul Denise. When I turned off the loud stereo at six o'clock to watch local news, they moved back to the balcony, had drinking spree until 8 p.m.

My son knew I wasn't happy with what's going on but, I remained silent and waited until my sister arrived from work. I called her up at 9 p.m. and told her to advise her son not to bring his friends here ever again. My son never bring his classmates home because I didn't like unwelcome visitors. Upon hearing my story, she was surprised her son came to my house instead of theirs. Well, since her husband was terminated from an airline company, her children prefers to stay outdoor, than to see their father singing, sleeping and eating...

After the telephone conversation with my sister Neth, I went to talk with Paul Denise but, my daughter told me he's already sleeping. Nodding, I had thought to talk with this boy later...

Sunday, July 18, 2004

I have been sick for the last three days. Even I seldom go out of the house, I still get this influenza. GRRRR...

My brother, Egay, and his family are supposed to eat lunch with us today but, because I didn't like his kids get sick just like me, I rescheduled our lunch get-together by next Sunday.

Friday, July 16, 2004

Conratulations to the winners of Philippine Current Political Situation Blogging Contest (BlogShares). And, the winners are:

• First Prize: RWO (B$ 500,000,000,000.00 + GMail Invitation)
• Second Prize: Robertbrigham (B$ 300,000,000,000.00 + GMail Invitation)
• Third Prize: KyrahJade (B$ 150,000,000,000.00 + GMail Invitation)
• J. LeRoy, SpeedRacr, Charlie, Jmekosh, and Hotchook shall receive consolation price of B$ 100,000,000,000.00 each.

The above participants shall receive 10K Philippine Ideas, courtesy of this blog, along with Early Bird artefact bonus of:

• Charlie, Weblogs ideas
• Hotchook, 10K Australia ideas
• jmekosh, 10K Japan ideas
• SpeedRacr, 10K Weblogs ideas

To know their winning post, visit more than Quotes' Entries on Philippine Politics Blogging Contest.

This morning, this blog had been spammed by about 1,760 messages and I had difficulty deleting them. Whoever is the person behind these spamming, I didn't understand why you have to make use of this blog to store your links.

There are no perverts visiting my site, there's no hope you could get traffic from this blog... get yourselves MT blog up and spammed every page with your links!

Many thanks to Jay Allen of MT-Blacklist, adding porn URLs by the hundreds to my blacklist and deleting/rebuilding MT had been easier... more power, Jay!

Thursday, July 15, 2004

Eight BlogShares players have submitted their URL for their entry to my Philippines Current Political Situation Blogging Contest. As I have mentioned here and at BS Forum, one trillion is at stake:

• First Prize Winner will receive B$ 500 B
• Second Prize Winner will receive B$ 300 B
• Third Prize Winner will receive B$ 150 B

Top 3 winners shall receive GMail invitation from jmekosh, as Afonso had Gmail problem recently. And, the difference of B$ 50 B shall be divided equally among remaining players as their consolation prizes for joining.

• Charlie, with bonus of 10K Life ideas
• Hotchook, with bonus of 10K Australia ideas
• jmekosh, with bonus of 10K Japan ideas
• SpeedRacr, is entitled to 10 K artefact ideas
• KyrahJade
• J. LeRoy
• RWO
• Robertbrigham

Lucky winners will be announced later on July 16th, BlogShares system time. Those who would like to join are still welcome before midnight of July 15th.... Good luck to the above players!!!

Monday, July 12, 2004

Once again, Gloria Arroyo made a wrong pronouncement, this time with Angelo dela Cruz whom they said was set free by the Iraqi militants.

"The president has lied. Government has deceived the family of de la Cruz and the Filipino people. Everyone was already celebrating after the reported release, but then you get this report that he is still in Iraqi hands. She has to pull out the troops now. Within 24 hours."

Connie Regalado
head of a militant organization representing Filipino overseas worker

Sunday, July 11, 2004

Since BlogShares' Ideas Market does not generate new ideas this morning, I had an opportunity to create a new blog, entitled MORE THAN QUOTES. It's been a long time I wanted to blog Fresh News Quotes yet, I couldn't think of a good theme and layout to start with.

At blogdrive.com, I found one haven of resources where everything is just a mouse-click effort. I still have to do some re-editing but, for the meantime, I am happy with the way I started it.

Saturday, July 10, 2004

Greetings to EJ, the eldest son of my brother, Egay. Egay arrived last night from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to be with his family for 35 days just in time to attend EJ's 14th birthday today.

Happy 14th Birthday, EJ. We love you!

Friday, July 09, 2004

I missed the news yesterday because we had no cable reception due to sudden heavy downpour of rains on Thursday afternoon. Otherwise, if I heard Angelo dela Cruz's fate in Iraq since last night, I have included him in my prayer this morning.

The Philippine government had difficulty yesterday knowing who was Angelo dela Cruz's family here in Manila because according to Dept. of Foreign Affairs, there were about 36 Angelo dela Cruz who were issued with Philippine passports. Upon knowing Angelo's middle name, the media people communicated immediately with his family in Pampanga.

Anyway, the nation unites today, forget differences and pray together for Angelo dela Cruz's safety, a Filipino, who is working as truck driver for a Saudi Arabian company. He was abducted in Fallujah after his convoy was attacked by Iraqi insurgents, Iraqi Islamic Army-Khaled bin al-Waleed Corps, yesterday. (Above image taken from GMA7's 24 Oras footage.)

Although intermediaries are currently negotiating with Angelo's release, I believe the Philippine government, just like Korea, will not pull out from Iraq in spite of Iraqi militants' demand for Philippine troops to pull out in 72 hours or they threaten to behead Angelo. (Above image taken from Pan-Arab TV channel Al-Jazeera footage.)

Knowing Angelo's possible execution, his eight children sought the public to pray for their father's safety. And anyone who read this blog, please help us pray for the innocent soul who is about to shed his blood for the meaningless war Bush and his intelligence men brought in Iraqi soil. (Above image taken from ABS-CBN's TV Patrol footage.)

Now that Filipino workers are barred from going to Iraq, the Iraqis have issued their political statement and the Arroyo government should pull-out all Filipino peacecorps and workers to avoid further death toll.

Sites about Angelo dela Cruz capture:

• Iraqi insurgents hostage a Filipino - DFA
• Pampanga town holds vigil for Filipino hostage in Iraq
• Iraqis threaten to behead Pinoy
• Filipino hostage faces death threat in Iraq

Thursday, July 08, 2004

Late this afternoon, a sudden heavy downpour of rain with strong winds prompted me to rush to the balcony and removed all our clothes outside. Worried that my daughter might get wet, I called her mobile phone but it was out of coverage area! There was lightning and thunder outside and I wanted her to take a taxi to go home for her safety.

Uneasy, I was preparing our dinner when buzzer alerted me. I went to the balcony and I saw her at the gate under the rain. I went back to the kitchen but she buzzed again so, I went back to the balcony to check what's going on. Confused, I was wondering if she left her keys. I got used with her buzzing habit before going up to let me know she's coming. But, when she buzzed again, I was then hysterical looking for my keys and then placed them inside a small plastic to protect breakage of key chain.

We're residing at the fourth floor and instead of going down to open the gate, we often throw the keys down to the ground floor and let them open the gate for themselves. We have learned this style from my mother when we first relocated in the building and we haven't make any duplicate keys yet that time. Since she has past the golden age and didn't like to go down, she threw the keys to us from the balcony!

To my surprise, my daughter refused the keys and instructed me to go down. I was hesitant at first but she was wet from the rain, so, I went downstairs and opened the gate for her. By then I realized, the maid of my neighbor had her key stucked and they could not open it from outside. Under the rain, I tried to play smart but, I wasn't able to remove it also until Raymond, the building maintenance, came from nowhere and assisted us.

While slowly going up the stairs (there's no elevator in the building), I was asking my daughter why her cell phone was off, I remember the frying pan with cooking oil was left in the burner. We hurriedly went upstairs and I almost pissed in my shorts from nervousness, worried to death we might burn the entire building!

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

Bhoie, customer service of myDSL called up this afternoon following my complaint three days ago that my broadband internet connection was slower than their 512kbps maximum speed pronouncement. He even verified if I was sharing the internet with another PC and I told him I wasn't stupid to split internet speed between two PC and I will call them to complain.

The fact that I called was they locked in my account with their promo until July 1st 2005 and YET, the speed I expected from them was unnoticeable... I am thinking what to download to experience high velocity internet access.

After three days of tedious cleaning of html codes, this blog is finally a valid XHTML 1.0 transitional based on W3C markup validation service.

Skinning this site is my next option and I wish it will be easier for me to do it. I still do not know how to use PHP in creating website but Arvind gave me some links which can guide me through on switching skins and themes. Maybe, I should plan what kind of layout this page should look, including change of background image. RWO told me that design on my page made my post unreadable at times...

Monday, July 05, 2004

I have posted this at BlogShares Forum today:

Due to a special request by Afonso to share more of my B$ wealth, I am confirming today that B$ 200 Billion prize for my contest is now adjusted to B$ 1 Trillion! He even suggested that I give 5 Trillion away but, I have B$ 3 Trillion cash available today. Anyway, I might offer another contest after this one so, please be advised that these will be the new order of prizes for Philippine Current Political Situation Blog Contest:

Best well-written entry gets B$ 500 B
Second well-written entry gets B$ 300 B
Third good entry gets B$ 150 B

And consolation prize of B$ 2 B for those who join in this contest.

Congratulations to Charlie who first posted his entry. You will receive 10K weblogs ideas to build an artefact (as requested). FREE artefact for early birds is until July 7th only.

Afonso might give GMAIL invitation as incentive to three lucky winners. Watch out for its confirmation!

Everyone is invited to join, show your blogging skills!

Saturday, July 03, 2004

According to e-mail I received from PLDT myDSL, "starting July 1, 2004, myDSL doubles the speed of its internet connections from 256kbps to 512 kbps for the Personal Plan and from 384 kbps to 768 kbps for the Professional Plan," if I will reply on or before July 15. So, I sent them a reply last June 26th and been excited about this faster internet connection speed. But, it's July 3rd now and I haven't notice any improvement with my connection for the last two days so I called PLDT 173 this evening to find out if it's already implemented.

Tech Support told me to go to their site at www.pldtplay.com and select Resources/Bandwith Test, and here's the speed I got:

What I know, the standard minimum internet connection speed for DSL/Cable is now at 384 kbps. My concern is this:

PLDT myDSL sent me this: "Please be advised that if you avail of the speed increase, you are locked-in until July 1, 2005 which means that if you terminate within the covered period you will pay the pre-termination fee of PhP3,000.00."

Thursday, July 01, 2004

Looking for online games? If you love numbers and would like to understand what the details below is all about, TRY BLOGSHARES!

Beware: Playing BlogShares fantasy share market is a habit-forming. I was buying ideas like crazy and have collected about 228 million ideas in 818 industries! Many thanks to Jay Campbell for extending my premium membership from January 2005 to March 2005!