My eldest kid is in nursery school and their class lessons have started getting more and more advanced. Previously, he would bring homework where he only had to trace lines, letters or color some images. Now, we are on phonetics and reading syllables.

When I go back and recall, my son learned how to speak very fast. He was very talkative during his first year. And on his second year, he even managed to say “shuttlecock” very very clearly.

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We get mesmerized by the silent spectacle of the setting sun. We are awed by the tranquil radiance of the full moon. We are spellbound as we make our wish whenever the quiet beauty of the falling star appears in the sky.

Before these wonderful things that populate the sky, we stand in silent reverie – smitten, stupefied, fulfilled, happy. Then we wonder:

How could things of such beauty and majesty create no sound?

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The Power Mac Center

presents

More info on the Free Trainings at the Power Mac Center (December 2007) at Shutter Box Philippines.

I’ve loved Google and all its products from the very beginning. I think they’re far superior in Search than any other search engines. When they introduced gmail, I was among the first to use it as a secondary email though I still keep Yahoo!Mail as my primary just because I’ve used it forever and it’s a hassle to shift things.

They developed Picasa- a photo organizing and editing tool and I use it all the time for quick editing of my photos. I have been using their toolbar even before Mozilla Firefox partnered with them as the browser’s default search engine! I use Google adsense for all my blogs and sites. I prefer Google checkout when shopping! I love Google Earth and I use YouTube all the time! All my internet surfing and computing involves Google in one way or another. I’m practically a walking ad for them as I always recommend Google products to my non-geek family and friends.

The recent events with Blogger however, makes me rethink if Google actually deserves all my adulation and support! First, Google placed the “rel=nofollow” tag in our templates as default so every comment we get goes nowhere and just dies in our posts- meaning, the links left on the comments page would not be crawled by search engines for page ranking- rendering that comment practically useless to the person commenting! Second, it penalized sites who are doing pay per post and those selling text links in terms of their page rank. I don’t do both so I’m not really affected by it. My website is also only 2 months old for me to even vie for a page rank!

AND NOW THIS: Google deviously and cunningly incorporated a new stupid rule they have for commenting on posts using the Blogger platform. They’re making commenting almost exclusive to just Blogger readers. Other platform users like WordPress and LiveJournal would have to contend to leaving their name either as anonymous or nickname that doesn’t mean anything because there is no way of entering a URL link. Basically, non-blogger users comment wouldn’t amount to anything with this kind of setup. This is discouraging for non-Blogger users obviously and makes receiving comments even harder to come by. And when we Blogger users don’t do anything about it, then we probably end up with no more comments at all.

So Sneaky Google just went ahead on their own and started this thing if I’m not mistaken two days ago! Most bloggers haven’t noticed this yet to react! Google didn’t announce it. What were they thinking? That we users wouldn’t care and if we did, just accept it?! I don’t really see the logic in this! If someone outside of Blogger leaves me a comment, I wouldn’t even know how to contact her back or how to get to her website because she has couldn’t leave her URL.

The good news is there IS ALWAYS a workaround just like the “rel=nofollow”! To Find out how, read the full story here…

“ZOMGSHWATRUSHORE?!?!!1″

Yes, kids. I bring you another stupid video of Kring. After Coy won a $100 in the FIlipina Writing Project for his entry about the Funniest Filipina vloggers (which featured me oh gawd please don’t ask why I know I’m friggin’ corny alongside HappySlip and Tanggera), I kinda got pressured to do another one.

So one rainy afternoon, whilst the Philippine military was wrecking the main entrance of Manila Pen during the recent coup d’etat, and the lights were set up at our office for Amanda Griffin’s VTR (who, btw is madderfakken gorjas), I thought, ”Hey! Why not make a total fool of myself like I always do and post the video on the net to impress guys and perhaps get Victor Basa to propose to me?!”

Hence, this crack.

Read more here…

Your own Blog can raise your visibility to employers

“Visit recruiter and company blogs to learn about employers and opportunities. And consider starting your own blog to raise your visibility to employers and help them get to know you.”

Read more.. 

Poetry in Images

at

Instituto Cervantes Manila

This poetry and photography exhibit takes us on a tour through Chile, a country whose geographical beauty has provided much inspiration to its poets.

More info on Poetry in Images at Instituto Cervantes Manila and other photography related events at Shutter Box Philippines.

I have been hearing a lot about this new advertising network called EntreCard from different blogs over the past days.

From what I have gathered, it is a system where bloggers can advertise on other people’s blogs for free. Instead of paying money for the advertising space, you pay credits which you can earn by “dropping” your virtual business cards on other people’s blogs.

If you want to learn more about the service, try checking Tyler Cruz’s review on the service, or you could check out EntreCard’s help page.

Personally, I think that the concept is ingenious. Though I am still skeptical if Pinoy bloggers would easily pick this up.

After tinkering around with their service for a bit (Check out the widget on the sidebar), I somehow think that this thing might be the next big thing. Hey, even the prominent A-list bloggers are using EntreCard on their blogs! Here are some of my initial thoughts on EntreCard:

• People would more likely visit your blog just to “drop” their business card without taking a second glance at your blog. It may increase your traffic, but your reader base wont really add up. A little knowledge on “Marking a Good First-Impression” could solve this little problem. Catch their attention and convert them into regular readers!

Read the rest of this entry at PinoyBlogero.com»

Fresher’s Guide for their first 1,000 days of employment

This article was inspired by the book Mission Critical Leadership by Paddy Miller. The book was quite expensive at that time but now, how painful it is seeing the book is now on sale for only P 100.00. Anyway, I actually bought this book 2 – 3 years ago and begun reading it without understanding the contents of it. My bad, but of course you can’t blame me for that since I’m just an ordinary guy at that time with extraordinary dreams, and now, still.  Nothings changed.

To continue, basically the book is very useful to executives since the book is written for them, not for me, nor for those fresher’s or for those ordinary employees like us in general. But mind you, there’s a treasure in it.

On one hand, I created a twist of the book. I gathered some points, and made it as a guide for me to reach my goals. But unluckily, I didn’t reach my goals in life in a stricter sense but I’m pretty confident that with this book, I learned something worth sharing to those open minded yuppies like me. As they say, success is not measured on what earthly things you posses, recognitions you’ve been thrown at, but on what you’ve become and what your capable of doing after those trials and struggles you’ve managed to nailed.

Read more here.. 

I actually wrote this piece the other day at my room at the Legenda Hotel Subic. However, I wasn’t able to complete it as I was limited by a short and very expensive wifi access. So I am posting my experience just now.

We are here to attend a management seminar facilitated by our company. The seminar was great. There were a lot of lessons I took away with me to ponder on and apply in my work when I get back to Manila.

I could not say the same for the hotel. Given that I did not expect five star quality, there were still several areas where the hotel could do to improve on.

The Legenda’s front entrance is elegant. It is comparable to five star hotels that are located in the heart of Metro Manila. I actually found it impressive (of course that’s only me). The lobby provided the same ambience – elegant and luxurious. I was not looking for a Shangri-La or even a Marriott or a Best Western so this sat fine with me.

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My Eee PC can now do packet sniffing and analysis! This is how I did it…

I was riding a jeepney yesterday, on my way to work. A girl got on the vehicle and sat beside me. Immediately, my mood improved. I was smiling until I got to the office.

Why? Because the girl beside me was wearing a blouse IDENTICAL to the one worn by a girl seating across us.

How awkward could that be?!

read the whole post

I had my driver’s licence this year only but I’ve known how to drive a car eversince high school. But since I’m a girl, my dad won’t let me drive anything at the time. Now, instead of a car, I have my own motorcycle. I used to go with my bike everyday to my office. The first time I rode it, it was really fun! Riding it on the highway, with speeding cars passing by you, it was scary yet exciting! And when the rain poured in on me and my bike, I just had to put on my raincoat, and voila, ready to roll again! The cold feeling of the rain sputtering on my helmet, the wind blowing at my face, it was such an adventure for me while driving about 10kilometers of the highway. And when I got to the main road of our city, going home was really tiring because of the heavy traffic jam. I didn’t go driving side by side of other motorists because that’s where accidents begin. I always had some distance from the other vehicles and I just went along with them on pile and waiting patiently for the traffic to move on. If it’s not rush hour, it will only take me 15minutes to go home but since it was, I had to drive for more than 30minutes and had to inhale the pollution and feel the heat of the sun on me. That’s the hardest for me, being caught in a traffic just like the ordinary vehicle. But I don’t want to risk my life just to avoid it. I’ve heard so much gruesome stories about bikers that I don’t want to experience such things. So, that’s me, very careful on the road, didn’t really mind the traffic and the solution. As long as I’m going to be safely home, nobody can make go faster than what I’m doing. By the way, thanks for the motorists who were gentlemen enough to let me pass ahead of them whenever I signal to change lanes because they know the driver was a woman and it’ll be hard to drive a motorcycle in a busy road like that.

Anyway, may nag-comment sa isa aking inactive blog at nanghihingi siya ng payo. Itago n lang natin syang sa pangalang agimonster. Ito ang kanyang comment:

dear redbaks,
d comment to, gusto ko lang humingi ng payo, alam ko kasi magaling ka magsulat, articulate at kakaiba ideas mo. so bro kailangan ko creativity mo para magbigay ng excuse sa aking abscences. total wreck na ang attendance ko sa klase kong yun, sunod2 pa ang late ko. nagkaroon na kami ng written agreement ng prof ko na d na ako maglalate pero nadale ko dahil pumarty ako at napaabsent 2loy ako sa klase.d naman sobrang laki ng problema ko kasi d naman nakakamatay kung bumagsak ka sa isang subject, pero sayang tuition at yung crush kong chick sa klase na yun d ko pa nakakausap. so bro ikaw na bhala kung gusto mo mag reply, kailangan ko reply mo bago mag tuesday dec.4-tnx

Dear agimonster;

Naawa ako sa iyo kasi, una, sira yata ang keyboard na gamit mo at walang key o . Mukhang hindi na itinuturo ngayon sa mga eskuwelahan ang tamang paggamit ng keyboard o ang tamang pag-spell. Pangalawa, ay late na ang aking post since Dec 4 na ngayon at malamang ay dinadanas mo na ang consequences ng iyong mga ginawa. Pero dahil sa gusto kong mag-post ay wala kang magagawa kasi blog ko ito.

Sa buhay ng tao ay matagal nang napatunayan na hindi magandang kumbinasyon ang pag-aaral, paglalakwatsa at panchi-chicks. Marami na ang sumubok at lahat sila nabigo. Parang coup attempt ni Trillanes lang yan. Kapag pinagsama-sama mo ang tatlong iyan ay para ka na ring naghanda sa birthday mo ng cake, lugaw at nilagang suso. Hindi masarap di ba.

Click here for the full experience

Enter for Free to Win a Mac Pro w/ Dual 30″ LCDs!

Compete for free in the biggest Photoshop contest of the year to win amazing prizes for four whole weeks ranging from iPods and MacBooks to the designers’ Holy Grail – The Quad Core Mac Pro with dual 30″ LCDs!

More info on how to join the Crestock Photoshop Contest 2007 and get a chance to win a Mac Pro with dual 30 inch LCDs at Shutter Box Philippines.

Three out of the top four Philippine universities dropped ranks at the 2007 Times Higher Education Supplement-Quacquarelli Symonds (THES-QS) World University Rankings. Compared to last year’s rankings UP slid from 299 to 398 (-99), La Salle weakened its rank from 392 to 519 (-127), and UST descended from 500 to 535 (-35). Indeed, those statistics can be disappointing.

However, I saw a glimmer of light as I read the VP for Loyola School’s comments on Ateneo’s performance in the 2007 THES-QS. The good news is that all top four universities garnered higher scores this year. Compare the percentage points and rankings in the tables below:

Continue reading ‘Philippine Universities Score Higher at 2007 THES QS’

I did a search for “blog net earnings survey” and ended up with this post by Darren Rowse at www.problogger.net announcing the result of a poll they conducted asking their readers how much did they earn from Adsense in November 2005. Now, consider this: I started this new blog (Net Earnings) recently and found Rowse’s post on December 3, 2007. Can you blame me for doing a new poll? Read more at Net Earnings.

Over coffee, about a week ago.

She: God, if there’s one thing I regret it’s all the time I wasted on those bad relationships. I must have been so insecure to have put up with with all that. We’re talking years of my life I can’t get back!

Me: I hear you. Sometimes I wonder what the hell I was thinking, too. Although I did luck out once in a while and had a few good men.

She: Well, good for you — because I sure didn’t.

Me: Eh. When it happened it was a case of right guy, wrong time anyway. But usually it was just the wrong guy. Sometimes I think that if I’d spent the same amount of energy on myself and my career instead of trying to fix all those awful relationships, I’d be much further along in life than I am now.

Continue reading at GIGI GOES GAGA.

CARMA
Car Registration and Other Liabilities

Now, before I continue, I would like to say that this is not a critique of the Pope’s message. I am not in a position to challenge the Pope’s knowledge of theology and its applications in our world. These are my personal reflections. I would highly recommend my Christian brothers and sisters, even the non-practicing ones, to do the same – read the letter for yourselves and reflect on it. There are many news articles about it in various newspapers but they’re all influenced by the newswriter’s views as to what’s important and significant. So you have to read it for yourself and write down your personal thoughts on it. Click here and continue reading