Moving to Wordpress

I'll be moving my blog to wordpress as it has more features and much better skins than blogger. LOL.

The new address is http://blshvk.wordpress.com.

It's still under construction but I have already imported my posts from blogger to there. Even the comments were moved! See you there!

Baguio, Batanggas and etc....

Finally, I am able to post again after a few months. Here are some things that I have up to lately.

Baguio Trip last February:

Went to Baguio with my brother(Joel) and some friends(Keks, Shad, Jao, Cons, Ghel, Pepper, Kwissy and Zhen) last Feb during the last days of the flower festival there. One way ticket costs around Php 400.

Original plan was to see the parade and enjoy the sights. We also planned to play pRO during WoE time since we have some friends/guildmates who lives there (Baguio Division). Mans, one of the guys there, was the one who offered their house for rent where we can stay while we were there.

When we got there, we got to do most of the stuffs when one goes there (shopping, little sight seeing, chat with the Baguio peeps), only thing that we didn't do was to watch the parade. hehe. We were too lazy especially when we saw the throngs of people lining up at Session Road.

We got to siege/play WoE in the famous Outer Haven where our Baguio friends usually play their network/internet games. The place is huge and a very nice place. We also got to meet some of the players from our rival guild that also lives in Baguio.

Highlight of our stay there was the night before we leave when Jerome was telling some of his experiences with his not fully developed sixth sense.

Batanggas Beach getaway:

Went to Calatagan, Batanggas with Mon, Joy and her office mates (Charlene, Omar, Michelle, Charnee, Tina). We rented a van for about Php 6,000 to go there. The ride was about 3 hours long.

When we got there there was no electricity and the place was very noisy. We thought that we made the wrong choice to go there. At the end of the day, after the lights went back it seems to be alright already.

Although the sand is gray, water is very clear. There were sea weeds on the rocky part of the beach but it's ok. The swimming pool was ok, only problem is that there were so many people using it.

I really enjoyed those trips since I got to meet new friends specially the Batanggas trip. That's it for now... btw, I already resigned from my job and my last day will be on Friday. Need to find another job again or I won't have money on me to spend.

Quarter Life Crisis

When I was about to have my 25^th birthday, I started thinking very hard what have I accomplished lately and did I already made steps on achieving my goal to become rich early and retire young. Checking out the job ads, and applying for them made me think should I take up more courses to boost my career like taking up MBA or technical / programming courses for certification. Yea I have partnered with Hanzel and Oly with making Waffle Wrapps but the business still doesn’t make that much money yet and is not enough. I really have to think of ways on how I can be rich and successful by age 40. If anyone out there has some ideas share it to me please. =)

Chaotic office

It sometimes is a real problem working for a new office with all the policies not straightened out. The branch office of Okaya here in Manila is already 6 – 7 years and yet still policies are not straightened. Since before the end of the year there are already debates going on with the given leaves for us employees. This time it’s about the company buying out the excess leaves the employees still have. I really don’t care about the first issue since it doesn’t affect me directly and since the policy on my leaves are already clear.

The leave conversion is the one that really has effects on me but I don’t really care much about it. My real plan is to use up my leaves but I was only given leaves during the last quarter of last year so they have to convert my leaves. Previous way is that one can convert 5 sick leaves, 5 vacation leaves and 3 emergency leaves to cash if you do not use it by the end of the year. When my new boss checked the written policy regarding that, and we were only entitled for leave conversion for the vacation leaves. I have no problem with that since I have used up 4.5 of my sick leaves and only 1 vacation leave and I still have 4 vacation leaves to convert. Hehe.

I think the one who really is affected by all of these is Madam. As they say, everything you do will get back to you sooner or later. She is currently debating with my boss regarding the leave conversion as I write this piece. Hehe. She even called someone asking about the policy.

I want an iPhone!

Apple just unveiled their new product 2 weeks ago which is the iPhone. It really is a cool phone and the only thing missing is 3G capability. Here's an article from macworld regarding the iPhone.

http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/01/09/iphone/index.php


Apple unveils iPhone

By Mathew Honan

After more than two years in the making, Apple CEO Steve Jobs Tuesday announced the company’s intention to enter the mobile handset market, unveiling the new Apple iPhone. The iPhone brings together several features of the iPod, digital camera, smart phones and even portable computing to one device, with a widescreen display and an innovative input method.

“Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything,” Jobs said.

Featuring a new input technology called “Multi-Touch” the iPhone features only a single physical button, called “home.” You control the phone by sliding a finger across its touch-sensitive 3.5-inch display, which has a resolution of 320-by-480 pixels at 160 pixels-per-inch display.

The iPhone, which runs Mac OS X, has full iTunes integration and can seamlessly sync data with a Mac, PC, or Internet service, including music and videos from iTunes, contacts, calendars, photos, notes, bookmarks and e-mail accounts.

The 0.46-inch (11.6-millimeter) thick device weighs 4.8 ounces (135 grams) and sports a 2-megapixel camera, volume control, ring-silent switch, 3.5-millimeter headset/audio jack, SIM tray, “sleep-wake” switch, speaker, microphone, and a 30-pin iPod dock connector. The quad-band GSM (850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, and 1900MHz) + EDGE phone also has 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 capabilities. Jobs noted 3G capabilities will come in the future.

Three smart sensors also help control the iPhone’s behavior. A proximity sensor shuts down the display and touchscreen when the phone is held to the ear. An ambient light sensor automatically adjusts screen brightness to save power. Meanwhile, an accelerometer lets the phone know whether to display in portrait or landscape mode.

Despite the phone’s revolutionary features, Jobs claimed that the phone’s strongest feature was its redefinition of how calls are made.

“We want to reinvent the phone,” Jobs said. “What’s the killer app? The killer app is making calls. It’s amazing how hard it is to make calls on phones. We want you to use contacts like never before.”

A Visual Voice-mail feature allows users to skip directly to voice mails they want to hear. An easy-to-use conference call feature lets users connect two calls with one touch of the screen. Text messaging on the iPhone is similar to iChat, with user dialogue encased in bubbles and with familiar iChat sounds, and a touch keyboard appears below for entering text.

The iPhone uses its Wi-Fi and EDGE capabilities to automatically connect to the Internet. Internet connectivity includes HTML-capable e-mail that works with any IMAP or POP3 e-mail service. Jobs also announced that Yahoo will offer free push e-mail—similar to the e-mail system on a Blackberry—to all iPhone customers.

Apple also included its Safari web browser, and the phone can use its Internet capabilities to view standard Web pages, rather than WAP versions of pages. Integrated Google Maps functionality lets users look up locations, search for local businesses, and view satellite imagery. The iPhone also supports Dashboard widgets, and Apple announced it will include weather and stock widgets.

The iPhone’s photo management features are equally interesting. Its software enables users to use a “pinching” motion to zoom in and out of pictures, and to orient pictures in standard or landscape mode. When playing music, the iPhone can automatically adjust levels up or down as calls come in.

The iPhone will come in two versions: a 4GB, $499 model and an 8GB, $599 model. Both will require a two-year contract with Cingular, the exclusive U.S. carrier. Both models will be available beginning in June from Apple Stores and from Cingular.

Jobs said Apple plans to bring the iPhone to Europe in the fourth calendar quarter of 2007, and to Asia in 2008. Jobs also mentioned two accessories for the iPhone: stereo headphones with integrated microphone, and a Bluetooth headset that pairs automatically with the iPhone and goes to sleep to preserve battery life.

The following posts are long overdue but I would still like to post them anyway.

Our internet connections are made in Taiwan!

As in the news, after the recent earthquake in Taiwan, several submarine optical fiber cables connecting the Philippines and some of Asia to the rest of the world were destroyed. IDD connections were hard to use, internet connections to US based sites were slow. It was hard to connect to Yahoo! and Google and to my luck, blogger is owned by Google so for almost a month I cannot connect easily to those sites and their services.

Currently, they have finished fixing some of the cables including a major cable that connects the Philippines to the US. Internet connections to almost all the sites are back to normal.

New Year’s Wish List

You might say that it should be a Christmas wish list but because I wanted these wishes to come true within the New Year (2007) I named these New Year’s Wish List.

1. The current transaction with our client Sanyo Seiki to be finished already. I want it to be over already because I have gone through a whole lot with this transaction and it won’t benefit to me much. Client is hard to ask for their payments and the supplier is hard to negotiate with.

2. I find another job. I hate this company already. There are too many issues in here. Everyday issues come up. Even though we are just a small office there still too many issues and petty things that come up.

3. My 2 brothers find their respective jobs. If they have their own jobs already then the cash flow in our home will be much easier.

4. Our mini business, Waffle Wrapps (waffle stand), make more sales. A few weeks ago, sales were down. It might be due to the defective lighting in the store. I fixed those already and somehow sales were able to pickup last week. I am still not yet sure if that business is earning.