This thing is really shiny! Saw one for sale in the Cineleisure at 1.6k MYR (around $460).
It looks just as good in person, the availability of a longer lasting battery will make this bugger the king of the netbooks. It can run OS X it seems, and runs open source operating systems like *BSD and Linux a breeze.
Wonder how decent Java runs on this machines. It would make a really nice portable coding machine. No info on the lazy web for the meantime tho.
Rock on IdeaPad S10!
P.S.
To the fine folks of Lenovo, I wouldn't mind if you send me one of these for review and for keeps. :)
Monday, October 20, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
IntelliJ IDEA 7.0 Milestone 2 :: New Features
Just gave Intellij IDEA a spin, the last time I tried was around 5 years back I think, it was really slow back then.
Past forward, I was blown away! I can say this is the Apple Mac equivalent of IDE's out there. The handling is just right, you feel this is an IDE made by real developers for real developers. Its really, really nice. Spring junkies will definitely love the tight integration with the framework. And one more thing, the vi plugin comes for free!!!
The downside tho is I can't afford the price, and I'm just using it for my happy coding sessions, a.k.a. personal use. :-(, but I think I won't mind reinstalling every time the trial period expires. Its that good.
Past forward, I was blown away! I can say this is the Apple Mac equivalent of IDE's out there. The handling is just right, you feel this is an IDE made by real developers for real developers. Its really, really nice. Spring junkies will definitely love the tight integration with the framework. And one more thing, the vi plugin comes for free!!!
The downside tho is I can't afford the price, and I'm just using it for my happy coding sessions, a.k.a. personal use. :-(, but I think I won't mind reinstalling every time the trial period expires. Its that good.
We all live in a real world.
In the real world, architecture and software design always looses against business drivers and deadlines.
But there is no harm in trying, with laptops in our hands and design patterns in our hearts.
But there is no harm in trying, with laptops in our hands and design patterns in our hearts.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
UsingMac - Leopard - Story of Icons
While looking for some free Pages templates I stumbled upon this site. I particularly liked the TextEdit Icon. It rocks and exactly the same sentiments I feel at the moment.
It reads:
Dear Kate,
Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels.
The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square
holes. The ones who see things differently. They're
not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the
status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them,
quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.
Because the change things.
Take Care,
John Appleseed
Think Different! Apple Rocks!
It reads:
Dear Kate,
Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels.
The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square
holes. The ones who see things differently. They're
not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the
status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them,
quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.
Because the change things.
Take Care,
John Appleseed
Think Different! Apple Rocks!
Saturday, October 04, 2008
hudson: an extensible continuous integration engine
This is thing is awesome! Such a welcome relief for us long time cruisecontrol users. It was relatively easy to setup, after the initial gotcha's for the SVN and findbugs settings, everything was smoothly running, like butter over hot pandesal.
Hooray! For high quality open source products like these.
Hudson... we don't have a problem..
Hooray! For high quality open source products like these.
Hudson... we don't have a problem..
Neil’s point-free blog � Blog Archive � What is OSGi for??
By far the best explanation on the lazy web of what OSGi is. :)
On my end am becoming increasingly curious about OSGi. Wonder how long till I succumb and scratch that itch and plunk down and do some happy code.
There are a variety of usage scenarios I can think right out of the bat. Wether its a fat client or a beer-belly server, who would not love upgrading your JAR dependent lifestyle with SOA concept based OSGi goodness?
Hmmmmmmnnnnn....
On my end am becoming increasingly curious about OSGi. Wonder how long till I succumb and scratch that itch and plunk down and do some happy code.
There are a variety of usage scenarios I can think right out of the bat. Wether its a fat client or a beer-belly server, who would not love upgrading your JAR dependent lifestyle with SOA concept based OSGi goodness?
Hmmmmmmnnnnn....
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
VisualVM
Its lightweight and good enough for most cases. The only drawback is on OS X the JDK 1.6 seems to have a bug so profiling is not enabled. Bummer!
Lobotomo Software: MoofMenu
Leaving the settings at 40 / 70 makes the aluminum dramatically become more sperm friendly. Lets you sleep better if you are worried that heat might shorten the lifespan of you beloved mac hardware. And its freeeee!!!
Friday, September 19, 2008
Maven - Introduction to the Standard Directory Layout
Am really beginning to like Maven over good ole' Ant. Dependency management is just one configuration away. Shiny!
Other than that, switched all my hobby/happy code to SVN.
Other than that, switched all my hobby/happy code to SVN.
Threebies!
Yesterday, after Tenby, kids in tow we went to our favorite hangout place "The Curve" in Kota Damansara. One of the reasons why we like this place is because of Borders bookstore which aside from offering a huge selection of books (and accepts book orders if its not in stock!), allows you to open any book you like and provides cushy reading corners without somebody giving you the I-think-you-are-not-frackin-buying look. MPH bookstore also has the same store policy by the way, although a bit smaller compared to Borders.
Anyway I asked around if there's a copy of Domain-Driven Design by Eric Evans but unfortunately there is no copy left, the only option is to order which would take around 4 weeks. I saw on the counter a revised edition of Friedman's "The World is Flat" and noticed it is now update and has two additional chapters to boot. I grabbed a copy since the I liked the first edition (which I read in digital form) and it would be nice to add to my growing book collection. Was pleasantly surprised when my lovey pointed me to this set in the counter:
Yep. Thats correct. Threebies! Simply cannot resist as both "Freakonomics" and "Blink" are both good reads. Not really bad for MYR 83.00. Buying them individually would set you back around MYR 120.00, I suppose.
My lovey also wants to read the "Harry Potter" series, so we wandered around the bookstore looking for boxed sets. To our dismay, the prices for the boxed sets ranged from MYR 550.00 to MYR 800.00, (softbound, hardbound). A bit expensive for our budget. So we started looking at individual book prices and discovered it would only set us back MYR 240.00 for the same collection! There was one minor problem, "The Goblet of Fire" was not available in Borders so the gentlemen at the counter suggested we look at the nearby MPH bookstore and see if we could find one. So off we went to check, and luckily one more copy is there so we are all glad we could go home with a complete collection:
One more thing, we were also able to use four discount vouchers (MYR 10.00) each from the last time we bought some books here, so we were able to get an MYR 40.00 discount. It pays to keep those paper things they put into your basket. :)
The kids also got a Spongebob activity book, complete with brush and water based paint. Here is the end result of the first rock.
Anyway I asked around if there's a copy of Domain-Driven Design by Eric Evans but unfortunately there is no copy left, the only option is to order which would take around 4 weeks. I saw on the counter a revised edition of Friedman's "The World is Flat" and noticed it is now update and has two additional chapters to boot. I grabbed a copy since the I liked the first edition (which I read in digital form) and it would be nice to add to my growing book collection. Was pleasantly surprised when my lovey pointed me to this set in the counter:
Yep. Thats correct. Threebies! Simply cannot resist as both "Freakonomics" and "Blink" are both good reads. Not really bad for MYR 83.00. Buying them individually would set you back around MYR 120.00, I suppose.
My lovey also wants to read the "Harry Potter" series, so we wandered around the bookstore looking for boxed sets. To our dismay, the prices for the boxed sets ranged from MYR 550.00 to MYR 800.00, (softbound, hardbound). A bit expensive for our budget. So we started looking at individual book prices and discovered it would only set us back MYR 240.00 for the same collection! There was one minor problem, "The Goblet of Fire" was not available in Borders so the gentlemen at the counter suggested we look at the nearby MPH bookstore and see if we could find one. So off we went to check, and luckily one more copy is there so we are all glad we could go home with a complete collection:
One more thing, we were also able to use four discount vouchers (MYR 10.00) each from the last time we bought some books here, so we were able to get an MYR 40.00 discount. It pays to keep those paper things they put into your basket. :)
The kids also got a Spongebob activity book, complete with brush and water based paint. Here is the end result of the first rock.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
School bukol...
A while ago we visited Tenby International School, it seems to be a nice learning environment. About 20 minutes away via the NKVE from our condo which probably means less traffic, but at the price of RM 1.40 toll fee. Hope we get a car before school starts in January.
The fees are almost the same as MAZ International School, but this one really has nice facilities in comparison and as a result has a more campus feel into it. It was actually recommended to us by another international school (ELC). Looking forward to getting all the finance requirements settled as soon as possible.
All in all it looks promising, after spending the past few months looking for options, hopefully this is the one. Otherwise, there is no other option but send them to school in the Philippines. Sigh, the thought alone makes me sad already. Nothing beats staying together in a foreign country even if that means a huge sacrifice in terms of savings. But life is short and money can't buy you the happiness of seeing and being with your kids everyday.
More on this as we go along. I think its time to post some tidbits on OFW life in Malaysia for the benefit of those thinking of working here. Its actually a nice country to live in with a comparatively lower cost of living than its neighbor Singapore.
daddy nox
- blue jeans, blue jeans, blue jeans...
The fees are almost the same as MAZ International School, but this one really has nice facilities in comparison and as a result has a more campus feel into it. It was actually recommended to us by another international school (ELC). Looking forward to getting all the finance requirements settled as soon as possible.
All in all it looks promising, after spending the past few months looking for options, hopefully this is the one. Otherwise, there is no other option but send them to school in the Philippines. Sigh, the thought alone makes me sad already. Nothing beats staying together in a foreign country even if that means a huge sacrifice in terms of savings. But life is short and money can't buy you the happiness of seeing and being with your kids everyday.
More on this as we go along. I think its time to post some tidbits on OFW life in Malaysia for the benefit of those thinking of working here. Its actually a nice country to live in with a comparatively lower cost of living than its neighbor Singapore.
daddy nox
- blue jeans, blue jeans, blue jeans...
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
31 and counting...
Life as we know it, quickly goes by...
Fortunately, am lucky to have two adorable kids and a loving wife (Oh, and a really stubborn pekingese dog). As life is short and it doesn't make sense to go on its journey alone. Birthdays for me means taking stock of all the good things you have so far and be really thankful to the Lord for all the blessings.
Yeah, life ,with all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, its still a beautiful world (Ehrmmmm!). Now time to eat some pancit and drink some red wine.
Fortunately, am lucky to have two adorable kids and a loving wife (Oh, and a really stubborn pekingese dog). As life is short and it doesn't make sense to go on its journey alone. Birthdays for me means taking stock of all the good things you have so far and be really thankful to the Lord for all the blessings.
Yeah, life ,with all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, its still a beautiful world (Ehrmmmm!). Now time to eat some pancit and drink some red wine.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Of frameworks and fanworks
Oh yes, reality is these two words gets mixed up and has the tendency to end into the latter. People become avid fans of what-somewhat-works-already-in-production-thou-shall-not-touch syndrome.
Been really grappling for the past 1 year how to convince people the values of unit testing and loosely coupled frameworks. How do you convince dinosaurs without hurting their feelings? How do you invite change from a software development perspective? I need to learn more about how to evangelize. How does one become good at that anyway? Really curious. How do you do that without spending 100% of your time doing the proof of concept yourself? How do you get support? Will training your team help?
And yes, EJB's are for sissies and this is my 1000th blogger post! Hooray!
Been really grappling for the past 1 year how to convince people the values of unit testing and loosely coupled frameworks. How do you convince dinosaurs without hurting their feelings? How do you invite change from a software development perspective? I need to learn more about how to evangelize. How does one become good at that anyway? Really curious. How do you do that without spending 100% of your time doing the proof of concept yourself? How do you get support? Will training your team help?
And yes, EJB's are for sissies and this is my 1000th blogger post! Hooray!
Life Updates
Obviously not updating the blog on a regular basis, life goes on on the other side of cyberspace.
Currently hooked on reading again! Now halfway thru "The Anatomy of Peace", I loved the first book, and this one really drives the point home.
On the other side, my daughter is still not in school, which is getting me worried shince she is turning seven next month, hope everything goes smoothly so she can start by January. Otherwise, my family has to go back, just to ensure they don't miss the school year. :(
We are also trying to get a car, since we plan to stay here for at least a few years. Already got my driving license so hopefully car arrives next month also.
Work, hmmmmnnn, is still work, hopefully this week a new set of geeks from the Philippines we recruited could strengthen our team, its always nice to hire people who are smarter than yourself, so that I can have more time for other things.
cheers!
nox
Currently hooked on reading again! Now halfway thru "The Anatomy of Peace", I loved the first book, and this one really drives the point home.
On the other side, my daughter is still not in school, which is getting me worried shince she is turning seven next month, hope everything goes smoothly so she can start by January. Otherwise, my family has to go back, just to ensure they don't miss the school year. :(
We are also trying to get a car, since we plan to stay here for at least a few years. Already got my driving license so hopefully car arrives next month also.
Work, hmmmmnnn, is still work, hopefully this week a new set of geeks from the Philippines we recruited could strengthen our team, its always nice to hire people who are smarter than yourself, so that I can have more time for other things.
cheers!
nox
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Lucky to be A Programmer
Not sure how true this still is back home. I feel extremely happy to be there back in the day when programming was in its early stages in the Philippines. When Linux was still diskette based affair, and FreeBSD was still in is 2.x version. Dual 64kb lines was enough inspiration to burn the midnight oil. C/C++ was there to expose us to the funky world of OOP.
Nowadays, we eat Swing memory leaks for breakfast and try to make hibernate decently behave in the afternoon. I have to admit this doesn't even come close to 10% of the fun of making quick pointer drills in manually driven C/C++ applications. We do get a few exciting moments thinking about cloud computing but typical corporate projects are not likely to embrace that in the near future.
That said, this is the 998th post. Hehehehe.
devnox
- send in the clouds.
Nowadays, we eat Swing memory leaks for breakfast and try to make hibernate decently behave in the afternoon. I have to admit this doesn't even come close to 10% of the fun of making quick pointer drills in manually driven C/C++ applications. We do get a few exciting moments thinking about cloud computing but typical corporate projects are not likely to embrace that in the near future.
That said, this is the 998th post. Hehehehe.
devnox
- send in the clouds.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
997th and counting...
3 more posts and i'll hit the 1000th post landmark.
Rice here has also increased in price. Dramatic increase, am hoping it doesn't trigger a price increase of other common commodities.
We found a school for my eldest. Here is to hoping we get more than we paid for. Us parents would simply do everything and never skimp on a child's education.
daddy nox
- hope, faith, in the land of milk and curry...
Rice here has also increased in price. Dramatic increase, am hoping it doesn't trigger a price increase of other common commodities.
We found a school for my eldest. Here is to hoping we get more than we paid for. Us parents would simply do everything and never skimp on a child's education.
daddy nox
- hope, faith, in the land of milk and curry...
Monday, May 12, 2008
New Addition to the family!
On mother's day, I gave the lab op may layf a puppy!
Cuddly and cute! 7 weeks old Pekingnese? The vet adviced at least 5 days rest and to be familiar with the surroundings. After that we can let it loose around the house. Only after a month we are supposed to take out and start its poo training.
I've had a dog till I was college, I can still remember the names: Judge, Smart, Brookeshields, and Leila. I actually like the "Askal" breed, low maintanance type, but here we don't have the luxury of having a normal sized dog, so we have to settle for small cuddly ones.
After much deliberation, we four finally agreed on a name. I wanted "Atom" or "Dracula", my daugther wanted "Maxie", my wife wanted "Alvin" and my little boy wanted "Ben". In the end we settled for "Scope".
Cuddly and cute! 7 weeks old Pekingnese? The vet adviced at least 5 days rest and to be familiar with the surroundings. After that we can let it loose around the house. Only after a month we are supposed to take out and start its poo training.
I've had a dog till I was college, I can still remember the names: Judge, Smart, Brookeshields, and Leila. I actually like the "Askal" breed, low maintanance type, but here we don't have the luxury of having a normal sized dog, so we have to settle for small cuddly ones.
After much deliberation, we four finally agreed on a name. I wanted "Atom" or "Dracula", my daugther wanted "Maxie", my wife wanted "Alvin" and my little boy wanted "Ben". In the end we settled for "Scope".
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Post 995
995th post. Thats all...
All I can say is it pays to share. Everybody starts with somewhere. Been organizing technical sessions for the team. For the time being nothing more than introductions, just to get into the groove of things. Baby steps, but steps nevertheless. Looking forward to technical sessions with more depth. Lets see where this goes.
Aside from that started strumming the guitar again. But I think the cable wasn't shielded enough, distracting buzz during clean leads. Need tons of practice to get my fingers back into shape. Its been ages since my fingers danced on the fret board. The picking and the fret movements is shameless out of sync. I sincerely hope the neighbor can bear the notes even my ear can't sustain. :)
All I can say is it pays to share. Everybody starts with somewhere. Been organizing technical sessions for the team. For the time being nothing more than introductions, just to get into the groove of things. Baby steps, but steps nevertheless. Looking forward to technical sessions with more depth. Lets see where this goes.
Aside from that started strumming the guitar again. But I think the cable wasn't shielded enough, distracting buzz during clean leads. Need tons of practice to get my fingers back into shape. Its been ages since my fingers danced on the fret board. The picking and the fret movements is shameless out of sync. I sincerely hope the neighbor can bear the notes even my ear can't sustain. :)
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Round me up Scottie...
Stumbled upon ugly code...
Financial application using double everywhere and using DecimalFormat for rounding. It boggles the wet corners of the mind.
Java DecimalFormat uses ROUND_HALF_EVEN and financial applications more often than not requires ROUND_HALF_UP or the way we are tought in grade school.
The coming week is gonna be a long week if we are to clean it up. And I had already communicated to use BigDecimal for amount since day 1, but nobody is listening. Not so shiny...
Am technically a code janitor nowadays.
Financial application using double everywhere and using DecimalFormat for rounding. It boggles the wet corners of the mind.
Java DecimalFormat uses ROUND_HALF_EVEN and financial applications more often than not requires ROUND_HALF_UP or the way we are tought in grade school.
The coming week is gonna be a long week if we are to clean it up. And I had already communicated to use BigDecimal for amount since day 1, but nobody is listening. Not so shiny...
Am technically a code janitor nowadays.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
The fool on the hill.
April 1, fools day.
Its also marks my first year here in the land of chicken and curry.
I decided to stick around, lets see, life is a journey anyway...
On to the next April fools day...
Its also marks my first year here in the land of chicken and curry.
I decided to stick around, lets see, life is a journey anyway...
On to the next April fools day...
Sunday, March 30, 2008
How To Work Better
Fresh from the RSS feed. From a spray painting in Tate Modern London.
How To Work Better
1. Do one thing at a time
2. Know the problem
3. Learn to listen
4. Learn to ask questions
5. Distinguish sense from nonsense
6. Accept change as inevitable
7. Admit mistakes
8. Say it simple
9. Be calm
10. Smile
How To Work Better
1. Do one thing at a time
2. Know the problem
3. Learn to listen
4. Learn to ask questions
5. Distinguish sense from nonsense
6. Accept change as inevitable
7. Admit mistakes
8. Say it simple
9. Be calm
10. Smile
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Back to Work
Been nursing a badly sprained right ankle for the past three days. X-ray results fortunately show no fracture or mis-alignment. Could walk decently now, just need to keep the ankle guard on for a few more days.
At least the downtime provided space for reading. Currently re-visiting Doug's articles and find out more about fork-join. Been there in my read-list for some time now. Got reminded when I read migs post on the matter.
Fork-Join should be interesting to try out with the batch process we had. Since most the tasks can be split and re-joined for results.
Back to the sprained ankle, the lesson is helping your daughter with Ballet lessons while your son is scattering his toys on the floor is not a very good idea. Otherwise, you need to be in decent weight to minimize the impact.
Oh well...
At least the downtime provided space for reading. Currently re-visiting Doug's articles and find out more about fork-join. Been there in my read-list for some time now. Got reminded when I read migs post on the matter.
Fork-Join should be interesting to try out with the batch process we had. Since most the tasks can be split and re-joined for results.
Back to the sprained ankle, the lesson is helping your daughter with Ballet lessons while your son is scattering his toys on the floor is not a very good idea. Otherwise, you need to be in decent weight to minimize the impact.
Oh well...
Monday, March 10, 2008
Google Apps
Managed to pull some time to move edit my DNS entries and point everything to the free Google Apps. Am using Dynadot as the registrar, and the trick is to point everything to ghs.google.com. It will take around 2-3 days for the propagation, and viola! everything now hosted under Google Apps.
Google Docs is really slick, will test it under the bundled S60 Browser and see if it works nicely. Btw, noticed the default search page for my device changed from the standard WAP friendly one, to a bigger-better-fit version. Google you really rock!
First time also I have seen the Google Gear store. The 3/4 baseball shirt looks really swanky (if anybody cares to send me one, am medium size by the way.). The black and white shirt is really rockin' also. This sweater below screams shiny!
On the Flickr front, noticed my posts now defaults as draft, dear lazy web is there a way to make this auto?
Google Docs is really slick, will test it under the bundled S60 Browser and see if it works nicely. Btw, noticed the default search page for my device changed from the standard WAP friendly one, to a bigger-better-fit version. Google you really rock!
First time also I have seen the Google Gear store. The 3/4 baseball shirt looks really swanky (if anybody cares to send me one, am medium size by the way.). The black and white shirt is really rockin' also. This sweater below screams shiny!
On the Flickr front, noticed my posts now defaults as draft, dear lazy web is there a way to make this auto?
The Changing Face of Software Development
I still remember my college thesis, a library for rapid application development in full VGA graphics mode modeled after Turbo Vision which back then runs in text mode. Back then I already thought someday, we will just draw user interfaces and the real value would be in domain specific knowledge.
A few days ago, I chanced upon an interesting application which allows to visually create applications from scratch at 60 beats per minute :). Unfortunately the application is crashing so we were asked to diagnose the cause. The local websphere master was quick to point out some configuration settings as well as presented analysis on the GC dumps. On my part, I quickly set up remote profiling (Jprofiler) so we could investigate the details further.
The interesting part is the application model, everything is rule-based. I was of course intrigued how it was able to achieve such a high level of abstraction, that for relatively small applications, very little coding is required!
The technique is templating! It creates a Java object based on a template (extended from base rule objects) code, compiles this code, serializes it and stores it in database BLOB columns. During runtime these objects are deserialized into objects again with plain vanilla class-loaders. This enables ui (forms etc), workflow, business logic to be created without requiring much Java skills. In fact it allows project team to concentrate more on capturing the business logic and flow together with business analysts (who by the way can also directly participate into the system).
So where does this leads us? This will even change the way we think outsourcing! Why outsource when much of the grunt work of creating user interfaces, workflow, business logic, interfaces with external systems etc, can already be handled by such systems? Is this software development 2.0? In the book "The World is Flat", it emphasizes that grunt work will more and more move towards outsourcing. Frack! in this case its moving towards outsourcing to frameworks/systems that can be bought off-the-shelf and might possibly allow your im-gonna-knock-on-your-door-ring-on-your-bell salesman to analyze his own software needs and create his own system without/very-little programming knowledge.
Peeking further into the future, imagine "cloud computing" with this kind of services? With such systems becoming widespread in usage, the battle will be for "business logic developers"?
So my advice to developers, don't stop on being technically capable, understand the business, or better yet build your own business.
technox
-procastinating the inevitable future
A few days ago, I chanced upon an interesting application which allows to visually create applications from scratch at 60 beats per minute :). Unfortunately the application is crashing so we were asked to diagnose the cause. The local websphere master was quick to point out some configuration settings as well as presented analysis on the GC dumps. On my part, I quickly set up remote profiling (Jprofiler) so we could investigate the details further.
The interesting part is the application model, everything is rule-based. I was of course intrigued how it was able to achieve such a high level of abstraction, that for relatively small applications, very little coding is required!
The technique is templating! It creates a Java object based on a template (extended from base rule objects) code, compiles this code, serializes it and stores it in database BLOB columns. During runtime these objects are deserialized into objects again with plain vanilla class-loaders. This enables ui (forms etc), workflow, business logic to be created without requiring much Java skills. In fact it allows project team to concentrate more on capturing the business logic and flow together with business analysts (who by the way can also directly participate into the system).
So where does this leads us? This will even change the way we think outsourcing! Why outsource when much of the grunt work of creating user interfaces, workflow, business logic, interfaces with external systems etc, can already be handled by such systems? Is this software development 2.0? In the book "The World is Flat", it emphasizes that grunt work will more and more move towards outsourcing. Frack! in this case its moving towards outsourcing to frameworks/systems that can be bought off-the-shelf and might possibly allow your im-gonna-knock-on-your-door-ring-on-your-bell salesman to analyze his own software needs and create his own system without/very-little programming knowledge.
Peeking further into the future, imagine "cloud computing" with this kind of services? With such systems becoming widespread in usage, the battle will be for "business logic developers"?
So my advice to developers, don't stop on being technically capable, understand the business, or better yet build your own business.
technox
-procastinating the inevitable future
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Lifeblog post
Fri 07/03/2008 09:26 07032008163
The World Is Flat!
Tinapa at kamatis
Di ko matitiis
Malayo man sa bayan
Langit pag natikman
-puwetik nox
The World Is Flat!
Tinapa at kamatis
Di ko matitiis
Malayo man sa bayan
Langit pag natikman
-puwetik nox
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Crossroads
Been blogging for a few years, and till now haven't reached the 1000th post. Whew!
Currently at the crossroads, some major personal decisions to think about. Life is indeed full of options. Its just a matter of not begging for more.
God is good. Even if most of the time we fail to acknowledge he is there. He loves us without fail. Lord, I love you.
Currently at the crossroads, some major personal decisions to think about. Life is indeed full of options. Its just a matter of not begging for more.
God is good. Even if most of the time we fail to acknowledge he is there. He loves us without fail. Lord, I love you.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Nat Geo Video Clips
Bummer! Nat Geo Video clips doesn't play on my mobile. Extension is .mp4, but wondering what the encoding is. Unlike Diggnation, which is not supported by Video Center, at least I can download via the podcast app and use file manager to view the video. On the bright side, at least audio is playing.
Wonder if there are updates for the bundled Real Player. Otherwise enjoying Reuters Video clips during the morning bathroom rituals. Nothing beats watching news while simultaneusly dumping waste, talk about multi-tasking in age of mobility.
mobile nox
--trapped in the age of mobility
Wonder if there are updates for the bundled Real Player. Otherwise enjoying Reuters Video clips during the morning bathroom rituals. Nothing beats watching news while simultaneusly dumping waste, talk about multi-tasking in age of mobility.
mobile nox
--trapped in the age of mobility
The Year of the Rat
Not much buzz here in the land of soya bean and curry. A few fireworks outside our bedroom window and thats it for Chinese New Year. Ditto for the January 1 which we spent with a large crowd of strangers in front of the twin towers.
Aside from that life goes on. Going with the tide. For some reason am sick and tired of reminding people what should be done. I had mild success of bringing ORM, IOC, TTD into the current project. People just won't listen.
On the other hand, am rather focusing on trying out new concepts on personal projects. Little bits and pieces here and there. Just to avoid being stagnant in a field where the landscape changes by the second.
-- does anyone care if nobody cares?
Aside from that life goes on. Going with the tide. For some reason am sick and tired of reminding people what should be done. I had mild success of bringing ORM, IOC, TTD into the current project. People just won't listen.
On the other hand, am rather focusing on trying out new concepts on personal projects. Little bits and pieces here and there. Just to avoid being stagnant in a field where the landscape changes by the second.
-- does anyone care if nobody cares?
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Lifeblog post
Sun 27/01/2008 12:56 27012008052 Janro seems to be interested with dinosaurs nowadays. On a recent trip to Borders he picked Little Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs while Rojan choosed Art Attack Activity Book. Both on sale, got to love that book store.This paper dinosaur was painted by Janro just a while ago. I think it will be our table center piece for a while. Hehehe.Rojan on the other hand recently went up to a level 3 swimmer. She can now float on her back from one end of the pool to another. Her water confidence changed drastically compared to a few months back. That makes me really happy. Nothing beats a sunday morn, having breakfast by the pool and cheering for your kid :)Daddy Nox-life bloggin on a lazy sunday afternoon...
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Sunday, January 06, 2008
FreeBSD still rocks my world!
Over the weekend I tried to do some upgrades. Since I had been stuck for Windows (too bloated for package management) and Linux (RPM hell) land in the past few months, I had forgotten how mighty the simplicity "The Ports" package management in FreeBSD was. Back in the day, server farms were updated this way on a shared NFS drive, with each machine helping out via distcc.
Enough nostalgia, here is the rockin part on installing diablo-jdk-1.5 on a freshly installed FreeBSD machine.
> pkg_add -r w3m ; rehash
> w3m http://www.FreeBSDFoundation.org/downloads/java.shtml // (download diablo-jdk-1.5 binary)
> pkg_add -r xorg-libraries
> pkg_add -r javavmwrapper
> pkg_add diablo-jdk-freebsd6.i386.1.5.0.07.01.tbz ; rehash
> java -version
java version "1.5.0"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build diablo-1.5.0-b01)
Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build diablo-1.5.0_07-b01, mixed mode)
FreeBSD you rock!
Enough nostalgia, here is the rockin part on installing diablo-jdk-1.5 on a freshly installed FreeBSD machine.
> pkg_add -r w3m ; rehash
> w3m http://www.FreeBSDFoundation.org/downloads/java.shtml // (download diablo-jdk-1.5 binary)
> pkg_add -r xorg-libraries
> pkg_add -r javavmwrapper
> pkg_add diablo-jdk-freebsd6.i386.1.5.0.07.01.tbz ; rehash
> java -version
java version "1.5.0"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build diablo-1.5.0-b01)
Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build diablo-1.5.0_07-b01, mixed mode)
FreeBSD you rock!
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Happy 2008!
Happy 2008 everyone!
Posting on the 5th day of 2008? Better late than never.
Hope and prosperity to all.
Some reflections:
- As you grow older, the more you realize that life goes on very fast, slowing down to appreciate an afternoon chat with your wife, chasing your kids in the playground or reading them a story is more important than anything else. That real joy can be found in the things you already have.
- Nowadays I think more of having a business. Being a consultant for more than half a decade, you realize if something happens to you, your savings will quickly dry up. Being an entrepreneur is the way to go. Its hard but definitely possible. Am getting curious of how stocks work, time to really save and experiment while there is still a buffer for failure. A small farm to begin with, or small real property investments could be a start. The goal now is to save as much as we can to take the initial baby steps to becoming an entrepreneur.
- Real friends are really rare to find. Frack, people are so strange, everybody is deranged.
- Living in a foreign land as opposed to being a tourist really immerses you in ways that is hard to describe. Suddenly you realize we are all not so different and yet there are character snippets here and there that distinguish each and everyone belonging to different culture or races.
- There are always a ton of things we should thank our God above for all the blessings we have. Life is not a wheel that has its ups and downs, but rather a paralllel universe of good and bad. Its just a matter of not begging for more.
Again, happy 2008! May all our dreams come true.
Cheers!
Posting on the 5th day of 2008? Better late than never.
Hope and prosperity to all.
Some reflections:
- As you grow older, the more you realize that life goes on very fast, slowing down to appreciate an afternoon chat with your wife, chasing your kids in the playground or reading them a story is more important than anything else. That real joy can be found in the things you already have.
- Nowadays I think more of having a business. Being a consultant for more than half a decade, you realize if something happens to you, your savings will quickly dry up. Being an entrepreneur is the way to go. Its hard but definitely possible. Am getting curious of how stocks work, time to really save and experiment while there is still a buffer for failure. A small farm to begin with, or small real property investments could be a start. The goal now is to save as much as we can to take the initial baby steps to becoming an entrepreneur.
- Real friends are really rare to find. Frack, people are so strange, everybody is deranged.
- Living in a foreign land as opposed to being a tourist really immerses you in ways that is hard to describe. Suddenly you realize we are all not so different and yet there are character snippets here and there that distinguish each and everyone belonging to different culture or races.
- There are always a ton of things we should thank our God above for all the blessings we have. Life is not a wheel that has its ups and downs, but rather a paralllel universe of good and bad. Its just a matter of not begging for more.
Again, happy 2008! May all our dreams come true.
Cheers!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Rojan the Swimmer
Really happy the way my daughter is progressing with her swimming lessons. I wish I had the same opportunity when I was young. I think the real joy of parenthood is seeing your personal dreams and aspirations fulfilled by your kids.
daddy nox
- My kids make me proud (MKMMP).
daddy nox
- My kids make me proud (MKMMP).
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Software is abstract
I hate software developers boastfully saying they had been there, done that.
This idiots doesn't realize that software is and always will be abstract. Most of the time skills has to be learned on the job. I'm tempted to ask, where have you been? and what have you done? and what frakin' relevance does that have to the current job at hand.
Nuff' said...
This idiots doesn't realize that software is and always will be abstract. Most of the time skills has to be learned on the job. I'm tempted to ask, where have you been? and what have you done? and what frakin' relevance does that have to the current job at hand.
Nuff' said...
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Hello Blog!
Long time no write. If feels like ages since I have written something in this blog.
Work has consumed most of my time. Idealistic, goal driven, eternally geeky people like me tend to fall in so easily. Working with the least concern for personal health, and wealth. A few days ago, reality has thankfully settled back in to my brain, I started jogging and took two weeks off to have time for the most important thing in the world, FAMILY.
So many realizations. In any case, the hardest thing about software development is managing the people. Its usually assholes that kills any project. Its all about the people. No process, no fracking 21'st century project management shit is going to fly or succeed if the assholes greatly outnumber the good guys. But either you see this and go along with the tide, or see this as a challenge, is what separates those who can and those who can't.
Work aside, I miss my family, they are here yet I was there in the office. I miss my kids to bits. I miss doing nothing but sit on the couch and talk with my wife, about our dreams, our plans, and about nothing in particular. Priceless.
Yesterday, I was amazed on my daughter's progress with her swimming lessons. She could now swim from one to the other, still pausing in between, but with proper strokes now. I was so proud! Every little bit of accomplishment delights the heart. My boy on the other hand, was only on his second session, hilariously he would lazily kick the water while mounted on the kick board. At 3, he is still our baby.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! Happy birthday Jesus! My personal wish is that may God be the center of our lives, the center of our family, and hopes everyday is a Happy Christmas for everyone. :)
Work has consumed most of my time. Idealistic, goal driven, eternally geeky people like me tend to fall in so easily. Working with the least concern for personal health, and wealth. A few days ago, reality has thankfully settled back in to my brain, I started jogging and took two weeks off to have time for the most important thing in the world, FAMILY.
So many realizations. In any case, the hardest thing about software development is managing the people. Its usually assholes that kills any project. Its all about the people. No process, no fracking 21'st century project management shit is going to fly or succeed if the assholes greatly outnumber the good guys. But either you see this and go along with the tide, or see this as a challenge, is what separates those who can and those who can't.
Work aside, I miss my family, they are here yet I was there in the office. I miss my kids to bits. I miss doing nothing but sit on the couch and talk with my wife, about our dreams, our plans, and about nothing in particular. Priceless.
Yesterday, I was amazed on my daughter's progress with her swimming lessons. She could now swim from one to the other, still pausing in between, but with proper strokes now. I was so proud! Every little bit of accomplishment delights the heart. My boy on the other hand, was only on his second session, hilariously he would lazily kick the water while mounted on the kick board. At 3, he is still our baby.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! Happy birthday Jesus! My personal wish is that may God be the center of our lives, the center of our family, and hopes everyday is a Happy Christmas for everyone. :)
Monday, October 22, 2007
Now, thats more like it!
Nokia's n810 web tablet is just too darn sexy.
The bundled GPS will salivate location based services (LBS) dreaming nerds like me.
But actually having a device like that is a distant dream in reality. Need to save, save, and save.
dreamer nox
-Technolusting on a mundane monday afternoon.
The bundled GPS will salivate location based services (LBS) dreaming nerds like me.
But actually having a device like that is a distant dream in reality. Need to save, save, and save.
dreamer nox
-Technolusting on a mundane monday afternoon.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
The Adventure Continues
Wether I have Hemingway's, or Picasso's, or Casanova's touch is another question reserved for mundane Monday morn.
The real question is, can I really produce readable handwriting? This ancient art long forgotten by my keyboard bound fingerlings.
I didn't go for the planner ones, I'm no manager material, am a fracking 21st century software architect. People who don't plan, but dream of how code will change the world on a daily basis.
moleskinned nox
-is $1 enough as a reward for my handwritten twisted ideas?
The real question is, can I really produce readable handwriting? This ancient art long forgotten by my keyboard bound fingerlings.
I didn't go for the planner ones, I'm no manager material, am a fracking 21st century software architect. People who don't plan, but dream of how code will change the world on a daily basis.
moleskinned nox
-is $1 enough as a reward for my handwritten twisted ideas?
Rojan The Ballerina
Life is but a never ending stream of events...
A few days back, my daughter turned 6. Can you imagine that! The tiny lovable little creature I once held in my hands not too long ago is now 6 years old.
Nothing worries me now at this stage, than failing to become a good parent. Raising two kids, defies all the laws of the algorithmic universe. There is no design pattern to get hold of. No tried and true exception blocks. This is randomness in its truest meaning.
But other than that, nothing beats having a family to be a witness to your life here in middle-earth.
daddy nox
- life in the parental universe...
A few days back, my daughter turned 6. Can you imagine that! The tiny lovable little creature I once held in my hands not too long ago is now 6 years old.
Nothing worries me now at this stage, than failing to become a good parent. Raising two kids, defies all the laws of the algorithmic universe. There is no design pattern to get hold of. No tried and true exception blocks. This is randomness in its truest meaning.
But other than that, nothing beats having a family to be a witness to your life here in middle-earth.
daddy nox
- life in the parental universe...
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Middleware Thoughts
In the ongoing battle with Websphere integration.
JTA seems to work nicely. Although I had only tested connection pool setup and used user transaction config.
Next step is to try XA mode where the JMS guys are hitting a snag.
No luck on running Websphere in OS X . This is where Glassfish rocks, OS X support.
JTA seems to work nicely. Although I had only tested connection pool setup and used user transaction config.
Next step is to try XA mode where the JMS guys are hitting a snag.
No luck on running Websphere in OS X . This is where Glassfish rocks, OS X support.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
OFW quickies
The past few days was terribly disappointing. I should have listened to my instincts and forget about being idealistic.
Trouble is, I believe people could always change for the better.
But the saying goes, in a foreign land, sometimes you have to be most wary NOT of other cultures, but of your own.
Apparently my so called Kababayan, whom I have been helping, whom I have defended, whom I considered a friend, took a point of no return and unleashed his frackin foul mouth on me, in our own language, for no apparent reason. His sorry excuse is that I raised my voice. Which as a matter of fact he assumed, because I did not. But a sorry excuse nevertheless, because if thats the case, then is it justifiable to do the same for the countless of times he raised his voice?
Sometimes I really don't understand people, crab mentality and jealousy really screws them up.
But life goes on, I had enough of his sensitivity and paranoidal shit.
Anyway, good thing I was brought up to be a better person, at the end of the day, that is more important.
Trouble is, I believe people could always change for the better.
But the saying goes, in a foreign land, sometimes you have to be most wary NOT of other cultures, but of your own.
Apparently my so called Kababayan, whom I have been helping, whom I have defended, whom I considered a friend, took a point of no return and unleashed his frackin foul mouth on me, in our own language, for no apparent reason. His sorry excuse is that I raised my voice. Which as a matter of fact he assumed, because I did not. But a sorry excuse nevertheless, because if thats the case, then is it justifiable to do the same for the countless of times he raised his voice?
Sometimes I really don't understand people, crab mentality and jealousy really screws them up.
But life goes on, I had enough of his sensitivity and paranoidal shit.
Anyway, good thing I was brought up to be a better person, at the end of the day, that is more important.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Things that suck.
Websphere + Oracle XA + Hibernate
This buggers are not playing nice, they don't generally get along out of the box.
Some tweaking here and there.
Frack! If you application doesn't require transactions across more than one data source, save yourself the headache and don't bother with XA at all.
dev nox
-having a frackin' bad hair day.
This buggers are not playing nice, they don't generally get along out of the box.
Some tweaking here and there.
Frack! If you application doesn't require transactions across more than one data source, save yourself the headache and don't bother with XA at all.
dev nox
-having a frackin' bad hair day.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Life Quickies
Currently eating at the new Chinese resto outside our condo. Home baked spaghetti with real tomato sauce, bundled with sunny side egg, ham and hotdog. Loving the taste and the low cost of food here. Will be staying for about an hour and pick-up my daughter from Ballet class.
Tomorrow will be my 30th birthday. Taken my first official leave since I joined the current workplace. We are planning to dine out and visit a tourist spot nearby KL. Should be fun!
Good food, happy, wacky family, what more could I ask for?
Tomorrow will be my 30th birthday. Taken my first official leave since I joined the current workplace. We are planning to dine out and visit a tourist spot nearby KL. Should be fun!
Good food, happy, wacky family, what more could I ask for?
Saturday, September 01, 2007
PSP still rocking...
Just tried the freeware PSPTube app by a Japanese developer. This is so shiny!
Now I can watch transformer re-runs on the PSP via youtube. My kids are also loving the fact that they can also watch Barney shows hosted on you tube.
This makes the PSP a better value against the iPod. Aside from the awesome games, you can catch up on your RSS feeds (via google reader mobile edition), play music, play movies, and now stream you tube videos directly!
Now if only this thing could also read PDF's.
nostalgic nox
- The old megatron looks so frackin' lame as an oversized pistol.
Now I can watch transformer re-runs on the PSP via youtube. My kids are also loving the fact that they can also watch Barney shows hosted on you tube.
This makes the PSP a better value against the iPod. Aside from the awesome games, you can catch up on your RSS feeds (via google reader mobile edition), play music, play movies, and now stream you tube videos directly!
Now if only this thing could also read PDF's.
nostalgic nox
- The old megatron looks so frackin' lame as an oversized pistol.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Life Quickies
- Some frustrations at work. The frackin' code base needs tons of refactoring love. But the fracking T's (SAT, UAT, etc.) are a few weeks away.
- Still so many books to read. So little time.
- Education here in KL is really expensive. International schools that is. Hope its worth every penny. Need to start saving for the next school year and finally decide where my kids will study here or there back home.
- Still so many books to read. So little time.
- Education here in KL is really expensive. International schools that is. Hope its worth every penny. Need to start saving for the next school year and finally decide where my kids will study here or there back home.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
Pastel Balls
And I started clicking the shutter button again. Rediscovering the joys of capturing the beauty in everyday things.
And I am blogging again.
But still the same short burst of words my twisted mind can offer.
And I am blogging again.
But still the same short burst of words my twisted mind can offer.
My love, My life, My joy.
no matter how hard you work,
or how fast you play,
at the end of the day,
when family is there,
life is always ok!
or how fast you play,
at the end of the day,
when family is there,
life is always ok!
And my boy turned 3!
A few weeks ago my boy turned 3. It was a relatively simple celebration with her sister, me and my wife spending the entire day together.
A part of me is happy our baby is turning into a bubbly and irresistibly cute little boy and another part also wishing kids doesn't grow up so fast. Time flies so fast.
daddy nox
- hoping and struggling to be the best dad in the world ;-)
A part of me is happy our baby is turning into a bubbly and irresistibly cute little boy and another part also wishing kids doesn't grow up so fast. Time flies so fast.
daddy nox
- hoping and struggling to be the best dad in the world ;-)
Friday, August 03, 2007
Optimus Prime
Am more like a prime lens person. The fantastic 50mm 1.8 I have really produces bright and sharp pictures. But on the 350D its not as wide as I would like it to be. The 24mm is more like what a normal lens should be on a cropped sensor camera.
So am torn between this and a 430ex flash for my next photography purchase.
shutter nox
- clicking the shutter once again.
So am torn between this and a 430ex flash for my next photography purchase.
shutter nox
- clicking the shutter once again.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Thats why we drink it here.
Developers simply don't quietly snore into the middle of the night.
Not with laptops in our hands and design patterns in our hearts.
nox
- Happy Code == (Beer + Code)
Not with laptops in our hands and design patterns in our hearts.
nox
- Happy Code == (Beer + Code)
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Transformers
Transformers == Nostalgia
I feel nostalgic today.
Lots of things I miss. Some things cannot, and should NOT be forgotten. My ROOTS.
nostalgic nox
- staring on my window pane
I feel nostalgic today.
Lots of things I miss. Some things cannot, and should NOT be forgotten. My ROOTS.
nostalgic nox
- staring on my window pane
Friday, June 01, 2007
Job Post
We are in urgent need of Java Developers 3 years or more experience. We need dynamic individuals willing to go into the Banking domain in one of the largest international banks. Be prepared to be an OFW as this is post requires working abroad.
Email me your CV's or post your email in the comment section. This is urgent and be prepared to leave in a month's time.
Email me your CV's or post your email in the comment section. This is urgent and be prepared to leave in a month's time.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
Skype, because the world is flat.
Just upgraded my Skype mac app. Noticed the shiny animation whenever you toggle show contacts or show history. Now its more Mac-ish than ever.
Skype is an OFW's best friend. You can skype-babad to your hearts content if your family back home is connected to the internet. Although it can't still (yet) substitute being there, it helps a lot to keep your sanity intact. The video is a welcome bonus, I hope in the future it becomes pervasive to mobile devices. 3G video calls is not the way to go, unless you want to burn a hole in your pocket. Not to mention international 3G video Cellco agreements is the exception rather than the norm.
If your are sleeping under the rock, then what the frack! Wake up! Mobile is the way to go. Advertisers must be itching to capture this personalized-direct marketing opportunity.
mobile nox
-- The futre is mobile...
Skype is an OFW's best friend. You can skype-babad to your hearts content if your family back home is connected to the internet. Although it can't still (yet) substitute being there, it helps a lot to keep your sanity intact. The video is a welcome bonus, I hope in the future it becomes pervasive to mobile devices. 3G video calls is not the way to go, unless you want to burn a hole in your pocket. Not to mention international 3G video Cellco agreements is the exception rather than the norm.
If your are sleeping under the rock, then what the frack! Wake up! Mobile is the way to go. Advertisers must be itching to capture this personalized-direct marketing opportunity.
mobile nox
-- The futre is mobile...
Friday, May 18, 2007
FlickrVision
Shiniest Mashup WTF Web 2.0 I have seen so far.
One of those why didn't I think of that moments.
For the meantime. Am down with the flu.
One of those why didn't I think of that moments.
For the meantime. Am down with the flu.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Wifi beggar no more.
Yes, finally got my own DSL connection since monday.
So am now connected to the world again. So many things to blog. Life goes on pretty fast.
I also finally was able to open my own bank account. And was fascinated with the way they have automated ATMS for accepting cheque deposits here. All you have to do is follow the touchscreen enabled ATM instructions which are pretty much straightforward. The shiny part is when it comes to inserting your cheque to a slot in the machine. Not only will the machine accept your cheque, it will do optical character recognition (OCR) on the cheque and give you a printout of the image of your cheque together with the receipt. The OCR will read your cheque number and issuing bank. Pretty shiny!
I cannot blog about the new workplace. But am learning a lot on the non-technical side of working with a multi-national team as well as learning a new problem domain.
Back to the DSL connection, I miss my netgear wireless router back home. Will scout the computer stores here and buy one if its not too expensive. For the meantime the tethered setup is just fine. I dragged the table from the living room to the bedroom and loving the view outside the window.
Still, I miss my family so much. :(
Hope they can come over soon.
homesick nox
-No more weird looks when I camp out half a day with a laptop sa gilid ng starbucks ordering the cheapest drink...
So am now connected to the world again. So many things to blog. Life goes on pretty fast.
I also finally was able to open my own bank account. And was fascinated with the way they have automated ATMS for accepting cheque deposits here. All you have to do is follow the touchscreen enabled ATM instructions which are pretty much straightforward. The shiny part is when it comes to inserting your cheque to a slot in the machine. Not only will the machine accept your cheque, it will do optical character recognition (OCR) on the cheque and give you a printout of the image of your cheque together with the receipt. The OCR will read your cheque number and issuing bank. Pretty shiny!
I cannot blog about the new workplace. But am learning a lot on the non-technical side of working with a multi-national team as well as learning a new problem domain.
Back to the DSL connection, I miss my netgear wireless router back home. Will scout the computer stores here and buy one if its not too expensive. For the meantime the tethered setup is just fine. I dragged the table from the living room to the bedroom and loving the view outside the window.
Still, I miss my family so much. :(
Hope they can come over soon.
homesick nox
-No more weird looks when I camp out half a day with a laptop sa gilid ng starbucks ordering the cheapest drink...
Furious!
Frack! Someone tried to steal my shoes!
The doofus in me is so complacent that in a nice condo like this, nobody would ever dare touch my stinking shoes. Apparently I am wrong. As I was doing my laundry, I opened the door to get my soiled socks from the shoe cabinet outside. Only to find my work shoes and my 2 year old swatch seasider missing. Good thing the shoe cabinet has some weird design for opening the compartments, so my basketball shoes were not taken.
Fortunately, my flatmate and I decided to look around and lo and behold! My shoes are tucked neatly in the emergency staircase. Probably the thief is thinking of getting back on this later in the wee hours of the morning. Or, after realizing the shoe brand doesn't sound like florshiem or ferragamo decided what the heck, lets leave it here.
Also found out there are no CCTV's in the hallways, and when we went down to report to the security guard, we found no one on the desk.
Oh bugger. Life goes on.
Thank God Almighty I was still able to recover my shoes.
nox
- I love my shoes...
The doofus in me is so complacent that in a nice condo like this, nobody would ever dare touch my stinking shoes. Apparently I am wrong. As I was doing my laundry, I opened the door to get my soiled socks from the shoe cabinet outside. Only to find my work shoes and my 2 year old swatch seasider missing. Good thing the shoe cabinet has some weird design for opening the compartments, so my basketball shoes were not taken.
Fortunately, my flatmate and I decided to look around and lo and behold! My shoes are tucked neatly in the emergency staircase. Probably the thief is thinking of getting back on this later in the wee hours of the morning. Or, after realizing the shoe brand doesn't sound like florshiem or ferragamo decided what the heck, lets leave it here.
Also found out there are no CCTV's in the hallways, and when we went down to report to the security guard, we found no one on the desk.
Oh bugger. Life goes on.
Thank God Almighty I was still able to recover my shoes.
nox
- I love my shoes...
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Life updates
Almost a month here.
- Found my own flat. I now live on the 15th floor on place cool enough to pass as a resort. Every block has its own pool. Awesome!
- The new place is 20-30-45 mins away from the office. Depending on the traffic and the alignment of the moon to the sun. Even if they indicate 10 - 20 mins interval, prepare your sanity for 30 to 60 minutes of waiting time for the bus. You can't beat the price tho, if you keep your ticktet, you are good to go anywhere. Each ticket is a whole day pass. Public bus is clean and nice, you get to enjoy the views and see more places compared to riding the train.
- I like the new place better. Something nice to look forward too after a hectic day in the office. I feel safer here than the previous guest flat.
- I get free wifi, and oh men, nothing beats free. No socket nearby tho.
- GPRS is the way to go for international messaging. YM + GPRS = Me chatting with my love ones back home anytime, anywhere. Take that you overpriced Philippine Cellcos!
- Work is ok, nothing I can't handle for the moment. The pressure is on delivering an enterprise app going to be deployed in 40 plus countries, each with varying challenges, one of them is making sure it is still useable in a dialup world. This should be fun.
- My lovey told me they were able to get their passports. Yippeeeee!!! That means they can visit or live with me here!
- Overall am beginning to love this country. First world amenities with 3rd world cost of living. That's redundantly awesome! Shiny!
Pictures to follow.
- Found my own flat. I now live on the 15th floor on place cool enough to pass as a resort. Every block has its own pool. Awesome!
- The new place is 20-30-45 mins away from the office. Depending on the traffic and the alignment of the moon to the sun. Even if they indicate 10 - 20 mins interval, prepare your sanity for 30 to 60 minutes of waiting time for the bus. You can't beat the price tho, if you keep your ticktet, you are good to go anywhere. Each ticket is a whole day pass. Public bus is clean and nice, you get to enjoy the views and see more places compared to riding the train.
- I like the new place better. Something nice to look forward too after a hectic day in the office. I feel safer here than the previous guest flat.
- I get free wifi, and oh men, nothing beats free. No socket nearby tho.
- GPRS is the way to go for international messaging. YM + GPRS = Me chatting with my love ones back home anytime, anywhere. Take that you overpriced Philippine Cellcos!
- Work is ok, nothing I can't handle for the moment. The pressure is on delivering an enterprise app going to be deployed in 40 plus countries, each with varying challenges, one of them is making sure it is still useable in a dialup world. This should be fun.
- My lovey told me they were able to get their passports. Yippeeeee!!! That means they can visit or live with me here!
- Overall am beginning to love this country. First world amenities with 3rd world cost of living. That's redundantly awesome! Shiny!
Pictures to follow.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
What's the stitch?
Some recent facts of life:
- I live on the 13th floor.
- Apparently, the number 14 is the one considered unlucky here. So instead of 14th floor you have 13A instead.
- My flatmate is a kind indian whom I until now I'm having trouble remembering and pronouncing his name.
- I need to improve my communication skills. Time to twist my tounge for pronounciations and a slightly modulated voice.
- I have to change my perspective on how to code things. Am used to fast and efficient. But now, the game is steady and stable.
- I have to keep reminding my self of modularization. Focusing on one part/tier of a system alone. I should lessen the entire-lifecycle super developer mentality so common back home.
- I have to appriacte swing. For all its shams and broken dreams, Swing is a fact of Java life.
- I escaped swing by accidentally blurting out hibernate and spring during a team conference. Now I have to defend why spring is needed and that hibernate is optional. I hope I win this framework debate. I am a spring junkie, and I want my POJO's flexible enough not to depend on Hibernate alone. Just in case there are drastic changes in the ORM framework in the future.
- Can't suggest aspectj domain object dependency injection at the moment. Too cutting edge and risky if the mantra is steady and stable.
- Today am probably going to defend why DAO's have to be implemented as interfaces rather than implementations. In a scenario of steady and stable code, I wonder if my argument that DAO's should be coded as an interface so that the actual ORM implementation (Hibernate, TopLink, EJB, JDBC, etc.) would make sense.
- I miss my DSL connnection back home. My flat doesn't have broadband access so am stuck with GPRS for my internet fix.
- I miss skype.
- I definitely appreciate the Treo now more than ever. YM via GPRS is worlds apart from internationl SMS charges. I only spent about 30 pesos a day, for roughly 2 hours of YM sessions. Add to the fact I can now get my email whenever I want to. Hooray for cheap mobile data services!
- I miss my wife and kids so much.
- I wept again last night when my wife told me my son keeps on hugging my picture frame back home.
- I wept some more, when my daughter typed I miss you so much Daddy on YM.
- I wept even more when my wife told me she just finished taking a bath and all the kids are asleep. I miss the parting legs and the parting lips. I miss her whispering I love yous in my ear. I miss our conversations. I miss her explaining to me the mechanics of PBB, and which housemate deserves to stay or not. I miss hugging her for no reason anytime, anywhere just to express what words cannot. I miss listening to her hearbeat after waking up in the morning. I miss feeling the love in close proximity.
- I live on the 13th floor.
- Apparently, the number 14 is the one considered unlucky here. So instead of 14th floor you have 13A instead.
- My flatmate is a kind indian whom I until now I'm having trouble remembering and pronouncing his name.
- I need to improve my communication skills. Time to twist my tounge for pronounciations and a slightly modulated voice.
- I have to change my perspective on how to code things. Am used to fast and efficient. But now, the game is steady and stable.
- I have to keep reminding my self of modularization. Focusing on one part/tier of a system alone. I should lessen the entire-lifecycle super developer mentality so common back home.
- I have to appriacte swing. For all its shams and broken dreams, Swing is a fact of Java life.
- I escaped swing by accidentally blurting out hibernate and spring during a team conference. Now I have to defend why spring is needed and that hibernate is optional. I hope I win this framework debate. I am a spring junkie, and I want my POJO's flexible enough not to depend on Hibernate alone. Just in case there are drastic changes in the ORM framework in the future.
- Can't suggest aspectj domain object dependency injection at the moment. Too cutting edge and risky if the mantra is steady and stable.
- Today am probably going to defend why DAO's have to be implemented as interfaces rather than implementations. In a scenario of steady and stable code, I wonder if my argument that DAO's should be coded as an interface so that the actual ORM implementation (Hibernate, TopLink, EJB, JDBC, etc.) would make sense.
- I miss my DSL connnection back home. My flat doesn't have broadband access so am stuck with GPRS for my internet fix.
- I miss skype.
- I definitely appreciate the Treo now more than ever. YM via GPRS is worlds apart from internationl SMS charges. I only spent about 30 pesos a day, for roughly 2 hours of YM sessions. Add to the fact I can now get my email whenever I want to. Hooray for cheap mobile data services!
- I miss my wife and kids so much.
- I wept again last night when my wife told me my son keeps on hugging my picture frame back home.
- I wept some more, when my daughter typed I miss you so much Daddy on YM.
- I wept even more when my wife told me she just finished taking a bath and all the kids are asleep. I miss the parting legs and the parting lips. I miss her whispering I love yous in my ear. I miss our conversations. I miss her explaining to me the mechanics of PBB, and which housemate deserves to stay or not. I miss hugging her for no reason anytime, anywhere just to express what words cannot. I miss listening to her hearbeat after waking up in the morning. I miss feeling the love in close proximity.
homesick nox
-- Enduring the initial pains of becoming a global filipino...
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Touchdown
Touchdown at 12:45am.
The last bus has just left.
Next bus 4:30.
Here I am, stuck at the moment. Good thing wifi is free. Can't configure Globe roaming on the Treo. I manually selected available networks but no dice. Either my Globe postpaid isn't yet configured for roaming (as opposed to what I had been told by the helpline), or the trouble is with the Treo.
Haven't slept a wink. Budget travel doesn't guarantee a working recline switch. Imagine the two other person beside you dreamfully taking a nap in a slightly reclined manner, and your stuck with your seat in upright position. Oh well, that's life.
Had my first taste of "Nasi Lemak", spicy! I choosed the beef version. Its like beefsilog aimed squarely for the chili loving Bicolanos. Never thought that rice and fried salted peanuts would actually taste good together. Didn't finish it all however, am still pacing my baby-fat-flaunting stomach.
1.5hrs till the next bus.
sleepy nox
-- miss ko na ang aming kama, at ang malupit kong unan...
The last bus has just left.
Next bus 4:30.
Here I am, stuck at the moment. Good thing wifi is free. Can't configure Globe roaming on the Treo. I manually selected available networks but no dice. Either my Globe postpaid isn't yet configured for roaming (as opposed to what I had been told by the helpline), or the trouble is with the Treo.
Haven't slept a wink. Budget travel doesn't guarantee a working recline switch. Imagine the two other person beside you dreamfully taking a nap in a slightly reclined manner, and your stuck with your seat in upright position. Oh well, that's life.
Had my first taste of "Nasi Lemak", spicy! I choosed the beef version. Its like beefsilog aimed squarely for the chili loving Bicolanos. Never thought that rice and fried salted peanuts would actually taste good together. Didn't finish it all however, am still pacing my baby-fat-flaunting stomach.
1.5hrs till the next bus.
sleepy nox
-- miss ko na ang aming kama, at ang malupit kong unan...
Terminal Musings
Different worlds,
different people,
different faces,
different languages,
all waiting,
to fly
neath the moon
and the starry skies...
Samantalang ako,
may naiwan,
luhaan,
excited,
scared,
thrilled,
sad,
slightly looking forward,
antok,
puso ko,
kanina,
slightly nadurog.
Anak ng 365 na tipaklong,
homesick,
shit!
and to think
I haven't left yet,
bakit nga ba,
the world needs pera
And my katabi,
naka macbook pa.
But still,
amidst all of this.
I still miss,
my son's laughter
the witty conversations
with my daughter
The warm embrace
only my wife could offer.
Tonight will definitely be colder.
traveler nox
-- never mind the mosquito bites...
different people,
different faces,
different languages,
all waiting,
to fly
neath the moon
and the starry skies...
Samantalang ako,
may naiwan,
luhaan,
excited,
scared,
thrilled,
sad,
slightly looking forward,
antok,
puso ko,
kanina,
slightly nadurog.
Anak ng 365 na tipaklong,
homesick,
shit!
and to think
I haven't left yet,
bakit nga ba,
the world needs pera
And my katabi,
naka macbook pa.
But still,
amidst all of this.
I still miss,
my son's laughter
the witty conversations
with my daughter
The warm embrace
only my wife could offer.
Tonight will definitely be colder.
traveler nox
-- never mind the mosquito bites...
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Decisions
Big fish in a small pond, or
Small fish in a big pond.
Or everyone wants to be a frackin' piranha?
Small fish in a big pond.
Or everyone wants to be a frackin' piranha?
Sunday, March 25, 2007
JPG Magazine
NatGeo quality photos without the nagging advertisements for now.
I like the theme, keeping it real. No photography/digital art non-sense. They like photos that capture what is "there" instead of an alternate reality depicting photoshop-induced artistry.
shutter nox
-- keepin it real...
I like the theme, keeping it real. No photography/digital art non-sense. They like photos that capture what is "there" instead of an alternate reality depicting photoshop-induced artistry.
shutter nox
-- keepin it real...
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Of Doll's and Marriage
Fresh from the inbox. This cracked me up!
A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about. For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover. In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife’s bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totaling $95,000.
He asked her about the contents. “When we were to be married,” she said, “my grandmother
told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.”
The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness.
“Honey,” he said, “that explains the doll, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?”. “Oh,” she said, “that’s the money I made from selling the dolls.”
husband nox
-- the joys of marriage...
A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about. For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover. In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife’s bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totaling $95,000.
He asked her about the contents. “When we were to be married,” she said, “my grandmother
told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.”
The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness.
“Honey,” he said, “that explains the doll, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?”. “Oh,” she said, “that’s the money I made from selling the dolls.”
husband nox
-- the joys of marriage...
Friday, March 23, 2007
Diggnation Vidcast on PSP
Wooooottt!!!
Am probably the last person to try this, having had the PSP since last year but never really got to try this feature since I was stuck with the 1.5 firmware.
Oh my, this is really shiny!
If I could get smoothjazz.com to stream on this thingy, that would really be rockingly shiny!
Am probably the last person to try this, having had the PSP since last year but never really got to try this feature since I was stuck with the 1.5 firmware.
Oh my, this is really shiny!
If I could get smoothjazz.com to stream on this thingy, that would really be rockingly shiny!
Location Free Television in Tokyo
Via Slashdot.
Picture this.
- You are an OFW.
- The Filipino Channel (TFC) for you is an expensive luxury.
- You got $200 plus to spare for a Location Free device (get the cheaper wired only model).
- You got reliable and cheap DSL connection back in the Philipines.
- You got some decent understanding of how TCP/IP works.
With location free, you can watch your favorite local shows (PBA, Teleseryes, etc) on your lappy-tappy, PSP and other supported devices anywhere with an internet connection.
Yes, you can currently time shift almost any video/audio at this current day and age, so why bother with location free? Well, this one is real time, meaning you can watch the local shows live!
Hooray! for the flat world.
Picture this.
- You are an OFW.
- The Filipino Channel (TFC) for you is an expensive luxury.
- You got $200 plus to spare for a Location Free device (get the cheaper wired only model).
- You got reliable and cheap DSL connection back in the Philipines.
- You got some decent understanding of how TCP/IP works.
With location free, you can watch your favorite local shows (PBA, Teleseryes, etc) on your lappy-tappy, PSP and other supported devices anywhere with an internet connection.
Yes, you can currently time shift almost any video/audio at this current day and age, so why bother with location free? Well, this one is real time, meaning you can watch the local shows live!
Hooray! for the flat world.
Stream iTunes to your PSP
Sweeeeeettt!
With a bit more RSS XML whackery, mt-daapd can probably do the job. :))
Got to refresh my aging PERL kung-fu if the lazy web doesn't have a solution available at the moment.
With a bit more RSS XML whackery, mt-daapd can probably do the job. :))
Got to refresh my aging PERL kung-fu if the lazy web doesn't have a solution available at the moment.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
PSP Update
3.10 Custom Firmware is out!
Tried updating our PSP last night because am interested in the slightly faster browsing experience the new firmware has to offer. Since this is a firmware flash, the risk of bricking is quite real. Fortunately the update process went smoothly and the PSP came out unscathed.
The update lets me for the first time try viewing the videos included in the sample UMD disc. And boy the screen is absolutely gorgeous! The spiderman 2 preview was difinitely shiny to watch on the PSP screen.
The update also updated the audio player. It now have a visual display akin to what you see on modern day media players. Pretty shiny still.
Sony should provide RSS feed reader for text tho. Until now you can only view video and audio RSS feeds. An email client would also add to this handheld's appeal. On the accessory side, an external keyboard will tripple the shiny factor of this little bugger. A driver for the Palm's Universal Keyboard will make this a really sweet machine.
Another app that Sony should add is a VOIP client. PSP with VOIP or Skype integration will really make it rock!
Anyway web browsing is a tad faster. Something that made me do the update in the first place. Still trying to find a decent web based RSS reader as Google still doesn't have a mobile version of its Google Reader app.
Tried updating our PSP last night because am interested in the slightly faster browsing experience the new firmware has to offer. Since this is a firmware flash, the risk of bricking is quite real. Fortunately the update process went smoothly and the PSP came out unscathed.
The update lets me for the first time try viewing the videos included in the sample UMD disc. And boy the screen is absolutely gorgeous! The spiderman 2 preview was difinitely shiny to watch on the PSP screen.
The update also updated the audio player. It now have a visual display akin to what you see on modern day media players. Pretty shiny still.
Sony should provide RSS feed reader for text tho. Until now you can only view video and audio RSS feeds. An email client would also add to this handheld's appeal. On the accessory side, an external keyboard will tripple the shiny factor of this little bugger. A driver for the Palm's Universal Keyboard will make this a really sweet machine.
Another app that Sony should add is a VOIP client. PSP with VOIP or Skype integration will really make it rock!
Anyway web browsing is a tad faster. Something that made me do the update in the first place. Still trying to find a decent web based RSS reader as Google still doesn't have a mobile version of its Google Reader app.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Location Free
Wow, this is seriously redundantly shiny!
Its like taking your PSP on steroids.
The network is the computer!
Its like taking your PSP on steroids.
The network is the computer!
Google Themes
Since I use Google's personalized homepage as the default for all my browsers, the newly added theme-ing feature is rather shiny!
Take it for a spin, for now its restricted to a set of pre-defined themes, but knowing Google, expect user contributed/hacked versions in the future.
Take it for a spin, for now its restricted to a set of pre-defined themes, but knowing Google, expect user contributed/hacked versions in the future.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Best Career Advice in less than 30 seconds.
This early, I also encourage and tell my kids to do well in school, and someday have their own company. For me its quite important not to limit them by saying "study hard so that you can land a good job after school". I want them to grow up with the entrepreneurial mindset.
And last but not the least, I hope they grow up to be a global Filipino, exploring and learning the new flat world.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Flower Power!
Haven't blog in a while. Been too busy coding the Philippines coolest online tourism portal lately. I still have a ton of images to process during our Baguio Panagbenga trip.
Here is a teaser for now.
Here is a teaser for now.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
My Current Heroes
In no frackin' particular order.
- Apache mod alias "Redirect" feature. Smashingly shiny! Saved my butt because tiny_mce somehow ain't doing relative url mapping.
- JPEGImageEncode/Decoder and JPEGCodec bundled with most JDK's. Automatic server side image resizing galore. No more excuses to not accept high resolution images.
- The lazy web, for providing algorithms to keep that frackin' image aspect ratio.
Some thoughts, making an application user friendly is like asking a makeup artist to make her model look natural. Its a long and not so easy process.
dev nox
-- drag and drop, resize on demand, server side processing junkie...
- Apache mod alias "Redirect" feature. Smashingly shiny! Saved my butt because tiny_mce somehow ain't doing relative url mapping.
- JPEGImageEncode/Decoder and JPEGCodec bundled with most JDK's. Automatic server side image resizing galore. No more excuses to not accept high resolution images.
- The lazy web, for providing algorithms to keep that frackin' image aspect ratio.
Some thoughts, making an application user friendly is like asking a makeup artist to make her model look natural. Its a long and not so easy process.
dev nox
-- drag and drop, resize on demand, server side processing junkie...
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Canola!
The Nokia N800 loaded with Canola is terribly sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetttt!!!
However, I still dream of that dastardly result of combining the Sony PSP gaming system and the Maemo OS. That would really be undeniably shiny!
The Myth Of Talent
Worth the read. The download-able article argues that "talent is a set of skills you develop over time through desire". Not the typical "its either you have it or you don't".
Monday, March 05, 2007
Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Watch
Santa, its still a long time till Christmas, but maybe this could give you a headstart.
My fervent dreams of location based apps would definitely benefit from this
gadget nox
-- wishful thinking...
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Musings
- Frack! Broke my left eyeglass when am just about to leave the house this morning. Replacement would set me back 700 bucks. That's life.
- Loving NBA Live 2007 on the PSP. Makes me look forward to the train rides on my everday commute. Love the live commentaries and the much improved gameplay. My current season standing: 5 wins - 4 losses. Not bad for a newbie.Next game against the Bucks.
- Loving NBA Live 2007 on the PSP. Makes me look forward to the train rides on my everday commute. Love the live commentaries and the much improved gameplay. My current season standing: 5 wins - 4 losses. Not bad for a newbie.Next game against the Bucks.
nox
-- on a northbound train...
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Rocking Chapel
Family went to the local chapel in our village to hear mass today. Was pleasantly surprised at the end of the mass the local children choir were really awesome singing the song "One Way". Everybody was upbeat with the pop-rockin tune.
We have stayed for over a year in this village, and we are really loving the place. A local chapel within the village is really rockin, since its walking distance from the apartment and the mass schedule is 9am every sunday. Aside from that, its just one jeepney ride from the MRT and pretty much near the wet market so that makes it pretty darn convenient.
For the meantime the song is currently on top of my last song syndrome queue (LSS).
faithful nox
-- singin', One way, Jesus, your the only one that I could live for...
We have stayed for over a year in this village, and we are really loving the place. A local chapel within the village is really rockin, since its walking distance from the apartment and the mass schedule is 9am every sunday. Aside from that, its just one jeepney ride from the MRT and pretty much near the wet market so that makes it pretty darn convenient.
For the meantime the song is currently on top of my last song syndrome queue (LSS).
faithful nox
-- singin', One way, Jesus, your the only one that I could live for...
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Back to earth.
Ok, am back to work, my mind that is.
My body feels different tho, after 4 days of non-stop walking in Baguio (really impractical not to go around on foot during the Panabenga festivities), its only now that the tired feeling is settling in.
Ok, back to work...
My body feels different tho, after 4 days of non-stop walking in Baguio (really impractical not to go around on foot during the Panabenga festivities), its only now that the tired feeling is settling in.
Ok, back to work...
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Touchdown in Baguio
Interesting place. Cool weather. Haven't slept a wink yet. Need to catch some Zzzzzs.
Baguio here we come!
Ah the digital age. Back in the day, probably you only have to bring instamatic Kodak film type cameras to record your vacation. Past forward 2007, you have portable video recorder, digital SLR camera and portable gaming gear you can bring with you.
In two hours we will be leaving for Baguio. Our first family outing, just the four of us (Lovey, Rojan and Janro). Hope the kids will enjoy the uber cool weather and the flower (Panagbenga) festival.
Excited!
froggy nox
-- Hopping around in Baguio soon...
In two hours we will be leaving for Baguio. Our first family outing, just the four of us (Lovey, Rojan and Janro). Hope the kids will enjoy the uber cool weather and the flower (Panagbenga) festival.
Excited!
froggy nox
-- Hopping around in Baguio soon...
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Improved Navigation
Woot!
Based on popular demand, we just added categorized views for location and interest pages. Simple modifications, but makes navigating the site much, much, better.
For the record, internet explorer (IE) still sucks! go Firefox!
froggy nox
-- Hop around, look around...
Based on popular demand, we just added categorized views for location and interest pages. Simple modifications, but makes navigating the site much, much, better.
For the record, internet explorer (IE) still sucks! go Firefox!
froggy nox
-- Hop around, look around...
The new Canon 1D Mark III
10 FPS and dual digic III processors? SHINY!
The new accessories like the wireless transmitter is pretty shiny too. Can't find the info how to integrate a GPS into the thing, that would be redundantly shiny.
One of the things to salivate in your dreams. In reality a 5D with a 24-105 IS attached would be good enough for me. But even that is still a distant dream.
Don't get me wrong, the 350D that I have is pretty damn good starter kit. I just wish they made it more ergonomic and provided the adjustment wheel found on the 20D/30D and upward models. With that said, I could say the 30D is what I need and the 5D is what I want. The wife says a family car should be the real priority since the children are growing up, so for short, no other frackin' expense till we get that one.
Now if only I could earn from
shutter nox
-- back to work, nuff said...
Apple's new wireless router.
This Apple guys really gets it! No longer you have to buy a separate SLUG to plug your external storaged device into the network without a host computer.
mac nox
-- now back to work...
mac nox
-- now back to work...
Monday, February 19, 2007
Bluer than blue.
I like how saturating the blue channel in this photo turned out. The correct exposure allowed the photo to retain the detail in the clouds even if I doofus-ly shot it in JPEG instead of RAW.
Solitude
My first stab at black and white. I like how the tiny image of the fisherman is framed nicely within the reflection of the sky. The mountain on the left side gives a cue on the scale I think.
I could imagine myself in place of the fisherman, neath a cloudy sky, thinking of nothing, pondering the mysteries of life and the universe, just me, the boat, the clouds, the view, the cool breeze of the ocean, wondering just how to get back to the frackin' shore.
I could imagine myself in place of the fisherman, neath a cloudy sky, thinking of nothing, pondering the mysteries of life and the universe, just me, the boat, the clouds, the view, the cool breeze of the ocean, wondering just how to get back to the frackin' shore.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Transient Objects
Am addicted to XML serialization and deserialization via XStream. It rocks!
One thing to watch out if you are using dependency injection (AspectJ) is to make sure your helper objects are declared transient. Else XStream will complain of stack overflow. So save yourself from countless omit field statements and just declare those injected objects as transient.
dev nox
-- swimming in a sea of XML data...
One thing to watch out if you are using dependency injection (AspectJ) is to make sure your helper objects are declared transient. Else XStream will complain of stack overflow. So save yourself from countless omit field statements and just declare those injected objects as transient.
dev nox
-- swimming in a sea of XML data...
Monday, February 12, 2007
Firefox rocks on my mac, but...
It frackin' hogs the CPU. Safari on the other hand seems to slowly leaks in to memory, but doesn't hog the CPU that much. The web developer plugin on firefox is a gem of a tool that keeps me coming back to use it from time to time. Wish they could fix the CPU hogging thing so I could use it as my main browser on my poor single core G4 processor.
Enough, whining. Back to coding..
dev nox
-- wishing for a macbook pro...
Enough, whining. Back to coding..
dev nox
-- wishing for a macbook pro...
Sunday, February 11, 2007
TomTom Bluetooth GPS Receiver
Update: Of the GPS receivers I mentioned a while ago. The TomTom Bluetooth GPS receiver seems to be the sexiest. Not to mention small and interfaces nicely with most PDA's including my trusty old treo.
Too bad, I don't have Paypal Donate button.
Too bad, I don't have Paypal Donate button.
SysAd Musings
MRTG reporting something consuming the bandwidth at 80%. After checking the mailq, I have 6K plus deferred messages also holding the CPU hostage (almost 50% ).
One command to rule them all:
postsuper -d ALL deferred
Modern day digital surgery of a machine's electronic artery. They do rhyme, don't they?
sysad nox
-- loving one liners...
One command to rule them all:
postsuper -d ALL deferred
Modern day digital surgery of a machine's electronic artery. They do rhyme, don't they?
sysad nox
-- loving one liners...
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
MTR
Yes, I had been slacking off my sysadmin required reading and only now discovered this wonderful little bugger. Better than traceroute and ping. I like the live latency updates, and its quite fun using this on a machine connected via GPRS and 3G.
sysad nox
-pingin' and tracin'...
sysad nox
-pingin' and tracin'...
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
MRT woes
Wondering why its so hard to geta stored value card this days. Seems to go together with the recent announcements that G-Pass conduits now available at all MRT stations. Add to that the recent sightings of future-dressed G-Pass girls with old school megaphones(?) hawking the merits of G-Pass.
Another thing that caught my attention is the 1% deduction for every reload. Aside from the fact that it requires that you have at least 16 pesos balance to use the thing.
Let me see, its more expensive, you don't seem to get a bonus ride, the convenience factor compared to card based entry isn't that noticeable and last but not the least proprietary. Not surprisingly, MRT passengers doesn't seem to line up on those G-Pass booths, so what's keeping them from using it?
mobile nox
- <i>mo-bloggin on a southbound train...</i>
Today's bathroom musings.
In no particular frackin' order:
• IE version 6 below sucks! Period. Its a PITA when its the only browser incorrectly rendering your webpage.
• Good thing am a back end developer, but crossing the front end line is downright unavoidable. That's the time you curse cross browser rendering issues.
• HappySlip on youtube rocks. Now I won't dare leave our toothbrush in the bathroom. Its the "meesst" that haunts you. Love the paean mac song too.
• IE version 6 below sucks! Period. Its a PITA when its the only browser incorrectly rendering your webpage.
• Good thing am a back end developer, but crossing the front end line is downright unavoidable. That's the time you curse cross browser rendering issues.
• HappySlip on youtube rocks. Now I won't dare leave our toothbrush in the bathroom. Its the "meesst" that haunts you. Love the paean mac song too.
slippy nox
- <i>still cursing IE 6, while singing happyslip's mac song, whilst outside the room inside my mind...</i>
Monday, February 05, 2007
Manila Times HopAround.net Article
Our little baby in beta (hoparound.net) got featured in an online manila times article. Reposting it here.
HopAround.net benefits
microenterprises in Vigan
A local tour guide and car rental operator based in Vigan may not have the knowledge or the resources to promote their services to a potential tourist from the other side of the continent. But soon, even those tasty empanadas created by the town’s manangs can be a byword in the ever-growing global village concept created by Internet technology.
For those who are interested to climb the High Peak in Palauig, Zambales—considered the highest point in Central Luzon at 2,030 meters—can now start with “a click of a mouse” by visiting www.HopAround.net, a web portal offering Internet visibility to micro-entrepreneurs in the country, along with the capacity to provide tourism services to local and foreign travelers.
“Entrepreneurs engaged in the tourism industry from all over the country will soon be given a ‘voice’ and a ‘face’ in the worldwide web for all travelers to see with the launch of HopAround,” Philip Camara, president of HopAround.net said.
Micro entrepreneurs in Palauig and nearby Iba who provide 4x4 vehicles, packed meals, camping gear, personal guides, and more, can now make their services visible in the Internet by registering at HopAround.net.
“HopAround’s basic advocacy is ‘Local Economy for Local People.’ The web portal will create new business opportunities for micro-entrepreneurs, referred to as Micro Tourism Service Providers [MTSP], who can provide transport, lodging, meals, guides, gear, packaged tours among others, for tourists,” Philip said.
Because the MTSPs are from the area, they have extensive knowledge of their particular locations and therefore know the most scenic destinations, the most interesting local culture sites, the best out-of-the-way local fare eateries, the most knowledgeable personal guides, the cleanest and most comfortable lodgings, and at the most competitive rates available, offering the tourist a totally different experience from the usual tour and travel packages in the market.
The HopAround website presents popular spots around the Philippines which tourists can review while mapping out their travel plans. Each destination will be linked with registered MTSPs from the chosen locality, each MTSP allocated with an online information box where the MTSPs contact details are posted and a chat window for inquiries provided. The tourist may access the listing of MTSPs and the contact details by clicking on the desired point of interest or location, thereby allowing direct interaction between the MTSP and the tourist or allowing the tourist to post an inquiry in the MTSP’s chat window.
“The more service providers there are enlisted to cater to this growing number of tourists, the better the local tourism industry will be. And since tourism impacts the economy greatly, both people and country will benefit,” he added.
oh yeah, hopefully this will let both foreign and local tourists/travellers find awesome destinations in the Philippines!
froggie nox
-- Life is an adventure. Look around, hop around...
HopAround.net benefits
microenterprises in Vigan
A local tour guide and car rental operator based in Vigan may not have the knowledge or the resources to promote their services to a potential tourist from the other side of the continent. But soon, even those tasty empanadas created by the town’s manangs can be a byword in the ever-growing global village concept created by Internet technology.
For those who are interested to climb the High Peak in Palauig, Zambales—considered the highest point in Central Luzon at 2,030 meters—can now start with “a click of a mouse” by visiting www.HopAround.net, a web portal offering Internet visibility to micro-entrepreneurs in the country, along with the capacity to provide tourism services to local and foreign travelers.
“Entrepreneurs engaged in the tourism industry from all over the country will soon be given a ‘voice’ and a ‘face’ in the worldwide web for all travelers to see with the launch of HopAround,” Philip Camara, president of HopAround.net said.
Micro entrepreneurs in Palauig and nearby Iba who provide 4x4 vehicles, packed meals, camping gear, personal guides, and more, can now make their services visible in the Internet by registering at HopAround.net.
“HopAround’s basic advocacy is ‘Local Economy for Local People.’ The web portal will create new business opportunities for micro-entrepreneurs, referred to as Micro Tourism Service Providers [MTSP], who can provide transport, lodging, meals, guides, gear, packaged tours among others, for tourists,” Philip said.
Because the MTSPs are from the area, they have extensive knowledge of their particular locations and therefore know the most scenic destinations, the most interesting local culture sites, the best out-of-the-way local fare eateries, the most knowledgeable personal guides, the cleanest and most comfortable lodgings, and at the most competitive rates available, offering the tourist a totally different experience from the usual tour and travel packages in the market.
The HopAround website presents popular spots around the Philippines which tourists can review while mapping out their travel plans. Each destination will be linked with registered MTSPs from the chosen locality, each MTSP allocated with an online information box where the MTSPs contact details are posted and a chat window for inquiries provided. The tourist may access the listing of MTSPs and the contact details by clicking on the desired point of interest or location, thereby allowing direct interaction between the MTSP and the tourist or allowing the tourist to post an inquiry in the MTSP’s chat window.
“The more service providers there are enlisted to cater to this growing number of tourists, the better the local tourism industry will be. And since tourism impacts the economy greatly, both people and country will benefit,” he added.
oh yeah, hopefully this will let both foreign and local tourists/travellers find awesome destinations in the Philippines!
froggie nox
-- Life is an adventure. Look around, hop around...
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Still Life
The typical workstation scenario. Tools of the trade. Music, light, mountain dew, water, tissue, alcohol, a cup of coffee/tea, keyboard and mouse, and last but not the least, my trusty sidekick/pda.
Its been a week now since I leave the lappy at home. I still miss it. Desktop GNOME, while vastly improved is still no match for the tight integration of apps on OS X. But its close. But this would do, as the iBook is out of warranty and no money to upgrade yet.
On the other hand, the dual core office workstation rocks! My apps compiles twice as fast! Makes me yearn for a core 2 duo macbook or better yet, a macbook pro! Dream on...
worker nox
-- because a clean desk is a sign of sick mind...
Its been a week now since I leave the lappy at home. I still miss it. Desktop GNOME, while vastly improved is still no match for the tight integration of apps on OS X. But its close. But this would do, as the iBook is out of warranty and no money to upgrade yet.
On the other hand, the dual core office workstation rocks! My apps compiles twice as fast! Makes me yearn for a core 2 duo macbook or better yet, a macbook pro! Dream on...
worker nox
-- because a clean desk is a sign of sick mind...
Monday, January 29, 2007
Life is an adventure. Look around, hop around...
Yesterday we launched HopAround.net beta!
This is basically an online app that aims to discover the unbeaten path. A different perspective in the online tourism sector. Basically we want to norture and build micro tourism entrepreneurs and build local economy for the local people. By discovering new places to go and micro entrepreneurs, we hope to bring a fresh and less costly approach in discovering the beauty of the Philippines.
We are also adding a pinch of a web 2.0 ingredients: building online communities and social participation. We are working closely with the locals in each province to add content. We are also working hard to throw in there our m-commerce and mobile apps experience. We still have a gazillion long feature list. Stay tuned.
Other than that, we want to be the one of the premier destinations on the net if you want to hop around the Philippine archipelago.
froggie nox
-- The Philippines today, tomorrow the world! The future is mobile, look around, hop around...
This is basically an online app that aims to discover the unbeaten path. A different perspective in the online tourism sector. Basically we want to norture and build micro tourism entrepreneurs and build local economy for the local people. By discovering new places to go and micro entrepreneurs, we hope to bring a fresh and less costly approach in discovering the beauty of the Philippines.
We are also adding a pinch of a web 2.0 ingredients: building online communities and social participation. We are working closely with the locals in each province to add content. We are also working hard to throw in there our m-commerce and mobile apps experience. We still have a gazillion long feature list. Stay tuned.
Other than that, we want to be the one of the premier destinations on the net if you want to hop around the Philippine archipelago.
froggie nox
-- The Philippines today, tomorrow the world! The future is mobile, look around, hop around...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)