Saturday, December 03, 2005

Reunion at the PICS Xmas party



We suddenly realized that for the first time we were all together since the 'Fly High" Tagaytay Highlands workship held last July. Photo above shows Me, Edna and Michelle and with the first photo, we were joined by Lauro Vives, XMG Global managing director whose company was in charge of doing the report on the software industry.

Edna just realized that half of the four of us has changed careers since that fun filled weekend in july. Edna has moved from her executive position in the govt (under the office of the President of the Phils) back to her beloved ex boss, Phil. Daily Inquirer/Print Town and MIchelle has moved from the Academe (MICT) to Microsoft Phils.

CIO Breakfast Forum - Dec. 1, 2005


Since I was not able to attend yesterday's special session at Hyatt sponsored by Microsoft, I had to wake up early the other day for a CIO breakfast forum held all the way at Crowne Plaza Hotel Ortigas.

It was such a feat to do so for I still felt a bid bad from some pain near my ribs (sort of pilay) to think thats a long way from my house at the south of manila.

Although I woke up very early at around 530am which just gave me two hours of sleep, I had to doze off a couple of times because my constitution seemed had difficulty handling the succeeding nights of rushing some work. Michelle called me as I was dressing up asking where I was since she just left her house too. She lives at Bicuten not far from my place. Obviously she arrived late but I arrived later. At least I caught the presentation of Dondi.

The food was very good but I missed the cheese collection. Just noticed it after the meeting. Most of the people who attended were from PSIA (the local software assoc). Went straight to my condo in makati after the forum to take a much needed nap before I proceeded to my office at Goodwill Bldg.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

G-Max extreme!


No its not a promotion of Globe Handyphone, its one the latest thrillers in Singapore.

When I visited the place a few weeks ago, Bernadette pointed to me this new craze but unlike the usual Bungy jumping we see in manila, you have three people inside this open air silver capsule.

Apparently I just learned recently, this is called G-Max reverse bungy jumping and it originated in New Zealand. Talking of going to the extreme! I will never try that despite my adventurous spirit.

Posting in an Internet Cafe



Guess where I am right now? In a netopia internet cafe. Yup, despite my two dial up connections (infocom and i-manila) and two laptops, I decided to go here for the moment since the very slow dial up connection drives me nuts. Why then can't I just get broadband or DSL? Well, I am a very mobile person, and I would need to always connect at home at work or wherever I am.
I was mulling on getting We Roam despite some negative reviews on its slow speed. I guess it spells convenience for even if I am in the car I can surf with my laptop. I just had difficulty signing up for one. I am always in a hurry and the office was quite far from makati. I had to gather all the requirements then when it was ready I was busy. After a couple of months, I really needed it for the traffic in the metro drives me nuts specially when I have to send something important. I wouldnt want to do that with my mobile on gprs for that would be quite expensive. I just prefer to be productive even while in a traffic jam.
During the last PICS Congress I was about to sign up specially that the one assisting me was efficient. Unfortunately, the following day when I had all my requirements, the one manning the PLDT booth was far from helpful so I never got the account again. Some other people in the main office kept calling me but then again I didnt have time for that.
If only I had so much dough, I would have broadband at work, in the house plus a We Roam account. Innove has their Universal Access equivalent of PLDT's We Roam but its only for corporate subscribers at the moment.
Why can't the whole metro manila be a hot spot? If you follow my blog, you would have read my recent experience in makati where wi-fi was mistaken for food :)
How I wish it will be easier and more affordable to be connected in this country!
Now for my experience in Netopia - too much security. Well I guess they have to for some users maybe technically challenged. When I first logged in, I went to my 'excite' site where all my bookmarks are located. It will be easier for me to open the sites I regularly visit. It was blocked! I guess its due to the name 'excite' with sexual connotations. Why then is hotmail not banned ? :)
I had to transfer to another cubicle and I heard the staff say, another excite user to be moved to a different computer. It means many people still use this web portal after all. I started organizing my bookmarks with excite and was quite difficult to keep transferring them to yahoo or google or whatever is the present flavor. Guess excite had the first mover advantage in that respect.
When this netopia greenbelt branch was located near the Max Restaurant, they had Adobe Photoshop in their machines. Now there is hardly any program except microsoft office. Hmmm... is it due to the recent BSA raids? :)
Tomorrow I am supposed to attend a 'by invitation only' session sponsored by microsoft. A good friend invited me so I couldnt say no but I had to ask what the agenda was for it was hazy. I was told to check out a link which I did. It seems several small groups were scheduled, maybe a handful per session for there are limited 'gadgets'. From what I have read it seemed we will be taught some basic course on usage of perhaps of the computer, laptop, mobile for work. Hmmm again, isn't that too basic? I called my friend and gave this feedback. If you ask me, I would want to learn something I still dont know and there are lots of them. Nevertheless I will go first because of my friend who is in charge of this, second the food, which will be at hyatt, and third, curiosity :)
Well I guess for the people in this country to be more connected, I do believe the cost of access must be brought down - cost of hardware and connection. The telcos and providers need to follow a similar model to what they did with the mobile phone. How I wish I can see this sooner.

Seredipity turned Wedding Date


Last night, the movie "Seredipity' was shown on local tv. i remember watching this before but I still proceeded to again see the movie for I havent seen a feel good movie for a long time. As expected, it wasn't that thrilling, so since i felt so 'bitin' I rummaged around my various VCDs/DVDs previously bought but never opened and decided to watch "Wedding Date". I knew I will be having a very hectic week and I wanted to somehow enjoy myself over this long weekend (after working on a holiday).

Guess what, I liked it! Well at least the second part was really good that this morning I had to repeat it. I particularly liked the dance rehearsal part where they played the song 'sway' by Michael Buble. That was so romantic. The final scene, of course the wedding scene used the background music, 'Save the Last Dance for me'. I recallled that being a favorite of mine a long time ago.

How I wish these happy endings would happen in real life.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

A dream christmas




Just a few blogs ago, I was dreaming of spending christmas in Rothenberg ob der Tauber in Germany. Just a while ago though, as I was browing through some photos so I can update my Travel Blog, I came across some of our pictures in Salzburg. I surfed some sites and landed on one which offers Christmas in Salzburg with the following package -

Christmas in Salzburg
December 23 - 27, 2005
Package includes
following services
4 overnights incl breakfast-buffet in a carefully selected
3 or 4 star hotel
Welcome cocktail in your hotel
1 city tour 'On the
traces of Mozart' incl. entrance to Mozart's Living House with free hotel pick
up
December 24th: Christmas Dinner
December 25th - 1 ticket for a
Christmas concert at 5.00 pm in the Mozarteum
1 full-day excursion to the
Alps including horse drawn sleigh ride & free hotel pick up
A small
souvenir and information brochures of Salzburg await you in your room

Will this remain a dream? Well let's put it this way, it will be too darn cold I'm sure and if so, will never want to go out of my room so perhaps its better to spend christmas in a tropical country. Once i can afford it perhaps with the right clothes and stuff I can manage the chill.

*Note - photo above was our first trip to Salzburg. Thats my late mom and i at the Mirabelle Gardens, where the Von Trapp children sang 'Do Re Mi"

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