CE21 Exercise Scoring

* Subject to Change

- Compile error: Student can resubmit but maximum score is 70% only
- Correct on given public data: 50% (deduction depending on number of errors)
- Correct on instructor's private data: 50% (deduction depending on number/gravity of errors)
- Failure to follow instructions (file naming, output format, etc.): 20% deduction
- Late submission (deadline will usually be after one meeting): 10% deduction per day (excluding weekends)
- Early submission: Those who will be able to submit during class hours will get additional 10%

pacquiao wins by KO

Official time Round 9 2:24.

And the new WBC Lightweight Champion of the World, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao!!!

Congratulations to Pacquiao!
I managed to print screen the power punches score amidst my excitement. You can see that Pacman clearly dominated the match.

pacquiao vs diaz live

http://animohosting.com/main/watch-pacquiao-vs-diaz-live/

No more long commercials. :P

two hectic weeks ahead

Study load
1. CS270: SQL exercise
a. Port database entry from PostgreSQL to MySQL(cancelled)Install PostgreSQL and import database
b. Do the queries
2. EE227: Transistor SPICE exercise
a. Download and install WinSpice
b. Study WinSpice tutorial
c. Create lab report (code, plot, conclusion)
3. EE227: Catch up on readings
4. CS297: Six charts for class presentation.

Teaching load
1. CE21: Prepare long exam
2. CE21: Prepare guidelines for machine problem #1.1(coding)
3. CE21: Prepare guidelines for machine problem #1.2(debugging)
4. CE21: Create PERL script for automated checking of coding exercises
5. CE21: Directions for exercise #2 (if)
6. CE21: Directions for exercise #3 (looping)
7. CE21: Directions for Bugs Buster exercise #4 (var_types, bool_expressions, if, loops)
8. CE21: Directions for exercise #5 (functions)
9. CIE122: Guidelines for final project
10. CIE122: CIE122 intranet site
11. CIE122: Setup sample projects in local intranet for students to see
12. CIE122: Teaching materials for lab part of course

Grid System Administration
1. Study Linux system administration
2. Grid Training related paperwork
a. Fill out Subsidy form(ask help from doc Raffy)
b. Signatures

JRM Photography
1. Finish Gilbert and Cel's Video (DVD)

century tuna

It's been a while since I had a Century tuna meal. Back when I was still studying in college, this was my staple ulam. It's relatively cheap, easy to prepare and for me, tastes good with onions. I even have a recipe wherein I put all-purpose cream in Century tuna vegetable oil.

Probably, the fact that I had sufficient income in my working years allowed me to go for more convenient (and more expensive) meals from different restaurant and fast-food chains in Katipunan. And so I forgot about the tuna. But now that I am back in school and living with a tight budget, I am realizing that dining at Ken Afford, Reyes Barbecue, Box O' Rice is a little bit lavish. With this realization, I am convincing myself that there are cheaper alternatives such as the tuna (although the girlfriend said when I was still eating tuna on a daily basis that tuna has high levels of mercury, and mercury can't be good for our health). But I beg to differ. Look at the hot bodies of Century tuna models. hehehe.

Anyways, I just ate a double-rice century tuna with half onion meal. And I am satisfied.

brain exercises

I read from a book while I was strolling at National bookstore that using your left hand to brush your teeth (if you are right-handed) exercises your brain. So right now, I'm using a left-handed mouse on my computer and I feel I am getting smarter by the second. You should also try it.

Last week I was accepted as the SOSE cluster system administrator of the SOSE Grid. I'm not very familiar with a lot of aspects of grid computing so I am currently doing some reading about it. From what I understand, the project is actually a collaboration of many international institutions. The purpose of the Grid project is to provide a grid to various research projects that need them, one of which is in the field of e-Science. Grid users "submit" computationally intensive tasks which, for a normal computer, would take some time to finish.

So far, I've read that various grid projects around the world (e.g. SETI@home) are successful in creating a grid of several thousands of computers (go to Wikipedia for more details), and they are able to achieve very fast computational speeds. The biggest question on my mind right now though is how are application developers able to separate a complex computational task into several independent tasks that are run on each node of the grid (in order to harness the power of grid computing, each node should as much as possible not need any input from other nodes, the task that it receives should be independent of other tasks passed to other nodes). I guess I still have to do more reading in the future. But for the meantime, since developing grid applications is not part of the job description, I should still be OK. The responsibilities include:

1. UNIX/Linux system administration
2. Day-to-day cluster monitoring and maintenance
3. Monitoring of cluster usage
4. Troubleshooting
5. Documentation
6. Hardware and software installation
7. Ensuring cluster system security
8. Recommend hardware and software acquisition for cluster improvement and maintenance
9. Support users by answering questions, standardizing and configuring their environments, obtaining tools, writing appropriate documentation and other support materials.
10. Write semestral/term reports related to the cluster system (e.g., usage, problems, needs, acquisition, etc.)

cezar montano is a lame game show host

I saw "The Singing Bee" this afternoon while I was eating at Box O' Rice and I would say Cezar Montano is not fit to host a game show.

... Just wanna add a blog post. :P

fun with Joomla!

Finally, I was able to start experimenting with Joomla! I had some trouble looking for introductory material but when I came across this PDF quickstart, everything after it was easy. What I did was to create the web structure of a web development company.

The advantage of using Joomla! is that creating the content and presentation(template) can be done in two separate steps. Aside from this, all content can be easily ported into another template. And I think this is where Joomla! obtained is wide spread use. You can actually just concern yourself with the content and do away with the design of your website. In short, even non-technical individuals can develop on their own. This is because there are lots of developers out there who are willing to share their templates. You can start creating your content with the default template provided in all Joomla! installations. And when you're done, you just have to look for your preferred template. And when you have some background on CSS and PHP, you can also actually modify your downloaded templates. The good thing is that you don't have to start from scratch, you actually start near the finish line when it comes to designing your website.

In the four hours I spent exploring some features of Joomla!, I was able to come up with this website, and tried three more different templates I downloaded from http://www.siteground.com. I'm sure there a lot more better templates out there. If you want to take your technical skills and creativity to the next level, you may also develop your own templates from scratch.

no classes today

CHED announced Sunday evening that classes are suspended up to the tertiary level due to typhoon Frank. Reports say that around 229 people were confirmed dead due to landslides and floods caused by the typhoon. More than 700 more are missing when typhoon Frank caused a ferry to sink.

butata

sun life announces 2% dividends in Phil. Equity fund

I received a snail mail this morning announcing that there will be a 2% dividend on the Prosperity Phil. Equity Fund of Sun Life of Canada on 27 June 2008. However, I am disturbed by a note in the letter:

On this date, the net asset value per share (NAVPS) is expected to decline accordingly; however, the impact will be offset by the increase in the number of your shares.

I have a feeling that I shouldn't be celebrating because this giving away of dividends may just be a strategy that will hopefully help the fund as its current NAVPS is 1.6531 compared to 1.8893 when I got my very few shares December last year (Economists please enlighten me). But at any rate, it seems that the fund managers are doing something about the declining asset value, and I think this is something that I should be glad about.
To date, my current loses in this investment is 12.5%. Hopefully the economy will be able to recover.

server admin: managing your database using phpMyAdmin

phpMyAdmin is an open source tool for managing the MySQL database management system. It consists of a web interface implemented in PHP that allows database administrators to interface directly with their MySQL database without using the command line.

This blog entry will actually just outline the steps on installing and configuring phpMyAdmin and configuring the MySQL database to enable access from phpMyAdmin:

1. If you haven't done already, download the phpMyAdmin installation package from www.phpmyadmin.net. Be sure to select the latest stable version.

2. Extract the files to a "phpmyadmin" folder in the DocumentRoot of your Apache installation or in any folder inside document root where you want to access phpMyAdmin. For my case, I extracted the files in "C:\www" since this is where I set my Apache DocumentRoot. If you don't have any idea where your DocumentRoot is, check your httpd.conf Apache configuration file.

3. Open your browser and in the address bar type "http://localhost/phpmyadmin/index.php", or if you extracted in a different location, use that location.

4. If PHP was installed correctly, you should see the phpMyAdmin login page, BUT with an error.

5. To fix this error open the file "config.inc.php" in your phpmyadmin directory and edit the following lines with the correct information:

$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = ' '; // you can put any word here
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] = ' '; // you would usually want to put "localhost" here

6. You'd also want to add extension files to PHP since phpMyAdmin would be looking for them. I don't have an idea yet what each extension does, but better to include them to remove the warnings issued by the phpMyAdmin interface:

extension=php_mbstring.dll
extension=php_mysqli.dll
extension=php_mcrypt.dll // you also need to put a copy of libmcrypt.dll in "C:\WINDOWS\System32" for this extension to work

7. After doing this, you should be able to see the following web interface:


--fin

Up next, in this server administration series:

using the MySQL command line client (for CIE 122)
implementing a file upload system (for my CE 21 class)
installing apache, mysql and php in linux
installing Joomla!
installing the wordpress engine to your server
installing tWiki into your server
installing an ftp server
installing a mail server
enabling ruby on rails on your WAMP or LAMP server

server admin: installing apache, mysql and php in windows XP

I recently attended the first Joomla! Day Philippines and got a nice looking shirt. I've been wanting to experiment with it (Joomla, not the shirt) but I just couldn't find time because of lesson plans and other school related stuff. Since we'll be having a faculty day tomorrow at the Ateneo, I opted to spend my time today to document the steps I went through in creating my WAMP (Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP) server.

The guys at the seminar recommended one-click packages such as WAMP and XAMPP but I think I'd prefer manual configuration of each component to have more background on how they work. But if your just installing this server for local web development, I suggest the two packages above. As for me, I just want to feel how each component is configured so I opted for separate installations.

Here are the steps I went through:

1. Install the Apache server

1.1. Download the latest MSI installer (e.g. apache_2.2.8-win32-x86-openssl-0.9.8g) from httpd.apache.org. You can also download the ZIP file of all source files but you still have to compile them.

1.2. Double click on the installation package. The installation is pretty straight forward except at the point where it asks you the Server information.

1.3. Input the appropriate server information. Since, I don't have a DNS at home, I'm using the actual IP address of my computer. However, for most cases, you just want to type in "localhost" for the fields:

1.4. Modify where you want to install Apache. For my case, since I want to put all server applications in one location, I created a C:\Server folder and installed Apache in a folder inside it named "Apache".

1.5. Test your installation by going to your server's address using your browser: "http://192.168.0.198/" or "http://localhost/". A page with text "It Works!" should appear.

1.6. Configure your installation. Apache configuration is written in a file called "httpd.conf". To modify it, go to Start-> All Programs -> Apache HTTP Server 2.2 -> Configure Apache Server.
Here are the lines I modified:

a. I moved the folder where Apache will look for html files to C:/www so that when I uninstall apache, files that I am currently working on will not be mistakenly deleted.
# rod: DocumentRoot "C:/Server/Apache/htdocs"
DocumentRoot "C:/www"
b. # rod: Listen 80
Listen: 192.168.0.198:80
c. # rod: <Directory "C:\Server/Apache/htdocs">>
<Directory "C:\www">
1.7. Test your modifications by creating a simple page and placing it in your new DocumentRoot folder.

2. Install and configure the MySQL Database server

2.1. Download the latest installation package from mysql.com.

2.2. Extract the installation package and double click on "Setup.exe".

2.3. Select custom installation. I selected this option because I want to modify where I want MySQL to be installed, otherwise you ought to use typical installation. I installed in "C:\Server\MySQL5\"

2.4. Finish the installation but make sure that "Configure the MySQL Server now" checkbox is checked.

2.5. Select the following configurations (these are basically default unloess otherwise noted):
- Detailed Configuration
- Server Machine
- Multifunctional Database
- Decision Support (DSS)/OLAP
- Enable TCP/IP Networking
- Enable Strict Mode
- Standard Character Set
- Install as Windows Service
- Include Bin Directory in Windows PATH (not default)

2.6. Input your root account password and execute the configuration:

2.7. Test the installation by running mysql: Start->All Programs->MySQL->MySQL Server 5.0->MySQL Command Line Client. We should be able to see the following in the command prompt after inputting the root password.

3. Install the PHP engine

3.1. Download the latest version of PHP from www.php.net. I downloaded the ZIP version. I came across one tutorial which said that using the ZIP file has advantages when you want to uninstall PHP. Instead of actually uninstalling it, all you have to do is delete the unzipped files.

3.2. Unzip the files. For my case, I unzipped all files in "C:\Server\PHP5". This step already completes the installation of the PHP engine. However, we still need to inform Apache that we have a PHP engine and how to locate it. The next steps will cover this problem.

3.3. Open the Apache configuration file "httpd.conf" found in "C:\Server\Apache\conf\"

3.4. Add the following lines:

LoadModule php5_module "c:\Server\PHP5\php5apache2_2.dll"
PHPIniDir "c:\server\PHP5"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps

3.5. Go to "C:\Server\PHP5\" and rename "php.ini-recommended" to "php.ini"

3.6. Open the file.

3.7. Locate the line: extension_dir = "./" .

3.8. Change to: extension_dir "C:\Server\PHP5\ext\".

3.9. Find the line that reads: ;extension=php_mysql.dll Delete the ; so that the line now reads: extension=php_mysql.dll.

3.10. Open the directory "C:\Server\MySQL5\bin".

3.11. Find the file "libmysql.dll" and copy it to "C:\Windows\System32".

3.12. Test our PHP installation by creating a file containing <?PHP phpinfo() ?> in the DocumentRoot and opening it on our browser. The output should look like something like this:

-- fin

Up next, in this server administration series:

managing your database using phpmyadmin
using the MySQL command line client (for CIE 122)
implementing a file upload system (for my CE 21 class)
installing apache, mysql and php in linux
installing Joomla!
installing the wordpress engine to your server
installing tWiki into your server
installing an ftp server
installing a mail server
enabling ruby on rails on your WAMP or LAMP server

should I buy the Asus Eee PC 2G?

Costs ~12K PhP. Whatcha think?

pay per post

This post will ideally earn me 20$. Just actually trying it out, no risks whatsoever. payperpost allows bloggers to earn money through sponsored posts. Bloggers who sign up for payperpost will be presented with opportunities to write something about things that they are interested in. Each opportunity has specific requirements. They are relatively simple, and constraints include the tone of the post, what topics you will discuss on your post and the minimum number of words you should put in. Check out the link for more details. Payments from the sponsors are sent through PayPal.

What am I going to do with the money? Well, if this really works, then I should be able to take several opportunities from various sponsors. I'll probably first try using the money to buy something affordable such as a book through paypal. Then, I'll save up for bigger projects such as a Canon 5D camera, or a Canon GL2 videocam. Right now, I can't actually wait to have this post accepted by payperpost. This is because I can only take opportunities from other sponsors after this initial post is approved. I didn't notice in the requirements that the minimum number of words must be more than 200, so I had to add more description now. (That's what happens when you don't pay attention!). Well I guess that was because of the excitement and prospect of making money by just blogging and writing stuff that I wanted my first post to be approved right away.

Anyways, hopefully I was able to meet the requirements this time. I am very excited to grab available writing opportunities, if and when this post is already approved.

and that was how the week went

It's still a Wednesday and my work week is over. I have no class on Thursdays and we have a special event in Ateneo this Friday. Wohooo!!!

However, contrary to what I wanted, I still use up a lot of time preparing for my classes. For instance, I stayed up until 4AM before Monday and up to 3AM before my Wednesday class this week. I'm still catching up with making the presentations and other materials I have to present in class. Anyways, hopefully I'll be able to create the materials for future topics soon so that I'll have more time for other ventures. I'm also wishing to teach the same subjects next semester so that I don't have to spend a lot of time in preparations. hehe.

Side note: I'll have to wait until the 15th of July (that's one month from now) before I get my first paycheck from Ateneo. But I'm not in a hurry. I'm just excited to know how much I'll be getting every payday. heheh.

Second note: I still don't have a "territory." I just got the PC I'll be using yesterday but I haven't found a suitable office yet. So I stay most of the time in the Library and Smart Sweep lab.

first semester schedule

This semester I have 9 hours of teaching load (equivalent to 12 units) and 9 units study load, plus I'll be substituting for a few weeks in a 3 unit course:

Teaching load:
CE21: Intoduction to Computing
CIE122: Database Systems
CE40: Digital Design (substitute)
Study load:
CS297: CS Elective on Technopreneurship
CS270: Advanced Database Systems
EE227: Modern VLSI Design

Mondays:
1130-1230: CE21 A (AdMU)
1230-1330: CE40 A (AdMU) -> Up to first week of July only
1330-1430: CE21 B (AdMU)
1430-1730: CS297 MXY (UP)

Tuesdays:
0830-1130: CS270 GT (UP)
1800-2100: EE227 GHT Lab (UP)

Wednesday:
1130-1230: CE21 A (AdMU)
1230-1330: CE40 A (AdMU) -> Up to first week of July only
1330-1430: CE21 B (AdMU)

Thursdays:
1800-2000: EE227 GHT Lecture (UP)

Fridays:
0830-1130: CIE 122 (AdMU)
1130-1230: CE21 A (AdMU)
1230-1330: CE40 A (AdMU) -> Up to first week of July only
1330-1430: CE21 B (AdMU)

This looks like a lot of free time, but since I'm new in teaching, I'm still spending a lot of time reviewing the course materials and preparing for the lectures. I hope I'll be able to keep up.

my new work area

The last couple of weeks was full of uncertainty: financially and career wise. I really thought that my long-thought-of plan of shifting from the industry to the academe will not take place. Not that shifting to the academe will make me financially stable, but at least the salary I was expecting would be enough for daily survival. And so, I already started looking into the prospect of getting back to real work (work for me is something you do to receive compensation, usually as high as possible with the workload and rules that you can tolerate. hehe) or going abroad to countries like Singapore where the demand for IT workers is high. But luckily, it did take place. Right when I was already breaking the news to my mother that I'll be unemployed for a few months, my previous teacher in Ateneo told me that they will avail of my services this semester.

So now, I am very happy that I'll still be able to use the "executive chair" that I bought for my birthday. Since we are allowed not to stay in the faculty area during weekdays, I am planning on working where I am most comfortable-- at my "pad." Here are photos of my new chair and my new work space at home (the whole purpose of this post is actually to show of my new chair. I did not bother arranging the scene as I am still in the process of creating a syllabus. hehe):

for the 4th time

It seems that I am already used to losing things. Yesterday morning, I lost yet another cellphone (4th now) and I don't feel depressed at all. Maybe this can be attributed to the fact that I've lost a lot of things already including 1 laptop, 1 ipod nano, 3 cellphones, 1 wallet(?), several umbrellas and a number of ballpens. This count excludes the instances when the lost items were returned (1 cellphone + 1 wallet) by good-willed people.

This afternoon, I was planning on getting a replacement but the model I decided I was going to buy was out of stock. Initially, I was only planning to buy the cheapest possible model (so I won't be depressed if I ever lose them again) but an advertisement in MRT caught my attention. It's the Motorola W230. It is relatively cheap (PhP 2,33o), it can call, text, has an MP3 player and an expandable memory. It also has no camera (but this is not an applicable advantage anymore because I no longer work in an environment where camera phones are not allowed). Should I be able to find a stock of this model, this will be my fifth cellphone and the most high-end one.
The previous cellphones I owned and lost were:

1. Nokia 3310 - First ever phone to feature long messages and Space Impact. I lost it in a mid-day hold-up robbery.

2. Nokia 3530 - This phone had GPRS which was my main reason when I asked my mother to buy it for me. GPRS was still free back then. I first lost it in a tricylce on our graduation date in Ateneo but was returned by the driver. I lost it again, but I could not remember how.
3. Nokia 5210 - Hand-me-down from my father.

4. Nokia 1600 - I originally owned the Nokia 6020. I had to trade it for this model with my mom because we were not allowed to bring camera phones in my previous work. I lost this phone yesterday morning.

Whatever model I'd have to add to this list, I hope it would last for at least 6 months. hehe...

me kneeboarding

I wish we can do this again soon. PM me if you're going. I'll go with you if I'm available.

Joomla! Day Philippines

A friend of mine told me that attending this will be educational.

looks like i'll be teaching after all

Classes start June 10 (June 11 for me since all classes are MWF). Anybody wanna get an A?

Things to do before the first day:
1. Prepare a syllabus + classroom rules, etc.
2. Decide on a teaching style
3. Remove my shy-ness

my favorite meal nowadays

It's the Jollibee 39ers letter B. Two pieces lumpiang shanghai, one piece burger steak and rice.


It's filling, affordable and... cheap. Try it for only 39 pesos.

cost of my dream photography kit

Remember my post about my dream photography kit?

A Japanese e-commerce site called kakaku.com site has the price for all the items and I thought it might be a good idea to be reminded how much my dream photography kit is to pressure me a little bit to be at pace with it now that I am unemployed and looking for a stable source of income (i.e. job). It's in Japanese so you'll need to translate it to English. An option would be to install google toolbar->(right click)->Page Info->Translate Page into English.

These items will supplement my current kit composed of:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens (I'll sell when I get to the first lens on the list)
Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG lens
Canon 430EX Speedlite

There are three possible options:

A. Silver option (Y425,944 ~ PhP170,378)

Canon EOS 40D - Y93,000

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 lens - Y99,586

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens - Y188,960

Canon 580EX Speedlite - Y44,398

B. Gold Option (Y536,046 ~ PhP214,419)

Canon EOS 5D - Y200,700

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS lens - Y101,988

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens - Y188,960

Canon 580EX Speedlite - Y44,398


C. Platinum option (Y587,661 ~ PhP235,065)

Canon EOS 5D - Y200,700

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L lens - Y153,693

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens - Y188,960

Canon 580EX Speedlite - Y44,398

my frustrated teaching career

A few weeks ago, I was imagining what teaching style I'd be using when I start my teaching stint in Ateneo. I was thinking of being the cool type. I'd let the students eat or sleep in class (just like I did) and I would never check attendance. My only requirement is that they pass the exams and other course requirements. I'd also provide special attention to failing students and help them in every way I can.

But, as it turned out, the teaching stint is not bound to happen. Apparently, the ECCE Department received several applications for the teaching position before the incoming semester starts (five to be specific). During the summer, I think they were in desperate need of man-power so without formal interview or a teaching demo, the Chairperson of the department accepted me in one of the available positions (or at least that was what I thought when I filled up several forms such as the Information sheet, Phil Health, BIR, etc.). But I was also to blame that I was not able to secure the position. Between the time that I filled up those forms and the day I went to the panel interview/teaching demo (which by the way I screwed up by explaining the topic incorrectly and slightly bullshitting the panel by saying that I am making the shift to a career in the academe because I want personal fulfillment by sharing what I have to share), I only went to the office once and was able to chat only with the department secretary.

So, as I mentioned, due to the number of applicants, they had to perform a panel interview and a teaching demo. Unfortunately, as I also mentioned, I sucked during the interview and teaching demo. The moral lesson that I learned is that I should prepare for job interviews and think of the questions most likely to be asked. Of course the answer that I should give must not be bullshit but should be the truth phrased in a way that would sound good to the interviewer. For instance the question about the shift from the industry to the academe. Boldly, my main reason for me wanting a career in the academe is that I want to have more free time to explore business/money-making possibilities. Another major reason that I want to join the academe is that I want to build a company(no specifics yet), and I feel that the academe will introduce me to possible partners, man-power or even investors to the company I want to build. Being in the academe would also allow me to have access to research facilities that may be necessary in building the company I dream of. If I were to state it this way, I would sound self-serving to the interviewers (in fact my reasons really are slightly self-serving). So instead, s better way to state it is: "Being in the academe will allow me to have time and access to resources for researching and learning about the current issues and trends in Electronics and IT. With sufficient background, my ultimate goal is to establish a company that will address these issues and ride with the current trends." Maybe they'll buy that. hehe.

Anyway, so right now, silly me is unemployed. Having thought that I already had a job in Ateneo, I did not look for other jobs anymore. huhuhu
But I am looking at it quite positively (except for the financial part). I am thinking that this is an opportunity to take a rest for a while (1 to 3 months should be enough to download and watch all the movies I missed). This is also a good time to consider the career path I should take. The options I am considering are: (a)hard core electronics (similar to what I had in my previous company), (b)IT (databases, web pages, software applications) or (c) semi-management track. I've always said in my previous job that I don't want the management part but I feel that it is when I am leading/guiding people that I feel slightly happier. But this maybe because of the feeling of dominion. hehehe. Right now I am updating my resume and looking for available positions. I've also created a cover letter (got this idea from JB) which I will customize for each position. I put on my planner that I should start to apply by mid-June so that my no-salary vacation will not be very long.

I hope I'd be able to find a job with the following characteristics:
- flexi-time, if not, night shift or work from home is also OK
- not too far away from Katipunan
- in the field that I have chosen (still currently deciding but biased on option (b))
- comparable or higher than the $&^%#&* salary that ci-tech was giving me
- travel opportunities
- good benefits
- using spoken English in everyday conversation not necessary. hehe

Finally I quote from a song by Parokya ni Edgar:

'Di ko na alam kung pa'no tatapusin yung kanta. Kaya ganito na lang Bigla na lang mawawala!

movie with the girlfriend

The girlfriend and I went to the movies this afternoon to watch Sex and the City.
It's been quite a while since I watched a movie in the cinema (I now almost always download movies using uTorrent). The first thing I noticed is that there are now lots and lots of paid advertisements before the movie begins. This is quite irritating for me because I want to watch movie trailers. And instead of them being shown, I'm forced to watch advertisements of Ayala Land, Sony, Mitsubishi to mention a few. Now that they've bothered my movie watching, I'll no longer consider them in future purchases! Compared to Eastwood cinemas, I would say that the length of paid advertisements in Trinoma is over the limit.
Well anyway, enough about paid advertisements in the movies... Well actually, I don't have anything more to say. This post is just to complain. hehe. About the movie... hmmm... I guess it's OK... Some parts were funny, but I missed the "sex" part. I guess I'll still have to download a torrent for this movie to see the Uncensored version. hehehe.