The Memory-Optimization Hoax

sorry i've been away - have been busy with way too many things.

anyway, a question recently popped into my mind as i was looking at the new freeware on FileFlash - is it really useful to keep a memory optimization software running in the background?

this link, titled The Memory-Optimization Hoax, should tell us everything we need about how these programs work, and just how "useful" they really are.

a flashback of my teen years

i went through my high school batch's Friendster account last night, and every time i opened a page of someone i knew, realised how different everyone is now. a number of my batchmates have either gotten married, left the country, or participated in major events. i even got a batchmate that worked for my company many, many months ago.

and then i realised just how much i got disconnected from the world around me then (unintentionally or otherwise). i remember the faces, the personalities, but i never had a lot of experiences shared with them. i think i feel a twinge of regret coming on all over again...

and i'm sure the next time i'll feel bad about things is when i find a Friendster account for my college course batch, then realise once again how detached i became to my world then.

*sigh* but if i don't stop myself, i'm going to go nuts (nothing to do with donuts, though, i assure you). i mean, last night i went through them all for about an hour, and i felt like i could go on some more, if only i didn't have other things to worry about.

hmm... maybe i really should get a copy of my yearbook, even if i have to pay for it _again_. (trust my high school yearbook organizers to make a complete mess of those details.)

my brother got an S700i!

i'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooo jealous!

the 8-fold paper problem solved

amazing what this student did for extra credit in her math class. =P

things i've been doing

okay, after that super-long break from updates, i thought i should give some info on what i've been up to:

- started playing DDR again (as of today) as a means of getting exercise, in the hopes that it helps me lose weight. i've become sickeningly fat by my standards.
- i'm having a blast doing all sorts of creative stuff of late, taking videos and editing them and all. it shouldn't take me too long to come up with something for a commercial for our choir
- have been playing PS2 games a bit more of late, but i don't mind...

hmm... and i've been really slow with updates still. sowee!

too lazy to do updates

i've been too lazy to compile my thoughts and feelings online of late, hence the overly-delayed blog posts. my sister says i should be more religious with my posts, but i guess sometimes my brain just gets fried to a point where i simply refuse to process more info, complex or otherwise...

sorry. =(

i'll try to be less lazy beginning tonight... or tomorrow...

monday blues

of all the days for this to happen, the zipper on my pants chose this
day to break down. ouch! i don't even want to discuss how i managed to
get through the day...

video edit session results

i'm generally happy with the video editing session i had today. in fact, i'm really thankful i went through all that effort to get a video cam and update my work OS to Windows XP. for the 7-hour edit i did, not once did i get a system crash. real-time previews courtesy of Adobe Premiere Pro sure helped lots too. DV output sure made everything so crystal clear too, unlike my days with the Pinnacle DC30+.

hmm... does anyone out there want to buy that thing from me? do drop me a line! =)

some advice for Premiere Pro 1.5 users - you may want to get Movie Looks here if you're having problems getting it the usual way, or if you're still using v1.1.1 of the software. for some reason, the link Red Giant Software has in its support pages point to 1.1.1 - which doesn't work as expected in Premiere Pro 1.5. i haven't really played around with it much, or in an actual project, as it is extremely slow previewed on my lowly PIII-733Mhz (which, incidentally, is originally a 533Mhz, but has been overclocked ever since we got it).

i also realised that there's RSS feed for all Blogger sites now - so feel free to add in mine. i'll add it in here manually if i can't find it on the site when i finish previewing everything. =)

*sigh* i wonder just how much regular traffic i actually get for my blog. =P

oops...

guess i've been a bit preoccupied lately. sadly, i wasn't able to make that complaint against that silly driver - was too busy to even bother calling that darned hotline. oh well. maybe next time. =)

what else is new? hmm, not much - though i've realised that 4GB for apps for my creative work isn't going to be enough. i sure will need a bit more space to get it up and running...

new search engine

Clusty here features a so-called "clustering engine", which is supposed to go up against Google in the battle for search engine supremacy.

ahhh, yes. competition is always good for us consumers. =)

morning ritual

on my drive to work this morning, as i was cruising along Ortigas Ave. on the first intersection coming from Libis heading for EDSA, some crazy government vehicle from Manila Water decided to be Mr. Reckless and swerved in from the right, almost hitting me head on.

thankfully, he has this "how's my driving" hotline on his body, so as any irritated citizen would do, i dutifully noted down the license plate of the vehicle, and i'm going to be calling them up later to report his wonderful driving.

*sigh* what a morning. =)

all systems go!

i've finished migration of my video editing platform from Windows 98 SE to Windows XP, and editing is a dream on it! =) i hope to finish installations and stuff soon, so in due time i'll have my very own "commercial" ready... =PPP

i cooked up our salty adobo (dunno to which culture it's local to tho) that has some pork and salty fish, added some more salty fish flakes (daing) and added leftover rice into it to create my own version of salted fish rice... okay, so it's isn't exactly salted fish, and it does have that adobo dis(?)coloration, but it tastes good, and that's good for me. now the question is whether people here at home will like it.

30 minutes to go to find out... =P

video production material

i bumped into CyberCollege, containing a great list of free resources for learning - i'll have to read these very well before setting out on what i intend to do with the video cam. =)

Scenalyzer

now that i have a video cam, i'll definitely be starting some editing as soon as i get my new Windows XP partition up and running. in the meantime i'm off to look for software that will come in handy with my equipment... like Scenalyzer - which is supposed to make capturing so much easier.

i'll give it a whirl once everything's set. =)

i got a videocam!

i finally got my own video camera! i got a second-hand Sony TRV-50 (japanese model) and i'm really looking forward to playing around with it come weekend. =)

i still need a firewire cable and a reinstall of my editing OS before that can all happen though...

why you shouldn't lose your digital media

this blogger happened to pick up someone's flash memory, and has decided to make a fictional identity using the pictures...

man, talk about scary.

wanted: Symbian OS programmers

my friend is looking for people in the know with programming on the Symbian OS platform (specifically, programming on the Nokia series 60 phones, like the 6600) - he has tasks that are due for the end of the month. ask me for more information. =)

gun owner

i just found out that i have a friend at work who happens to be a licensed firearms owner - cool. he owns a shotgun, a Glock, and some other gun that i don't recognise by name... heheh. =P

gun owners must have some extreme ability to manage their "itch", lest they decide to take that power into their own hands and do whatever they want. my friend says that there's all sorts of psychological tests that need to be taken before a license is granted. knowing things here, there must be some way to circumvent that system "underground".

the thought of unlicensed firearms owners loitering around like nutters sure make me worry...

my cool teacher's niche!

check this out - it's a link to my super-cool philosophy from way back in college. =)

hmm... i didn't know he decided to pursue priesthood... well, that's all and good. =)

flash fiction and stuff

i've been seeing sacha doing flash fiction before, and i was thinking just now, heck, why don't i give it a whirl sometime too?

i also took the liberty of reading up about it too - check this infolink out.

oh, i hope sacha reads this post - thanks for remembering my birthday... i didn't think you would! (though you didn't greet me, that post you have is good enough) =)

hmm... i wonder if starting a flash fiction blogger group would be a good thing? or maybe there's such a group already? lemme go check...

Google Tricks and hacks

check these links for - this one comes from from Linux Exposed
- this one comes from Fravia's

there must be a bunch of other google tricks out there - happy searching! ^_^

things from the not-so-distant past

since i wasn't able to do my posts for the past few days, here's a summarised entry:

- email-to-blog doesn't seem to be working, since i was mailing from work last thursday (my birthday) but my messages kept bouncing back.
- my sister and i ate friday night at Papemelroti Cafe, located near my sister's office in Roces Ave., and the ambiance there was just great! they have bottomless fresh dalandan juice, and their food, according to my sister, and according to what i ate then (breaded fish fillet with lemon sauce), is great. don't forget to have risotto con pomodoro (i think) for rice meals. plus there are books for reading there. =)
- there's also a bookshop on the second floor where the cafe was, called Books For Less. maybe it's a place to look for good books... i've seen all sorts of books there, ranging from paperback cookbooks to hardbound fiction books going for anywhere between P100 - P300. cool!
- today i decided to try to close a deal on BidShot for some editing hardware, and i'm hoping that the seller would finalise and close the deal with me, since apparently he has another buyer courtesy of his brother. man, i'm really hoping for this one...
- i was also doing some video editing via Adobe Premiere 6.5, and found out some new features today, like fading the non-transition video elements (which i thought was only possible using a transition). i also realised that i could set the project settings of the video to DV playback, and set the real-time preview of the project so i could preview my effects (via the computer) with no renders... man, that sucks. i wonder what else i don't know with Premiere? this is one of the reasons why i'm getting that piece of hardware that's being sold on BidShot.

so there. =)

birthday greetings

happy birthday to me,
happy birthday to me,
happy birthday, happy birthday...
happy birthday to meeeeeeh!

heheh. ^_^

emergency hotline charges?

check this link out - and then
read the rest of my post.

i'd be very disappointed at the government if they push through with this plan. i mean, who has ever heard of an emergency hotline that charges its callers? can you imagine how nutty that'd be? let me give you a scenario:

burglar breaks in and enters the house in a subdivision. bystanders notice the incident and try to take action. yet, they can't because mobile phone text messages to 117 are charged extra. mobile phone calls and payphones won't patch through either for the same reason.

what's next? maybe phone calls to all government agencies would incur extra charges someday?

whoever it was that came up with this uniquely stupid idea, my hat, and my bat goes down on your head. truly, and simply idiotic.

today's activities

now that i've recovered from the initial elation i felt after getting Gmail, i guess i ought to talk about what else happened today. =)

we had a poster-making activity today with my choir this morning, with a common tailline: "WARNING: PSALMI - HIGHLY ADDICTIVE" styled just like those "parental advisory: explicit lyrics" symbols you see on CDs. i'd post an image of a sample poster, but i don't have Picasa installed yet.

and then i slept my afternoon away in an air-conditioned room (heheh), waking up at around 430p. then i helped out fix the birdcage my parents got last week, getting a few scrapes in the process - but that's okay.

then after dinner, my parents were going to the mall to have my sister's glasses fixed - and decided that i should have mine fixed too (actually, more of a replacement). and then all of a sudden my dad decided to get his fixed as well. fun - we must have incurred a 10k bill for that visit alone. ah well - my mom has a point when she said that corrective eyewear has an extremely gray pricing scheme, meaning that there isn't any real way to tell if you're purchases are actually cheap or not. it didn't matter much for us though - the owner happens to be my dad's classmate and my godmother. =) (shall we say, automatic discounts? *grins*)

anyway, that's what happened to my day so far. =)

i got Gmail!

thanks to my brother, i finally have Gmail! woohoo! heheh. =)

now i wonder how exactly i'll be using that service - i do have POP3 email via myDestiny, plus an email forwarding service that i pay for as it is.

at the very least, the geek factor of Gmail should be enough to make me a bit more "revered" in my circles while Gmail isn't open to the public yet.

Wired News: Swing and a Miss for Asteroid

while this news is every bit interesting, i'm more interested with the last newsbit in the article - a DOS issue nearly caused the Mars mission to fail?

hmm... at least, a patch was sent out soon enough to prevent the rover/s from dying. i wonder how much sooner (and worse) problems would have happened if they had sent these rovers out with Windows? shall we say, Martian BSOD? *shudder*

it works!

i guess i'll be posting from work again... =)

missing posts?

is it just me, or are my e-mail posts aren't getting here? i better check later tonight to be sure...

digital prints!

i got 103 digital pictures printed today at Kodak Eastwood City (P7 each, 4R, matte finish, with white borders), and i have to say that i'm quite pleased with the pictures.

i have one slight complaint about them though - seems that 1600x1200 (2MP) doesn't quite fit in 4R well, so the people at the photo shop took the liberty of cropping/centering the images on their own, which resulted to a loss of some image positioning, which really hurt with some of my creative pics.

anyway, i'm partly to blame - those images were sent for printing as is. no retouching, no manipulation. if i did that the prints would have definitely come out much better.

i'll make sure to remember that for the next batch of 100 images i'll have printed. =P

happy birthday Blogger!

man, i just realised that yesterday, Blogger was born!

happy birthday! ^_^

GB-PVR

okay, while i'm still deliberating on whether i'm getting a video camera or not, here's something that i saw that might pass my time - assuming of course i have the hardware to use it with.

now if only people here would actually put up their TV programming schedules on the web in easy-to-parse formats. then PVRs might really kick off here. =)

confusions

what should i get first - a miniDV video camera, a hardware capture card (like a Pinnacle Pro-One), or a new workstation?

really tempted to get a video cam now tho...

agh! i'm blind!

... actually, that's my computer screaming out for mercy as its monitor died late this afternoon. it's not so bad - we're using the computer as a media center-ish sort of appliance now by hooking it up to a TV and the receiver we use for DVD playback. too bad we haven't gotten surround sound to work via SPDIF from the SB Live!

anyway, i guess that puts me out of the scene for a bit...

another invitation to blog elsewhere

my friend's inviting people to blog at iph via a 2-month trial period. - i'll give it a shot sometime soon, let me know when anyone of you considers doing so too. who knows, a free membership might be up for grabs (a $15/year value)!

my friend is also advising me to put up more interactive content in my blog, so i'll do just that as soon as i figure out how to do it.

also, i'm in the market for a miniDV video camera these days - trying to look for a Sony DCR-TRV70/80, or anything within the P20k-P30k range that's really good. any help would be really appreciated. =)

bad haircut day

this day will go down in history as the day i decided to change barbers, and got extremely disappointed.

okay, not that i'm that disappointed, to be honest, but compared to the P100 (P80 + P20 tip) i pay for a haircut that lasts a month, this P80 cut i had just a few minutes ago must be one that'll last me for only about 2 weeks.

ah well... i can't really blame my sister for this, though i'm really _really_ tempted to do so since she was the one who got me convinced to try. i could have talked to the cutter to cut it a different way, but i didn't.

let's just hope that things get better as the days and weeks pass by.

kristoffer's moblog

now that wasn't so hard, now was it?

anyway, i've got my moblog up now - check it out here. sorry for the lack of content there in the meantime okay? i haven't really bothered with it too much just yet, but just enough to get my preferred user name. =)

about the only thing i sort of hate there right now is the weirdness of the post preview behavior (displays your HTML code as is, but when you post it creates all those soft CR tags for you, and the limited 100x100px res for your personal photo. plus the inability to customise the layout - but i don't really change layouts that much anyway, so i think that's perfectly okay. =)

more blogs!

i'm giving myGlobe G-Blogs a shot, since it's being offered by my mobile carrier. hopefully i'll enjoy blogging there as much as i enjoy blogging here. i'll post a link in to my g-blogs blog site later... =)

don't worry - i'm not about to leave this place stagnant. you'll still hear from me regularly. =)

and then there was light...

... after 4 hours of darkness due to a power failure, things are finally back to normal. i think.

too bad no progress was made on installations on this thing, though that's not too big a problem for me yet. =)

there's no place like home!

okay, so maybe i'm exaggerating a bit, but our computer is sort of back online now... so i can get back to speed with everything that i do here pretty soon.

it's rather bare bones here right now though - just the core apps in place. that will change soon, for sure. =)

out of commission

i'm going to be offline for a few days, due to a reinstallation our OS is currently undergoing. don't fret - i'll be back sooner than i could click my red heels three times and say "there's no place like home!" (or something like that)

happy!

i was praised by my boss for a good job (sort of) today!

makes me sooooooo happy... amd makes me wish that he'd do it more often. but then again, that would mean that i have to do tasks that will make him believe in what i do... =)

compare reviews!

check out metacritic: Film Reviews, Game Reviews, Music Reviews, DVD Reviews - compared across sites, articles, and more!

$14 Steadycam

i wonder if i could find someone who'd love to make one of these for me?

why do i need one? well, i'm going into amateur video production sometime soon, and optical video stabilization is superior to digital (not to mention that only the newer cameras have the digital one built-in, and i may not have that much money to blow for a camera).

by the way, my apologies for basically posting links all over my blog of late - haven't had time to sip some coffee and comtemplate about life and its intricacies...

introducing.. the Honda Jazz

this is one cute car!

as it's selling in the range of P 550k - 690k, i guess i'll have to save up a lot more pennies everyday for that... heheh. =)

See What You Share on P2P

oh no... look at what the military's sharing out via p2p...

Nintendo DS

neat gaming device!

i wonder how it will fare with Sony's PSP?

Interactive Eye Tests

think you have vision problems? do check out the few tests offered here.

as always, don't take these tests as a final word on your eye condition. a trip to the local eye specialist is always recommended. =)

worst driving experience

last night was probably my worst drive home yet.

can you imagine streets full of cars all going nowhere, stuck in traffic, only moving for every 10 or so minutes? well, i was in that sort of traffic last night.

and look at all the commuters who just decided to walk instead... (sorry if it was blurry - forgot to stash my digicam with me, so i had to use my phone instead)



at least my drive home wasn't as bad as my parents. my usual travel time of 1 1/4 hours was bloated to 4 hours. my parents, on the other hand, had a bloated travel time of 6 hours... considering that the usual would be around 45 minutes!

i confirmed something last nite as well - wherever there's heavy traffic, there's bound to be those trekkers selling all sorts of goodies to the drivers everywhere, from cigarettes to peanuts to candies to water.

oh man. i hope that doesn't happen again. ever.

Small Cameras, Big Pictures

size doesn't always matter, it seems, in the digital video world.

which is all and good for me, since i'm in the process of saving up for a digital video camera for amateur work. =)

conversations with the Indian man

today i felt pretty good about my voice changing abilities... let me now introduce you to Mr. Sati Ravichandra...



heheh. actually i just used that name, and talked in the Indian accent most of us know very well to fool a co-worker of mine today, and i guess i sounded pretty authentic - he sure got fooled! =)

useless stuff about your life...

for all sorts of nonsense that would definitely enrich your life, check this site out. heheh.

okay, okay. i'm bored. sorry! =P

want to use a really good SoundFont?

for the SB Live!/Audigy owners out there, give GeneralUser GS a try for your MIDI playing needs. i'm sure it won't disappoint... =)

i hate wounded hearts...

... especially if one of those wounded hearts is mine....

update (21:30) i'm okay now! =)

chip your kids, keep them safe?

Japan has come with a wonderfully-unique way to use RFID... does this mean that in the future all our movements would be tracked by Big Brother?

etiquette lessons... sort of

wow. read this wonderful book (scanned in full) on "How to make friends by Telephone". cool. =)

online courses anyone?

i think i'm going to put some online learning into my schedule for the next couple of weeks... heheh. =)

more about online learning is discussed on a /. link here.

last-minute birthday greetings

before the clock hits 12mn, i just want to greet (the 2nd time for the day) my good friend and cyber-sis Lynne a happy, happy birthday! =)

i'll send u the cake next year, sis... =P

The Mystery of Britney's Breasts

you will never look at this lady the same way again after watching this super cool Flash documentary...

or not. =)

bloopers and blunders on the big screen

you'll never watch movies the same way again after visiting moviemistakes.com, a site that pretty much documents every single mistake there is in films or TV shows.

take Spiderman 2 - they've found 33 mistakes so far. =)

Evaluating Windows XP Service Pack 2 RC2

waiting for the time when Windows XP SP2 will finally be offered for everyone? and waiting to see just how good (or bad) it actually will be for your system?

take a look at this article, which details how big a deal the service pack is actually gearing up to be. i wonder why Microsoft never made their software a bit more security-oriented from the get go, only now submitting itself to consumer pressure?

... what?? you're still on vanilla Windows XP?! well, go update yourself already! you have no idea how grave a risk you're putting your computer in as it is!

(psst... you "lost" your activation key? oh, just go search for it online - it's not going to be that hard to find. heheh.)

transitions galore!

if you're an amateur video editing hobbyist like me and want to have more transitions to use without breaking the bank, take a look at Burger's Transition Site. check out the Firestorm effect he cooked up - wicked!

stopping the leaks

if you've ever looked around the black market for movies (which is admittedly, pretty much everywhere here), chances are you've found yourself viewing a "screener" copy, meaning it was only meant for viewing of intended individuals, like say, the members of a movie awards panel, such as the Academy Awards.

since last year's attempt (not to distribute to voters at all) proved to be an embarrassing idea, organisers have found a way to hopefully solve their problem: specially-encrypted DVDs. oh, and special DVD players to boot too.

read the full story here. (via /.).

i'm baaaaaaaaaaack!

man! after being waylaid in bed for pretty much the past, er, (counts fingers) 5 days due to an unexplainable rash that i have all over me (which i still have, unfortunately), i'm finally able to get back to some semblance of normal living, on the computer, blogging as much as i want to, and getting around the house anytime i wanted to.

it was fun being serviced by everyone if i wanted water, or food, or a change of clothes, or whatever, and not to be expected to do stuff like, wash the plates, clean my room, or fix some house appliance, not to mention i didnt have to go to work for a few days, but i guess that was part of being sick.

...

come to think of it, i think i liked being sick more. heheheh.

stormy weather musings

the weather has steadily gone from bad to worse here, with gusting winds of high velocities (around 160kph think) and the occasional downpour of rain. with floods and landslides everywhere, plants uprooted and billboards collapsed, and thousands of common folk troubled in its wake, sooner or later, it's bound to affect even the most secluded and privileged people.

the President must have consulted a crystal ball, and saw the impending condition that prevails over us now, thus deciding to move her inauguration a couple of islands south. it's a good move, and one that would allow her to bask in all her glory.

i think that her inauguration, and in turn, the electoral proceedings that put her in her position now, must be just like this one big windy storm for her, with all the allegations of fraud, and destabilisation plots like attempted bombings and road spikings. i'm not inclined to take sides (though i did vote for her), but i am aware that, like all storms, they will come, they will go, but in its wake, things will definitely remain to haunt her.

two important values: trust and confidence - she may have already been lost from lots of people already.

i suppose she has made like a storm chaser (just like in the movie Twister) these past few months, avoiding the path of impending doom, but despite her cunning in avoiding the path of doom, she had better be ready to face all the damage it has introduced to her term.

if storms were still named after women, this one should have been called Gloria.

good luck, Ms. President.

so you forgot to hear Mass...

... well, here's a link you could visit to keep yourself abreast with what's happening to the Church. heheh.

of course, i don't condone just reading the Homily of some priest in Dublin - celebrating the Mass with your community is still the best way to praise and worship His greatness. =)

shopping spree!

my family and i went shopping today, and here's what i got to bring home:
- a trench coat (for P700)! heheh. i honestly don't know when it would be good to use this, but whatever the case i have one now. maybe i'll bring it to the office for our cold room experiences... =)
- a bottle of Lacoste pour Homme and a small tube of Lacoste Facial Wash (of the same scent) for P2.7k... cool! just the scent i want!

that's about it... that's already around P4k as it is! i also treated my family to lunch at Sake-san in SM Megamall...

hmm... one thing i noticed about them is that they charged us for the moist paper towels that they gave us at P3 each! that's paltry, but i can't believe they'd charge us for something without informing us ahead! maybe i should rat on them with DTI... =\

lots o' postings!

not here though - on my Yahoo! Photos page. =)

i got a huge bunch of new pics there now - have fun taking a look at them! and do feel free to comment on the pics i made, especially the creative shots. =)

FYI, the only editing i made on practically all these images are resizing and rotating. =)

Intel recalls recently released chipsets

bad news for Intel and early tech adopters - a recall has been ordered!

thank goodness i didn't get a computer just yet... heheh.

trigger happy!

(i just realised that i'm generating so many hits for this post of mine.

the reason? it's ranked #2 on Google when searching for the term "cliepet". cool!)

it was raining quite a bit these past few days, and since i had my digicam with me during all that water, i got loads of creative pictures, i think... i'll have them posted in my photos page soon.

blogging off PS2 Linux

this is fun - i'm actually posting a blog message from PS2 Linux, thanks to lynx. the interface is cumbersome and all, plus there's no graphics, but at least it works.

i'm going back to the workstation as soon as the DVD burning job there is complete. makes me kinda wish that we could just buy one of those faster DVD writers in the market right now. or we could probably wait for BluRay technology.

hmm... on the other hand, being an early adopter might not be so good all the time.

road accident!

i witnessed a bizaare incident early this morning, but it's too darn tough to explain without visuals. =(

suffice it to say that i saw a man on a motorbike hit a plastic barricade, sliding sidewards onto the pavement. it looked like he wasn't seriously injured, but i wasn't able to get a clear look.

i wonder if it would have been rude to take pictures of the man while he was down...?

more lessons learned from rolling maki

my sister and i rolled some more maki last Friday, and since my earlier post got mseesd up somewhere in transit, i'm posting this message again... some more lessons i learned from the experience:
- learn to value the use of a wet rag to wipe off a knife prior to use. i got a few cuts on my fingers by not doing so.
- also learn to value the use of a damp, wooden spatula to spread the rice onto the nori.
- 1 1/2 cups of japanese rice yields approx. 6 rolls of maki
- tighter packed rolls do not always mean better yield. our california maki had their mangoes splurting out the sides every time we pushed a bit harder down on the roll to shape it better. they do become more packed, but the mangoes also become more mushed up in the process.

Mr. BoomBa

talk about nutty Flash animation!

many thanks to Trissie "camera nut" for this. =D

funny bumper sticker #2 and other nasty stuff

i saw this bumper sticker on a car today as i was driving to my grandmother's place in Tondo, Manila:

People who plan to seek God at the 11th Hour - die at 10:30

strong words for those who haven't accepted God into their lives...

i also found out that if you're a newbie driver wanting for some hardcore road experience on the road, drive into the Manila area, like say, going to the Tutuban Mall. i can assure you that you will never experience driving quite like any other at that area. cars and jeepneys stop anywhere, run through red lights like they weren't there, overtake on opposite lanes like they were on one-way streets, and soooooooooooo much more. and don't forget the stubborn people who choose to cross the streets like they expect cars to stop for them, and stop at the center of the road like helpless deer when cars meet them (like what i experienced today - shame i couldn't get a snapshot of his face).

i'm glad i survived my drive there.

LucasFan Games

one of my very first games on the PC was Maniac Mansion, the fun adventure of a couple of teenagers on a mission to rescue their friends' girlfriend, who was abducted by a mad scientist into his crazy mansion, hence the title.

in this day and age, 3D graphics seem to be the main selling point of all things, though hopefully companies would realise soon that killer graphics can only go so far.

anyway, now i'll get the chance to relive every funky bit of the past in full color, thanks to LucasFan Games's faithful recreation of the game.

give it a whirl - you won't regret it.

Gmail Machine

okay, i'm getting desperate with email. heheh... i've decided to try my luck with the Gmail Machine, and while i can't count just how many times i hit the Refresh button, i'll be updating this blog if ever i actually get a Gmail account doing this.

TheTechLounge - Beyond Megapixels

for those just planning to buy a digital camera, read this, this, and this to help you decide better. =)

lessons learned from rolling maki

after rolling my own maki (with my own choice of ingredients), and having it taste-tested to my very critical panel, comprising my siblings, i have learned the following lessons:
- ham, cheese, sweetened egg omelette and cucumber do not make a good maki roll, according to my panel, of course... in my case, i kinda liked the taste...
- clamp, then press. my rolls looked like big letter D's.
- make sure to calculate the proportion of rice against the ingredients, and vice versa. i ended up using a mix of sushi rice and plain rice for my last roll. heheh.
- more practice! =)

now what the heck am i going to do with the other two rolls in the ref (which equates to 16 rolls)? i guess i know what i'll be having for the next few days... =P

introducing: the Sony Vaio U50 and U70

how i wish these babies were cheaper - at that cost, i'd just get a VAIO notebook! =)

my Yahoo! Photos page

i'll add the link into my page later - for now, do check out my creative shots so far on Yahoo! Photos. =)

free Palm-based guitar tuner

technically free, this app _should_ help you with guitar tuning, but all i can make of it is a bunch of bars moving up and down - not really as intuitive as the one i'm using now...

but, then again, it _is_ free.

photo challenge

i think i'm going to give myself a weekly "photo challenge" based on an abstract artistic theme that i want to focus on. (if people were to actually send in suggestions, i'll probably consider those entries too. *hint* *hint*)

anyway, i bumped into this guy's PBase page a couple of months back, and remembered that i tried a similar experiment after i saw it.


this was the result of my initial attempt.

so maybe i'll give myself a macro challenge over the next few days. if anyone wants to participate, drop me a comment and let's discuss how we can trasmit your pic over to me, and then we'll see. =)

TuSSH - HiRes palm ssh for Palm OS4 and Above

this should be adequate for my server monitoring concerns here at home, without breaking the bank or hurting my eyes. =)

(in case you didn't know, we have a Linux machine acting as our broadband router and firewall.) =)

a portable "portable keyboard"

if you've ever wanted to bring a portable musical keyboard with you to a simple gathering or something, this has got to be the most portable of the lot, hands down. these crazy Japanese sure know how to innovate.

and boy, i'd love to have one of these...

DIY for photography links

this is great - DIY links for all sorts of photography projects. even digital! =)

Modern-Clie-Audio by CliePet (for NX/NZ/TG)

back when i was using a Tungsten T, i had this program called Perfect Pitch that i would use to tune my guitar whenever i would use it. after i had switched over to my NZ90, it now refused to work.

now, thanks to CliePet's project i can finally run my guitar-tuning program again! =)

fun stuff

some fun things i noticed today on my way to work...
- sticker read off the bumper of a car: Thou Shalt Not Steal. Politicians Hate Competition. ("must be an activist," my friend commented)
- sweet deal! if you're within the vicinity of the Jollibee outlet along the President Diosdado Macapagal Avenue (near Blue Wave), and in need of a copy of the Philippine Star and some breakfast, head right in and order a Tuna Pie, and voila - today's paper. i have no idea how both companies make money from this deal, since Tuna Pies sells for P16 apiece, and the papers sell for P15. i wonder if this same deal is valid across all branches of Jollibee?

stuff to do... (round 2)

(reminder to self: be extra careful when blogging from linux via links - javascript support sucks here!)

i still need to do these things for my blog, so let's hope for the best.
- post more pictures!
- write more articles
- be more active!

looks like i have my work cut out for me now... =P

Man sends 80,012 text messages in protest

... if you thought your text addiction couldn't get any worse, try beating than this record.

introducing, nasubi...

i bumped into this link some time ago... very interesting concept.

who ever knew reality TV could get this weird?

Build a solid-state mini-ITX Linux audio recording studio!

oaky, so maybe not everyone will have the luxury of creating one of these these babies, but at least here's something everyone can start with.

now if only someone would come up with a mini-ITX linux _video_ recording studio...

freedom!

now that i've dealt with everything that kept me busy for the past few days, i'm back with a few posts...

i'm going to compile a basic list of video camera tips (for the video editor) sometime - but at the very least, i will must surely mention that the camera person should have a pair of ear/headphones and a microphone handy. the microphone is a more obvious addition, but headphones? well, using headphones will allow the camera person to assess the sound the camera is picking up (via its omnidirectional mic or a microphone he'd have), thus allowing for clearer speeches and less noisy videos.

i also remembered taking a shot of the sun the other day via my T610, and remembered a tip that i read from a digicam forum sometime ago. it mentioned that to reduce glare from very bright sources (thus creating weird exposed pictures or fringing artifacts), a simple pair of shades may be used. i'll post two images later that will differentiate a shot of the sky with and without the "filter".

anything else in mind right now... nope, maybe later or tomorrow.

photography links i bumped into...

Michael Quack - The DIY guide to cheap studio lighting

and

smugmug - Michael (osblue) : Homemade Flash Clip For Macro Photos : Flash bounce template.

... both worth a good look when i'm free again.

goodbye TechTV.com...

... rebirth has become your destiny.

who am i?

i had a deeply profound conversation with an office mate of mine on identity and direction a few moments ago. he amazes me. simple as that. one of his lines even went this way (and i quote): "i'm not working for the company; i'm working for myself."

it made me wonder all of a sudden, if i really know who i am. i find myself lost now, as i am pitched headlong into a whole new world of confusions and explanations, where defining my intentions in life is not as important as defining who i am and what i want for myself; where plans are products of a clear understanding of what my personal goals are, molded by who i am.

i'm glad i had that conversation.

wasted

i subjected myself to 10+ hours of video editing yesterday, and it was only then that i was reminded just how toxic it can be to a person's mind and body.

the worst part of this exercise is that we're not even halfway through the whole task, and we're set to get to work again tonight, and possibly tomorrow as well...

oh boy...

you got game!

i was looking for new stuff to stuff into my Clie NZ90, and stumbled onto this, which has a comprehensive list of every emulator available on the Palm.

now to see which ones i'll actually stick with. =)

be your own wireless ISP!

for about P7000 (for a Linksys WRT45G) and an hour or two of setup time, you can turn your broadband connection into a profit-earning venture! check the details here!

we're still wired here, since we really don't see any need to go unwired yet, but at least the option is available. =)

WiFi PDA showdown

ever wondered which WiFi PDA offers the best network performance? this link has a very detailed comparison between three Pocket PCs and a Palm. very interesting read.

another camera phone interaction tool

High Energy Magic Ltd. has released a public beta on a interaction system that uses your camera phone! this is similar to my earlier link on "barcodes" for the camera phone.

who knows, maybe someday someone's going to release a face recognition system for camera phones?

modern exercise methodology

i have just _got_ to try getting into this scheme! who knows? maybe i could lose a bit more weight (even if i already know i'm not exactly fat). i do have a rather short breath though, and i guess this form of cardio exercises should help me.

this should be of interest for all those DDR freaks that can't seem to find justification for pulling out the dance pad again. like me!

on the quest for "better" audio

now that i'm abusing my ears with all this audio testing, even with using somewhat-low-end equipment, i finally realise just how bad my MP3s sound. they all suffer a similar condition: lower frequencies become more pronounced, and higher frequencies become more compressed (the lower the bitrate, the more pronounced the effect, but more or less they're consistent across all bitrates).

i recently tried out a different codec, amusingly named "Monkey's Audio". nothing amusing with how it's able to keep the quality of a song perfectly similar to its original, though. =) the only bad thing is the size (we're talking about ~50% compression compared to uncompressed .WAV counterparts), plus there's no consumer product support for it. not exactly a better format in my opinion.

my idea of better audio is:
- sounds better than a number of lossy formats (MP3, OGG, AAC, etc.)
- maintains consumer product support (meaning there are products out there that will play back the format)

so i'm still sort of stuck with MP3, only that i'll prolly raise my bitrate bar from 192kbps to 256kbps now.

new gear!

my brother was so kind to buy me a pair of new headphones for my a/v editing work - the Philips SBC HP200. there really isn't much about it online, but testing it for the past 30 or so minutes has left me feeling very satisfied with the pair. and at only P800, it's pretty cheap. i'm listening to Usher and John Mayer, and i'm good... =)

that wasn't the only things they bought today - they also got a pair of cordless IR headphones (i'll write about it tomorrow), and incidentally, got a pair of computer speakers free, the BA160. i haven't tested them, nor have i seen any reviews for them, but they're active _and_ passive speakers, so they should be pretty good.

more on these stuff as the week goes along...

DIY Wi-Fi antennas!

i saw a link on G4TechTV's The ScreenSavers show recently on how you could build your very own Wi-Fi antennas that are not only cheap, but have a much wider range too (think kilometers).

this time i saw a link on how someone just made this concept even easier to build! cool!

now if only i actually have a Wi-Fi network laid here...

a glimpse into my busy life!

this is just one of the many tasks my illustrious job requires me to do - seriously!

(okay, maybe not seriously...)

proof of statement?

remember i talked about how it's sad to see people working towards these "easy" jobs?

apparently, these so-called "get-rich-and-abroad-quick" deals might not be so perfect as popularly thought of anymore, as local news reports.

btw, if my link doesn't work, i guess mailing to my blog still has some more limitations that i didn't see earlier.

update: (oops, i forgot to put the code in quotes.)

attention span

according to my accounting teacher in college, you can only hold the attention of a class for 1.5hrs, max. if there were rules like this set in place for all sorts of meetings, then we'd have meetings that have short breaks every so often... wouldn't that be great?

new counter in place

i didn't expect my search for a new site counter to finish this quickly... i guess i just found the kind i wanted on my first click.

now i'll be able to tell where all you visitors are coming from! mwahahaha!

the only downside i can see with the migration is that i lose the 400+ clicks i already had in the first place... hmm, but then again, maybe i ought to just edit the darn counter to reflect that number.

hmm... just a bit... *hacks* there yah go. =)

website counter woes

i'm beginning to realise that i want a website counter that will alllow me to perform more analysis. so i'm off to look for a different counter system.

be back in a jiff.

bad, bad developers

so much for software development Q&A... (taken from the WIDCOMM Bluetooth Software 1.4.2 build 10)

speaking of movements...

see the man inside the browser window! =P

for those American Idol fans...

... i offer to you, William Hung's official website! heheheh...

i tell you, i sampled a couple of his songs from his album, Inspirations, and i literally laughed my head off. =P

at least that gives all the bad singers out there a bit more hope. =)

The Gematriculator

have you ever wondered how good or evil you were? The Sect of Homokaasu might have the answer to your problem.

of course, if you don't believe in any form of numerology, this is pure hogwash for you. but then again, this _is_ just for fun, isn't it? =)

slow movements

what has happened so far to my day? hardly anything tech-related, to be sure.

i just remembered that a really good friend of mine way back in HS (who i incidentally got connected back with via Friendster) should be back from China by last Friday. i wonder how i'll get back in touch with her? i doubt she has internet access immediately, so i guess until she does get back online, i'll probably have to hope that she reaches out first. sucks.

hmm... what is all the excitement about the beta version of Yahoo! Messenger? i mean, much as i can see the fun with having these avatars and games and stuff, i'd rather have just one IM software running around on my workstation than have an odd number installed. okay, so maybe Trillian can't offer the same full functionality of these IM independent software, but there are only so many features i'd love to have that Trillian can't offer me now:

- SMS login (for Yahoo! Messenger) and SMS sending (Y!M, ICQ)

come to think of it, that's all i need that i can't have right now.

DVD ripping off the PS2

one of the projects i've been meaning to attend to was to be able to rip a DVD on my PC, using the DVD drive of the PS2, since the one i'm using right now is region-locked to Region 2. this, of course, has to go through the Linux kit (via Samba), connected to our network.

i think i have complete recipe for this exercise now.

ingredients:
- PS2 with Linux installed (via the PS2 Linux kit)
- workstation with a DVD writer, SmartRipper, DVD Shrink
- ~20GB HDD
- network connection between the PS2 and workstation
- any DVD movie disc of your choice

steps:
- enable Samba on PS2 Linux
- create a share for the DVD drive
- on the workstation, map the share to a drive
- run SmartRipper, and let it detect the share
- backup entire disc (or select which VOBs to extract)
- let run for a few hours (maybe)
- run DVD Shrink, and load ripped VOB files
- re-encode to DVD-5 (4.7GB per disc - if your DVD recorder only supports this much)
- burn, baby, burn!

you could use guides to help figure out some details, but essentially this is it. =)

right now, i'm also thinking that maybe the ~20GB HDD requirement can be moved to the PS2 instead of the workstation, by ripping from the PS2 DVD drive, and saved into the PS2 HDD. i'll give it a whirl someday.

wow! i just saved myself P2k for a new drive! (tho my brother spent lots just to get his hands on the PS2 Linux kit in the first place)

mobile blogging

okay, so maybe mailing my entry isn't exactly mobile
blogging, but at least it works as intended.

where am i right now, you might ask. in bed. =)

[i had to edit this post to remove the Yahoo! email tag, but that's a minor thing.]

photomosaic madness

my sister was looking for a way to make a simple, yet impressive creative page for her college yearbook a couple of months back. since she had been playing on the idea of creating a photo-collage, the tech nut inside me shifted into gear. so i told her, why not use a photomosaic?

naturally, i got a puzzled look from her. so i went off to demonstrate what Centarsia could do for her, and she was practically blown away by what it could do.

there are a bunch of other software that are available that can do this, but Centarsia is free (gotta love these software developers).

the only downside: you'll need to do your tweaking on your own, since it's not the most user-friendly piece of software you'll find. plus, you're going to need all the pictures you could possibly get for a really good photomosaic.

SmartMorph

for all you video editing nuts out there, this is one utility that will probably come in handy for you. it's not as featured, but it gets the job done. and it's free too!

in my case, its use came to me about two weeks ago when i was thinking of how i'll make a simple wedding video presentation (of the bride and the groom - from their baby pics and pics together), and then it struck me. morphing a pic of a baby to his/her adulthood would be a great thing to stick in.

verdict: they loved it!

noontime minglings

i'm glad i bumped into this guy way back in college - this guy's a tech nut like myself... might be even _more_ of a tech nut than myself. heheh. =)

now i've got many things in consideration as i start reviving (and snazzing up) this blog of mine, among which are the following:

1- subscribe to BlogRolling for easy link maintenance [put it in already, though i only have one post in right now - my friend's site]
2- consider signing up for a moblog
3- consider posting lots more, cuz my friend apparently got rewarded with a GMail account for doing so... *envious*

hmm, looks like i have my weekend all occupied with tech stuff now... we'll see as things come along.

top score!

here's my top score so far for the Flash game i just linked on my site. (incidentally, my brother beat my high score on his first try. but if at first you don't succeed...) can anyone beat me? =P

[update] btw, that score reads 950.9, in case it's too blurry to be readable.

Bloody Pingu Throw

check this game out!

the person who gets to bat those penguins' heads furthest wins a prize! (or maybe not)

early bird activities

i was at the market this morning with my mom (shame i didn't have a camera of any form with me), and i was kinda fascinated with how well a system of haggling and competition thrived in such a small, cramped and damp portion of land.

i have to be going before 9a to drive my sister off for work. and then i'll need to deal with other "chores" i want to work on for the weekend. mainly sleep. =P

photoblog post!

i wonder how this will look like on my blog?

update: cool! i think i'll keep this service... i can't wait to show this to other ppl... =)

i guess my digital photography hobby is about to get one heck of an exposure boost (to the public that is).

btw, that's Whiskers in my Snoopy knapsack on my table at the office - ain't he so cute? heheh... i'm sure to hold Whiskers close to my heart. heheheh. ^_^

photoblog

i'm going to try out this service partnered with by Blogger, Hello, a service that offers unlimited photo blog space - this is going to be cool!

of course, i can't really see myself using it that much yet, but at least it'll come in handy. =)

soggy noodles

i overheard a conversation yesterday about how fresh graduates these days place great emphasis on how much they earn from a job (in monetary terms), not how much they actually gain from it (in terms of training and exposure). and it is saddeningly true that this is the case these days - with college applicants to bank managers (yes, even them) taking courses in nursing to be caretakers and nurses abroad. it used to be IT, back in the glory days of the dot-com boom. then came call center careers. now we have these caretakers and nurses in demand. we're even seeing industries designed _specifically_ for these careers. amazing.

it's really depressing, thinking just how low peoples' aspirations have become. can we truly quantify happiness with salary/pay? i think not.

hmm. it looks like Blogger fixed the comments tagging for mailed blogs, though the forced line feeds are still present.

update: gotten things back in line

okay, i got my scripts back in place now. had to mess around with the settings a bit so that i could get the original counter hits back in though. =)

one other thing i've noticed with mailing my blog entry is that it produces these extra line feeds - ugly! i guess that means i'll edit my entries whenever i get back on my workstation.

btw, very interesting concept this site has - you generate a barcode image, you take a snap of it with your mobile phone, and the software you have on your phone will decode it into a URL and visit it. coolness! now that's what i call a practical mobile phone application!

i wonder if there are any more stuff like that - i'm hoping my phone has software like this...

getting things back in line

i forgot that i used a guestbook and counter script before on my blog page (courtesy of CGISpy) - i'll need to reacquire the code for them and put them in properly... that shouldn't be a problem.

weather woes

i wonder how bad the weather outside was - all i'm aware of is that it rained pretty hard all day today. hopefully the roads won't be all congested with traffic, though, to be honest, i think that's wishful thinking.

has anyone ever bothered to develop a flood-resistant car? a car that can run through knee-deep waters, maybe? even more importantly, would developing one be cost-efficient? i can only imagine how expensive cars like that will be initially.

limitations

one limitation i noticed with mailing my blog posts is that the comments tag won't show - at least for now. since i've configured my settings to publish my posts as i mail them, i'll just have to edit them later when i get full Internet access (which most probably won't come around until i get home). and one other thing i have to work on: i forgot to save the script i used to put in a guestbook and counter on my blog page before - will have to dig up the HTML codes to put those back in.

KnoppiXMAME and PS2 Xmame worked somewhat okay... i wasn't able to get my gamepads to work in KnoppiXMAME, and games were EXCESSIVELY slow on the PS2. at least it's a start.

i heard on the radio today on my drive to work that a man has been jailed for posting nude pictures of his 17-yr-old girlfriend he took with his mobile phone (i'll try to find a link for that later tonite). pretty soon we're going to start seeing how these camera phones will be mandated with some form of control to prevent things like this from happening, much like how the Internet's laws and stuff first started.

pending projects

i'm about to go restart this workstation to try out KnoppiXMame, a bootable Linux-based emulator of all sorts of old-skool games (i won't list any of them here - i'll let you figure it out).

on the other hand, over the time i wasn't posting, my brother bought the PS2 Linux Kit (available from the US) via e-2-door, and is now happily making things run off it, like XMame (just like the one i just mentioned above, only that it'll run off the PS2).

hmm. gotta do something about the hit-and-miss behavior of our PS2 DVD drive - must be because it's a much older model (15000 unless i'm mistaken).

i'm back!

i've decided to revive my blog - with a bit of reconditioning, of course.

interestingly, the features i've been waiting for ever since Blogger got acquired by Google are now available to all users! that means i get to post blogs via email! cool!

why elusive refractions? well, i've been meaning to find some sort of inspiration to kick start my life in a totally new direction, especially now that i'm approaching my mid-20s, and this seems to have been my problem for the past couple of months as it is. and i thought, maybe it'd be a nice name for my blog...

i'll also be trying to realign it to better reflect my personal preferences on technology and what-nots. i've been posting like this were a diary before. (i don't mind the archives of my past blog - they're better there to remind me of my past blog "methodologies".)

i'm looking forward to this "new" blog!

rolling in of 2004

i've read somewhere that a majority of bloggers stop updating their sites after a year or so of activity... i wonder if i've fallen into that majority already.

i sure hope not.