Xanadu : An idyllic, beautiful place.

New Blog New Life

2009-01-17T18:03:00.003+08:00

I just transferred my blog location to a better one with better blog provider. I shifted to wordpress and exported all the entries as well as the comments to the new site. This blog will still be here but I won't be updating it anymore. Please visit my new blog here

The most challenging day of this year, so far

2009-01-15T22:38:00.003+08:00

Whew, what a day. I've been into a lot of ~~problems~~ challenges today. There's just so much things that I wanted to post in this blog about what happened today. I wanted to blog this out, let this out so that these things wouldn't have to stuck on my mind any longer.

Everything didn't go really well today. As usual, I woke up early and absent again in my first class. I met nene at school later in the morning and helped her making report prototype. Our OJT project was not going very well. There's so much misunderstanding between our group, our content adviser, and the OJT adviser. But thank God, we were able to solve them right on time. The defense schedule will be moved to next week.

Later this day, I recieved my perlim grade on Filipino exam and got an 'F'. What the...?! (Sir, I asked for a numbered grade not a letter!). Anyways, I must admit that it was in fact my fault for not giving the best shot during the exam.

I was quite down too a while ago, knowing that Nene wasn't done yet with her reporting preparation which is suppose to be passed tomorrow. She was stressed out and so I was. The problems didn't end just there. My phone's charger got busted and I don't have any idea how to fix it. The SHOUTCAST server we just subscribed won't work. And I was thinking, "God, don't tell me that this ain't finish yet." Today is really a long problematic day.

Nevertheless, I still thank God for giving me another day, for giving me lessons that I should learn from this life. I'm really glad that I still have my families and friends at my side, supporting me, encouraging me to move forward: to my mom for keeping on reminding me to take care and for providing all my needs throughout the day; to my lil sister for making silly things, making me forget all my problems and laugh; to LA, Lurch, and Shenzee for the very delicious pizza they treated me; to my groupmates who have been very cooperative and supportive; to Nene for giving me the warm hug and the smile that brighten up my day; to ricky for committing himself to help me in my filipino assignment; and to everyone else for completing my day.

This is not the end of everything yet. I believe that there are still ways to fix things up. I'll be working on my assignments for the next 4 hours (yes, I won't sleep 'till 3am). I don't want to regret for not doing my best. Guess, I just learned that time is gold, or perhaps more valuable.

What do you think of me?

2009-01-15T20:18:00.000+08:00

Hi guys! I'm pretty new to this world of blogging. People come and go in this cyber world. Most of you don't know me and neither do I. Whoever you are, I want you to spare a few minutes of your time to answer this survey. I just want to know how people look at me based on what I'm writing here as well as how I present myself (to those who knows me personally). You can start it now by clicking here.

Update:
The result of the poll will be posted here next week. :) So far, I have 4 respondents already.

Rain rain go away

2009-01-15T00:06:00.004+08:00

Rain rain go away
Come again another day
Grown-up syarief wants to play!

Looks like Zeus extended his vacation in the Philippines. The rainy season is suppose to be over and sun should be brightly shining. But where the heck is Mr. SunShine? The cloudy sky covers the fun of everyone. The weather has been like this for almost a month and it's not getting any better.

So where's the "Global Warming"? Damn it! I love being burned under the sun during the mid day rather than having myself frozen. I'd rather have my t-shirt full of sweat than having my jacket wet and my snickers full of mud.

I just hate rains. I hate cold weather. Everytime I take a bath, I have to think twice coz I know once I pour down the water through my body, it feels like I'm in the north pole walking around naked. My clothes are all stuck in the washing machine. There is no sun to dry the clothes. My lil sister keep on asking me "Kuya, when are we going to jog together?"

Well, hope, tomorrow will be a new day. It's almost summer and I want to see the sign of it.

Philippines as the 51st state of USA

2009-01-14T18:21:00.006+08:00

I was just wondering, what would happen to Philippines if it becomes the 51st state of the United States of America.

The Good Things
One thing that excites most of Filipinos if this will become a reality is that the currency will become US Dollars. Filipinos can call themselves as Americans. Filipinos can go to the main land US anytime they want without having to worry about the visa application and other documents. No one will dare to mess up with the Philippines anymore.Having Philippines as a part of the United States of America can fix the economic crisis that we have for a long time and can make life of thousands of Filipinos a lot easier.

So what's the dark side of it?
Filipinos should expect wars especially in Mindanao and the other part of the country. There's a big possibility that there will be discrimination, majority of Americans is not going to like this. Few years ago, a southern congressmen thought Filipino men can be a social threat to white Americans. Many Filipinos think that having this could wipe away the cultures that they had.

And the fact

When the Philippines was under USA, Filipinos was technically a US citizens. They are American Nationals. Filipinos were allowed to freely go to the mainland US but were not allowed to cast a vote during the election.
The Philippines does not want to be part of the United States, that's why we have the Philippine-American War. The United States wanted to colonized the Philippines, while the Filipinos wanted to be independent.

Filipinos speaks:

Do you want to see a Filipino in the White House? or even smoke belching jeepneys in Massachusetts Avenue?
Selling Philippines for economic fixes is like selling your daughter for a piece of bread.
Should the Philippines be a american stateYes. the Philippines should be the 215th State of the USA... (i.e. after all the other nations would become states. Hahahahaha. )
do u think Americans would like to pay for our debt?
[it] is a depressing sign of inferiority and hopelessness.
we would immediately become the largest most populated state [...] constitute 1-4th(25%) the population of the entire new united states, that is a huge chunk.
they killed our people and they've stolen the bells from the filipino people

Therefore...
I don't think neither sides wants this to happen. Americans don't want Filipinos to become part of them. If Filipinos can vote and are united, then they can bring a Filipino right into the white house. Americans don't like Filipino flooding at their own hometown getting jobs while there are still white Americans jobless. They think Filipinos are stubborn and gossiper. The only reason why they colonized the Philippines is because of its strategic location in the South East Asia.

Likewise, most Filipinos doesn't want to see Americanse at their own neighborhood who used to think that they're superior just because they're bigger. Despite of all the MTV generation we got today, there are still Filipinos who doesn't want their cultures to be vanished by the west traditions. The spices, the natural resources, the beautiful beaches, and the marine life, Filipino would never give that up for the Americans because they believe that once, their forefather had sacrifice their life for the country.

Links

Getting the geolocation of your visitors using php

2009-01-13T16:55:00.009+08:00

Sometimes, you need to know where your visitors came from. This information can be vital for some website especially to websites which targets readers from a specific area or to a website with geo-targeted advertising.

This article will show you how to get the information using PHP and mySQL.

The data of IP address and its specific location comes from MaxMind's GeoIP. MaxMind offers free as well as commercial databases which supports all kinds of programming languages. For this article, let us assume that we are using the free one, which can only detect an IP address up to the Country level unlike the paid version that can locate an IP from its state and country of origin.

To simplify and make your life easier I've prepared an sql file containing all the records from GeoIP which you can download it right away from here.

Importing the database:
You can import the file provided earlier and import it to your MySql database.

The php function:


function gettingGeoFromIP($ip){
$sqltable="geolocation"; //Edit this to your table where you place the record
$ip_temp=explode(".",$ip);
$ipnum = ( 16777216 * intval ($ip_temp[0] ) ) + (65536 * intval ($ip_temp[1] ) ) + (256 * intval ($ip_temp[2] )) + (intval ($ip_temp[3] ));
$q=mysql_fetch_array(mysql_query("SELECT * FROM $sqltable WHERE begin_num<=$ipnum AND end_num>=$ipnum LIMIT 0,1"));
return $q['country_full'];
}

Calling the function:


$ip='121.54.98.30'
echo gettingGeoFromIP($ip);

If you want the complete php file of this you can download it from here. If you have any problems or concerns regarding the code you can drop a comment below.

Note: The link to the files are not working as of the moment.

karma does matter

2009-01-13T11:39:00.005+08:00

I love plurk!

Plurk introduces me to a whole new world of micro-blogging.

...Through plurk I met new friends

...Because of plurk I've been able to express myself in a better way

...And plurk teaches me that karma does matter

Never Give Up

2009-01-12T21:34:00.002+08:00

xar, paghimo nya sa filipino ha..bahalag walay angay basta you've tried..ikaw baya ni ingon nako basta you've tried

xar, you need to do [the assignment] in our Filipino class. The outcome is not quite important as long as you've tried doing it. Remember, you were the one who told me likewise.

I just received a text from a friend of mine. I cannot mention his name - not because I can't but I don't really know who send this to me coz I have my complete phone book on the other phone.

This text really motivates me big time! I never thought that someone still care about me even for this little thing. Whoever you are, I really thank you for sending this to me.

Ricky's Birthday

2009-01-12T10:34:00.007+08:00

Rick, sorry about the hair. I'm having a hard time trimming it. LOL.

Just want say HAPPY BEERDAY burp, oopss BIRTHDAY i mean, to my not-so-long-time friend, Ricky Louie Absin dela Cruz!

More about ricky? You can visit his blog:

See more on my blogroll

E-Radio Project under construction

2009-01-11T16:45:00.006+08:00

March is fast approaching and we are far from done as much as our OJT project is concern. Our group (ricky, bemz, tin2x, and me) will be having our next defense this coming friday. We haven't do anything yet since our last defense which was a month ago. Too much vacation I guess. I have to start programming tonight *Urggh, php again*. We need to pass everything on wednesday and have everything checked by our ever loving adviser, Mr. Te, to make sure we're on the right path (to graduation..hehe).

So, since I only have 4 days more to go and still got lots of stuffs to do. I don't want to disappoint my groupmates neither my parents nor myself, so I decided to make a rule for myself which should be effective starting tonight and will end at the time we finished the defense on friday.

No more plurking
No more blogging
No more checking of facebook account
No more checking of dA account]
No more Ym!-ing and Gtalk-ing
Spend less time with her
Go home early everyday, no more wasting time at school
Minimum of 5 hours per day working with the project.

Wish us luck!

Note: as soon as the project will go online, I'll let you know. I need some volunteer to test the beta version.

Women's English

2009-01-10T14:28:00.003+08:00

This entry is an additional article from the previous one. I dedicated this one to every guys out there who wants their relationships to work out.

"Yes" = No
"No"= Yes
"Maybe" = No
"I'm sorry" = You'll be sorry
"We need" = I want
"It's your decision" = The correct decision should be obvious by now
"Sure... go ahead" = I don't want you to
"I'm not upset" = Of course I'm upset, you moron!
"We need to talk" = I need to complain
"You're certainly attentive tonight" = Is sex all you ever think about?
"Be romantic, turn out the lights" = I have flabby thighs
"This kitchen is so inconvenient" = I want a new house
"I want new curtains" = and carpeting, and furniture, and wallpaper...
"I heard a noise" = I noticed you were almost asleep
"Do you love me?" = I'm going to ask for something expensive
"How much do you love me?" = I did something today you're really not going to like
"I'll be ready in a minute" = Kick off your shoes and find a good game on T.V.
"Is my butt fat?" = Lie to me
"You have to learn to communicate" = Just agree with me
"Are you listening to me!?" = [Too late, you're dead]
"Do what you want." = You'll pay for this later
"Oh okay. Bye" = "Stay. I'm not done with you yet. Rawr" contributed by LA

Any violent reaction from women are warmly welcomed.

The DOs and DON'Ts of a Gentleman

2009-01-08T22:42:00.006+08:00

If you guys ever wonder what a gentle should really like, well you came to the right place. I've prepared a list of DO's and DON'Ts which can make you a real gentleman.

Always say thank you and please. These magic words are the most essential part of being a gentleman.
Don't swear. Ever.
Always be polite. Even if you don't like someone, there is no need to lower yourself to their level. Be polite and courteous; show that you're the better man.
Do not curse. It shows that you don't have the vocabulary to express your thoughts appropriately.
Give girls a little extra respect. Don't be obsequious, but neofeminism has kind of gotten rid of some basic politeness that they'll appreciate. Don't put every girl on a pedestal (we're all human) but they'll really appreciate it if you do them favors, like giving up your seat on the bus even though they're not carrying anything heavy.
Do not interrupt. Let people finish what they are saying before adding your comments. Interrupting others is a sign of poor etiquette and a lack of social skills. If you want to come across as egotistical, you can do so by constantly interrupting.
Pay attention to how you look. Wear clothes that fit your body well, and eliminate flashy or obnoxious clothing. Basic hygiene is important but a gentleman should go a little farther.
Do not laugh at others' mistakes. This is perhaps one of the cruelest things one can do. When you mess up, the last thing you want is for someone not only to bring it to your attention, but to ridicule you on top of that.
Admit mistakes. Nobody's perfect, and every woman knows that. Saying "Im sorry" takes a huge courage from a man to do that.
Stand up for a woman. Don't go around punching everyone who looks at her sideways, but if anyone's giving her looks or unwanted advances, intervene. Put your arm around her shoulder and move yourselves away, or go to her and speak up for her. The physical contact reassures her and lets the aggressor know that he's got to deal with both of you.
Never blog anything about hearthaches experiences and blame women because a gentleman never talk about a woman's weaknesses.

PEP Workbook

2009-01-07T23:49:00.003+08:00

As what I've promised to Kuya Rafols, I'm going to make a design for the next year's PEP Workbook as a special project for the completion of my PEP 2 Class. The design should be a pop one, as requested, but I'm having a hard time creating it.

So, this is what I'd come up with. A simple and elegant design. Not much shapes and decorations. I love the back of the book, the logo looks awesome. :P

For more of my design, visit my deviantArt gallery.

Time Warp

2009-01-07T21:37:00.004+08:00

Time warp is one of the newest show in Discovery Channel. It just had its first episode aired in the Philippines.

The show let you experience ordinary events in super slow-mo digital video. The show's style comes across informal yet informative - the cameras capture the set-up of the event as well as other parts of the Time Warp lab.

Ordinary things like blowing a water balloon can be exciting to see.

The secret behind the super slow-mo capture is inside the camera. Instead of using 30 frames per second to capture an action, they use a special camera allowing them to capture with a stunning 500 frames per second in high definition.

Here are some of Time Warp videos that I found in youtube:

Blog blog bloooog

2009-01-07T18:24:00.003+08:00

You might be wondering what the heck in this world makes me blog, right? To those who knows me for quite a long time, you know who much I hate writing.

So what makes me sucked to this world of blogging?

The main reason why I created blog is because of peer pressure. Most of my friends recommend and even force me to have a blog. The outcome? I created this blog, but I have this empty without any post at all for almost 4 months.

Before, I always have random thoughts and reactions on my mind about almost anything I see and experienced. I used to keep these in my mind. But later I realized that maybe, if I share just a bit of them, maybe it can help other people in some way or open someone's mind. And that's it! I have my first reason to blog. A reason that's strong enough to motivates me to post articles everyday.

I know, everything that I'm posting here is not as good as those of other people. I'm still learning to write. But I'm starting to love it.

First day.. yet?!

2009-01-05T22:47:00.004+08:00

Nothing special actually happened today. Just another ordinary school day. I skipped my religion 61 class coz I wasn't able to wake up at 8. It wasn't until 9 that I realized that I have something really important to do, so I woke up, take my bath and eat my breakfast a little bit quick than usual. When I arrived at school, I met my classmates (some of them are with their new look) and have a quick chat about vacation. The "something important"?! Well, I've promised my girl to have myself consulted to a dietitian coz she said I eat much but "grow less." But what an unlucky day, when I arrived at the hospital, the attending dietitian wasn't there anymore.

The afternoon was quite better. I came late to our first class, perhaps around 45 minutes late (yeah, I know, my tardiness is unacceptable), but I finished the seat work that our teacher gave us on time! After the class, I spend the rest of the afternoon waiting for evening in our OJT room, plurking with some alumni of Silliman.

Despite of all the stress that I got at school, I still have chance to relax and have a nice time with Nene. I promised to help her in their research about parasitism in the library. We finished everything early and had a very nice dinner. I realized that today is not bad at all, perhaps I just need some time adjusting my mind from the vacation mode to the back-to-school mode.

"Wake up xar! Graduation is fast approaching there is no time to rest and waste time."

End of vacation. Period.

2009-01-04T21:01:00.009+08:00

Haaaayyy..

Vacation is over. 2 weeks just isn't enough. It's true, time fly so fast if you're enjoying it.
Headaches and school problems is waiting for me.

Soon, I'll be back to my hectic schedules. Working till late night and wake up early on the next day.

Damn it!

The only Plurker with infinite karma

2009-01-03T23:28:00.004+08:00

My friend in Plurk just shared a link to an article about a tragic story of a Filipina Plurker.

Hazel Danielle Santos is a 27-year-old Filipina based in Switzerland. She has been part of the Plurk community since September 2008. On October 12, 2008 this young filipina was proposed in front of her parents by her boyfriend Strachan. In fact, her last posted plurk says "harley_quinnis is the HAPPIEST WOMAN on earth today!"

Everyone knows she was happy, but nobody knows that it won't last so long. In fact, all those smiles just last for less than a day. On the dawn of October 13, according to her cousin's email, Hazel and Strachan met a car accident while driving from their Engagement Party.

The news shocked her friends. Many of her online friends whom he never met personally was overwhelmed. They were shocked by her sudden death. Her friends watch her karma points dropping little by little as day pass by. One of her friend, thegreatest, appealed to plurk's Management, through The Satisfaction website.

I know this is a long shot, but we have a plurker who just recently passed away… it is heartbreaking to see her plurk karma slowly trickle down. We were wondering if you can somehow freeze it, so we can remember her the way she was through her plurks.

A management from Plurk. Amir Salihefendi. response immidiately saying,

We have stalled her karma drops and have given her a karma of infinity. May she rest in peace.

Plurk kept their promises. In fact, Plurk gave her an infinitive karma, and still keeps her plurks.

A wonderful night

2009-01-02T23:23:00.006+08:00

Just arrived home from Nene's house. My mom is upset with me I guess coz I promised him to be back by 9 (Actually we also had arguments before I leave because he don't want me to go out in this cold night). My intellegent little sister, Lisia, also reacted when I arrived.

"Imo ra gi owat si mama noh? (You're lying to mom,right?)"

I response while taking off my snickers, "Huh? Nganu naka ingon ka ana? (Why's that so?)"

"Kay ingon man ka ganiha mu uli ka 9, nya 11 na man ron (You told her you'll be back by 9, and it's already 11)", she smiled at me and run to my mom's room.

It's just another common scene here at home. I seldom keep my promise to my mom to come home early (Perhaps I should change that attitude, c'mon it's new year).

Anyways,what makes this evening so wonderful is that Nene just arrived from her half-month-long vacation in Zamboanga. As soon as I met her, I told myself maybe I was dreaming. I've been thinking about her for the past week. And there she was. She'd change. She got a hair do and looks very gorgeous than ever before. She told me she misses me alot. We have a great conversation, talking about Christmas and new year and lots of stuffs. I wished I could stop the time and have that great moment forever.

What more can I ask for this new year, right?

Filicious

2009-01-02T18:01:00.000+08:00

Lixa (a.k.a Siti Philisia Anugra Asbir) is one of the cutest girl in this planet. Yup! She's my ony sister. I gave her everything, and treat her as if she's my daughter (haha, I'm pretty much excited already of having one). This little girl is the only reason why I can't stop smiling at home despite of the tons of tasks that I usually have. For me, She's the girl version of the young Thomas A. Edison. Her curiousity makes her never run out of questions. She's not just a bright girl, she's intellegent. Unlike any other girl, she doesn't demand much on things like toys. I remember her wisphering to my mom, "Ma, tell abang* to buy me that toy if maka work na siya ha? Dili sa ko palit karon kay wala man money si papa." Well, that's her. I wish, this little girl, will someday be a great woman.

Don't worry lisia, you have 3 musketeers around you, all the time

*abang is an indonesian word for kuya, that's my nickname at home

A pinoy invades American Idol

2009-01-02T16:18:00.000+08:00

Full view is recommended

First and foremost, I would like to congratulate my friend, a group mate of mine as well, Ricky Louie A. de la Cruz (click here to visit his blog, Fin Lust). He's a good guy, a friend that you can trust on and a good adviser. He is a good all-around singer, yet I never realized that his extraordinary voice brings him to the top of the list of American Idol 2008. He told me once that he wanted to become a singer as famous as his idol, Mariah Carey. Despite of being good at singing, he is also a jack-of-all-trade when it comes to sports. Baseball, football, swimming, ballroom dancing, and quick eating is just few of his talents.

You know how proud I am to have a friend like Ricky. I was once, against his singing habit, but I never know that it is the one the brought him into fame. And I bet Silliman University also realize that having a student like him is an asset to invite more student into the school.

What more can I say about Americans

2009-01-02T00:43:00.000+08:00

Have you ever felt being put down by an American?
They think they are exterior just because they have dollars.
Of course, I'm not trying to stereotype them, but most of them, they looked at Filipino no less than uneducated mountain people.
Well, if you want to make them shut their mouth off, just show these videos.

...the reality couldn't be further than the truth...

Budhist Monks' religion are Budishm not Islam
Vietnamese won the Vietnamese war not the Americans
Fidel Castro was the President of Cuba not a singer
Triangle has 3 sides, not 4!
The currency of U.K. is Pound sterling not queen Elizabeth's money

Why they always hate The Middle Eastern?
Oh wait, did he just said Indonesia? He's insane. :D

Tony Blair was GB's Prime Minister, not a Skater (perhaps he is referring to Tony Hawk)

No wonder why W. Bush won the election for 2 times in a row.

Barack Obama?! it's just the way he presented himself, he is very evil

ok, Barack Obama. I think he's the one behind everything else

Ok, the last one, I think Binibini Filipinas this year is much more better than her.

New Years Eve @ Katrina Homes

2009-01-01T21:59:00.000+08:00

This year's new years eve was totally fun! Though heavy rain pour down upon Dumaguete but I still see lots of people enthusiastically waits for the year to end. I still see kids setting up the firecrackers around the street as if no rain at all. The cold breeze doesn't stop them from going out of the house. I was enjoying mine too. I haven't celebrated new year with firecrackers for, uhhhmmm, 5 years I think. Though I doesn't really like firecrackers (coz our dad always discourages us from playing around with 'em), I still can call the night an awesome one.

Nothing could stop the fun, not even the rain...

My lolo putting up some of them...

New Years Eve Menu...

Greeting friends and families in the Internet...

The 2008 last picture of me and my lil sister...

Poor little lisia, she's really afraid of firecrackers...

Make a wish...

Too much sweets to handle...

Who is Barack Obama?

2009-01-01T21:16:00.000+08:00

Short facts about Barack Obama's childhood history:

born at the Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children in Honolulu, Hawaii
his father, Nyang’oma Kogelo, is a Kenyan
his mother, Ann Dunham, is a White American from Wichita, Kansas
his parents got divorced when he was still 2 years old.
his step father, Lolo Soetoro, is an Indonesian who studied in Honolulu, Hawaii
transferred to Jakarta, Indonesia on 1967
attended local schools, such as Besuki Public School and St. Francis of Assisi School, in Jakarta until he was ten years old.
returned to Honolulu in 1971, continued his 5th grade at Punahou School.

Base on this facts, it is clear that Obama is natural born U.S. citizen which qualifies him to run as president. But, the document shown below says the other way around:

Please click to full view

The document stated that what we now know as Barrack Obama was officially recorded as Barry Soetoro. Who was born on Honolulu, Hawaii and a citizen of Indonesia and According to the documents, he is a Muslim.

Indonesia doesn't allow dual citizenship. And having this document, this means that Barack or Barry is an Indonesian not American.

There are videos that I got from youtube stating that indeed Obama is not a legal U.S. citizen though he was born in U.S. territory.

So.. who is Obama?

Foreigner

2009-01-01T19:11:00.000+08:00

for·eign·er
n.

1. One who is from a foreign country or place.
2. One who is from outside a particular group or community; an outsider.

(source: the free dictionary)

Me and my uncle, Elbridge, was having a quick chat a while ago:

Elbridge: "May ra jud noh, nka pangasawa ug foreigner si tita Honey*"

Me: "Aw, c mama diay? dili diay foreginer si papa (FYI, my dad is Indonesian)"

Elbridge: "Aw, lahi man na, dili man puti imo papa. Mura man gihapon to pinoy ug nawong"

My mom who was cooking for our dinner heard that and laugh.

Blog Tracking and Statistic

2009-01-01T16:24:00.000+08:00

Ice Rocket - Blog Tracker is a web base application that allow bloggers to keep track of their blogs statistical data.

Here are the list of its features:

Visitor Tracking which includes the statistical data for the number of hits and number of visits.
Segment Analysis, allowing the blogger determine where the visitor is geologically located as well as determining the last link which the visitor visited.
Content Analysis
Technical Analysis which produces statistical data on the browsers, operating systems, and screen resolution used by the blog's visitors.

Why I recommend you to register and have one?

'Coz its important to know how many people visited your blog today, where they are located, and what links them to your blog. If you are an ethusiast bloggers, these data can help you alot in improving the popularity of your blog in many ways (e.g.: if most of your visitors are from Philippines, perhaps blogging about show biz will atract more attention :P ).

A good way to start a new year

2009-01-01T02:44:00.001+08:00

Do you feel that you lack happiness in your life?
Or you feel that it is in you but it's just not enough?
Or you just need something to make your life better...

Then perhaps this article entitled REboot posted by superboi might help you in one way or another.

Ricky recommended me to read the article and I find it nice too.

Don't worry, the article is not a long one.. It's brief yet very meaningful..

Enjoy!

How does PHPlurk works?

2009-01-01T02:19:00.001+08:00

I have a very big question mark inside my head right now...

If you're from Philippines, have a plurk account, and have tried using plurking from you mobile perhaps you have the same question as what I have.

To those who are new to this, PHPlurk allows any plurkers from Philippines to plurk right from their mobile phone. Registration is require before mobile plurking can be availed by sending PREG [username] [password] to +63-916-4967171 for Globe subscribers or +63-929-3632359 for Smart subscribers. There will be no confirmation message informing you that the registration is successful. After few minutes prior to registration, you can start plurking from their mobile phone by texting PLURK [qualifier] [your update] to the same number mentioned earlier.

As a web developer and an amateur programmer it really attracts my curiousity. I googled all through out the net and find some answer to it but I got nothing.

If you have any idea on how it works, please share it. You ain't going to lose anything by sharing it. :D

The Not-so-good Start

2009-01-01T00:46:00.001+08:00

12:05 January 1, 2009

Just five minutes after new year...

when I was hoping for a good start for the year...

God decided to lead me the other way around...

Me and my cousins (Cyrus and Elbridge) were at Bagong dalan, somewhere near Taclobo (in Dumaguete) looking for firecrackers. We went around, from one stall to another, looking for a good bargain. After buying a bunch of firecracker we decided to go to a stall. After few minutes looking a various kinds of firecrackers, the owner shouted at one of my cousin,

"Dong, mupalit ka or dili? (Are you going to some buy or not?)"

Cyrus: "Galantaw-lantaw ra ko nong. (We're just looking around)"

Owner: "Nawala lagi ang usa ka pabuto. Gikuwa nimo to dong? (One of the firecrackers is missing, did you get it?)"

Cyrus: "Huh? Wala man ko gikuwa (Huh? I didn't get anything)"

The owner begun talking some bullshit.

Having heard those conversation, I was upset and went closer to my cousin.
I recognize the owner, he is a muslim and I met him several times before during our prayer.
And the owner noticed me too. After a quick stare at him, he murmured something.

"Sige dong, ok ra. Adto ramo didto sa pikas kay murag naay nikuwa ani (It's alright. You can go to the other stall, someone must have stole this one)"

Again, he talk some bullshit, called his wife and pointed at us.

I was really really upset but I tried to keep everything cool. I told myself, "Remember, this is new year. You must start it good, at least you did your best though someone screw up with it."

Well, we left and I tried to forget about it.
Anyway, this is the night that I must enjoy.
God knows who's right and who's not.

...oh, if I was given the chance to talk to that lame store owner again perhaps I would say "Nong, murag nipalit na mi daan ug pabuto worth 700 pesos, nganu pud mangawat mi kna imong pabuto nga tag 40 ra..." haha...

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

ENJOY THE NIGHT 'COZ THIS ONLY HAPPENED ONCE A YEAR...

Unity in Diversity: Indonesia

2008-12-31T17:19:00.000+08:00

I just had a quick look on my dA account and found this deviation on my inbox.

What I love about this deviation is it really shows us how diversified Indonesia is. Being an Indonesia, I am proud to say that we still keep our traditions despite of the west culture that are now invading various countries in Asia. I am proud to say that I still see a large number of Indonesians wearing their traditional costume during meeting, party and wedding. I am proud to say that we have 31 provinces, yet we are still 1.

I AM PROUD TO BE

AN INDONESIAN!

...by the way, I belong to the ethnic group of Minang. Its people is known to be very business minded (thanks to Ricky for helping me out to find a correct word of negosyante). Our culture is matrilineal, with property and land passing down from mother to daughter, while religious and political affairs are the province of men (although some women also play important roles in these areas)

Lists of Everything for 2009

2008-12-31T16:25:00.000+08:00

Things I have to acquire in 2009:

An Apple MacBook Pro
A New set of eyeglasses
A contact lense
A pair converse snickers
A personal website
3 Sets of any soccer jersey
(preferably Manchester United, England National Team, and Chelsea)

New Years Resolution:

Stop fooling around in School
Be productive as much as possible
Not to sleep late if unnecessary
Reduce time spent in front of Computer
Have an excercise or play any sport atleast once a week

Things I wish to happen in 2009:

Graduation in March
Have a work
Take MIT
Transfer to other place outside Philippines
if possible.. if not, well as long as its not in Dumaguete :P

Picasa vs Flickr

2008-12-31T14:38:00.000+08:00

Yet another reason for me to hate Yahoo! and love Google...

Few days ago, after a week long vacation on Bayawan, I planned to upload the pictures we took there just as what I've promise to my relatives.

I was looking for the best photo sharing site, and I found flickr. I uploaded selected pictures considering only limited bandwith is provided for free account (100mb/month) and very limited picture slot (upto 200 pictures only!). I was quite satisfied with it at first since Flickr was the only picture sharing site that I knew... until someone indirectly introduces me to Picasa.

I don't have to worry again in selecting pictures and resizing it before uploading. Thanks to Picasa 3 application that allows me to upload pictures and resize it according to the preferred size. And the maximum space that I can avail for the free account? It is 1GB, much more better than Flickr. It has unlimited picture slot. What more can I ask? Google group is always the best, and nothing beat 'em when it comes to free stuffs in the net. Yahoo?! still sux, as always.

Here's the side-by-side comparison:


Storage	1024 mb	unlimited
Bandwith	unlimited	100 mb/month
Album	unlimited	3 sets/albums
Original file	can be accessed	only thumbnails can be accessed
Picture slot	unlimited	200 pictures
Application	Picasa 3	Flickr Uploader
Upgrade	10 GB ($20.00 USD per year) 40 GB ($75.00 USD per year) 150 GB ($250.00 USD per year) 400 GB ($500.00 USD per year)	US$24.95 a year, detail...

Looking back to 2008

2008-12-31T11:23:00.000+08:00

Tonight, 2008 will end and will just be another memory.

2009 is coming, yet is still full of mysteries.

This year I have achieved, well, something atleast, yet I still screwed up most of the time. But I

WILL try to learn some lesson and try to do something better on the following years to come coz I believe that

"Only donkeys step on the same hole twice"

and I know I ain't one of them. So, allow me to show you the highlight of my life this year. The (-) and (+) things I did. ( I skipped some months because I really forget what happened to me during those times..haha Will revise it if I remember any )

January 2008

Worst fight with my girlfriend ever

February 2008

Win MySillimanian Sim Design Contest. The prize was 1 night stay in Antulang and worth 1000 pesos of GCash

March 2008

Got disconnected from Globe Broadband. Reason? We have around P7000 balance not yet paid because of my excessive landline-to-mobile call.

April 2008

OJT Proposal was rejected twice

August 2008

Another t-shirt design for the CCS

October 2008

Took the PhilNits Exam for the 2nd time. I haven't recieved any official result yet but I think I failed AGAIN.

November 2008

Joins the National Programming Competition at USJR Cebu
Finish the 75% Percent of the E-Radio OJT Project (Thanks to Bem2x, Ricky, Tin2x and Otan)

Barack Obama wins the 2008 U.S. Election. I was one among billions of happy people to know that.

December 2008

Got a new internet connection provided by SmartBro
Grand family reunion and Christmas on Bayawan
Reception
Wedding
Beach Outing - Miguel's Birthday
Reunion Games

Who's Xar?

2008-12-30T17:20:00.007+08:00

'Xar' is actually a nickname given to me by a former close friend of mine perhaps because she was having a hard remembering the correct spelling of my name.

But having a weird name give an advantage on my side. I can recognize someone right away from the way they spelled my name. People who don't really know me often misspelled my name to 'Shar', my family and relatives called me 'Syar', my indonesian friends called me 'Rief', and my close Filipino friends called me 'Xar'.

My complete name is Muhammad Syarief II Asbir. I'm a 19-year-old Indonesia-born Filipino (I'm still not sure to take the Filipino citizenship, but let's just assume I'm filipino). I spend more than half my life in Indonesia having my elementary school there. In 2001, we transferred to Philippines which I think was due to the financial reason.

I'm currently a graduating student taking up Information Technology in Silliman University. Being a computer addict, my life is always surrounded by electronics. I wear eye glasses but I'm no geek or nerd. I seldom went out to have some fun with my buddies but I'm still your ordinary guy.

I love web programming and graphic designing. Soon, If I can graduate, I wish I can put up my own IT company that caters all services on computers and electronic gadgets.

Being the eldest in the family, I have tons of responsibilities. Yet, I don't think myself is enough to prove them that I'm someone that they can trust and depend on.

Anyways, I think I've said much about myself. If you think you know me better than I know myself please comment. All testimonial comments about me will be posted in this article.

Xanadu Disclosure

2008-11-11T18:32:00.000+08:00

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