things to do during the sembreak

After 2.5 years, I'll be experiencing a sem break again one month from now. wohoo!!! I'm listing down here things I can do during the break:

1. Create class websites for the courses I am teaching this sem so that I can teach each subject with ease the next semester
2. Go on a three day vacation somewhere in the Philippines (budget: 2500PHP) prospects: Sagada, Ilocos, Baguio
3. Attempt a JRM Photography website
4. Manage CTC-219 lab (reinstallation, ask funding for switches and cables)
5. Acquire more knowledge on Grid computing
6. Revitalize JRM Photography marketing

one more month to go before the semester ends

Study load:

1. CS 270: MySQL Storage Engines Paper and reporting
2. CS 270: Machine Problem (Guidelines not yet released by professor)
3. CS 270: Long Exam #2
4. CS 297: Business plan

Teaching Load:

1. CIE 122: Normalization Lecture
2. CIE 122: Long Exam #2
3. CIE 122: Reporting Guidelines
4. CIE 122: Storage Lecture
5. CIE 122: Indexing Lecture

6. CE21: Continue lecture on classes + exercises
7. CE21: Constructor and Inheritance Lecture
8. CE21: Object-oriented Analysis and Design Lecture
9. CE21: Schedule consultation for final project
10. CE21: Quiz on UML
11. CE21: Templates Lecture
12. CE21: STL Lecture
13. CE21: Exception and error handling lecture
14. CE21: Long Exam #3
15. MP 1 and 2 checking
16. Exer 8,6,9 checking
17. Exer 11 checking
18. STL Exercise

Cluster Administration:
1. Cluster usage application form
2. Cluster integration
3. gLite User Interface installation
4. Hardware and software inventory
5. GROMACS update to CVS version
6. GROMACS roll
7. Grid website

JRM Photography:

1. Burn Cel's DVD
2. Printing of several albums
3. Edit video of Grace's debut
4. Glenn and Glo's Guestbook
5. Layout of Glo's album

new video camera

More than three months ago, I posted a blog entry about buying a video camera for weddings. Last Monday, we were able to resolve the issue. We bought the Canon XH-A1. It looks really nice... I hope we attract more clients with this. Click here to see our blog entry about the video camera.

the streisand effect

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Two moons this August!

Received this e-mail from a colleague:

Two moons on 27 August
27th Aug the Whole World is waiting for... Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky starting August. It will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. This will Cultivate on Aug. 27 when Mars comes within 34.65M miles off earth. Be sure to watch the sky on Aug. 27 12:30 am. It will look like the earth has 2 moons. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Share this with your friends as NO ONE ALIVE TODAY will ever see it Again.

EDIT: Apparently this one is a hoax. Sorry for the confusion. Read more.

bicycle race at mandaluyong city

I went to a bicycle race this weekend at mandaluyong city sponsored by their congressman Neptali Gonzales. A very exciting event to watch, but very difficult to photograph. Most of my shots were blurred since the ONE-SHOT focusing wasn't able catch up. I was late to realize that using the AI SERVO AF mode was more suitable. Unfortunately, it drained my battery (was only able to bring one) after 50 or so shots... After draining my batteries, I stayed on to watch two more races. Very exciting. Makes me want to be a cyclist also.

sneaky bastards

I recently experienced a printer error message on my Canon IP1880 printer (IP1800 in some countries). The message says:

An ink cartridge is not installed properly. Open the printer's cover, make sure the ink cartridge is installed properly, and close the cover.

After googling the error message, I found out that most of the people who encountered this problem were refilling them and were able to fix them by buying new cartridges (which almost costs as much as the printer). Apparently (this is speculation), Canon has a way of determining if you are using refills and a way of preventing you from doing further. The technology behind it may be known only to few Canon employees developing the printer cartridge and/or driver. I wouldn't be surprised if this is true because it is a well known fact that although the quality of ink refills is inferior to originals, they are eating up a huge portion of the printing market. Millions, if not billions of Yen in sales are lost because of the emergence of Ink refilling companies.

What is sad for me though is that this "feature" of the printer is not made known to the consumers. Why was I not informed!?! For a guy like me who just wants low quality print outs, ink refills is a gift from heaven. Why is Canon preventing me from receiving them? hehe. Is there a law or ethical "rule" that says using ink refills is wrong. I know Canon is just protecting its business. But if I knew that the IP1880 had such capability, I would never fall for its stylish exterior.

me with my high school girl friends

Forgot when these photos were taken. I got them recently from a friend's friendster page. I thought it would be funny to share. They were taken at Astoria Plaza Hotel (first time I've been there) when a nurse friend visited from the US to share her booty (she treated us for coffee at Starbucks and a very late lunch at some expensive restaurant, also forgot where it was).

my academic page is now "live"

After almost a week of development, I'm releasing an alpha version of my academic page, hosted in the ECCE Department server. There are still some bugs on the login mechanism. I also might have to modify the header photo to make myself look more powerful and intimidating. hehe. Btw, I used the Joomla CMS to create this site. All hail Joomla!

Click on the screen shot to visit the actual website:

canon d-zone lens sale

Canon D-Zone SM City North EDSA currently has some Canon EF and EF-S Lenses on sale. According to an e-mail I received from a store representative, the sale will run until the end of August. For more details and inquiry you may contact the store at 9278059 and/or 9276449 or you can go directly to their store at the CyberZone Building, SM City North EDSA.

LENSES	original price	sale price
EF 24-105 f/4 L IS USM	66,250.00	53,000.00
EF 70-300 f/4-5.6 IS USM	40,300.00	32,240.00
EF 85 f/1.2 L II USM	127,200.00	101,800.00
EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS USM	63,550.00	52,000.00
EF 70-200 f/4 L IS USM	63,550.00	52,000.00
EF-S 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 IS USM	9,858.00	8,000.00
EF 85 f/1.8 USM	19,600.00	16,000.00
EF 100-400MM f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM	90,100.00	72,100.00
EF 70-200 f/4 L USM	41,350.00	33,100.00
EF 28-105 f/3.5-4.5 USM II	12,000.00	9,600.00
EF 75-300 f/4-5.6 USM III	10,400.00	8,400.00
EF 24-70 f/2.8 L USM	71,550.00	57,300.00
EF 17-40 f/4 L USM	41,350.00	33,100.00
EF-S 17-85 f/4-5.6 IS USM	32,900.00	26,500.00

sad day

Ella lost her celphone today. Very sad considering the hardships and anticipation she had before she could get that phone. That's apart from the fact that it's still relatively new and quite pricey. She haven't even removed the plastic covering the screen. :-( But I think she's okay now. Here's her blog post regarding the tragic event.

50 PHP story

A funny thing happened to me today. This morning I went to purchase my drinking water supply from Agua Vida, which is located near KFC. Usually, I only bring the exact amount (50 PHP) so that I won't have to worry holding the change while I'm carrying 50 gallons of water in 450 steps. The count is composed of 100 steps with the container on my left hand +100 on the right +70 on the left +70+60+~50.

However, today I brought 100 PHP because I didn't have any change. And I had to put the change inside the garter of my underwear. I know guys can visualize this, but for those who can't, please see the photo below. Obviously, I ripped this photo from a CK website. And of course, I was also wearing shorts and a shirt when I went to Agua Vida.


Anyways, when I arrived home, I already forgot that I had 50 pesos in my underwear. I boiled water in the microwave, made coffee, ate last night's ensaymada leftovers and browsed the internet. After a few minutes, I realized I had 50 pesos in the spot as shown above. Or so I thought... It was gone! The usual me would just let this pass and convince myself that it's part of my contribution to whoever poor person may luckily find it. Compared to several things I've lost in the past: a laptop, shuffle, several celphones, hundreds of umbrellas (of course I'm exaggerating here) and hundreds of ballpens including a few Parker ballpens (this time, I think this is true), 50 pesos is negligible. But because yesterday, I was virtually cashless (because the check I deposited did not yet reflect on my ATM account and I had to use my credit card to buy bread to have dinner, and the lunch I had was just banana-que), this 50 PHP is very important to me. (Btw, I got the cash from a neighbor who slipped 500 PHP this morning under my door as payment for the WiFi service I am providing at our Apartment).

And so, I went back to Agua Vida since it was just 900 steps away hoping that nobody hasn't found the money yet. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find it. Now the funny thing is, after 30 minutes of my acceptance of this fate, I found the folded 50PHP in my bathroom when I went there to pee. The funnier thing is that the first place I went looking for the 50 PHP was actually in the bathroom. Even before I went back to Agua Vida. I don't know why I wasn't able see the first time. Moral of the story: you find things when you're not looking for them, or something like that.

swimming photos

This blog is really all about me. So here I am again, publishing a photo of myself. I remember when I was in my first year in college, I tried out for the Ateneo de Manila swimming team. Everyone was wearing trunks while I had an old and quite loose cycling shorts, quite humiliating when I think about it now. hehe. After almost 30 minutes or so of swimming, I experienced cramps so I had to stop. I can't recall why I didn't come back for the later try out sessions. Probably because I felt I wouldn't make it anyway because the skills of other athletes w far better than mine. Anyways here are the photos, courtesy of Maymay.

PayPerPost pays

Last June 18, I posted a "sponsored" blog post by Pay Per Post. Pay per post is a way of making money online. Visit their website for more details.

Anyways, after signing up, I immediately took the "free" opportunity. You can learn more about it by going to their site. After a few weeks, I learned that my initial post was not accepted because the number of words were too few so I modified it. After a day or so, my post was approved and a payment of 20$ was waiting for me right after. The virtual money was to be transfered a month after they approved my the post through paypal. I was still doubtful but there was no risk or payments involved so there's actually nothing to loose.

After a month, I checked my paypal account and there was really 20$ on it. I was anxious to find something to spend it on, so I looked for books and things I might want to buy but 20$ was not sufficient. Luckily, the girlfriend was going crazy over mineral make-up, buying them over the internet, so it was a good chance to test if the paypal money was really good for something. And yesterday, we proved that it really works. The receipt for our transaction is shown below:

So, I recommend everyone to try it out. No risks whatsoever. Be sure to click on the link on my page so that I also get some credits. It's located on the right sidebar. I think I get 5$ or so just be referring other bloggers to sign up. hehehe.

first AdMU paycheck

After 6 weeks, UP was finally able to release my transcript of records. Ateneo had been withholding my salary because I needed to submit this requirement. And now, I finally got my first paycheck. Wohoo! It's not that huge but I've been waiting for it for a long time already. I currently owe my mom and the girlfriend a lot of money. hehe. At least I'll now be able to pay the first installment of what I owe them. :-)

photo of me holding two cameras

Jumie took this photo of me with two cameras hanging on my neck (Pael's and mine). It's really nice to have two cameras when you're covering events. No more hassles of changing lenses all the time.