|lazy_sundy|
with the training over and the case study over and done with, i'm having the weekend like no other. tomorrow is another monday but 'til then, i'll enjoy my sunday first.
saturday night was rockwell night for me. after allan and i went to fifi to supposedly have my account terminated in which by the way i just ended up downgrading it to a weekend pass, we just ate at burgoo and watched 'meet the fockers'.
today, already did my email while reading blogs and posting as well. uploaded more pics to flickr. downloaded a couple of mp3's and uploaded them in my pearly white ipod--hehehehe, i'm so happy with the socks that i can't stop making small talks about it. i'm giving out the hot pink sock. guess who's gonna get it!
chuckie had a bad week. the dosage of his dialntin was experimented on again and so there he went again since wednesday. it's so-so sad. he's doing better now and getting less attacks than the previous days. i hope he'll be better today.
|daniel_and_his_girlfriends+other_pictures|
i'm in the mood to post pictures of people i've taken in the past few months. since i'm looking into ways to improve my ability to take pictures of people, posting it would be a good thing.
i think i'm overflowing with endorphins. can i get that from having too much chocolate?
what's playing in my iPod right now?
Fighter by Christina Aguilera
Let's Get Retarded by Black Eyed Peas
Think of Aaliyah by BoyzIIMen
'Till They Take My Heart Away by claire Marlo
Now That I Have You by The Company
Apron String by EBTG
Time After Time by EBTG
Space Between by Dave Matthews Band
Butterfly by Crazy Town
|people_are_people|
i have to admit i find it difficult to take pictures of people. i can't capture hence convey the emotion of the person that i have taken a picture of. i know i'm not making sense at all but all i'm saying is that i can't make my pictures "talk" to the people looking at them. i know all i need is to practice more and more for me to get that shot right next time. puuuush!
i have to also learn how to take pictures in b&w especially people as subjects. i think limiting everything to black, white and shades of gray can greatly show things in more detail.
what's playing in my iPod right now?
Everyone Can Fly by Gigolo Aunts - so nice!
Treat Me Good by Bachelor Girl
Kiss the Rain by Billie Myers
Uptown Girl by Billy Joel
|colorburts|
i really couldn't recall when i started having fascination with color. it could have been triggered when i first got my box of crayons for school or i just have a keen eye for beauty. nonetheless, it just makes me smile seeing vibrant colors around me or things that are colored.
all i could say is that i'm thankful that i can admire and appreciate things around me that are pleasing to look at. also, that at times i can capture things in my cam for other people to visualize and see the beauty color can bring to all of us.
for the rest of the day, i'll be going back to the books, study and learn more, familiarize concepts and prepare for a test tomorrow. also, a portion of the case study is due tomorrow so there's major work that needs to be done.
|post-christmas.present|
with the festivities over, i suppose everyone had gone back to their usual roundabouts: work, work, and more work. as for me, i have something to smile about when i gave my ipod a post-yultide present. during these chilly nights, it is imperative for an ipod to have protection and warmth. your body heat as you tuck your toy into your pocket isn't enough. hence, they came up with iPod Socks! thanks to dindin lagdameo who sold me not a pair but six vibrantly colored socks. this charming person sells these socks per pack so interested parties can place an order by emailing her.
|work.information_overload|
new year, new work, a new beginning.
that was my mantra while plying my way to my new work and the preceeding days after i started with a new company. this is my positivism chant i as it's difficult for me to get out of my comfort zone that i've gotten used to and be wrought with sudden changes in life. there were a lot, as in a lot of sacrifices made on my part. for starters, my 15-minute 10-minute cab ride to eastwood became a one hour and 30 minute ordeal going to makati in a shuttle. mind you i'm not complaining. if i were, my opinion on this would definitely be a lot more. moving on, it's just that work itself overwhelmes me as with so many different things. i know there are a lot of things in store for me with the company i'm currently with and these bumps are just a few of the fine tuning needed as i go through this cold water nose dive into life. so screw my comfort zone!
work is a constant challenge as i'm currently undergoing re-tooling. it sounds freaky, isn't it? it's their term of changing my wirings in order to be suited for the work they're doing. okay that didn't help either. they're teaching me a lot of things in a very short period of time. honestly, i'm supposed to learn the .NET framwork in 12 days and that includes VB.NET, ADO.NET and ASP.NET languages. challenging but i'm definitely surrviving our last 5 days. i think my mental aptitude is up for this budge, push, shove in order to deliver what is expected of me.
it may be filled with challenges, a lot of cups of coffee and sleepless nights but i'm lovin' it.
|happy_birthday.tiana|
tiana celebrated her 2nd birthday bash with the whole gang! though planned at short notice, we were all able to go (including myself) and had dinner in eastwood. everyone had a grand time as this was one of the family's monthly dinner out activities. after dinner coffee was a must on that chilly saturday evening and all of us happy campers let the night slip away sipping hot tea, latte, moccha at seattle's best. for the kids, i don't know what they had...shakes i think. all they did was play around and chase bubbles from the other kids.
happy birthday to our beautiful angel, tiana. may you have many more to come.
|interesting_finds|
as for me, i looked for an interesting piece to take a picture of. as usual, the lamp fixture caught my attention as it always does.
|previous.week_revisited|
the previous week had come by and gone without me having ample time to log my usual bloggables. so many things have happened and yet there is not enough time to be able to squeeze everything from work, life and blogging.
anyway, here's a glimpse of my so-called week.
january 9, 2004 - sunday
liz and i decided to paint the town red to explore our own toys' possibilities and snapped some pictures around greenbelt and the makati cbd. there wasn't much planning made and with such short notice i grabbed my cam, made sure to have charged my double A's and went to makati for an afternoon of taking pictures and bonding session with a good friend.
we had coffee in greenbelt3 as liz prepared her tripod and her camera (film, lens, battery, etc). she also took along her digital camera so she can upload her pics that evening. as for me, no tedious preparations were made. afterwhich we started with the lush garden of greenbelt3 starting with the orchids and the flowers at the courtyard.
we went on and took pictures of buildings along ayala avenue up until there were guards that didn't allow taking pictures of the bulding fascade and politely suggested that if we wanted, we can do so but be on the other side of the road along paseo de roxas avenue since behind the building perimeter fence isn't far enough for us not to breach the building security. it's just sad to know that you can only admire architectural wonders from a distance since it can be a security issue here in our country.
why is it that this is allowed in other countries?
i could be totally ignorant on these restrictions but i wish someone could explain to me the rationale of things.
we indeed respected their decision and went on and had coffee again at paseo center and did setup our tripods and waited to get dark so we can do nightshots.
fascinated with the lighted stairwell in this building, i took several pictures of it at 10 minute intervals as we lost natural light. because of this, i stated changing the exposure settings and the last one appeared "noisy" after changing the ISO settings. i still managed to get pictures and achieved some of the effects that i was looking for in my camera. the last pictures for that evening were taken using only light coming from the inside of paseo canter and the street lamps. when changing the aperture and shutter speed, i look forward to getting starbursts. so nice!
|english_is_definitely_tough_stuff|
in relation to english being a tough language to learn, i recently came across a product being sold in a supermarket here in the metro. if i may assume, this product originated from china since it had Chinese characters on it as well. what�s interesting about this beauty product is the labeling itself.
it�s the JJJ Papaya Whitening Peeling Cream.
i went on read through the label and i stumbled upon an inscription that says, �clean out horniness whitening�. i couldn�t make out of what was written hence i decided to continue and read on. again at the bottom it said, �one minutes dispel horniness�. When i read the rest of the back label, i knew i just had to buy and blog something about it. the rest of what was written are as follows.
whitening peeling cream
Efficacy: This papaya whitening peeling cream by use of natural plant papaya withdraw the essence, vitamin B3, Vc, and mulberry extraction distillate, availability wipe off face die cell, restrain melanin, strengthen cell renovate, restra in melanin and blemish, skin whitening, look brand-new.
Use: Days for sub-two, first shall face wetness, and weild the product gently knead, then with cleanly water washing.
Notice: avoid into eyeball, if immodesty, shortly washing for cleanly water.
i rest my case...enough said.
|english_is_tough_stuff|
i came across an email yesterday while cleaning out my outlook inbox at work. this was sent to me to be used to test the english competency of the techs that i was handling. it's a poem or it seem look like it where some of the words i myself am not so familiar and can't pronounce correctly. it's somewhat not like a tongue twister. anyway here's a copy of that so-called poem and tell me what you think.
Dearest creature in creation
Study English pronunciation
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye you dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words and plaque and argue.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem and toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.
Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should or would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.
Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
and then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.
Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem very little,
we say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific, Science, conscience, scientific.
Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.
Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Does not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.
Pronunciation think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won't it make you loose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wright,
Housewife, verdict and indict.
Finally, which rhymes with enough
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!!
|the_call.boy_moves_on|
yesterday was my last day at work as an employee for an outsourcer of technical services for Dell Computer Corporation. it has been 2 1/2 years of doing technical support initially then moving up to handling a small team of newly hired technical support representatives (TSRs) as their immediate supervisor. it's hard saying goodbye to a company i yearned for and my personal company of choice in this industry. late last year, i have decided to leave the call center industry and joined an IT-consulting firm for several reasons that i don't wish to share at this time. i had to serve my last few weeks making sure i leave everything in order. i've personally requested if i may start january of 2005 which the other company very much accomodated.
though it was a hard decision with a lot of sacrifices made on my part, i believe that it will further open more opportunities for me for career advancement and provide me with additional imparted knowledge on software development. it being technical in nature will further supplement my current understanding of computer hardware.
i would definitely miss so many things in the office.
the culture and values of the people. employee attitude that is professional, empowered, supportive, goal-oriented, driven and passionate. everyone being so helpful and accomodating. everyone who've entered the office whether food delivery personnel, custodian workers, applicants, guests and visitors and employees themselves can attest to this. they boast of their performance-based policy that you set your own goals at your own realistic terms. feedback is freely given to anyone and everyone is receptive to give and receive feedback during mentoring and coaching sessions for continuous improvement. this is something that not all companies exercise.
facility and infrastructre. workstations, phones, headsets are sufficient for the needs of the employees. surroundings are clean and secured at all times. washrooms are always clean and the pantry runs with free-flowing coffee, iced tea and water. ample space for eating and to accomodate vendo machines. paper towels and paper cups abound though it is a policy to have covered tumblers and mugs to be used in the production area. lockers are provided for bags and non-business related matters to be left for safekeeping. space had been also allotted for a gameroom: an internet cafe with network gaming and broadband connection for personal use since it is prohibited to surf at the workstations. foozeball and other form of recreation is also provided. sleeping lounge for those who want to cath up on their sleep and a daycare center. **due to security restrictions, we are not allowed to take pictures in the office except for a few stolen shots**
camaraderie and fostered friendships. the company general assemblies, team gimmicks and other stress relieving incetives that the company provide its people, i will definitely miss. the pajama day, dirty ice cream / taho / cotton candy days, massage and spa days, halloween trick-or-treating and spooking up the workstations, thanksgiving, christmas dinners and also the program-wide campaigns and projects that aim to build stronger employee-employer relations.
that had been the best 2 1/2 years indeed in the best call center in the country and now i'm signing off. from one office we now have our fourth facility in cebu, that in iself is a feat spanning just 3 years. yesterday, for the last time i took one call (one for the road) and said, "again, this is dan! thank you for choosing dell and thank you for calling dell tech support and you have a pleasant evening ahead of you".
i have definitely earned my mark. it's time for me to move on. :_(
|cold.january|
i was watching the news last night and weatherbugs forecasted a cold january for the rest of the country where temperature would drop to 20 in the metro and as low as 17 in baguio during the evening till dawn. this due to the northeast monsoon bringing cold air from siberia. not that chilly but it will defintiely give us a more comfortable sleep at night. what else is new?
just this morning i saw chuck sleeping not on the floor but on the couch. this is definitely new to me. could it be that he's cold too? =)
chuckie is such a slumber king! if he's not running around chasing cats or marking territories around the house, he would rather stay in a corner of the house and sleep. other than that, he'll ask for a tummy rub from people in the house. this rott is so house-trained that he'll ask guests for a rub as well. here's chuck asking to be cuddled by allan.
|starbucks_pictures|
these are some pictures i've taken from the various starbucks establishments i've been to. for some reason i'm impelled to take shots on interesting pieces in the store whether it's the signage, light fixtures, tables and chairs or even the baristas themselves.
these are my current favorites...i like, i like, i like! these were taken at starbucks valero after work.
i stumbled on the magazine rack while taking pictures and decided to take a shot of it as well. this was on new year's eve in seattle's best eastwood cybermall, i think.
this is a favorite of mine when i'm playing around with my camera. i like to empasize on depth and make either the foreground or the background blurry. i've had previous posts with this kind of effect. i recently discovered that if your camera isn't equipped with this capability, adobe photoshop and other image enhancing software can do this. i'm glad that i'm starting to unravel functionalities in my camera that i'm not familiar with that isn't printed in the manual. kudos to dan!
this was taken in starbucks 6750 sometime late december or early january.
these are some b&w pictures i took from starbucks market! market!