Friday, September 26, 2008

Are mothers naturally good?

Certainly I can not answer for you. I just thought that there are circumstances that makes a good or great mom or a worse one. I am entertaining the question over and over again this past few days. Though I have been having fun and does a lot of things to keep me busy, still there are idle times that I get to ask myself about this.

The sad truth is, my mom passed away already when I was in college. That was in 2002. I believe she was the greatest mom one can ever have. She always made sure we were safe and she provides almost all the comfort a mother can give for her children. Even when we were grown ups already, she never failed at understanding our childish mistakes.

Anyway, one thing that lead me to write about this, is because I watched a movie like two hours ago entitled, "Eagle Eye". It's a nice movie and filled with action. There were moments were I'd literally stop my breathing. Though I did not like the car hitting, racking, bumping and all that, I still liked the story. One of the act in this film was Michelle Monaghan, playing Rachel. Her character was a single mom and was thwarted to do things unimaginable, all for the love of her son. Rachel had to kill in order to save his son. And because of this, the question as to, "Are mothers naturally good?", was played back on my head.

I have answered the question for my mom but I still see some contrasting situations to others. Really, are mothers naturally good? Or let's take another approach. Are there bad mothers?

I have never asked that question to my mom though, but even so, what she showed us was unconditional love and it was the greatest answer to me. But I still think that the best people who can answer this question are our mothers themselves.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Warning: Contaminated Dairies from China

Be warned from dairy products imported from China because they might contain melamine, an organic substance found in plastics and resins. This substance will have a bad effect on health.

I was totally shocked of the news over a local channel, upon hearing that babies in China who were taking contaminated dairies were rushed to hospitals because of some kidney problems. You might want to google the keywords, "milk China melamine" for you to see. There were even deaths already reported because of the contamination. I found out that there were implicated dairy companies such as Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co Ltd and The Sanlu Group. When I searched about the Yili products, I knew what I saw and they were displayed, in one of the local supermarkets here in Makati Philippines and were on sale. If I am not mistaken that was like a month ago.

As I can recall, this was not the only issue about food safety or product quality from some irresponsible Chinese companies. I believe there were issues about toys containing poisonous chemicals and another one was with the pet foods for dogs and cats contaminated with melamine.

Anyway, what I have noticed is that, there was not any public warning coming from the government. I mean the sites that which I have linked above were very much specific on the companies and the product. Not unless those were just false claims which will nullify this write up. But guess what, it's better to be well informed so that we can act on things which we have control over like which products to buy.

I think food safety and quality should be addressed by our local governments, and not just the government but also the retailers - selling and importing these goods. These parties have a huge responsibility to us consumers.

For us consumers , we should be careful also of what products to purchase. It would be better to go for trusted brands and don't just buy products because they are cheap. And to be honest with you guys, I was getting a little paranoid already because of this. I always check the labels and where they come from. It might be unfair, but it seems there is a pattern of these products like where they come from. All I hope is that the proper authorities or government agencies concerned are doing their duties and their best effort in taking action on this matter.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

A Diva is Born, Charice Pempengco

Her name is Charice, a simple girl with huge dreams. This time she is showing the world of her awesome singing prowess.

The first time I heard her voice and sang was in youtube. It was really amazing. I had goosebumps! Her voice is electrifying, very solid, captivating and guess what she is born to be a diva with the likes of Celine Dion, Mariah and Whitney. Her videos in youtube were selling like hot cakes and everyone just loved her. I myself watched her videos so often because it's really great not to mention addicting.

There was a video of hers in Star King (SBS Korea), a talent show in South Korea, where she performed twice with the audience left aghast and in uproar, in a pleasant way. Watch the clip here:



Ellen DeGeneres took notice of this and had Charice in her show in the US-of-A.
Here is the show's clip:



Charice was invited to perform in Paul O'grady's show in Great Britain. It's the hottest talk show in UK. See her clip here:



David Foster had Charice in his show in Las Vegas, which formally introduced Charice to a more bigger stage. See the clip here:



Andrea Bocelli, an amazing tenor, invited Charice in Tuscany, Italy and they did a duet singing, "The Prayer". Here's the clip:



Oprah joined the bandwagon and had Charice in her show as well. Oprah did another take of Charice like two weeks ago and Charice sang Celine Dion's Titanic OST hit, "My Heart Will Go On", with David Foster on piano. See the clip here:


Nothing can stop Charice. When she sang the second time around in the Oprah Show, Celine Dion was a guest live via satellite, invited Charice to sing a duet with her in Madison Square Garden. Just this day, I saw her clip. Watching it via youtube, I can say that, she's really one hell of a talent. I thought to myself that why not create a blog about her. Her journey from being a humble talent, to now becoming a star, conquering the world stage. Of course here is her clip where she sang, "Because You Love Me":



Well this is my tribute to her. I have been a fan, the first time I saw her in youtube. I think Charice has made a number of followings already. As a fan this is my way of giving credit to her wonderful gift.

Viva to Charice!

Way Back Into Love by Richard Poon

I have been listening to this music. I bought his album and this one is one of my favorites. His voice is deep and really soulful. Just enjoy the video and find it out yourself. Thanks to youtube.com, I got this video from there.

Wake me up!

I woke up at around 10 AM already. Took a glass of water and gargled then made sense of the room as I was still sleepy. I cooked rice for brunch. To awaken myself, I decided to take a bath. The water from the shower was a little cold though I enjoyed it. Of course I was totally naked. I was soaping my whole body and using a loofa in scrubbing dead skins when suddenly someone opened the door. I covered my private part with the loofa and screamed, "waaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh". I then blurted, "huhuhuhuhuhu". It felt weird and the first thing that came out in my mind was if I locked the door and there was no way I forgot locking it. Anyway, everything was followed by a huge laugh. It was an ice breaker. Of course my condo mate which I am not telling you the name has no intentions of doing something wrong. After I took a bath, my condo mates got out of their rooms for brunch and we talked the whole thing and laughed about it.

I think I will not forget this day. I got a little embarrassed, a little stupid if you may allow but had a crazy laugh about it. Bwahahahaha!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Mr. Song Li

If you ever received an email from Mr. Song Li, do not be fooled by this person. I received an email from this someone of such name and he was offering huge sum of money. I was doubtful of his motives. Who in the name of Bill Gates, would give such an amount to someone who you do not know or have seen? I searched his name online and it turned out to be a scam.

See Link : Mr. Song Li

Try to search his name online and it should yield lots of information about this scam.

Anyway, if someone emails you with a proposal of such kind, then just do a simple online search. If it is a spam in the first place, just delete it then.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Frustrated but I have Sarah Mclachlan

I was not blogging for like ages already as I see it, because I have been too busy with my work. A lot of rework for the current modules I am doing as the initial project plan was sort of scrapped but not totally though. Lots of coding and my head is swirling already. I'm thinking of whether its me or just the way the leads have planned. In my point of view they don't have a clear cut process. I was coding for example the CVS reader, retrieving static data for insurance shopping and booking and was done with it. It took me a day or two to finish the whole thing, but there was a change of plan to have an xml schema and xml instead. Waste of time for both parties.

Anyway they have paid me for wasting my time and theirs. But the stupid thing is they are rushing everyone on the team to burn our asses. How I wish the pay was like super big which includes payment for frustration and all the pushing around and stuff like that. I am not a robot you see. Well since I have watched BSG, I should shift gears and act like a Cylon so I can just switch-off some emotions that I have.

Anyway thanks to Sarah McLachlan for making things easier. Her songs are the tunes I'm listening while focusing on my work and forgetting almost anything around me. Her voice is so soothing, it fills the crevices of my soul. What a relief!

Tomorrow is another busy day. Good luck and God Bless to me and my mates. Hope I get more lessons and values out of this. Of course hope our leads will learn from this huge mistake they have done.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Facades











Solemn shots of love
Strips of memoirs
News from heaven
Rays of the sun;
Days of fun
Hugs given
Smiles of flowers
Hope from a dove.

Murmurs of brooks
Knots to tie
War in the east
Cup of life
More evil and strife;
Rabbit and the beast
Honey and pie
Money for books.

Hate for tomorrow
Stench to blow
Breaking silence
Arguing mouths;
Eyes of sleuths
Spirited insolence
Held to grow
Escape from sorrow.

Bricks of fame
Mongerel's shadow
Abnormal happiness
Righteous indignation;
Outdoor action
Fear of emptiness
Heart's hollow
Only fair game.

Stabbed honesty
Wailing walls
Journey to oasis
Empty hands;
Cold bands
Face your nemesis
Happy strolls
Less blasphemy.

Marching eagles
Eyes of youth
Sleepy papers
View from afar;
Voided jar
Mushrooming scrapers
Arrayed booth
Heavy knuckles

Still waters
Monster feat
Golden touch
Souls bargained;
Joys harbored
Unlit torch
Scolded feet
Settled matters.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

opencsv for your CSV

I found a Java library which is open source and commercial friendly that's useful in reading and writing CSV - comma separated values. It's the opencsv. You can browse through its API at: opencsv api.

I thought that I need to create my own parser but then this library was just enough for what I needed. Oh if you want to check out everything about opencsv here is the link for samples and documentation : opencsv documentation and samples. This project is actually hosted in sourceforge.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

A doze of Galactica

It finished with a bang, quite mesmerized and little quizzical on my part. My marathon for BattleStar Galactica season 3 ended yesterday, and currently watching season 4.

Kara Thrace was supposedly dead already like for four months, but at the end part of the season, she showed up. It was the time when the four of the final five Cylons were revealed. It was also the time that Lee Adama resigned from being a CAG and went on to serve the civilian government of President Roslin. Well, Roslin's cancer went back. Dr Gaius Baltar who was on a trial for a crime against humanity was acquitted and he is now leading a religious group that preaches monotheism, the belief in one true God. The Cylons on the other hand, are in great peril brought about by the move to not know the final five Cylons and for that they have vetoed to alter the intelligence of the radar. And so a great protestation from Leoben, Caprica 6 and Sharon Valerii forcing them to make the Cylon robots, more intelligent. The Cylons went on a blood bath. Kara Thrace went on a military mission to find earth based on her gut feeling, based on her pre-conceived destiny.

So many questions arise from these turn-out of events in BSG. I would like to entertain as to how will the four become, as humans or Cylons? Who is the last Cylon to be revealed? Will Kara's team onboard the Demetrious will ever find earth? What will happen of the Cylons who are discorded?

I would love to surf online and look for definitive answers on questions aforementioned but, it's still nice to go and discover them through watching the series. I am still in the office right now, damn work (fracking work hehehehe), waiting for the build. I'll sleep again super late to finish at least three forty-something minute episodes.

Ciao!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

J2EE, dreadful?

I was like swimming in an ocean after looking for needles in a haystack. Yes! That was how I felt after taking an online J2EE Exam. It covers almost all J2EE API's and concepts in EJBs, JNDI, JCA, Servlets, JAXB, JAXP, XML and a gazillion of information. I was like singing a song doing vivace. I was like joggling a huge vase made of ivory. I was like eating live earthworms or German cockroach - gross! I felt feverish after the exam. There was an overheat in my head and my eyes were really tired. In spite of that, I learned a lot.

I think I need to do more technical reading. I need to familiarize the technical terms in J2EE, memorize them by heart and apply them in some mini projects. In short, always be prepared.

Monday, September 8, 2008

A love that kills.

His name is Col. Tigh and married to a woman named Ellen.

In the third season, a twist of events arose. Dr. Gaius Baltar was elected president of the colonies and that the fleet came to find and established a New Caprica. They settled their and on the 4th month, the Cylons discovered them. Many civilians and some military men, who decided to settle in the New Caprica, were left by the Galactica fleet. The Cylons occupied the planet, as Dr. Baltar surrendered to the invaders. Many were held into detention in extreme conditions, and one of them was Col. Tigh. The only way for the colonel to get out of his jail was for his wife to go to a Cylon and sold herself. Her husband was released. After so many days of unrests from the human insurgents, they had established contact from the BattleStar. Colonel Tigh now leading the insurgents was planning for massive scale of bombings. The Cylons decided to create fear among the humans by rounding them up, arresting civilians believed to have one way or another helped the insurgents, detaining and enlisting them for a summary execution. The colonel and his team were able to gather the information leaked by an unknown civilian who had access to vital information from the now puppet president, Dr. Baltar. Ellen was still seeing this Cylon and at that time, Ellen was threatened that her husband will be detained again, and this time he will not just lose his eye, if she won’t give any information about the plans of the insurgents. On a meeting by the insurgents about the rescue mission, they had this map and when they had to dispose it, Ellen got the map from her husband and slip it on her dress and burnt a different paper. When the initial plan for the rescue mission took off, the insurgent who went to fetch the Galactica forces led by Sharon Agathon, a Cylon who took oath to side with the humans, they were ambushed. After the crossfire, an insurgent found the map which was used on the plan. They already had inkling, as to who leaked their information - it was Ellen. Colonel Tigh talked to his wife about it. They sat on a huge wooden box as Ellen explained to her husband why she had to do what she had to do while tears were running in her cheeks. She deeply noted that she was willing to do anything just to save him, anything.... After the discourse, Col. Tigh gave Ellen a drink. She collapsed and was not breathing anymore. Colonel Tigh uttered the words, "I love you", to Ellen and wept.

This narrative was from the BSG season 3 episodes 1-4. I was left in tears at that very moment where Ellen and Colonel Tigh talked things out. I so loved it! The series wasn't just a sci-fi. It shows the human vulnerabilities, human will and spirit, it questions morality and it provokes the viewers' thoughts.

That was one of the moving scenes I saw in BattleStar Galactica. Though I forgot to tell you any fun and heart pumping scenes from seasons 1 and 2, one of these days I think I will.

Good Will Hunting

Just last week, I have written that I started watching BattleStar Galactica(BSG). Well, I got hold of my first original DVD when I planned to buy an album of Richard Poon at Tower Records and got the rest of the package from my Muslim friends at Makati Square where you can buy pirated copies - though wishing to have the originals.

To give you a synopsis, the story started when the Cyclons - robots or machines with advanced artificial intelligence (AI) created by humans; rebelled and attacked the twelve colonies of Kobol. It was a doomsday with that nuclear annihilation from the Cylons. The remaining survivors on board the space ship called Galactica went to journey the space and beyond in search for the fabled 13th tribe who settled in a new planet called Earth. The rag tag was lead by Commander Adama. The Cylons at this time have human features already - physically resembling like humans. This has threatened the fleet plus the political turmoil that has risen, due to the fact that there was no civilian government. The power sharing and shifting created more difficulty. But, when Laura Roslin, an education secretary, was sworn to power due to constitutional provisions, and got the approval of the majority including the commander, things went a little lighter. The fleet journeyed long with all the risk from the Cyclons following them.

I hope that was enough for a synopsis.

Anyhow, I was really fascinated with the script though there has been some major changes when it was first or originally created. I didn't know about the original script but fortunately, the DVD I got did have some clips about the making, casting, you know featuring the writers, characters and some interviews with the original casts. I finished seasons 1 and 2 and currently watching season 3.

Well anyway, you have to get your copies for seasons 1 - 4, for you to appreciate it, and spice up your sci-fi spirit.

Bye for now!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

I'm running for President

Genesis Deiparine for U.S.A. President - the answer to a public clamor. What ? Who?

I want to serve our people. I feel that it is my duty, my obligation and so, I am running as a president of the United States of America.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Internet Bull Fight

A new contender in the tough browser competition has emerged and it's the Google Chrome. Well, I have downloaded the application and installed it. It has some features that's unique in its own like, dragging a tab in your desktop, browser task manager etc. and some features were actually similar on what we have with Microsoft's IE 7 and the one from Mozilla. I don't have the metrics to actually judge which one is better in terms of reliability, stability and how secure the applications are, though. Another concern is that, we all know Internet Explorer has an advantage by the fact that it comes as a packaged software from Microsoft OSes and so it's always instant. Most users only cares that they can go online and you know do surf with whatever browser they have and in those cases they have the instant browser, IE. Now, Mozilla Firefox is there and putting a good competition by introducing it as secure, reliable, stable and stuff and for that Firefox has made a loyal following from those techies. What we have right now with the coming out of a new browser from Google is, will it go compete with IE or just hurt an ally which is Firefox? Now that's the question!

But you know what, I still feel that Firefox is for me. But to judge it yourself with what Google has, try downloading and using it: Google Chrome.

By the way, Google Chrome will be open source and so, you can gear up your thinking caps and download the source for some tinkering.

I cleaned my room ...

I haven’t told you guys that last Saturday, August 30 of 2008, I actually cleaned my room. Yes I did. It was a plan long overdue already. Just by walking barefoot, you can feel that the dust is all over the place and when you try to touch the corners, you can feel the rugged terrain of dusts as well. Hehehehehe. Well I vacuumed the whole place. It got me ounces of sweat. Thanks to Miss Linda Walter for giving me that vacuum cleaner. She was an American officemate who stayed in the Philippines for sometime and when she left for the US, she had her things given away. Of course I got the vacuum cleaner through a draw-by-lot.

Anyway, after I cleaned my messy room, it was time for me to go out and have some fun. I took a bath then brought my laundry to the mat and went to SM Makati and Glorieta. At SM department store, I purchased a new fleece blanket. After that, I went back to Glorieta and purchased a brown leather Reebok bag. It was on 20% off sale so I did not had time to hesitate or battle it out if I’m going to buy it or not. I was actually planning to see a movie for myself that day, but, prior to that, I took my dinner at Red Ribbon. I so love their mango cake. Yum yum! After my dinner I then went to Glorieta Cinema to watch Wall*e and on my way, I took my chances in checking an album of Richard Poon at Tower Records. His genre is soul jazz I guess, sort of Michael Buble-ish. Well, I found his album and purchased one. Just when I’m about to pay the bill, I saw a BattleStar Galactica (BSG) mini series DVD, first season. Since I have a love for movies or series like Star Wars, Bablylon 5 and Star Trek - something high tech, sci-fi; I did not have to convince myself that much and so, I bought one. The cover was neat and the summary at the back of the casing was very interesting. Well my hands were full of what I have just purchased then. After all the purchasing stuff, I then went ahead to the theater and after an hour of waiting outside the theater, I went inside and suit myself on a chair at the farthest back row. There trailers and stuff and I enjoyed most of them.

At 10 o’clock PM, the movie started rolling. Well it was futuristic and really entertaining. In the movie, people became lazy and obese because, everything was provided to them. Like they did not have to walk or cook or prepare stuff. They don’t even have sports. They were just like riding on this flying comfy convertible chair which was like a high tech lazy boy. Wall*e on the other hand is an automobile robot that presses scrap and geometrically arranges them until it forms towers, and he was last kind. He was left there on earth for the last 700 years to do just the same thing every day. Wall*e by the way is an acronym which means, “Waste Allocator Load Lifter - Earth”. Basically the story evolves Wall*e’s affection for another robot of higher AI named Eva. When Eva’s mission was completed which was to look for a plant on earth, that’s when Eva was transported back to the mother ship and Wall*e simply jumped on the ship and rode with it. I never thought cockroaches would be that communicative with a robot. Anyway, it was a light movie and full of fun. I finished the movie with a smile on my face and went home at around 12 midnight already.