Bubbleman

China MP5 NES Player Review

2011-04-22T15:51:00.004+08:00

It would be convenient to have NES gaming on the go - while waiting in train stations, hospital waiting rooms, or public transport. A more expensive option like a PSP or DS is not a great idea - robbers prefer to grab these for a quick buck.

There are lots of these at the local bazaar for all good things from China, 168 Mall (naturally), at one of the many stalls selling electronic goods.

PSP knock-offs are more expensive. You would be better served by a basic player that did not look too weird and had the same range of functions. The pictures below represent the unit I will be reviewing - image credit to the company who placed the watermark.

Test the unit first to see if it had the button assignment for the NES correctly placed, or at least in an acceptable configuration. In the unit I reviewed, X was B, O was A, but Select and Start were swapped (Select = Triangle, Start = Square).

The unit came with only one NES ROM: Contra. I tested other MP5 players before and they were not running 100%. I was thus impressed when I did not see any slowdown or sound glitches on my quick playthrough.

I did not care much about its 180 degree swivel camera at VGA resolution, or its ability to use microSD cards, or play MP3s and AVIs and open TXT files. The only things that interested me are its NES playing capability and its ability to output to a TV via RCA. We actually tried to hook up the MP5 player to a big LCD TV and it works with audio. Too bad I wasn't able to take a picture of how horrible a NES console's output would look on a HDTV.

The unit did not disappoint. I loaded the complete NES romset (without the duplicates, about 2300+ games in total, 500+ MB) and found that most games that did not require a custom mapper can be played on this machine. There is a bit of a control lag sometimes but I can compensate for it after a few playthroughs. The internal speaker is a disappointment (validated when I opened the case and found it to be really cheap). However you can put in a 3.5mm headphone jack and the audio output drastically improves.

If you are looking for a nostalgia fix, get one of these MP5 players and download a bunch of NES ROMS from the internet to put into the unit's 2GB internal memory. I brought this reviewed unit to the office and showed how NES games were played. The next day, one colleague asked me to buy her one unit and another went by herself and bought a similar unit. That is the power of word-of-mouth advertising. That also shows how older gamers like myself still appreciate the older games of our childhood.

I've taken some videos below. The resolution leaves much to be desired, but you'll get the picture enough for you to try the experience for yourself.

This video shows you the music player and the NES capability of the MP5 player. Sorry for the blurry resolution, I took the video using my aging cellphone camera. Games: SMB3, Pac-Man, Parodius, Xexys (failed to load), Xevious, Balloon Fight.

This video shows you the music player with the casing removed. Again, I apologize for the blurry resolution, I took the video using my aging cellphone camera. SMB2 is playing. Note the battery and the speaker.

Updated with new videos:

This video shows the MP5 player hooked to a big TV. My friend is playing Jackal.

This video shows Ikari Warriors being played on the big screen.

Huawei G2100 Review

2011-03-25T12:51:00.000+08:00

I was able to borrow a Huawei G2100 phone from a friend. The phone is being sold in limited quantities at PHP 888 unlocked and is also available as a free phone under Sun Add-On Plan 150. I think this is also being offered by Zong in Pakistan and Movistar in Peru (I might be wrong though).

Huawei is a known manufacturer of mobile phones and equipment, noted for supplying the Philippines with USB modems that are being sold by the top three networks. They also offer a cheap Android phone for sale, the IDEOS. The G2100 is at the lower end of the spectrum, a basic phone for call and text.

The features of this phone are:

Colored screen (probably 65K, 1.3 in)
Polyphonic ringtones (probably MIDI)
Single SIM
Dual band
Micro-USB port (charging only)
2.5mm headphone jack (headphones not included in retail box)
Wireless FM Radio with recording (only up to 150KB, recordings can be used as ringtones/message alert tones)
3 preinstalled wallpapers, no option to upload custom wallpapers
Standby text font color can be changed (but not menu font color)
Predictive text input (English)
One piece rubber keymat resists dust and water
700 mAh Li-Ion battery

The retail box.

What is inside the box.

My impressions:

Build quality - all-plastic shell is slightly matte, making it look less like a children's toy. Durable, solid build allows for easy removal of the back cover, and also locks the cover into place with minimal effort.
Keypad - responsive. The one piece rubber cover makes it dust/water resistant, a plus for low-end phones and their busy users.
Menu and display - speedy and responsive. The wallpaper cannot be customized.

Standby screen.

Menu screen.

Call quality - audio is loud and clear even at the middle setting. There might be problems if your network alloted a different frequency to your phone (outside GSM 900/1800), but you will see your signal drop anyway.
SMS - basic inbox/outbox functions are adequate, but not surprising. There is minimal lag if you are a fast texter. Sent messages are saved to the outbox. Not much difference from Nokias.
Battery life - good, can last 2 days or more depending on use.
Manual - adequate and straight to the point, with appropriate illustrations. More useful than the common china phone manufacturer's convoluted logic.

Sample text message.

FM Radio.

In summary, if you are in the market for a cheap basic colored phone that will last, I definitely recommend that you buy the Huawei G2100. It can stand toe-to-toe with other low-end phones from Nokia and Samsung. It is cheaper than the main brands and a little bit pricey compared to the local "china phone" brands. With a full warranty and a better build quality, you would be able to maximize the use of this phone with confidence.

Cherry Mobile Q1i Review

2011-03-20T09:55:00.000+08:00

I borrowed a colleague's Cherry Mobile Q1i for a few days. This is the cheapest QWERTY phone in the Cherry Mobile line-up. It has a colored screen, slots for a micro SD card and two SIM cards, MP3 player and FM radio.

Let me go straight to my impressions:

Menu is okay and responsive - it's a typical MTK menu not much different from china phone menus.
You can use MP3s for ringtones and message alerts without any problems.
Aside from the occasional sticky key, the QWERTY keypad is responsive.
Call quality is good, more reliable than the average china phone. The processor is not too taxed by other features so call quality is not compromised.
The all-plastic case feels like you are holding a child's toy, which may be a plus or minus depending on your perspective.
Menu customization options are very limited: wallpapers cannot be changed outside the default 3 options.
Searching for names in your phonebook is not intuitive. You can hold down a key corresponding to the first letter of the phonebook entry, but it does not work everytime.
The MP3 player is crippled by the small underpowered speaker. You might need to convert your MP3s to mono, with a lower bit rate than 128K.
You can play MP3s and MIDIs, but not JPGs, 3GPs, or any other image/video files. Haven't tested other audio files aside from AACs, which does not work too.
Battery life is poor. Rated at 500mAh, do not expect this phone to go beyond one day of normal use. You might want to get a Class A Nokia battery with a larger capacity - but I did not actually check if this was possible.
Do not read the manual, unless you want to induce a headache with its small font and sometimes incoherent ramblings.

There you have it. The Q1i is a cheap call-and-text phone, nothing else. The assurance of a limited warranty only marginally places it at the same level with same-priced china phones. It is a good backup phone.

Here is a YouTube video (warning: shaky, low-res) showing the Q1i.

"Secured" Credit Cards - Bad Idea

2011-03-11T17:03:00.000+08:00

Do not get a secured credit card if you can help it.

I have been a loyal depositor of the HSBC Savings Bank (Philippines) for quite some time now, having been a depositor of its previous incarnations (PCI Savings Bank and then EPCI Savings Bank). From an original minimum balance requirement of P500, it ballooned to P25,000 for a basic account. The interest rate has also plummeted to an insignificant level, certainly not enough to keep up with inflation.

I was still a medical student when the option to have a secured credit card was given to me. I was not yet earning so I was not eligible for a traditional credit card. In exchange for not touching a certain portion of my deposit, a secured credit card with a credit limit equivalent to 80% of the secured deposit was issued.

I did not use the card initially - there was no need. I'm not a particularly good spender. I used it for purchases that must be charged to a credit card. Lately I racked up a significant balance from plane ticket purchases, hotel accommodations, souvenirs, electronics, and groceries. I was not able to pay the whole balance because I was in between jobs, and it's only now that I was able to normalize my cash flow.

The current corrections in the market had me creating some projections on a spreadsheet. I came to the realization that I shouldn't be bleeding money, paying interest of 3.5% per month while my time deposit gets 0.03% interest per annum. So I made the decision to cut my losses and close my HSBC Savings Bank account.

Unfortunately this decision cannot be made unilaterally by the depositor. HSBC Savings Bank cannot close my account because my secured card still had to be canceled. Since my card was carrying a balance, I had to pay it in full before I can call in to cancel the card. The secured amount was about a third of the whole relationship balance that I had with them, but they still wouldn't allow me to pre-terminate the time deposit so that I can use part of the proceeds to pay my credit card bill.

I am basically stuck in a sinkhole, paying huge sums on interest while my idle money earns a pittance in interest. Ironic, since I thought that I would be given a chance to pay off the credit card balance in one fell swoop from my own funds.

I hope there would be at least one person who reads this and takes heed of my advice. Secured Credit Cards really are a bad idea.

In My Life Today 24

2010-10-01T14:36:00.000+08:00

I am currently in the middle of my pre-residency at the program I left 3 years ago.

These past few years have brought a lot of humbling moments. So even as I see my contemporaries already successful, I know that I have not wasted the time I had away from Medicine.

I made some mistakes recently. I am very remorseful, but I shall not disclose details for fear of reopening old wounds. It was a big mistake to take for granted the trust of a loved one.

I will opt to update my friends through my blog instead of through Facebook. I recently deactivated my FB account because it was doing more harm than good. With pre-residency taking up most of my time, I do not get to be online anyway. I might change my mind though in the future.

The argument that we survived life without Facebook is compelling enough for me to maintain the deactivation of my account for now.

Cherry Mobile Q7i - One Day Only!

2010-09-13T12:37:00.000+08:00

I had recently posted about my experiences with the Cherry Mobile D10. Now they are selling the Cherry Mobile Q7i cheaply for one day only - on September 17 at selected shops nationwide.

Newspaper Ad scan, courtesy of Cherry Mobile Facebook page

I think it's a steal at P2,990 considering that it has the following features:

Quad Band GSM
Dual SIM/Dual Standby
Analog TV
QWERTY keypad
microSD capable
Java-ready
Bluetooth 2.0 support
2MP camera
Wireless FM radio receiver
MMS/WAP/GPRS

It should not be very far removed from its predecessor, the Q7, reviewed on another site here. Same China Phone interface and function set. The price tag (for that day only) and the promise of after sales support should distinguish it from other no-brand China Phones.

If you are in the market for a QWERTY phone that is packed with features and beats the Nokia C3 in terms of price, you can't go wrong with the Q7i.

Now, if I can find someone who'll buy two dual sim phones for P3,000, I might consider getting one for myself as well. Just to test its features. Hehe.

Cherry Mobile D10 Review

2010-08-27T14:39:00.000+08:00

I recently blogged about my china phone user experience two posts back. I was pleasantly surprised by the china phone's feature set considering that it was very affordably priced.

I had the fortune of being lent a newly purchased Cherry Mobile D10 unit by a friend. It was on sale a few days ago, selling for P600 off its normal price of P1,990 (about $45).

The retail box contains a standard phone charger, a headset that connects to the phone via Micro USB, a user manual, the handset and an 800mAh battery. Unfortunately, the charger I got was not working properly. It was a good thing that the charger is similar to the Nokia AC-4U charger I have for my 6120.

The specifications of the D10, according to the box, are: a 1.8" TFT display; dual band for 900/1800 MHz; dual SIM/dual standby mode; 3 LED flashlight; FM radio (needs headset); MP3 player; image viewer; and support for microSD cards up to 1GB in size.

The phone is supported by a one year warranty and an NTC sticker so the absence of Bluetooth/camera/TV tuner at this price point can be forgiven. I'm not sure about the extent of the warranty, though - some reports say that it is not comprehensive, and that the LCD might not be included.

On to my impressions:

The menu seems to be a little bit sluggish compared to my Nokia 6120 or the Accelerator (china phone) that I have been using.
If you've used a china phone before, the menu system and options will look familiar to you. Menus (in grid view mode) look like they were taken from a Series 40 Nokia.
The speakers are very loud. This is a welcome change from most of the cheap phones we see. It's not stereo but it's decent enough to listen to MP3s or an FM radio station without cringing.
The phone only contains 30KB of memory so a microSD is required to take advantage of the image viewer, sound recorder, and MP3 player. Compare this with the 494KB on the Accelerator phone or 44MB on the Nokia 6120. A custom wallpaper should not be more than 10KB to be useable. This memory bottleneck might also be the reason of the sluggish menu navigation mentioned above.
Overall call quality is excellent. It is as usable as any other branded phone.

Verdict: If you are on the lookout for an inexpensive, no frills Dual SIM phone, then the D10 is for you. You will not need to thoroughly test it like you would with china phones. And having the warranty would be reassuring for some users who would want a backup phone like the D10.

If you are looking for a feature packed phone on the cheap, look for a china phone and test it inside out before the swap warranty period runs out.

Hopefully, local companies that sell china phones like the D10 would be able to bring more advanced, affordable phones in the Philippine market.

Use BleachBit To Restore Valuable Disk Space

2010-07-07T07:21:00.001+08:00

In an age where you can buy a 320GB hard drive for $49.99, reclaiming hard disk space is not a priority. But there are still situations where you need to make sure that you have enough space on your hard drive.

For instance, I have been booting up using Linux Mint 9 as a persistent install on a 4GB USB stick. I have updated and customized the installation, so I figured it was just a matter of time before the system warned me about having low disk space.

Today the system warned me that I only had 140MB out of the 3GB persistence file that I set up. I figured that most of it was the cache on Chromium and Firefox, so I went into Package Manager and looked for "cache". I sifted through the search results and I found BleachBit.

I installed it and quickly found out that the 0.7.3 version hosted was older than the 0.8.0 version currently for download. So I installed the newer version for Lucid Lynx.

It was eye-opening to say the least. I can preview results when I choose to clean certain folders. For a cleanup of the cache file for Chromium and Firefox, I get about 300+MB reclaimed. But when I include APT, Broken Desktop Files, System Cache, and Localizations, this is what shows up:

That is a lot of disk space.

You will have to run BleachBit as an Administrator to be able to reclaim space from apt and the System category.

It only took about 2 minutes for the operation to be completed. I was actually running BleachBit while typing this post up!

There is also a version available for Windows users so you might want to try that as well.

You might want to read these guides for more information:

My China Phone User Experience

2010-07-06T10:38:00.000+08:00

I decided to write this because there seems to be very few people writing on their experiences with "China Phones", be it replicas of known brands or standalone models.

I have used a lot of cellphones through the years. I was late in adopting the texting craze, which actually saved me the hassle of paying more for new technology. When I did follow the ranks of the TXT generation, I eagerly followed new features and new trends like a crazed fan. Reality set in a few years later when I realized that I was paying too much for features that I hardly use.

I had seen replicas of Nokia phone models being sold in malls. At first, I paid little attention to them because I thought they were cheaply made and support was not available. A few of my friends took the plunge and bought some of them, and their experiences were marginally bad. So I didn't really consider buying one at first.

Recently, service providers have been offering low rates and unlimited SMS/calls for a flat fee to subscribers on the same network. I didn't want to unlock the free phone I got from my service provider. I also did not want to constantly open the battery cover to replace the SIM card everytime I wanted to check for messages or make calls to my friends on different networks.

Fortunately, the prices of China Phones have gone down considerably, so that a dual SIM phone with a camera, bluetooth, microSD support, and GPRS can be bought for the same price as an entry-level Nokia phone with a minimal feature set.

You can read Wikipedia's article about dual SIMs to understand why this feature is important for people like me who needs to switch from network to network. Having 2 SIM cards active on the same phone is very convenient.

I have bought two China Phones already. The first one, a Nokia 6300 clone, is still working after about 8 months of use. That phone had dual SIM capabilities, camera, bluetooth, microSD support, and GPRS. You wouldn't notice that it is a replica until you look at the different icons and fonts on screen.

Two months ago, I had some extra cash so I purchased a new China Phone. I gave the old one to a family member. I spent roughly the same amount of money for the new phone and that made me feel good.

This is a representative image of my latest China Phone:

This is not a picture of the actual phone but you do get an idea. The differences are:

The "KENXINDA" logo at the back is replaced by "TV MOBILE";
The "1.3 Mega Autofocus" near the back camera and flash is replaced by "5.0 Megapixel".

Otherwise it is the same phone. This new phone is also dual SIM capable, has 2 VGA cameras (not 5MP as advertised), bluetooth, and GPRS. I can record and play 3GP video and listen to MP3s. Additionally, it has wireless FM support, which means that I don't have to have a headset plugged in to be able to tune in to radio stations.

One more thing - did you notice the dedicated TV button on the right of the directional center buttons? That's right, the phone is capable of picking up analog TV signals. It has a retractable antenna tucked into the upper right corner that you can use to improve the TV or FM signal.

All of these features come at the low price of a little over $50.

Official support is nonexistent. However these phones have flooded the marketplace now and more technicians are able to fix these phones for a small fee. The different China Phones are also built on the same hardware template (the MTK chipset) and there has been a lot of documentation about the schematics of these phones. And the price is unbeatable, so the last recourse would be to buy another one if it fails. Personally, I have not encountered any problems with the phones that I have bought.

If you do decide to buy your own China Phone, test it thoroughly before and in the few days after you leave the shop. Try to delete all the factory settings for GPRS as the phone might try to dial to a China provider and you will be charged IDD rates for that call. And have a reliable branded phone on hand for the remote possibility that the China Phone fails and you need to make that important call.

I hope you will have your own favorable experiences with a China Phone.

Geeky Saturday

2010-07-03T21:12:00.000+08:00

It's amazing how geeky I can get.

I spent a lot of time switching from a very buggy Windows Vista install to a persistent USB install of a Linux distribution. The boot time is significantly reduced. Before I did this, my wait time for Vista was enough for me to make a cup of coffee. It was a good thing that I had an unused 4GB USB stick. The magic of the internet pointed me to Ubuntu Lucid Lynx, as well as an easy way to do persistent USB installs.

Problem is, I couldn't get the persistent installs to last. After about 5 reboots, the USB just refuses to boot. The splash screen ends and an (initramfs) prompt shows up. "Can not mount /dev/loop1 on /cow". When I exit out of it, the screen then scrolls violently to a nasty kernel panic and fails to go any further.

I got frustrated after the first three times that this happened. Imagine having to reinstall Adobe Flash, Chromium, and GStreamer plugins for XviD and MP3 multiple times. Then I thought about it and said to myself, why not try Linux Mint 9? Two out of three packages not to be reinstalled is a big thing (Chromium still needs to be reinstalled in Mint).

I also tried UNetbootin but for some reason it does not support the Gnome DVD version of Linux Mint. Tried it out with the Ubuntu ISO and I got the same error even before I was able to make it boot completely.

I used up my valuable blank DVDs to burn the ISOs. I read an old link about using the USB stick as a hard drive, so I tried to run the installer in the hope of selecting the USB as a valid partition. But before I was given a list of partitions to install to, the installer hangs. GParted exits out instantly too.

Then I found out that the installer was complaining about broken links in the laptop's main NTFS partition. According to Ubuntu's Disk Utility, I needed to run chkdsk -F in Windows twice before it touches the partition.

I tried to run the chkdsk natively, expecting to see it after I restart. But it didn't. Using a bug-ridden Vista install, four cycles of restarting can be hellishly long.

I had to scrounge around for a Windows 7 installation disc to run cmd, unmount the drive, and run chkdsk twice.

I went back to Ubuntu and saw that the installer does not detect the stick as a partition that I can install to. So I had no choice but to use usb-creator. I figured, what the heck, I'm just going to use Mint instead of Ubuntu to do this.

Ironically, the same usb-creator has an outstanding bug that might give me roughly the same problem in the future. Oh well. I would have to find out for myself if I'm lucky enough to avoid this problem. Or else I would have wasted one Saturday for nothing.

Why I Might Have Voted for Mel Carreon: Post-Election Thoughts

2010-05-16T11:46:00.000+08:00

This web site says today that Carmelo Carreon, perennial candidate during elections, has 1,427 votes in his bid as Vice Mayor of Iloilo City. It's a mere 60,000 plus votes away from the leading candidate.

I remember an anecdote about how he was being treated at the Western Visayas Medical Center for an ailment that I cannot recall right now. As it was the height of the campaign period, he still found ways of completing his self-imposed duty of pressing the flesh among the unsuspecting patients and companions at the Emergency Room.

I also saw him drinking coffee at one of the malls here. He was in his best suit, with a sash over it that declared who he was in bold letters. He also had a small tarpaulin with his name and the position he was seeking, pinned to the side of the table he was seated in.

One time when I was in a jeepney, I saw him near a busy intersection, resplendent in his suit and sash, mildly waving to the passers-by, a reminder that he was contesting this election.

Breaks your heart, isn't it? No? You're saying, "Who the hell is this Mel Carreon guy? Am I supposed to care?"

Think about it. The results of the last election, barring some exceptions, have reinforced the idea that personalities are more valued than policy statements. Ask any one to elucidate the stand of their preferred presidential candidate and you will get motherhood statements like "end corruption", "finish poverty", "faster recovery". Long on rhetoric, short on substance.

I could be wrong. I might find out later that amid the glitz and glamour there is actually a specific set of policy statements supported by a specific candidate. But it's a subtle perpetuation of the ignorance of the masses when the campaign teams fail to print out a manifesto or even a set of commitments online. It prevents discerning voters to make the decisions on who to vote using something more than "he's handsome" or "he fits the position" or "he will not steal".

Stripped of party machinery, movie stars, half-a-million-peso commercials, pedigree, and millions of pesos spent on posters, streamers and stickers, some candidates are not too far removed from Mel Carreon. I'm sure that if Mel was given money to run a credible campaign, he would get a decent share of the vote. Heck, I would vote for him. It's not a surprise to see that behind the veneer of media-painted spin, candidates do not have concrete plans to bring to the table.

The recent automated elections was a success because technology made elections credible again. Now we have to make the process of voting painlessly by minimizing those horrendous waiting times for some precincts. And we have to make sure that the credibility gains are not wiped out by the inability of the electorate to choose based on policy.

I know that this is completely unscientific, but I don't know how significant their names' position of the ballot was for some candidates. I'm just saying that there could be a cohort of people, who were too tired to vote, and voted for the most recognizable names for the national positions. Aquino and Binay are on the left of the ballot paper and a very irritable voter can always just "get it over with" by voting them. Same with the senatorial candidate going by the new last name of "Bong Revilla". This might be evidence that when some voters are ill-informed of how important their choices are and they are pressed for time, they will vote for the first names that they recognize. As of this post, more than 160,000 people voted for Vetellano Acosta for president even though he was clearly disqualified weeks before the election, maybe because he was conveniently the first name on the ballot paper.

So much for the high turn-out. The oft-used cliche of "vote wisely" is still not completely understood by the Filipino voter. Filipinos still vote like they are selecting clothes from a rack. If it fits and it looks good on you, you choose to buy it and take it home.

This is a call for genuine election reform. No matter what kind of system we will be in for the next election (presidential or parliamentary), we should be able to ensure that people are well-informed about their choices, about the candidates' and parties' policy positions.

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said that the deterrent for qualified candidates to seek the presidency is the difficulty of funding an election campaign. It is debatable for the state to provide funds for each candidate, as is done in some countries. It would be more equitable if access is improved by requiring attendance to a set of debates, moderated by an impartial moderator. A party manifesto written in both English and Filipino should be published online in a common website maintained by an unaffilliated civic organization, and hard copies should be freely available in COMELEC offices or in some other point of public distribution.

The focus going into the next round of elections should be on how to educate our voters to be more discerning, especially those coming from brackets D and E. We should take the lead on how to choose leaders that appeal to their concept of the short-term future, not to their emotions. We should not repeatedly hit ourselves on the head because our candidate lost, but instead return to the drawing board on how to elevate the level of intellectual discourse of the voters. We always talk about how we should dumb down our candidate so that the masses will be able to understand and make an emotional connection. It's time for us to educate the voters so that they will be better equipped to make the correct choice the next time.

In My Life Today 23

2010-05-14T00:41:00.000+08:00

A lot of things have happened since I last posted here.

Most of them are minor, random things that are posted on my Facebook account or my Twitter account. You can add me or follow me (whatever is appropriate).

I finally finished my Postgraduate Diploma in Computer Science from the UP Open University. My ThatcherGUI program was part of my requirements and I'm proud that I was able to finish that thing. I also went to UPOU HQ at Los Baños by myself for the Commencement Exercises. I'm too lazy to leech pictures from my friends' Facebook photo albums and upload it into a photo-sharing site for me to be able to show it here. I think this poster accurately describes the occasion.

I was interviewed for the UPOU Community Site. I spend most of my time on that site playing the V - Game. It's fun! And hanging around the Comm Site is fun.

I had a tour of duty at Boracay. It was a nice change of pace. I was a little rusty but I think I managed to finish the duty quite well.

I'm not getting any younger. But fate is fickle, and I am still in career limbo. Of course, prospects are better for me these days - I can apply for another stint in a call center if I badly needed the money. I can get another moonlighting job, and see patients as a GP.

But the things that I want to do - they have a window of opportunity. I have to wait for those windows to open up for me. And while they remain closed, I wait.

It's good that I did not totally burn my bridges with Medicine. It's good that I feel a sense of accomplishment, getting that Computer Science credential that I've wanted to have ever since I was a high school senior. As my priorities evolve, I have to fix the image of what I will be doing for the rest of my working life, or else it would be too late.

While waiting for that serious moment to come, I watch The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

I'd appreciate it if you had any serious suggestions on what I can do next. The last time I posed this question, I was given the choice of playing a bunch of computer games, embalming, or working in a fast food chain. I smiled, and then I read about going into medical informatics. Who knows? I might even take up the challenge of my DCS classmates and apply for the MIS program next semester.

Finally, it's rare that you find gems in Facebook statuses. I found a rough stone and polished it. Apparently some people like it.

Don't be sad when your old flame is with someone else. You should share your old toys with the less fortunate.

Phishing Attempt

2010-02-25T10:26:00.001+08:00

I thought I was careful enough to stay away from phishing websites. I was wrong.

My GMail inbox had one Twitter notification, a direct message from one of my medical school classmates. I had to check it out so I clicked on the link, which brought up my Twitter Direct Messages page (I had told Twitter to "Remember Me").

I clicked on the link and it brought me to (THIS IS A PHISHING SITE - DO NOT LOGIN WITH YOUR TWITTER LOGIN!) http://twitter.login.kevanshome.org/login/ . It looks like the familiar Twitter login screen, before a redesign. I obviously wasn't paying attention to that website when they rolled out the update. I didn't care because it was always set to be logged in on my home computer anyway so there was no chance to see the new Twitter login page.

I said to myself, "What the hell?! My Twitter session logged out. Better log in again to see what the fuss is about."

I know, it was sheer stupidity on my part knowing that the URL was not twitter.com. I was relying on Chrome's anti-phishing alert feature to inform me always. So I logged in.

It took me 30 seconds and a weird post-login screen to realize that I've been had.

It took me an hour to change different passwords on all the sites that I have a significant web presence. The Anatomy Of The Twitter Attack outlines how personal accounts of Twitter execs were hacked to obtain confidential information with the same elementary methods. Although I have been using a different password for some sites, someone can just use the Forgot Password process and a compromised account to be able to get access.

I sent a direct message through Twitter to my classmate that her message pointed me to a phishing site. It wasn't her fault, surely - it can happen to anyone.

I also reported the site using the reporting tool built into Chrome.

The Whois information about kevanshome.org reveals that the site is registered in China - maybe a spammer/email account harvester?

Domain ID:D157042268-LROR
Domain Name:KEVANSHOME.ORG
Created On:06-Sep-2009 07:34:50 UTC
Last Updated On:10-Nov-2009 14:03:03 UTC
Expiration Date:06-Sep-2010 07:34:50 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Xin Net Technology Corporation (R118-LROR)
Status:OK
Registrant ID:7kkxo6fmgfrrz7
Registrant Name:Ken Evans
Registrant Organization:Ken Evans
Registrant Street1:Star Street
Registrant City:Shang Hai
Registrant State/Province:Shanghai
Registrant Postal Code:100000
Registrant Country:CN
Registrant Phone:+86.02142552594
Registrant FAX:+86.02142552594
Registrant Email:lixing688@gmail.com
Admin ID:7kkxo6fmgfrrz7a
Admin Name:Ken Evans
Admin Organization:Ken Evans
Admin Street1:Star Street
Admin City:Shang Hai
Admin State/Province:Shanghai
Admin Postal Code:100000
Admin Country:CN
Admin Phone:+86.02142552594
Admin FAX:+86.02142552594
Admin Email:lixing688@gmail.com
Tech ID:7kkxo6fmgfrrz7a
Tech Name:Ken Evans
Tech Organization:Ken Evans
Tech Street1:Star Street
Tech City:Shang Hai
Tech State/Province:Shanghai
Tech Postal Code:100000
Tech Country:CN
Tech Phone:+86.02142552594
Tech FAX:+86.02142552594
Tech Email:lixing688@gmail.com
Name Server:NS.XINNETDNS.COM
Name Server:NS.XINNET.CN
DNSSEC:Unsigned

Thank you "Ken Evans" for reminding me that I have to be always vigilant in surfing the web. That was one wakeup call! Too much worrying on Viva Voce sure made me complacent, stupid and lazy.

Friends, be vigilant so that your most cherished web presence does not get taken over by a spammer in China or anywhere else.

Updates: Trend Micro posted about this on their blog and they're saying that this is a new Twitter worm that can compromise your account. Read it here:
A New Twitter Worm Is Making the Rounds

Marah Marie reported about the main page (http://www.kevanshome.org/), which masqueraded as an AOL/Bebo login page here (see newest update below for its change to a MySpace login page):
Everything Else

Sophos reports this and has a YouTube video demonstration of the attack as well:
This you???? : Phishing attack hits Twitter users

As of February 25, 1012H (GMT +8) http://www.kevanshome.org/ is made to look like a fake MySpace page, below:

Note that it does not look like the current MySpace login page.

M86 Security Labs has some history on this phishing attack here:
Twitter "Phish and Spam" Campaign

ThatcherGUI

2010-02-20T07:28:00.001+08:00

One of the reasons why I have not been posting for the past months was that I had to finish this project for my Management Information Systems subject.

I created a system for medical charts to be inputted in a database, viewed on demand, and output a file containing diagnosis and demographic information. In short, an Electronic Medical Records system. I programmed this using Java on NetBeans with MySQL Connector/J for the database connection.

It's a little crude, because you need to have MySQL installed on your computer to make it run. Hopefully the README would be complete enough for you to be able to make it work. The source code is included, as ThatcherGUI is licensed under the GPL.

ThatcherGUI (3MB) - H~~osted on sendspace.com~~ Link is dead - contact me through comments if you want a copy.

Of course there are better, more complete alternatives out there like OpenMRS or CHITS. If given the time to study those EMRs (including the different paradigms and programming languages they use), I would be able to modify them to serve the very specific purpose that my program aims to address. I'm just glad that this application reached this stage after months of getting it to work.

New Blog Post

2010-02-12T17:54:00.000+08:00

I haven't been able to write for a while on my blog, for many reasons.

Many things have happened in the nine months since I last posted on this blog, but most of them have been posted in my Facebook account anyway. I also took the precaution of hiding this blog from public view because of my concurrent job application - some things written here might be misinterpreted or taken too seriously. Except for a very few instances, most of my acquaintances never take my statements at face value, so it would be anti-climactic not to be hired because of a silly blog post.

I lost all the previous comments because the free comment provider shut down its servers for good. It's back to the Blogger comment system for me.

This is just a test post. Once all the things fall into place, I might be motivated to write something more substantial. It might even be a celebratory or congratulatory post. Ü

Random Notes 23

2009-05-28T06:44:00.002+08:00

I have been very quiet on my blog lately. Aside from days that have eleven, twelve, or even thirteen hours of staying in the office, I am also constrained to post anything about work here. A mild form of writers' block may also contribute to the low output, because even the emails I make seem to be incoherent sometimes.

Being active on Facebook everyday also made me post my status updates, to be seen by my growing Friends list by force (unless they block me from their News Feed).

Anyway, I was "reprimanded" by someone who actually has nominal authority over me. And no, I'm not talking about work - it's a Medicine thing. It would have been acceptable if I was still in a training program, following the rigid hierarchy of the medical elite. But at this point in my life, I felt that it was uncalled for - I had a different set of work-related commitments and was certainly not able to fulfill this trifling matter.

After the stern "reprimand", I posted this on Facebook:

If you don't respect who I am and what I now do for a living, then I can't be your friend.

The resulting comments made me smile - it was a cross-section of friends that really understood who I was and what I stood for. They made me smile and realize that, in the end, true friends will stand by you for as long as you are reasonably correct.

I am writing this loose collection of thoughts after arriving from an all-nighter. A few of my former trainees went out and we sang, drank, and talked until morning. It has been a long time since I had an all-nighter. I wish it could have been cheaper for me though. Hahaha!

I had also enrolled myself in UPOU for the next semester. I wish that the coursework for this semester turns out to be accommodating enough to allow me to work. I need to get good grades - after all, this is my career move par excellence.

I am now watching K-On! and it is so cool! The opening theme is worth the price of admission alone. I listen to it repeatedly and never get tired of it. Seriously.

The Complainer 2

2009-05-17T09:08:00.002+08:00

I blogged about someone emailing me that I complained too much. That was about 22 months ago.

I would like to think that I have mellowed a bit in terms of audibly complaining - after all, I did complain about everything before. Still, for some people, I complain too much.

It is not my fault that I have had my two ankles sprained during a 'forced' basketball game. It was an unfortunate accident that manifests itself intermittently whenever I walk for more than 2 blocks.

Cut me some slack. I've been standing up and walking around for most of my professional life. If you had two bum feet, you'd complain too.

My Life As A Collection of Games

2009-05-10T22:43:00.003+08:00

I don't usually see my life as one great narrative that I can tie everything into without any complications. There are secrets to be kept - those of my family, my friends, my workplace, and most especially my own. Besides, though it seems that I am able to string together a few sentences into a coherent idea, I can't create something that would not bore anyone to sleep.

Flash-based games would be a good way to express some more exciting experiences in my life. Oops, I mean JavaFX (since I've been learning Java for quite some time). A quick game would not be boring, and it would place the player in the (unenviable) position of being me during those moments.

Not everyone had been lucky enough to work a 24 hour shift in the ward or an Emergency Room of a government hospital. I remember working as a clinical clerk in a dimly lit Pediatrics ward, always on my feet giving IV medication, extracting blood, performing procedures - while suffering the onslaught of mosquitoes. I also fondly remember being the Junior Ward Admitting Physician On Duty (quite a mouthful) - where I only slept 2 hours a day and spent the rest of the time either caring for my no less than 5 patients and doing a census of the service's patients.

Who can forget my life as a surgical resident? It's no Grey's Anatomy game, I'm sure. (After all, that show did change my life.) It's more mundane than you think - trying to make sure that every call from all pay patients get answered throughout the night while also making sure that there would be an assist for each emergency operation. And bonus stages would be: making sure that all paperwork is done - medical-related and clerical alike; budgeting the precious 6 hours of "me" time away from the hospital; suppressing the urge to shout "Unfair!" while being grilled alive for the mistakes of your casanova chief resident.

And working in the Emergency Room of the biggest university-affiliated government hospital should be interesting too. How can you cure all patients in a reasonable amount of time when you are short on resources, manpower, heck, even stretcher beds? Diner Dash can't hold a candle as far as time management is concerned.

I'm a sucker for Final Fantasy, so an RPG would be a best fit. Normally doctors are stereotyped as healers (White Mage types) but then again some of us also depend on our equipment to heal - a Mystic Knight type would not be far off. Also, the inordinate time we spend on trying to be a doctor, the workload, and the incremental rewards are perfect for level grinding. There is always a greater evil lurking in the shadows - be it a rude resident from another department, a power-tripping senior resident, or a surgical consultant with a known dislike of your medical school's graduates.

Those should be interesting games. Or maybe not, since I haven't heard of all these games that already exist.

The Guileless Physician

2009-05-05T09:30:00.004+08:00

After a long time, I found myself as the guileless physician if only for a few minutes.

My girlfriend Joy, who just came from a fabulous Boracay vacation, was in a hurry to finish up her OPD duty when another patient came into the door. The patient was escorted by one of the hospital employees, who appeared to be her friend.

Joy told me to examine her. From the get-go, it was apparent that the patient was suffering some kind of upper respiratory infection - dry, nagging cough. I did my history taking in the usual manner of graduates from the best medical school along Pedro Gil Street. I also did a systematic physical exam - old habits die hard.

But when it came to writing up my chart, I hesitated for a bit.

Of course, I knew that there were no rales, wheezes, or retractions during my chest exam. The rest of the physical exam was normal - no enlarged lymph nodes, no swollen tonsils, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

I hesitated because for an uncomfortable 20 seconds there, I strained to remember the archaic acronyms that I used to litter my charts with - (-) CLAD, NVE; AP, DHS, NRRR; ECE, CBS, (-) R/W; globular, NABS; FEP, PNB (-) edema.

When I realized that I have slightly dislodged the skill of creating an efficient physical examination note with "public static void main", "ipconfig /all", "shutdown -y -i5 -g0", I felt a small tinge of guilt. For five years I was a virtual automaton - writing those things down with modifications for significant PE findings - and now I seemed to have lost my touch.

Frankly, my patient did not notice it - but I did. And it had me thinking about things again. Which made me more tired than the whole 14 hour stay I had in the office.

Oh well, nothing that a little ambling around the Internet couldn't solve.

Pac-Man versus Installing an OS

2009-05-03T15:25:00.002+08:00

I have now used the OpenSolaris 2008.11 Live CD that arrived in the mail on my sister's laptop. I was tinkering with the installation since yesterday, and am very excited to use the OS for learning - especially since I had been using Netbeans on SXDE 1/08 while studying Java.

And since the internet connection has come back on after being disconnected last night (grrr...), I tried to get online using my desktop PC and find the lacking Broadcomm ethernet driver from a BigAdmin article. I was successful.

The first acid test was web browsing. 2008.11 came with Firefox preinstalled, which meant that Gmail, Facebook, Friendster, and Wikipedia was working. But Flash was not part of the distribution, so YouTube video was not working at all. Good thing that unlike SXDE, OSOL comes with a graphical front-end for IPS so I proceeded to look for a Flash package.

It turns out that I needed to sign up using my Sun ID (fortunately I had one - from my time in the Java forums) for me to be able to get a certificate and login to the extra repository. Okay.

I then tried to install Flash but it gave me a cryptic error that SUNWcsl needs to be version XXX.111.something. Uh oh - logic tells me that I might need to upgrade to the bleeding edge version of OSOL, which is build 111. The CD would install build 101, and that might be the big difference.

So I tried to play around a bit with the IPS GUI (Package Manager) but it did not allow me to do "Update All". The GUI persistently generated an error about my catalog needing to be refreshed. Googling the error gave me some fixes - they did not work. While I was frantically searching for a workable solution, I go on Facebook and 400 people were saying that Manny Pacquiao won over Ricky Hatton. In round 2. TKO. Lopsided victory. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Ad nauseam.

I'm proud of Pac-Man as the next person. But this time it seemed like overkill, like someone was deliberately underprepared for the match. Anyway I'm not a big boxing fan and fixing an operating system issue would be a better use of my free Sunday. But then my search skills were failing me so I sat down with my sisters in front of the idiot tube and watched how Pac-Man slaughtered Hatton in 2 on free TV. I did have the option to watch streaming video but I was distracted by the technical challenge in front of me. Besides, free TV had loads of mind-numbing commercials for roof sealants, wanna be senators (Kuya Efren and Tito Boboy? give me a break) and 1/3 of the screen covered by your favorite products.

After the match, I decided to give it another go. This time, I was allowed to do a global update - time will tell if it does go through.

558 packages will be updated
10 packages will be installed

443.51 MB will be downloaded

This is going to be a long afternoon. It's okay, I have The New Statesman and the original version of Ocean's Eleven to keep me company. Joy is enjoying her short Boracay trip because of the long Labor Day weekend - but I can't be envious of the fact that she is away from a reliable computer connection. Hehehe. 370+ MB to go.

On Staying Online

2009-04-30T15:46:00.002+08:00

I guess I should be content to be online sometimes but not all the time. Even as I paid extra just to have DSL service, it's still not a guarantee to have an uninterrupted internet signal.

For the past two days my total online time had been less than an hour. I would be lucky enough to get an email out or two, and then I lose the connection. In my previous job, I would be getting an "APIPA" - an autoprovisioned IP address.

I call in to PLDT customer service and the problem is seemingly solved by making sure that the line providing my signal is connected securely to the distributor box. Crap. There's a thousand reasons why it could be dislodged at any one time.

I'm not saying that having an internet connection is absolutely mission-critical - after all, I was able to survive 5 months without a reliable connection. It's just more convenient and less time-consuming for me to access the internet at home instead of some internet cafe that would not allow me to download files in their slow, bloatware-ridden computers.

Oh well. Since I'm spending more than 11 hours somewhere else anyway, I shouldn't mind that much.

It's just funny that sometimes I am the last to embrace new technology but I get so enamored with it that I become an advocate. For two years, I saw my friends texting on cellphones but never paid attention - now I can proudly say that I can keep up with the latest trends as a loyal subscriber for 6 years. I was also late to get on the DSL bandwagon but it did broaden my horizons and allow me to do decent coursework on my Diploma in Computer Science.

I'm crossing my fingers that this won't be a recurrent problem, or else I would be forced to get the more expensive option of wireless broadband.

Scripted

2009-04-26T17:29:00.005+08:00

I stumbled on this video from my previous employer and it was so funny that I literally fell from my seat while watching.

Viewers would be well-informed if they have the proper frame of mind while watching the video. These are agents and supervisors that have been taught on how to market anything. But even so, the whole thing seems like it was ridiculously scripted and patched together to drive home single word talking points - "fun", "friendship", "professional". For any serious business person, these do not really make sense.

Personally, I still see some friends there who are trying their best to do what is asked of them. It's just a shame that at the end of the day, their singular effort is combined to make what amounts to bare-faced snake oil salesmanship. It is also a little bit misleading for potential applicants to show only the favorable parts of a whole picture - then again, there is enough word-of-mouth disclaimers that exist to debunk the video.

At least they learned their lesson from a year ago - now if you Google the name Callbox Sales and Marketing Solutions, you'd find at least 70 free press release links before you arrive at something else. A little over a year ago these four blog posts made quite the splash on Google. Now the images have been lost since the original free provider has taken them down, but you get the picture.

For a company that prides itself as riding the trend of the "global marketplace", they still have some agents declaring that "IT is obsolete". I am shaking my head in disbelief.

Back Online

2009-04-18T08:52:00.002+08:00

After days of waiting, and P2000+ on top of the normal application fee (to buy the extra cable needed for service), I finally got myself reconnected to the Internet. I now have DSL from PLDT, which makes it so convenient for me. I can now regularly check my email, update my blog, and download... stuff.

I have bought a new Samsung E1100 as a replacement phone for my broken Sony Ericsson T303. I never expected my T303 to be broken after only 4 months, and I never dropped it or abused it. One week of constantly hanging without warning irritated me so much that I had to shell out P1800 just so I could have a workable phone again.

I created a Facebook profile at the prodding of my hepe Leah. I am at a loss on what content I should be putting up on my profile... it's been a long time since I sat down and took the time to create content.

Now I'm thinking about studying again. Maybe a programming language or something.

Keeping Busy 2

2009-03-26T09:16:00.002+08:00

I had to return to the internet cafe to make sure that my previous blog post went through. Amazingly, it did post. I was not sure if I was able to click on the "Publish Post" button just as the power went out.

I seem to be having a severe withdrawal reaction as I am forcibly weaned away from my internet habit.

There was a medical certificate that went my way, signed by one colleague who used to be a junior resident in Joy's department. The good doctor may not actually have treated the person for "fever and rashes" and not write down a diagnosis. The uncluttered handwriting is a giveaway - I saw the doctor's notes before, and I am sure that it was a lot more haphazard than that. Should I let it pass?

Another semester is about to start. I can't wait!

Keeping Busy

2009-03-25T12:46:00.002+08:00

My blog posts have trickled down. I have just filed my application for DSL today, and I hope that I would have internet access before summer ends - in time for a new semester. I am keeping busy after leaving Convergys Bacolod; however due to an embargo, I would keep you guys in the dark about what I am now doing for a little longer. (I do keep my word when it comes to these things, especially since almost everyone can look you up using Google anytime.) Besides, it would only need a little bit of imagination to find out what I'm up to.

Brownouts have been occurring regularly here in Iloilo City. For two straight days now, I have been woken from my deep slumber because my room suddenly became unbearably hot. You'd think that I would be used to boiler room environments, but since I needed to catch up on sleep, the heat was a rude awakening for me.

I requested for a copy of my grades yesterday. I hope to receive them next week so that I can frame them. This is the first time that I am really excited to receive grades from school. Seriously.

On my way to the internet cafe, I had my receipts from my weekly boat trips to and from Bacolod bound into a small booklet. More than half an inch thick, it would remind me of my time in Bacolod, the 11 months I spent there honing my skills in a highly competitive environment.

As I create this blog post, I hear from friends that most of my colleagues have been, after a long wait, promoted to better positions. I wish only the best for them. One is tempted to ask "What If?" but, under the circumstances, at that time it was the best decision I could make.

In My Life Today 22

2009-03-15T16:20:00.002+08:00

Since resigning from my former company, I had not been able to stay near a reliable open internet connection for more than an hour. The local ISP (PLDT) still cannot promise a connection to my home; besides, they are asking me for three most recent payslips which I do not currently have.

I am in the middle of a nasty cold. Most people have been sniffling, coughing, and spitting - in the typically adorable manner Filipinos have been known for. Note the dripping sarcasm there. Good thing I was able to start antibiotics a few days ago, and I am thus feeling better. Too bad that I was not able to go out yesterday with some friends, but I wouldn't risk being sick right now.

I was invited to be part of my previous team's team building exercise. Although I would have wanted so much to be there, I cannot. Besides, I'm not part of the team anymore so it should be okay.

Mark came to Kalibo again for the burial of his aunt. I went there for the weekend and we spent the time with his PSP - decked out with emulators, which made me feel bad for myself not having one at all.

Joy is in her Internal Medicine rotation, and it makes it harder for me to see her regularly. But it's for the best. Thank technology for getting in touch and enabling us to stick together.

Cannot think of anything else right now, it must be the stuffy nose, the slight fever, or the hesitation of disclosing more than I should right now.

Good Morning, Bacolod

2009-02-21T19:21:00.002+08:00

This would be my last blog post from Bacolod City, for a long time at least. I have decided to move back to Iloilo for reasons that I shall not disclose here, but should be obvious to those that know me personally.

While I have gotten over my initial dislike of Bacolod, I have not reached the point where I would be sorely missing the experience. I have made friends here, yes: Ding, Edmar, Donna, Team Redline, TL Mon, TL Janice, MODs and iMODs, Tina, Nonie, Dora, Ara, Sourcing and Recruitment people, and the security personnel, among others. The friendship I shall cherish as I return to Iloilo.

But there are some things that cannot be overlooked for a very long time without being painfully obvious. Thankfully, technology has blurred geographical boundaries so I would be able to get in touch with them once in a while.

Anyhow, I am looking ahead, looking forward to coming back to Iloilo and staying longer than a week at a time. Maybe I can return to Bacolod during a vacation. Goodbye, Bacolod!

Beyond Comprehension

2009-02-08T09:33:00.002+08:00

The fact that after 7 hours I have not yet taken my break is beyond comprehension.

Is it an act of self-sacrifice? Stubbornness? Passive-aggressive behavior? Force of habit?

You decide.

Later I will decide if I agree or not.

Random Notes 22

2009-02-07T09:16:00.002+08:00

I have been working on my comparative study paper, and only for an hour at a time. That is how much time I can afford to go online at an internet cafe. I would like to believe that I am making progress. I hope to be able to complete this paper in time.

The office has been making me work hard lately. It's not like I don't want to. I can only throw my hands up and sigh.

Midway through my work week today... I daydream that something good will happen to me this month.

I was browsing through YouTube and did not know that it started in 1985.

Hehehe. I wouldn't be able to afford YouTube then. Anyway I was just 4 years old in 1985.

The Family That Coughs Together

2009-02-03T16:44:00.002+08:00

Curiously when I was on the ferry trip going to Iloilo, I was seated just in front of a family of four who seemed to have a severe cough. All of them - mother, father, and two small girls - were sniffling, coughing, and grunting during the 90 minute trip.

Normally this would not be a very disturbing thing for me. After all, I worked in a government hospital for a while, and was surrounded by sick people all the time. But in this case, I was disturbed not by their illness but by their wanton disregard for proper conduct. The mother, who had an exceptionally severe hacking cough, did not even bother covering up her mouth with her hand or a piece of cloth while she was coughing.

There is an increasing number of incidents that I witness people disregarding social norms for their own convenience. As I take public transport everyday, I would not fail to see a person (regardless of gender) sitting with his/her legs spread out - regardless of how cramped the jeepney is.

I do not wish to be the one to teach them Good Manners and Right Conduct, because for some of these people it is already too late to teach them any kind of manners at all. I only hope that this is not an indication of how morally bereft our culture has become.

Thanks For The Greetings

2009-01-29T16:03:00.002+08:00

I started my day today seeing Joy, who is on her last OB-Gyne duty (at least for this rotation anyway).

Then I began writing some bits and pieces of what will hopefully be a coherent comparison study of two operating systems. If there is still time, why not three? But as it is, simply documenting all the default programs on Windows Vista had already taken 7 pages of text and a few pictures in a Word document.

I also watched some Yes Minister and Valkyrie, although not in full. I am a sucker for politics and WWII Germany.

My mother came to visit a little after lunch and brought some buko salad that I swear by. I really appreciated the gesture since she knows that I am a sucker for good buko salad.

Now after my mother left to return to our house in Dao, I came to this internet cafe to update my blog profile, check email and my social network site, and login to the course site to check updates on the comparative study we have to do. Maybe later I will get a haircut and then do some more coursework before turning in for the night.

I have given myself the book Outliers, which proves to be a very good read. The day before yesterday, I was with Joy at National Bookstore browsing some books. The simple cover and tagline "The Story Of Success" took me back to a Mensa email discussion on the merits of the book's thesis, as well as a Fraternity mailing list link to a book review. I wasn't able to put the book down, so much that when Joy and I were having dinner in an Italian Restaurant I stopped eating and had to open the book!

Anyway I thank everybody who greeted me on my birthday. I already have my old number back, thanks to Ms. Valerie Grace at Smart - Robinsons Place Bacolod who provided me with the replacement SIM card after what seemed like an eternity. I hope that this year would be better than the last one, and I hope to be able to make some headway on my career change.

That Sinking Feeling

2009-01-23T09:19:00.002+08:00

You know when you feel that you are in creative inertia, and it is not of your own creation.

But if you see these tales of gloom, I wonder if creative inertia is a bad thing to be in at all. Even Ron Nathan thinks that it would take at least a year for U.S. President Obama and his team to pull the U.S. out of depression.

Well, there's always my ongoing investment in my education. At least it's not overrated. Being a physician however, according to this article, is overrated. Not too reassuring.

Midterm Exam Experience

2009-01-19T15:12:00.002+08:00

I took my midterm exam online in one of the local internet cafes a few days ago. The exam site was pretty straightforward, and it had a Resume feature, but I did not get to use it for fear that it would invalidate the exam.

The questions were fairly what you would expect from anywhere in the University of the Philippines. UP alumni would understand what I mean.

It was a surreal experience. Here I was, after a particularly punishing 9 hours of work, answering questions on an exam. I fought off fatigue and sleep, and tried to blink off some eye strain after hours staring at a computer monitor.

The internet cafe was quiet for a while, and then midway through the exam it began to fill up - students researching in teams, occupying stations in pairs or by threes.

I just bit my lip when, during the last 45 minutes of the exam, I was asked to create complete assembly code to fulfill some output. It was a struggle, and in the end I managed to answer only one problem satisfactorily.

The results of the exam would not be known for some time, but the experience itself instructs me to be better prepared next time.

Tomorrrow 3

2009-01-16T10:16:00.003+08:00

I am doing a test run to see if I can reliably take an online exam after my shift. Tomorrow would be the moment of truth. I have studied for this exam for weeks; my exam schedule had been moved; and I was not able to apply for leave when it mattered. Earlier I pleaded with my supervisor to defer any post-shift overtime that they need me to render - because of this exam. I was apologetically explaining that I need to take this exam a little after 9AM (because my shift ends at 8:45, there would be no way I would be able to start the exam on time) and that I would usually agree to any overtime requests, but not at this extraordinary instance.

A little less than 4 weeks ago, I lost my Addict Mobile SIM card along with my cellphone. True to form, I still don't have word if there is an available replacement card - both in Bacolod and in Iloilo. I better get credit on this one as I have not been able to use my postpaid line at all.

How is your Mathematics? You might want to find out with the Open University (UK) online assessment here.

Grin and Bear It

2009-01-12T10:12:00.002+08:00

My midterm exam for one of the courses I am taking did not push through as originally scheduled. That event transformed the vacation leaves I took into a real vacation.

We just moved into a new home, with no chance of cable TV or internet being installed on site for the next 6 months or so. Doubly aggravating was the fact that if I wanted those wireless broadband prepaid things, I would be shelling out a lot of money for about 40 hours a month of access.

Our whole team did not get the schedule we so desperately wanted - the morning shift. Oh well, I guess the night differential should make up for it.

I have been very busy not worrying about all these setbacks, so I was not able to blog about how aggravating these events were initially. Of course I have no choice but to grin and bear it - like the chilling wind that makes my bones shiver even in the noontime sun.

Gifted

2009-01-05T07:19:00.001+08:00

Yesterday's Inquirer has this curious article about Sen. Miriam Santiago's first grandchild.

I read it with great interest, not only because I am a great Miriam fan, but also because I was thinking about how she would uniquely contextualize the significance of having grandchildren.

I was not disappointed.

Anyway, my personal opinion is that being gifted could not be manufactured by any means. It would be a combination of natural ability, a good environment, and an incredible streak of luck.

Sure, you can pass IQ and aptitude tests, qualify for the best schools, and answer most questions that can be asked. It would still be useless if you did not have the right set of opportunities. And,

If a man can afford to sit down and wait for a golden opportunity to come along, he doesn't need it.

So does that mean I should look for opportunities now?

In My Life Today 21

2009-01-03T09:48:00.002+08:00

For some reason, what I was about to post yesterday was not saved properly, and I was left with a draft post which I just published because I was in a rush to go home.

Anyway, I opened up the forum for one of the courses I was taking and I found that the question posted was about input and output. Quotable quote:

We don't need to reinvent the wheel...

It is very convenient that not a lot of people in the office know my background - of me being in a different role before. My manager was surprised when he knew from my former supervisor that I am a licensed physician. And I was doubly surprised when he said he listened to my calls and found that I was able to tackle the technical issues with some degree of competence. That made my day.

As I was rushing to go to the office, I felt that all-too-familiar sensation of missing something. I left my cellphone in the apartment. I did not throw a fit when I realized it, because I do not regard it as an appendage. No one but my girlfriend and some friends would bother to contact me nowadays. That does not mean I miss the times my consultants would ring my phone at 3am demanding updates on their admitted patients.

When one realizes the nature of one's position, and one's own inertia, and is able to foresee one's own path, one begins to consider one's next move.

Or one begins to consider being The New Statesman.

Random Notes 21

2009-01-02T09:43:00.002+08:00

I have submitted my assignments, moved with my siblings into a new house, and started the month at work.

It's astonishing that I don't have withdrawal symptoms from discontinuing my beloved broadband access. Maybe because I can still get my internet fix at work and at this internet cafe near the plaza.

Hopefully I will get a passing mark on my coursework this time.

My Success and Luck

2008-12-28T07:40:00.002+08:00

The next assignment I have to submit is a make or break one. So I spent some time thinking about the answers, even though I was doggedly tired already.

After I had my fill of thinking about heaps and nodes, I saw the latest company magazine and saw the set of people that were celebrating 5 years of work.

I thought to myself, would I still be in this position in 5 years' time?

Ah. Time to think about Plan B.

That brings me back to my books, my assignments. And I felt good about it.

A few months ago I wasn't even sure I would last this long - the damned ferry trip every week sure takes the edge off having one of the highest entry-level salaries anywhere. Even now it's a week to week thing; no one is sure, or safe, in their jobs at my company.

Don't get me wrong - I like this job. More than being screamed at by arrogant consultants, selfish senior residents, and inconsiderate patient companions. My job brings me in touch with technology, and technology makes knowledge accessible, and everybody knows that knowledge is power (thanks to the late Ernie Baron).

It's just that, well, I'm not sure of my place in the great scheme of things - at least for the next quarter. Or maybe it's just a misplaced feeling I have.

That is why it is always reassuring to have Plan B. And Plan C, D, E, ad nauseam.

I've not felt lucky for a long time. I have read somewhere that being successful sometimes takes a bit of luck too. So that explains why, even after trying my best to toe the company line I am still... here.

Maybe it's time to hedge my bets. Again.

Dragon Quest IX - Jump Festa 09 Trailer

2008-12-24T10:56:00.001+08:00

Coming soon. Enjoy.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T09:25:00.002+08:00

The template change is still a work in progress. I have managed to change it to something different though. I might have to forego comments altogether because for some reason I am not able to enable commenting for this template. I would have wanted to stick with my Haloscan comments, but now even the built-in Blogger comments do not show up properly.

No available SIM cards mean that I won't be able to greet my friends through SMS like I usually do. Well, most of them don't reply anyway LOL.

I already finished my coursework assignment ahead of time, so that when I ask for my internet connection to be disconnected, that would be one less thing to worry about. The question of it being a complete, accurate assignment is to be discussed at a later date. Hehe.

Tomorrow I would be leaving again for work, and though it has had been many months of hard work, I am still in the dark over career advancement. Oh well, there's always the postgraduate degree I am working towards.

In the spirit of the holidays, amidst a background of looming economic uncertainty and gloom, may I leave you with a quote from Lady Thatcher:

They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours.

To all my friends, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Here's to the next year being much better than the last one.

Advisory

2008-12-23T13:42:00.002+08:00

As you can see, my current profile is back to what it was, about 200 posts ago. So the links may not work properly.

I will be moving to a new house in a few days, and I will have to discontinue my internet service. This, and the fact that I am in Bacolod City for most of the week, will make blogging regularly a difficult task.

I am not stopping this blog. I might have to stick with the default Blogger template and tweak it a little because it is so needlessly difficult to upload one of the free templates, with Haloscan commenting enabled.

Also, Friendster is having a weird bug related to phishing sites, but I guess it is related to the latest critical update released for Internet Explorer. Try searching for Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-078. Be careful. It's a painful lesson if you just take technology for granted.

In My Life Today 20

2008-12-21T07:05:00.003+08:00

Am at the office today. Good that I am able to do some blogging during my break.

Was able to update the template of my blog to what I wanted it to look like in the first place. Will try to update it again when I get home. I now know what was the problem in the first place.

I lost my cellphone again. While I do not care about the cheap Nokia I lost, what I really feel bad about is the Addict Mobile SIM card that was inside that phone. With 6 months remaining in my contract, I would have to undergo the same trial and error process I endured when I lost my phone 5 months ago. I have to buy a cheap phone with a hole for a strap/lanyard this time.

Blog Errors

2008-12-10T16:13:00.001+08:00

I am trying to change to a new template but Blogger is not allowing me to do so anytime soon. You might notice some of the blog elements not being present.

Until I get all these sorted out, my blog would be in this semi-functional state.

No X Limit

2008-12-10T13:53:00.003+08:00

Ikkitousen - Great Guardians.

My excuse for downloading anime right now.

And No X Limit is not a bad opening theme at all.

Google On Me

2008-12-10T05:41:00.002+08:00

I am surprised that, even with the internet becoming more and more accessible to many people, it is still so hard for people to make an effort to check you through your online presence.

On the other hand, it might only go to show that I am so steeped in technology nowadays that I cannot understand why other people do not take advantage of it as much as I do.

Between my presence in social networking sites, bulletin board posts, and group email, one would be able to piece together the logic between my two ears.

Of course I am only talking about myself here. With other people, you won't be so lucky.

Why am I saying all this? Maybe because of the quintessential question that follows after a well-meaning officemate mentions to a newbie that "Carl's a doctor" -

Are you a doctor?

Hey, no offense, but you can always Google on me to find out.

Midsemester in December

2008-12-02T07:44:00.002+08:00

It's the last month of the year. A little bit older, a little bit wiser. And here I am, still knee-deep in school work.

I should be used to the fact that there are long wait times for everything from the University of the Philippines. Still, not knowing if you passed or failed the two courses you took last semester makes it a little bit harder to concentrate on the current semester. Especially since you do not have a slightest clue about your pre-final standings.

With the way things are going, I would not be surprised to get grades from last semester only after midterms have finished.

Searching for resources on my current coursework has proven to be difficult. Yes, there are a lot of resources, but because they use a different style of presentation/programming language/focus of discussion, it would be hard to reconcile the material to the canonical one on the module. Even now, I am successfully confusing myself by looking at the Pascal "pseudocode" in the module and linking elements from the guidelines on creating pseudocode.

On the other hand, I have a newfound respect for those who really understand the basics of Computer Science. The languages and approaches may change, but the underlying logic will stay the same.

I just hope that at the end of this semester, I would still be able to submit acceptable coursework and pass my courses.

You really have to love what you're doing so that when you are faced with setbacks like this, you'll still press on. For anybody that was not so inclined and had an easy way out, it would be easy to just submit the Leave of Absence form and forget about the aggravation.

==

I was emailed by one of my former teachers who is also a surgical consultant. It was about a dream gig, a combination of health and IT and a real hand in helping craft future policy. If only there were no complications in the way...

Especially since I'll have to wait for a little bit longer before I am able to make a clean break.

Missing Things Returned

2008-11-26T08:56:00.004+08:00

I posted about losing my USB drive. Well, I guess the people who do my laundry was able to find it before they put the clothes in the machine. I'm still having my laundry done at Laundry Dad Mandalagan because of the trust and gratitude I have for their excellent service.

Also, I came home to Iloilo and spent a sleepless night without internet access. I have been losing internet access for the past weeks but I thought it was just a routine thing. So when it had been more than 12 hours, I called in Globelines technical support. I told the agent my problem, and the steps I have already done - reset modem, reseated physical connections, released and renewed the IP. Still nothing.

He sounded confident and was able to schedule a trouble call, with the technicians coming to the house barely 2 hours after the call ended. The technicians did a hard modem reset and had me access the modem directly to refresh the IP address assigned to it. Voila! Internet connection restored.

Let me take the time to thank Globelines Technical Support for their fast, prompt service. I know you guys do not have customer satisfaction surveys to gauge the quality of service (like I do, hehehe) so I just hope that someone would stumble upon this post and thank you guys for me.

==

With the looming economic crisis, and requests for me to stay at home instead of ferrying to Bacolod every week, I am reconsidering a comeback to health care, or even take a different job here in Iloilo. Although I am not being pressed to make a decision at this time, I am now seriously contemplating it.

==

Never been an AC/DC fan, but this new song from Black Ice is nice.

On Being Calm, Chances and Decisions

2008-11-19T05:46:00.003+08:00

I surprised myself for being so calm.

I have just lost my barely 4 month old USB flash drive. I realized that I have lost it three days after the fact. Backtracking, there are only two possibilities:

I left it in my jeans, and it was subsequently washed clean by the laundry people; or
I left it still connected to a USB port in an Internet Cafe when I needed to send my resume online.

So there was no one left to blame but myself.

I guess I was taken aback by my less than explosive reaction - in a different time, I would have thrown a fit. That flash drive contained all my previous and current coursework, and some eBooks. I just shrugged the loss off, and moved on to other things that I needed to do - attend a company gathering, take the ferry home, have lunch with Joy, and visit my friend Jane and her two children.

Reminds me of things that happened about 3 weeks ago. Unknowingly I walked into a convention of doctors from the specialty I was supposed to be training in. One of my consultants, upon seeing me and hearing that I had a less-glamorous (but equal paying) job in a call center, remarked:

"Yan, si Carl, ayaw lang niyan ma-toxic."

I don't know why she had to say that. But I had better things to worry about than be self-conscious and ask myself if that was really a fair assessment of why I got out of Medicine in the first place. If she said that two years ago, I would have tried to talk to other consultants, fellow residents, and staff, and ask if that was also how they view me as a person. But now, it just came off as a joke.

Let it not be said that I am not worried about anything anymore.

Of course there was this absence that I needed to take. I was not able to go anywhere else because the Coast Guard canceled all ferry trips to Bacolod. I was worried sick that the absence I needed to take would mean the end of my chances for promotion. But aside from worrying about it, I had rightfully taken the initiative to inform my supervisors of the situation as early as possible. This lessened any impact that my absence might have had.

I guess that over time, I had learned to make allowances for the random thing that you least expect to happen. And not to lose sight of the forest for the trees, or something like that. I will not be able to restore most of the data from the flash drive, but I already submitted most of my coursework and the course guides are online anyway. I am also now more self-aware, and less dependent on external feedback to shape the decisions that I take.

I remember that when I was in high school, I had for my motto "Chance favors the prepared mind," quoting Louis Pasteur. I hope that when the right opportunities pass by, I would be prepared to seize them - not some blind, fatalistic "Carpe diem" mentality that you would regret later.

Save My Heart

2008-11-12T08:20:00.002+08:00

Nothing noteworthy to blog today, only that I am returning again to Bacolod after resting for two days. And I finished some coursework and submitted it.

Back to the grindstone, especially since most people are predicting a recession next year. That means I cannot afford to make costly career jumps without any guarantees in sight.

Dear blog reader, just play the video for "Save My Heart" below. It is a nice song, although I don't really care much for the anime where it came from.

Rolly Hits My Career

2008-11-09T01:24:00.003+08:00

Sometimes a storm hits and you cannot stop it at all - you just have to brace for impact and hope for the best.

Yesterday, Tropical Depression Rolly hit the Central Visayas Region. As a result, all ferry traffic to and from Iloilo City were cancelled.

Of course it was an unforeseen circumstance. I arrived at the pier only 90 minutes after the announcement - 3 trips were already permitted to set sail. Dozens of people were milling in and out of the waiting areas. Most went home after learning of the cancellation. I waited for an hour and a half just to make sure that this was not a fluke. Later, I called the shipping company and they said that there had been no ferry trips after the announcement was made.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not about to risk my life over a few hundred pesos - if the authorities banned ferry travel, so be it. I knew when I applied for this position that there was a small possibility of this happening.

However the repercussions from my absence would be damaging to the well-cultivated performance results I have so far achieved at work. It's just that reliability is so prized in the office, that I shudder to think about what will happen when I get back. The worst thing that could happen is that I would not be considered for a promotion for a long time.

And this story is not over yet. I was able to talk to one of the ferry's representatives while waiting at the pier. She said that if there was still a Storm Signal hoisted over Iloilo later, chances are that the Coast Guard will still cancel all trips for today. I hope not.

I guess the good thing would be the rest that this forced furlough has given me. Time to think and reevaluate things and see if there are some adjustments that need to be made. I never thought a career change would be this hard... no wonder most people elect to stay in a thankless job rather than take the risk.

Update: The Storm Signal has been lifted, and now I can go back to Bacolod and home to minimize the impact of my absence due to weather. Wish me luck.

Random Notes 20

2008-11-08T04:55:00.003+08:00

A Tropical Depression that was passing through Negros and Iloilo caused the cancellation of my ferry trip two days ago. It was warranted because the sudden torrential rain was not reassuring at all - later I found out that there was a small boat that capsized due to the strong waves.

Anyway, in a futile attempt to wait for the weather to clear up, I went to the nearest mall and watched the newest James Bond film Quantum of Solace. I have been a James Bond fan since GoldenEye, and Casino Royale was so good that I had to watch the next one when it came out in theaters. I was not disappointed.

Even as I was lacking sleep, I did not struggle to keep awake during the movie. It should be pointed out that the movie's story does not stand alone: in my opinion, you need to watch the previous movie in order to understand the backstory. It is still a solid, post-Bourne movie.

==

My computer has been fixed. I guess one bad memory module was enough to keep the computer from posting. That's one less thing to worry about.

I guess I have to keep my nose on the millstone for a little while longer, and hold the hope of working in a more accessible place alive. The trades you have to make while doing a career change.

In My Life Today 19

2008-10-31T19:44:00.002+08:00

A furious whirlwind of activity deterred me from making blog posts. As they are mostly work-related and are of no real value to the usual readers of this blog, I will not disclose them further.

Besides that, some aspects of my life have settled into some sort of normalcy. It would be a lot harder to rant about something nowadays.

That is not to say I don't like it. It may be too early to tell at this stage, but I could be on the verge of a major breakthrough here. I felt the same thing before major paradigm shifts - accelerated, accepted into medical school, shifted careers.

Oh right, the last one is not yet complete.

==

On a lark I checked out When I Grow Up by the Pussycat Dolls. Nice catchy song, with great dance moves that are easy on the eyes. And how ironic is it for me to consider what I want to be when I grow up? I guessed so too. But I'll pass on the boobies.

Overheard: Cheap Drug

2008-10-16T08:04:00.002+08:00

I was in the Ocean Jet waiting lounge 2 days ago when I overheard someone behind me giving his "medical advice". I did not look at him directly at first, but it was obvious that he was on his cellphone. He sounded very confident and convincing.

"I've heard that you're under the weather with a nagging cough?"

"If you want to be cured quickly, take doxycycline. Doxin is the brand name."

"Yes, it's cheap, only P2.00."

"You have to take it three times a day for five days."

"Yes, and if you need to be symptom-free quickly, take it with Bioflu."

I was amused and mildly outraged at the same time. I could not imagine an antibiotic used for the treatment of syphilis, chlamydia, and anthrax would be sold for P2.00. And even if he was a doctor (which I seriously doubt considering the accuracy of his advice), he would not be eager to prescribe a very potent antibiotic, over the phone, for what sounds like a simple respiratory tract infection.

His friend is going to be shocked when he gets to a drug store and asks for the "cheap drug" - a shock that might prove more painful than the flu.

Some Thoughts on Bad News

2008-09-30T06:33:00.003+08:00

Read the NY Times article here.

I wonder how all these new developments will affect the Philippine economy. While we are ably led by economists (including GMA), there is no denying that we will be affected more than most countries.

Healthcare should be a relatively recession-proof field, but then again you see people who places health lower down the priority chain because of dire circumstances. You already see it here in the Philippines.

There are a lot of Filipinos that work in the U.S. as doctors and nurses. What our countrymen should understand is that they too will be affected by the current downturn in the economy as the other person. And we are not immune to the effects on the problems of the financial markets - with our increasing dependence through our exports and outsourcing efforts.

I understand why mortgage-backed securities have contributed to the free fall on Wall Street. But less clear is the projected effect to the Philippines. And that is the uncertainty that makes me think about long-term career prospects.

Lest I be chided again for always talking about myself, it makes one wonder about the callers we will be receiving.

I might just be thinking about things too much these days. It's the fault of Bionic Commando Rearmed - I am stuck midpoint in the game. It might also be the long furlough I am having right now.

I will just comfort myself in the fact that I still have a job.

Reminiscing My Stay At OBAS

2008-09-28T02:06:00.002+08:00

Yesterday's Philippine Daily Inquirer contained a treat: A Youngblood article narrating a normal day at the Philippine General Hospital's OB Admitting Section.

Four years after graduating from UPCM, it's interesting to see how much things have remained the same.

My last duty as a clinical clerk was notable for it being particularly hellish. As "initiates" into the medical profession, we had to assist in more caesarian sections ("CS") so that the interns would be able to do more normal deliveries - in order to satisfy licensure requirements.

It was a Tuesday, and not a "high-risk" day (Mondays and Fridays are, because the Out Patient Department sends patients to the OBAS for delivery). But it sure felt like one. If my memory serves me right, we admitted close to 60 patients that day - with more than half for CS. The delivery team (which is separate from the admitting team, who draws blood, interviews and examines patients before they are wheeled in for labor monitoring and delivery) of 5 interns and 2 clerks had a field day. Each had at least 6 patients to their name. It was a relief that we had the good fortune of not running out of water or supplies at that time - we would endure shortages the next year.

Since it was our last day before our next rotation in Surgery, we were not able to attend the 7am roasting, I mean Endorsement sessions. I would just imagine how we would be able to present our complicated cases without complete data - because most of the time, we would be monitoring patients and assisting residents in the OR.

Yes friends, we had to keep a stash of vials, syringes, even IV fluids and catheters. Yes, our residents (well, later when the autoclave machine started breaking down and the wards were literally packed with patients) had to shell out thousands for laparotomy packs, antibiotics, and even surgical sutures.

I've had my share of patients who did not think of having a prenatal check-up, much less family planning. Patients as young as 15 giving birth. Patients who are on their 8th pregnancy.

My classmates and I had to endure this for 24 hours (or more, if your duty ends with a patient's progress of labor still not "resolved") without sleep or even food. Usually we have food delivered, and we try to sneak a bite when there is a break in the action - 30 minutes of free time is a luxury. At the end of it all, you go to the wards to finish paperwork after endorsements and rest, because after 2 days you'll go on duty again.

It was one of my bloodiest rotations ever. Literally. Universal Precautions for handling blood and other body fluids? The hospital does not even have enough sterile gloves - we have the patients' companions buy at least 3 pairs. And a lot of us have had blood spilled on our white uniforms and on our hands. Try drawing blood, inserting an IV line, and a urethral catheter within 10 minutes to a preeclamptic patient - a lot of things can happen.

We had a lot of students getting Hepatitis B exposure because in the rush of getting patients admitted, the patient is not able to disclose their Hepatitis B positive status. Imagine if you had an HIV-positive patient and you did not know about it until later.

These are the articles that parents and students contemplating to study in the UP College of Medicine have to read about. With Return Service Obligation, this would be a lifestyle that only the bravest could endure for 8 years or more. If you will make this decision, I salute you. Only because our ungrateful nation would not.

We are not heroes. We are helpless individuals caught in the middle.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

You Have Two Hours To Complete The Exam

2008-09-27T15:09:00.002+08:00

Yes, friends, after 21 years I am still taking exams.

I finished two Final Exams today for my coursework this semester. True to University of the Philippines standards, the exams were far from walks in the park. And since exams in the Open University are very few and far in between, I felt unsure of the outcome.

There were a lot of missteps recently: computer finally giving up after long years of dedicated service; not being able to study properly because of the acute need for rest; and I even lost my internet connection last night. The typhoon season did not help.

So when I arrived at the UP Visayas Campus to take my exams, I was on kamikaze mode. I remember the countless all-nighters that enabled me to pass (just barely) my exams in medical school. And I was kicking myself why I was not able to do that this time. Age getting the better of me this time?

Regardless of the outcome, I would still recommend the UPOU to my friends. I have learned a lot, and it is very convenient for people who want to get additional qualifications but do not have the time because of other priorities. The coursework is not a cakewalk - be prepared.

Random Notes 19

2008-09-19T10:43:00.003+08:00

My old computer broke down, leaving me with no place to study my C code, my assignments in PDF, and my ebooks. Good thing all my assignments were already finished, or I am toast.

That PC served me well for 7 years. Good thing I had recently upgraded - I brought this old PC with me to my apartment in Bacolod.

The coming second semester would be a different thing altogether. If it would be as computationally-intensive as the coursework during this semester, I would be forced to find a replacement.

All the more reason for me to work harder right now.

Random Notes 18

2008-09-10T02:33:00.000+08:00

Finals Week is nearing.

The last time I felt this scared, or unprepared, was four years ago.

But it's for the best. Lifelong learning - I need to go through this.

==

I've been using Google Chrome for some days now. It's stable, fast, and efficient - but not with its own quirks.

I'm using Official Build 1798m as you can see below:

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.13 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/0.2.149.29 Safari/525.13

and for some reason, it would not recognize the Blogger shortcuts - Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I etc.

But, overall just a minor quirk. I especially like it when the Javascript on Yahoo! Mail gets errors, and Chrome will only close down the Yahoo! Mail tab. On Firefox, it will slow down the entire browser, while on IE... heaven forbid!

If you're a tech noob like me, who has not made (or could not make) the change to a non-Windows OS yet, you can experience a less aggravating way to surf the web with Google Chrome.

I remember the old lady who complained about getting a constant "Internet Explorer has found an error and needs to close" error box, not allowing her to go anywhere - because the error comes up once IE7 is started up.

==

I am nearing my 180th day with my current employer, and so far so good. Barring some minor hiccups along the way, at this point I can say that this looks like a keeper.

Revisiting Project Albatross

2008-09-02T08:09:00.002+08:00

Some 18 or 19 years ago, I was still in Elementary School, with my days mostly spent playing videogames on my trusty old Family Computer, or at places called video game rental shops.

These places would not rent out the cartridges for you to bring home, but had TVs with Family Computers hooked up to them. You pay P10 to play for an hour there, from B-Wings to Rockman 2 to pirate multicarts. I relished being in school because it meant that I had lunch money to spend for an hour of play on games that I cannot buy (or borrow).

One of those games was Top Secret, known to the world as Bionic Commando.

The first time I saw the intro screen accompanied by a catchy military-inspired tune, I was hooked. As time went by, I had the chance to finally try the game. The bionic arm with the grappling gun was the bigger "hook" for me.

Who else can forget the applause track while the villain proclaims victory on a podium flanked by two massive Nazi banners? Of course it was not until later that I actually understood the game's plot, because back then we had Japanese versions of games, with the odd Back to the Future cart.

It was insanely difficult. No thanks to the Japanese text on the only version available at the time. Even when I prepared for 3 or 4 hour marathon sessions, I still would only manage to finish half of the map. Later, when technology allowed me to revisit the experience on my PC (through emulation), I was able to finish it with some tweaking.

So when I learned that they were remaking it for the PC, I had to get a copy.

Now I am having the familiar feeling of telling myself to give "just one more try" in finishing a stage.

Bionic Commando Rearmed is a worthy remake, and more. It bumped the difficulty level up a notch - seeing that they remade the boss levels, and changed Wiretapping to a 3D puzzle mini game. Most of all, they changed the physics for the grappling gun - it's more realistic, to a fault. I cannot chain-grapple as fast as I used to.

But notwithstanding that minor quibble, the sound and graphics are excellent. The theme for Area 1 has always been a favorite, and the updated version holds its own compared to the original. Areas have ditched their drab backgrounds (due to limitations of the NES) to more appropriately detailed backdrops.

GRIN has done a great job putting a new coat of paint on a 21 year old game. I wish they made more games like this again. I would recommend you try it especially if you share my preference for old-style 2D NES-style gaming.

Back After Technical Glitch

2008-08-24T02:51:00.002+08:00

I had a glitch on my computer, and it damaged my barely 2 month old SATA hard drive, along with weeks worth of downloaded torrent files.

I went home two weeks ago to find a computer that was not able to do its POST sequence. I only had the new setup for about 6 weeks so warranty still covered it; I was thinking that it was a problem with the motherboard.

The technician at Concept Computer said that some ants were able to get inside the hard drive. He did not find any problem with the motherboard, and assured me that he arrived at this conclusion by testing all the components of my PC separately. As for any data that can be recovered, he said that when he tries to access the hard drive, the system will either hang up or slow down tremendously.

Okay, I thought "NO POST" issues were motherboard-related. Anyhow my hard disk was replaced without charge so I can't complain.

I spent another evening reinstalling XP, Office 2007, Adobe Acrobat, Firefox 3.0, and uTorrent.

Now my HP 840c printer is not working, but I guess it's not directly related to the PC problem - I don't think the parallel connector is working correctly after 8 years of use.

Anyway, my PC problem was not the only glitch I went through. I am just amazed at how I am taking all these 'glitches' calmly - 3 years ago I would have blamed somebody, or I would have gone through the roof. Now I enjoyed the 3 PC-free weekends by playing my oft-neglected PS2, watching cable (instead of YouTube), and finally trying to understand some tricky concepts in the CMSC B course I am taking.

I may have also considered printing some comments here that were made by some person who has truly some time on his or her hands. They were supposed to be insults, but I find them funny. But not funny enough for print - so I deleted them instead. Joy told me that those people consider me important enough for them to allot time in posting comments anonymously. If that is the case, I am truly flattered.

In My Life Today 18

2008-08-04T04:26:00.002+08:00

I never thought I would be kept so preoccupied by life. All of my other activities has lessened my blog output.

The career change is going well, thank you very much. And it is a great conversation starter too.

I had an extended vacation this week because I had to take an exam. It was so hard, and rightfully so because I studied so little - a bad habit from Med School. Good thing that I dabbled in some Java during the past year. The similarity to C syntax came in handy with code completion questions.

At work, I'm getting the hang of things. But I'm not complacent enough to be content in my current position - and this coming August would be the final month of judgment before regularization. I am hoping for the best still to come after some missed opportunities last week.

In my e-mail inbox, I saw a thread that had this initial post:

[clinic details] is in need of a part time/on-call MD (max of 3 days per week) MD preferably on T/Th/F only (office hours only).

Compensation:PhP 800/day plus 10% incentive on hands on procedures done.

The poster did not realize that she hit a nerve with our colleagues, who (like me) have felt shortchanged. Some comments:

I hope we doctors stop shortchanging ourselves & do not accept such small fees. The problem with most of us is that we are content in accepting this type of sum when we deserve & have to demand for a higher compensation.

Pati professional fees natin binabarat at tayo naman nagpapabarat din. Palagay ko it is time for us to set a ceiling for our fees na hindi naman tayo kawawa.
xxx
I do hope we could work together to give ourselves the dignity we deserve having studied and labored long for what we though would give us a better life.
xxx
We give services and the money they pay us can not be commensurate to our services because we help them back to health.which is priceless.
i hope we can all help ourselves by joining hands and asking and giving what we deserve and what our patients/clients deserve.

xxx
i think we must stop that practice na ang patient pag pumunta sa clinic hindi prepared to pay the service we render,im not saying na maging mukhang pera na tayo im just explaining na we should be honest to them na we also deserve a payment when we give our service kasi pag mga wala namang sakit nakaka afford naman silang kunyari manood ng cine or mag karoon ng mobile phone bakit pagdating sa doktor wala silang pera?

Echoes of my post last year. Same old, same old. I guess some things really never change.

Random Notes 17

2008-07-20T13:53:00.002+08:00

Haven't posted in a while, maybe because I haven't kept myself updated with The Blog Rounds.

While poking around the torrent sites for anything noteworthy, I found this: Final Fantasy XII UNDUB Version. I will presume that you know something about Final Fantasy so that you can understand the rest of this post.

When I first played the game last year(in-between jobs), I logged about 80 hours on it until my memory card decided to corrupt the save file. I was able to finish the game already and was trying to complete all the clan quests (Damn you Yiazmat!) It was one of those games that I could not put the controller down for at least 2 hours each session.

The English version already has superb voice acting, don't get me wrong. But for people like me who have been exposed to subbed anime, like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, the original Japanese seiyuu is still the best.

So for three weekends in a row, I had to wait to download 2.2 GB from a poorly seeded torrent, with a less than desirable internet connection.

And the wait was well worth it. I tried playing off a LV99 save file I downloaded from the internet, and it was refreshing to see how the original developers intended the game to be. And it reinforces the fact that Final Fantasy XII remains great no matter what language you play it in.

It's just my luck that I have work 5 days a week, without access to a PS2... guess I need to store the DVD somewhere so I can play it during weekends. Hehe.

Smart Quietly Kills Off Addict Mobile And My Cellphone Number

2008-07-13T06:14:00.004+08:00

I have been an Addict Mobile subscriber for 5 years.

My cellphone was recently stolen so I had to ask for a replacement SIM card. On my first visit, Smart promised me that they will be requesting a new SIM card as the SM Bacolod office had none available.

Ten days later, they asked me if I wanted to get a Smart Gold SIM card instead so that my service would be restored earlier. But there was a catch - I would not be able to retain my old cellphone number.

The reason was that Addict Mobile uses a different type of SIM card (well, I would think that it's the same, only encoded differently) and there was a NATIONWIDE shortage of the cards. To their credit, they offered to write to other Wireless Centers to see if they had any spare cards.

I told them calmly that I would be arranging this in Iloilo City instead, after they assured me that there would be a bill adjustment for the time period that I was not able to use my postpaid plan.

I thought about it, and when I checked it, I realized that Addict Mobile is not even in the main Smart home page anymore.

Addict Mobile was much hyped a few years ago - an edgier, sexier service that had (for a time) a different set of available handsets, and an emphasis on GPRS and 3G.

Today, if you lose your Addict Mobile SIM card, or in the very likely event that it would be damaged, Smart cannot replace it. And if you need to have your service restored, Smart will have to give you a Smart Gold SIM with a new cellphone number.

I am presuming that Smart is quietly killing off Addict Mobile. This decision makes sense - Addict Mobile does not fit its new redesigned logo scheme.

Did Smart publicize the discontinuation of their Addict Mobile service? I have my latest bill here, and it still has an Addict Mobile logo on it.

And even if they did, would it be that hard to retain my old mobile phone number?

The main selling point for shifting to a postpaid plan from prepaid was that if you lose your SIM, you can get a replacement SIM with the same number. If my experience is any indication, you better stick to a prepaid SIM card.

==

Postscript: I went to the Smart Wireless Center at SM City Iloilo. There I was assisted by a wonderful Customer Care Officer named Jeanette. She told me that, yes, they're having problems with the availability of the Addict SIM card. It was sheer luck that there were a couple of SIM cards available (apparently requested by another subscriber) and that I get to keep my number after all. Jeanette, if you're reading this, thank you for being professional and efficient.

Notwithstanding this lucky event, I am still keeping the original post intact. Addict Mobile is being relegated to the shadows.

And I have yet to test the replacement SIM card.

Typhoon Frank versus Kalibo

2008-06-30T03:08:00.003+08:00

More videos on the recent Typhoon Frank that hit Kalibo:

Just talked to my best friend Mark. Still no water and power in Kalibo, and mud is everywhere. Candles are reportedly selling for a ridiculous P60 each, and rice is being sold at double the normal price of P38-42/kilo... if you can find a store, that is. These should tell you that Kalibo urgently needs help.

Random Notes 16

2008-06-29T12:20:00.003+08:00

Haven't blogged about the devastation that Typhoon Frank brought to Panay Island. Even now, you see mud everywhere. One week after the typhoon, Kalibo still has a lot of problems.

YouTube video of mud-soaked Kalibo. You can hear the motorcycle driving through thick mud.

And right here in Iloilo, the roads are still coated with a thick film of caked mud that gets into your lungs every time you inhale.

Devastation in Jaro. Please don't mind the music - I did not upload this video.

I'm just grateful that our house was spared from being overrun by water. But a lot of people I know have had their houses damaged by the flooding.

(Here are some more pictures from Kalibo - the mud says it all. It takes someone like Mar Roxas to point to a wall and show how high the water rose.)
==

I just submitted my first assignment for one of my subjects under the UP Open University, and I hope that I would get a respectable grade. Keeping a regular study time is really daunting especially since I have yet to receive a Course Guide for my other subject. And it's the subject that I don't really understand well - Logic.
==

This month has been a struggle for me. Joy started her 2-month elective in PGH. I had to transfer to a new apartment because the old one was just too constricting, and I did not want to continue "breaking in" (actually, opening a window and getting in akyat bahay style) just to get some sleep. I have begun seeing what it is like on the production floor, and I seem to be the one of the few that follow the English Only Policy. I am also a little bit taken aback with the added load of study from UPOU, especially since it is not as structured and requires an available internet connection (at least, I think I need one).

But I've been through worse. Hope that this is part of an upward trend.

How Grey's Anatomy Changed My Life

2008-06-13T06:03:00.002+08:00

Partly because of Grey's Anatomy, I decided to take another look at my chosen profession.

Where do they get the time to do all those things?

I remember when I was a Surgical Resident in a government hospital. The normal day for me was 36 hours in the hospital, then 12 hours for myself. Repeat ad infinitum.

When love found its way, I forced myself to allocate time to my burgeoning relationship. Then I got sick, and I made the decision to leave. No one is going to take care of me as I take care of patients, so that did not make sense.

Fast forward to my next residency position in Emergency Medicine. Again in a government hospital, where the normal workweek would require me to be in the hospital for more than 120 hours. It was uncommon for me to handle 4 to 8 emergent patients at a time during my duty, and that meant doing everything for these patients - from taking the medical history, giving emergency treatment, formulating a treatment plan, doing procedures, and even inserting tubes and catheters. All by myself.

I wasn't aware that I would be leaving when I stumbled on Grey's Anatomy and began to watch it in the hospital dormitory. As I continued watching, it all felt surreal. Doctors in a pristine hospital, without breaking a sweat, unhurriedly treating patients.

This is wrong, I thought. All the frustration that built up during my every day ordeal in an unforgiving government hospital was finally brought to fore. Through the unbelievably perfect scenarios, I began to process these and came to the conclusion that maybe this is not for me.

When I finished the first season on DVD, other events fell into place and I had to leave again.

Now, when I get to watch it on TV (I don't follow it as religiously as I did the first season), I don't feel any overwhelming feeling of disbelief. I can now comfortably accept the events as fiction.

So I partly attribute my hiatus from Medicine to Grey's Anatomy. Thank you Shonda Rhimes for creating such a masterful way for me to reexamine my priorities in life, and to accept nothing less than Seattle Grace Hospital as an ideal place to train.

Random Notes 15

2008-06-08T07:12:00.002+08:00

Recently, I've been so busy that I haven't been able to join The Blog Rounds and post my sometimes caustic thoughts.

Sorry about that.

Today, I'm supposed to be at work, but here I am waiting for the local Mercury Drug store to open so I can buy some medicine.

During times like these, I find myself contemplating about going back and donning the white coat once again. This time, I even searched for ways on how to place a survey here so I can get the handful of readers to give me their feedback.

But the decision will still have to be made, ultimately, by me. And no survey can change that.

If You've Walked In My Shoes

2008-05-26T09:51:00.006+08:00

I'm commemorating my Florsheim shoes today. After wearing them for 6 or 7 years (I've lost track), the soles finally gave out and I have to replace the soles.

Since I don't have a nice salary yet, I will defer buying a new set of shoes until I have paid most of my credit card debt. My Dad offered to pay for it, but I've already leeched off my parents for 27 years, and I have to start being financially independent soon.

Sorry for the image quality. This is a close up of the frayed sole. Actually, they gave out three weeks ago but I glued them with cyanoacrylate. I'm so cheap.

This is a closeup of the heels. They are gradually chipping off. How sad.

The insole should have some support gel. My size 13 feet managed to wear out the plastic covering the gel and I had to remove them.

I have a hard time finding shoes in my size. This pair was given to me by my Tita who is a nurse in New York while I was still in medical school. They have served me well during internship, residency in 2 hospitals, and 2 call centers. I am not about to give up on them yet.

If only these shoes could speak... they will tell you far more than what is written here in my blog.

Random Notes 14

2008-05-26T07:46:00.002+08:00

I'm typing this post before I cross to Bacolod again.

This press release reassured me that I made the right decision.

I have been very busy, with overtime, looking for a new place to stay, a large credit card bill, and the upcoming start of classes for this semester. Oh well, it would be so boring if I didn't have all these things to worry about. Hehe.

Right now, I am hoping that I have made the correct bets. Even though these investments would not pay off until much later, I am counting on them. Not necessarily in an exact numerical way, but in a more metaphorical way that will finally lessen the stress for a young person like myself to establish a good enough career to support a family.

Now I'm rambling.

Why I Have Two Bold Letters After My Family Name

2008-05-17T16:17:00.001+08:00

I'm a medical doctor.

It is in large part because I passed a quick-entry program. My family was understandably ecstatic, and vowed to give me full support. As for myself, I did not have exact career plans at that point in my life, so I took the plunge knowing that my parents would support me.

It is a direct result of the efforts of my parents. Even though I spent a lot less than most medical graduates, I still spent a lot of money getting through medical school. And the ridiculous amounts of money were a big factor in my requests to shift midway in my medical course. My dad reassured me that we were not going hungry yet, and by God's grace I finished without any big financial storms (to my knowledge).

I am the first doctor in the family, and my sister followed me to the same path (but only up to the point of getting licensed). This fact puts into perspective my parents' love affair with the medical profession, as the noblest and most lucrative. Later would we find out that the lucrative part would come much later, if at all.

I have not started my own family yet, because it is so expensive to live comfortably during these times of economic hardship. Seeing a lot of poor patients who live a hand to mouth existence will make anyone think twice about setting out of the nest. Those two letters do not mean much in society anymore, thanks in part to the low regard for health care as a priority.

We did not experience the typical extended Filipino family scene. For the most part, we were independently living miles away from a second degree relative. This instilled independence into each of us, as well as giving importance to the priorities of the nuclear family unit. Simply put, we would care only on what we needed to care about - perceptions from other people come much later. Medicine did not change that. It only intensified the fact that at the end of the day, you can only run to your closest friends and family for genuine support.

Today I work 40 hours a week taking phone calls in a new building, surrounded with the latest equipment and a nifty ID entry system. I commute every week on the ferry just to go home and create all these blog posts. Do my parents mind? I remember what my dad always said - "Just set your career on the direction you want to take." My mom, after I had explained that I would be getting roughly the same salary for half the work, is hoping that this would just be a passing fancy, and I would return to don my white coat again. But they both respect me enough as a human being to give me free rein on my career choices, just as long as I can defend them with logic.

Being a doctor is something that I can never disown. And I will never regret becoming one. But my family and I realize that to remain one would still require so much from us, even though at this point we have already paid a lot. So even though it would require some major retooling of my skill set, I have asked my parents to support me towards a more technology-heavy career. I am thankful that my family continues to be there as I look for a more suitable path that I can take.

Anatomy of a Mentor

2008-05-10T21:32:00.003+08:00

I had a lot of great mentors when I was in medical school, and each of them would warrant at least one post here. Medicine truly is the noblest of all professions, and most teachers of this great art do so because of an overpowering sense of responsibility.

Let me tell you about one of my favorites - Dr. Noel Guison.

I was under his tutelage for two years. The reason would be obvious once you have known everything about my storied medical school experience.

He was a professional academic. It would be apparent at first glance that he prepares for his lectures meticulously. Too bad that the subject matter was, in itself, sleep-inducing; to this day, I have yet to see an Anatomy book that could not bring me to sleep.

Technology is a big component of his knowledge delivery system. I was impressed by the quality of his slideshows. I was more impressed by the computer lab and how he and other teachers would try to use technology to augment our knowledge from dissection.

He is very approachable, but he still maintains a proper distance that distinguishes him from his students. This is a tricky thing to do - most would create barriers that alienate most of their students; the opposite would be to hang out with them as buddies. It is doubly important for teachers, in any field or endeavor, to still remember the spirit of delicadeza nowadays especially since we hear about it less and less.

Continuing that line of thinking, he has impeccable integrity above all. Even when I was in a better position to talk to him, he emphasized that beyond everything else, my numerical performance in exams would be the sole determinant of my final grade. He would frown on the practice of some unscrupulous teachers to hold review classes only to a select few on the fallacious premise of glory for all.

I hope that in the future, all teachers would think about integrity first.

Citation Mode

2008-05-04T16:18:00.003+08:00

Having spent a lot of time in doctors' clinics and hospitals, I was quite surprised the first time I saw doctors as people - drinking, smoking, enjoying life as much as any normal person would. It was during medical school when I realized that doctors are people too.

I remember getting a glimpse of our family doctor on my way home from elementary school. He was playing mahjong. Needless to say, he was smoking and he sounded far from the mild-mannered doctor that I knew him to be.

In medical school I saw that doctors are not any different from the ordinary person. Having an M.D. does not place you on a moral high ground, nor does it enable you to preach.

As a patient, I tried to rationalize if the doctor's advice is doable and practical. For the most part, it is. I brought this line of thinking when I had the credentials to sit on the opposite side of the table - will I be able to follow my own advice?

If I'm not able to follow my own advice, I don't use the authoritative tone that we are expected to utilize in "educating" (or, more appropriately, scaring) our patients. I change into citation mode.

Citation mode is a trick I learned from one of my senior residents when I was still a clinical clerk. You should at least try to vaguely cite a valid scientific reason for the drastic lifestyle change you are proposing to your patient.

For instance, I am no stranger to alcohol (but I do drink only on occasion). Normally, it would be hard for me to chide a patient for having a habitual drinking problem. Doubly hard if the patient knows me personally and have seen me drink at one such occasion. Citation mode would require me to pull up some facts about the chronic effects of alcohol, translate them into layman's terms, and tell the patient those converted facts. It works for me, educates your patient instead of scaring them, and places your treatment relationship into a realm of increased trust and cooperation.

The citation mode would work for you too. I still practice it, even if I am limited to the usual complaints of upper respiratory tract infections and sleep disorders in my new workplace.

I think that this approach of slightly depersonalizing your medical advice by supporting it with fact or current scientific information is the solution to the dilemma of doctors not being able to "practice what they preach". Educating and empowering your patient is the new paradigm for medical care in this era of multiple information sources. No longer is the doctor the "master of the ship" - doctor and patient should look at their relationship as a partnership with shared trust and responsibility.

Computer Not Booting 2

2008-05-04T01:07:00.002+08:00

For details of my previous experience with the computer not booting, click here.

In the Philippines, you can't rely on technical support when it comes to computers.

Let me clarify that. If you build your own PC, you are technical support.

Yesterday when I went home from Bacolod, I turned on the PC like I usually do and started downloading a file. I then leave the PC on so that I can do other things, like sleep, take a bath, and eat.

I left to have lunch with my girlfriend Joy, eating most of the rice we ordered (good for 4-5 people!) and most of the oysters.

When I returned home, I was surprised to see a BSOD that told me:

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA (See information here)

What the hell?! Looking at the problem component, I saw that it was eamon.sys. It was a surprise to find out that it was a component of the NOD32 antivirus I was running, and I ruled that out as a problem. I was leaning more on the suspicion that my memory modules were giving me a problem, so I reseated them.

My PC then booted... and then, no output on video.

My suspicions were confirmed just a few minutes ago when I took out my less than a year old Tornado GeForce FX5500 (yeah Mark, I have an old PC, I haven't had the money to upgrade to PCI-X yet...) and replaced it with my more than 5 years old Geforce MX100/200 32MB video card.

What a way to remind me to upgrade my PC to something more... functional.

Random Notes 13

2008-04-27T10:03:00.002+08:00

It's weird when you do get an inquiry on why, all of a sudden, my blog became less random.

To answer your question, PhD student Michelle P, I have been submitting posts to The Blog Rounds. (Read the introductory post by Brod Remo A. here.) I admit that it's easier to follow a preset theme than going out and posting a random facet of your ongoing life. Especially since you can't post everything that's going on in your life.

Unless you are someone like this person whose blog I was able to read before she took it down. Did my comments hurt?

==

I'm not sure if it's a good thing, but during one of my ferry trips on the reliable Ocean Jet (Iloilo-Bacolod), we were made to watch the first hour of 8mm.

Kind of amusing since there were scenes that previewed S&M, bondage, and snuff. Nice viewing for some families going home after a Boracay vacation. They should have showed Kung Fu Hustle instead.

No Choice

2008-04-27T09:35:00.002+08:00

I was asked to make a post about why I am still in the Philippines when most of my medical school classmates are already finishing their training in the U.S. (read it here)

To quote:

Why are YOU still in the Philippines?

This post's title does not mince any words.

I mean, if I had the choice to name my citizenship, or where I live... but I don't have a choice.

I have learned to love certain aspects of living in the Philippines, but they alone do not make the argument compelling enough.

Like how cheap things are.

And my friends, family and girlfriend Joy are here in the Philippines.

And I am a PRC-licensed physician.

And Boracay, Kalibo, and Iloilo are great places to visit and settle.

There are more arguments against staying in the Philippines. Just a sampling:

Doctors and nurses insensitive enough to make light of an embarrassing situation WHILE being filmed. I am sure that worse things have happened in government hospitals - I've been there.

High society life exposed by a foreigner as filled with excessive partying, and total lack of social sensitivity, while the price of rice steadily climbs up making life more miserable for the majority.

An inept government content with maintaining the status quo, because they are the status quo.

Crab mentality.

Taking credit for something that was done by another person, and ironically disowning the same person when he makes a mistake.

A total lack of well-placed national pride. Being proud because of what Manny Pacquiao has achieved is a shallow demonstration of national pride, prone to politics and forgotten in 20 years.

I could go on and on.

Some people would react - those problems are not unique to the Philippines. I agree.

But bear in mind that there are a lot of countries that are more fervent in their nationalism, more transparent in individual and group dealings, etc., etc.

Let's just say that there is more integrity in some countries. Why can't we strive towards increasing integrity in everything that we do?

Staying here in the Philippines is not a choice for the suffering majority. We owe it to them to make their stay here a little more tolerable, by living with integrity.

Summers Spent Studying

2008-04-14T04:03:00.003+08:00

For someone not particularly fond of studying, I have spent some summers hitting the books for one reason or another.

Ten years ago, out of curiosity, I accompanied my childhood best friend and enrolled (without the State University's knowledge) in 2 classes at the Garcia College of Technology. The remaining proof is a piece of paper certifying that I took classes in Psychology and Calculus, and a clearance slip. I had a good time in GCT.

Seven years ago, I along with about 25% of the medical school class I was in had a 4.0 in Pathology. That meant we had to pass a Removal Exam in order to proceed to the third year. While I was no stranger to a 4.0 grade (LOL!), most of those in that unfortunate class were. Don't get me wrong - Pathology is a hard subject because it needed to be hard. So the "morbidity rate" was understandably high.

Going back to me having experienced this before, I was scared out of my wits. Especially since the standard Robbins book made me sleep, without fail, after a few pages of reading. I'm not particularly proud of what I did, but it worked - I got a shorter, more concise book, and read it about 2 and a half times (up to the point that I fell asleep while holding it). I ditched my class lecture transcriptions, about 6 inches' thick.

Even as all that was happening, I was praying that if I did not pass, certainly I did not deserve to continue medical school. When I was overwhelmed from all that studying, I made up alternative plans during a worst-case scenario. Obviously you now know what came out of all that. ;)

Four years ago, I spent most of the summer studying, right after finishing internship. I did not have the best study program - it was more of being spooked by the ghost of Anatomy past. We prepared our papers to apply for the Licensure Exam two months away, and I remember lugging around that large book just to sneak a page read or two. I even brought the damn thing to Boracay, where the newly graduated brods and sisses were given accommodations for about a week in exchange for a tuli mission.

I eventually spent three weeks to complete a single run through of that book. Not recommended - although I did get a high score on my Anatomy subject (at the expense of the other subjects, hahaha!). I also did a lot of praying when summer ended, because the good intention of focusing on a single problematic subject hurt my general study plan, and I ended up cramming and barely passing the boards.

During my clinical years, I did a lot of studying during the summer, too. Just before clerkship six years ago, I was of a few people that elected to take their electives during the summer break. At that time, I was aiming to get into a good residency program, so I took an early clinical elective in Urology. I had to study because the subspecialty required it, and also because I had to understand what the hell I was doing there in the first place. Good thing the residents treated me well, and I learned a lot of things about the real world of Surgery months before I was even supposed to rotate in Surgery.

Five years ago, I started my internship in the largest university based tertiary government hospital in the Philippines. My first rotation was in the Internal Medicine wards. Coming to the hospital at 3AM and going home at 11PM to make sure the ward census was updated - now, that builds character. Cramming 15 minutes before Rounds, because you were the admitting team the night before and your service of three interns had 24 new patients - that builds courage. My experiences during that time can fill a book. And boy did I study, not really for learning, but for fear of going back and repeating the ward rotation if you didn't.

During my two stints as a resident, I also did a lot of studying - if I was able to keep myself awake during my free time. If I had free time, that is. In between keeping tabs on all your patients, doing scutwork, and supervising medical students, you still need to study. "Of course, because you are in a training program" is the predictable, and correct, reply. There is much to be desired when it comes to conduciveness to academic learning within residency training programs, however.

How ironic it is, that I am again studying during this year's summer. Later today, I will be taking a ferry ride and learn about something else - under the auspices of my new employer. Let's just say that it is closer to what I like doing, and this is one of the very few times that I am actually excited to learn something.

I won't be surprised that I would be studying again during the summer in the near future.

Lifetime of learning, indeed.

How Does Bubbleman Face Being Sick?

2008-04-06T07:42:00.003+08:00

Bubbleman as patient has had a long storied case file. I've encountered more doctors, before and after medical school, than the average Filipino.

And, for me, it seems that the most stress-free way to face being sick is to distance your professional self and leave the decision making to another colleague.

I remember last year when I had my cholecystectomy. I presented with vague abdominal pain with fever, and no other GI symptoms. My first instinct was to take antacids. When that didn't work, I sought the opinion of another doctor - my girlfriend Joy - who then considered Typhoid Fever. When the tests and initial treatment failed to confirm the presumptive diagnosis, I went to my former colleagues in Surgery to be examined. An ultrasound showed a greatly swollen gallbladder with no stone; I was operated on the next afternoon.

In another time, one of my many doctors and I were faced with evidence of a nagging illness. The proof was so powerful that there were no other alternatives for a diagnosis.

In both cases, I could have been a difficult patient and bore some of the responsibility of decision making myself. I could have engaged colleagues in a protracted debate, ordered additional tests myself, and tacked on medications for my own personal benefit.

But it was so relaxing to be taken care for once.

We also receive more information than the average patient, and alternatives are presented to us at an earlier time. I would understand that if these details were relayed to those with minimal or no medical training (patient information on the web not included), it would take a very long time to explain everything. I repeat, a VERY long time to explain.

I reciprocate this transparency with an unqualified faith in my doctor's ability to treat me. I fully know that if this faith is violated in any way, I can gently seek another opinion from a different colleague, thus effectively sharing the burden of treating me.

On Choices

2008-03-31T02:20:00.002+08:00

I am always asked why I am not practicing medicine.

I find it funny to frame the question within the context of the inquisitor. For fellow doctors, especially those I have worked with, they see it as a loss of talent. Not because I am such a superb doctor, (although of course the reason for leaving medicine is not because I messed up and killed a patient!) but because the acute lack of doctors require that I work as one, in any capacity.

Officemates would ask me why I decided to leave such a lucrative profession, seeing that their family doctor owns two houses, two cars, and sends his children to the most expensive exclusive school in the city.

Usually when I am asked this question, I qualify the context and respond accordingly. I would say that I have tried to contribute by going to residency, not once, but twice. I would also say that there are only a few doctors that have hit it big and that it would take a longer time (and a lot of sacrifice) for new graduates to earn their keep.

Those are the simple, let's-move-on-to-the-next-topic answers. In reality, this blog has been a running account of my second attempt to enter and remain in residency training, as well as my first job in a call center, and now my new job in one of America's Most Admired Companies (for eight years straight).

Our journey in life is all about choices. I have never seen the need to crystallize my journey so far in terms of what was the penultimate choice that made it so. Because it is so unpredictable that I have yet to see the journey completed halfway to be sure of my destination.

Three years ago, I would still be asleep, too exhausted to blog about my experiences as a surgical resident. I wouldn't know that I would get sick, go back to my alma mater, get sick again, and land a job at a call center. If I knew then that I would be making a career change, I wouldn't have wasted time and went to an IT school right after passing the medical boards.

Now, I am waiting for the result of my application to the UP Open University, to be able to study while working in a better environment. I honestly can't tell you where my next "checkpoint" would be.

I am guided by Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford University Commencement Address:

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

I can only hope that when I do connect the dots looking backwards, they will make sense.

My Bacolod Trip

2008-03-30T12:46:00.011+08:00

This is the first of many long trips to Bacolod City. This is also the predominant reason why I won't be able to post many things at will. There is also a Non-Disclosure Agreement where I am a party to. This time, it's real. (See my old blog post here where I talk about a non-existent NDA)

Circle Inn Hotel in Bacolod - nice accommodations, and the Front Desk ladies never seem to run out of smiles.

Bob's in SM City Bacolod. The reason why I took the shot while on an escalator is that I didn't want to look like a crazed idiot taking pictures of their main facade. Without permission.

They say that you haven't been to Bacolod if you haven't eaten at Bob's. When Joy and I came here last December, she made it a point to come to the Bob's outlet near Riverside Medical Center.

Giant Cheeseburger and French Fries at Bob's. Pure beef. Reminds me of Brothers Burger.

And, for a chuckle, see these pictures of my seatmate on the ferry home. If anybody knows this person, tell her that she's had her fifteen minutes of fame here in my blog.

That ends my photo gallery of my Bacolod trip. I hope you enjoy the pictures. I'm now officially part of Convergys Bacolod. Here is a picture of my new office's lobby:

In My Life Today 17

2008-03-23T05:28:00.002+08:00

Haven't had the chance to update my blog.

I could have taken The Talented Mr. Montano route and replied to all the Letters from Callbox and Las Vegas.

Instead, I've gotten myself busy. I can't tell you about what's keeping me busy right now, but hopefully it's better than doing without thinking.

For my friends there at Callbox Sales and Marketing Solutions, I have no personal problems with you. My only hope is that you transcend the limitations there and grow professionally, instead of being stifled by...

Then again, never mind. You're all adults; try Googling "callbox sales and marketing solutions" and see what comes up.

==

During the interim, enjoy this video from YMCK. Makes you want to dust off that Family Computer and play those old cartridges.

Get the MP3 version of the song here.

==

I'll just post some pictures upon my return.

Letter from... Las Vegas?

2008-03-13T04:11:00.004+08:00

From the inspired email address blank@blank.com, I get a comment on Letters From Callbox telling me this:

Good thing you approved those comments Carl. For
readers to know who you really are........It's
so lonely being you....Hayyyyyyyyyyyy. Cry,
cry, cry.....

Reader, you do the math. Click on the images to view a bigger version.

Image 1:

Image 2. Note the IP address on the lower left hand side of the screen, as well as the time stamp.

Image 3. Note the IP address, Time of Visit, Last Page View, Visit Length (!!), and, most revealingly, the Out Click URL, which is actually spelled out as http://www.haloscan.com/comments/carlshark1/3856713315239294971/

It's so frickin' obvious!! rom@cyberjava.com

As with the previous post, I could comment a lot about those posts, but I'll leave the reader to form his own conclusions. I mean, 48 minutes on my blog is even more than the time I spend on it myself.

I'm flattered. Especially since my blog is on Page 1 for Google search on "callbox sales and marketing solutions". I didn't even need to do "proper SEO" for that.

Edit: A+Hosting replies below:

Letters From Callbox

2008-03-11T04:57:00.005+08:00

I'm sure that these comments came from my old workplace, Callbox Sales and Marketing Solutions (look at both IP addresses below, click the thumbnail above for a screenshot). I will approve both comments, and I leave it to the reader to form his own comments.

From Quotes For The Day:

From DOCTOR CARL DEMETRIA (mailto:carl@jfdkfkkdf.com)

You know why you're doing this????Because YOU ARE A LONELY PERSON! YOU ARE NOT HAPPY. I really2 pity you Carl. Everyone around you is complaining, because you are so different! You're weird! you are stupid! A satisfied person won't do anything like this...this is what you call: BITTERNESS, Stupid! People, ever wonder why Carl is not operating in the OR? or practicing whatever his specialty is? Why he is not in any hospital in the city? Because he is an-ineffective, moronic, ugly, gay!!!!!Such a disgrace. All doctors should be proud of themselves....except Carl of course...Studied 8 years in college, and worked where???? That's a sign of ineffectiveness! You're not a real doctor! you're a farce! a disgrace! an embarrassment! Do you realize that???and guess what? I won't even let you operate my dog. L-U-N-A-T-I-C!!! INSANE!

03.10.08 - 11:09 am
IP: 125.5.144.90

From SendStudio NX Keygen Source:

From anonymous (mailto:noemail@nodomain.com)

Have you got any proof? Have you heard of the word "defamation" before?

03.10.08 - 10:42 am
IP: 125.5.144.90

Thanks For Visiting

2008-03-10T14:35:00.004+08:00

It was nice for my old friends at Callbox Sales and Marketing Solutions to finally look at my rather amateurish blog.

Evident from the screen capture above (click image to enlarge) is the fact that I had seven visits from metamorfose.ph, which is actually the domain assigned to the office IP used for Internet browsing. So thanks for visiting my humble corner in cyberspace. As you can see from my older posts, I have not blogged about work, not even the complete name of my workplace. But now as I have ~~been forced to~~ resigned (rather than accept a humiliating fate) from Callbox Sales and Marketing Solutions, I can freely blog about my experiences, maybe post a few emails from my files perhaps?

Anyway, I know that you "Callboxers" don't have Friendster access, so I'll let you in on a little tidbit.

Our friend Tony B. left me a curious comment:

* Tony
* Posted 03/6/2008 12:05 pm
* this guy's so smart, even his boss can't stand him. you know what i mean (lol)... send my regards to my friends at *toot*. keep in touch my friend.

Hey, that's just an assumption Tony, that I've been accepted to TeleTech. While it is an open secret that I have applied to the "Fastest Growing BPO Company" along with dozens of other "Callboxers", I am actually one of the few that have not received a call yet.

But, yes, I shall convey your regards to our friends there across the river.

And as for the remark about being smart, well, if I was so smart then why am I out of a job? Which brings us to a philosophical quandary: what is more important to succeed in life? Intelligence? Or other, more superficial qualities?

==

Anyway, there are others who have been visiting my blog. I wouldn't be surprised if someone is now inquiring from Callbox Sales and Marketing Solutions about their SendStudio NX installation keys that are definitely less costly than those from Interspire (as detailed in my previous blog post). You can email Ann Dicen or call her using any number on their website.

==

Edit: The full court press continues. Edited post accordingly.

SendStudio NX Keygen Source

2008-03-08T06:33:00.004+08:00

Disclaimer: I am not working for this company anymore. I am not privy to where they host the new keygen, (and I'm damn sure it's not in the internet), but you can contact my old company for information. And, no, I am not working for anyone right now, let alone Eversun.

Interspire's SendStudio NX email marketing software, which costs $279 for a 5 user license, has now been successfully cracked by a team at Callbox Sales and Marketing Solutions.

How do I know? I knew how this happened when I was still with that company. I know as well as you do (those readers who have not been reading by accident) that you need to supply Interspire with the domain that you would be using SendStudio NX on. That is because the license key is generated with the domain as one of its parameters, and the SendStudio NX code checks against the domain where it is hosted before it can perform some of its functions, e.g. generate and send emails, reports, etc.

Somewhere in the PHP code of SendStudio NX, I made some random, amateurish changes so that the code would not ask for the license key. Of course, my rudimentary knowledge of programming coupled with some luck made the code output the key it was using to decode the license key and compare if it matches the hosting domain. I told more knowledgeable people about this and they made a key generator out of the output.

The first one did not work so well, and my guess is because we had only one license to work with. Before I resigned from Callbox, because I knew they were going to acquire another license, I suggested in an email that we can generate a better working keygen with another license key on our hands.

By this time, I know that they have been able to do it. Of course, if they are able to install it over some other domains with multiple users then the cost savings could easily pay for the salary they paid me during my time there. *wink, wink*

So there you have it. You can contact them at their website. I'm sure you'll get the same operator no matter which number you call, so better call using VOIP. Look for Ann Dicen. I'm sure you can get a nice discount for your own keys (compared to the Interspire price). Maybe they'll be nice enough to help with installation for a fee.

Mac vs. PC - Home Movie

2008-03-07T20:58:00.002+08:00

This is so funny, I had to blog about it - the US and Japanese versions of Mac vs. PC. I agree, the "home movies" from the Mac in both ads were "professional-looking". Enjoy!

US:

Japan:

Blast From The Past

2008-03-06T22:10:00.002+08:00

I'm out of ideas right now, sleeping all day. But I can't seem to get this out of my system. Damn, gotta get me a pair of those pants!

Deluge Fails To Dampen Spirits

2008-03-03T17:05:00.002+08:00

March 3, 2008

A sudden torrential downpour has failed to diminish a local man's enthusiasm for life.

Dr. Carl Demetria, who just resigned from Callbox Sales and Marketing Solutions, was soaked wet during the late afternoon rain today.

When interviewed about how he felt, he said that he couldn't be more happier.

"I would have wanted a gentle rain, but since I was going home anyway, I didn't mind a quick shower and a change of clothes."

He noted that it was unusual for such a downpour at this time of year.

"I really think that this should have happened last August, or even October. March being close to the summer months does not have this kind of rain."

He also did not find it ironic that it suddenly rained during his last day at the office. "Is it a sign? Well, I hope that a silver lining is behind all those clouds of gloom."

"I'm still optimistic about how my life is going. I hope that this is just a temporary patch that I am going through."

Nothing Could Be More Real Than This

2008-03-03T04:09:00.000+08:00

Quotes for the Day

2008-03-03T03:49:00.003+08:00

These come from George Orwell's classic novel 1984. I will leave comments to the reader.

Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself.

The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. Everything else we shall destroy— everything.

You are a difficult case. But don't give up hope. Everyone is cured sooner or later. In the end we shall shoot you.

Yes, I Am

2008-03-01T11:25:00.002+08:00

After nearly 8 months of slowly being introduced to, and eventually realizing, the real story behind the scenes, I sent this to my friends yesterday afternoon.

Thank you for the memories.

It is unfortunate that I have to leave. I hope you understand that sometimes if you are dealt a bad hand, you have to cut your losses and quit while you're ahead.

I don't know what I'll be doing next. I did learn a lot, mostly on my own initiative, in my close to 8 months here at *******. So it's not a total loss for me.

Drop me a line here (email - Carl), read my blog, or look for me in Friendster or LinkedIn.

No hard feelings - I wouldn't mail you if I did.

I remain.
Carl

I guess my journey never ends... I feel a little like Ryu, which brings me to the imminent release of Street Fighter IV in arcades.

Sudden, Rushed and Dizzying

2008-02-29T04:32:00.002+08:00

I didn't realize I wrote practically the same set of adjectives in one sentence. Well, all none the worse for wear.

Anyway, as I have frowned upon blogging details on my workplace, preferring instead to cloak them in vague statements, I will not tell you what is happening to me right now.

I can only say that, man, I'm getting used to being rushed into workplace-related decisions - this is the second time that I was placed in the unenviable position of being in limbo.

Well, my friend Mark used to tell me, you always get what you need. I once doubted the soundness of that statement, but now I'm beginning to think otherwise. Maybe I really need to reevaluate my current position.

My girlfriend Joy would rather have me return to being a physician, or as I prefer to call it, "doctoring". I'm seriously thinking about it now.

I guess that in the final analysis, the first one to influence the decision maker wins, regardless of the argument's supporting facts. Especially if it is a compelling kind of influence.

I can hear my brods now jeering, "We hate to say we told you so." Hey, I didn't know that I only am suited in a certain kind of corporate culture, granted that it exists in some form.

For those of you that are fond of taking hints: no, I don't hate the company I am working for, or else I wouldn't have spent 7 months of my life working there in the first place, being absent only once.

It's rather unfortunate that if you break down people's notion of utopia as being their current status, and present an ideal model as the "real" utopia, these people rather than feeling betrayed would rail against the paradigm shift.

More Than Just Numbers

2008-02-25T08:44:00.004+08:00

Yesterday, in one of the broadsheets, there was this nice, predominantly green full page ad from the only outsourcing firm that was able to build 12 sites around the country.

It then exhorts the reader to "Join [them] as [they] grow to 25,000".

If only it was that easy.

Edit: This post did not intend to disparage the company in any way, but only to reflect the slow process for non-agents to be able to join and contribute to the company's growth.

Wine Get!

2008-02-23T05:57:00.002+08:00

## Validating control scripts.
## Packaging complete.
## Building pkgmap from package prototype file.
## Processing pkginfo file.
WARNING: missing directory entry for
WARNING: parameter set to "solarisOnGabranth20080223054506"
## Attempting to volumize 20 entries in pkgmap.
part 1 -- 25456 blocks, 96 entries
## Packaging one part.
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/pkgmap
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/pkginfo
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/install/copyright
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/reloc/share/src/SFEwine-0.9.50/SOURCES/default-copyright.txt
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/reloc/share/src/SFEwine-0.9.50/SOURCES/wine-0.9.50.tar.bz2
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/reloc/share/src/SFEwine-0.9.50/SOURCES/wine-01-nameconfict.diff
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/reloc/share/src/SFEwine-0.9.50/SOURCES/wine-02-configure.diff
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/reloc/share/src/SFEwine-0.9.50/SOURCES/wine-03-shell.diff
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/reloc/share/src/SFEwine-0.9.50/SOURCES/wine-04-winegcc.diff
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/reloc/share/src/SFEwine-0.9.50/SOURCES/wine-05-add-wine_list.h_includes.diff
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/reloc/share/src/SFEwine-0.9.50/SOURCES/wine-06-change_functions_structs_named_list_asterisk.sh.diff
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/reloc/share/src/SFEwine-0.9.50/SPECS/..pkgbuild
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/reloc/share/src/SFEwine-0.9.50/SPECS/SFEwine.spec
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/reloc/share/src/SFEwine-0.9.50/SPECS/Solaris.inc
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/reloc/share/src/SFEwine-0.9.50/SPECS/base.inc
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/reloc/share/src/SFEwine-0.9.50/SPECS/default-depend.inc
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/reloc/share/src/SFEwine-0.9.50/SPECS/options.inc
/export/home/carl/packages/SPKGS/SFEwine-src/reloc/share/src/SFEwine-0.9.50/SPECS/prod.inc
## Validating control scripts.
## Packaging complete.
Executing(%clean): /bin/bash /var/tmp/pkgbuild-carl/pkgbuild-tmp-14.28412
+ umask 022
+ uname -a
SunOS solarisOnGabranth 5.11 snv_79a i86pc i386 i86pc Solaris
+ cd /export/home/carl/packages/BUILD
+ cd wine-0.9.50
+ rm -rf /var/tmp/pkgbuild-carl/SFEwine-0.9.50-build
+ exit 0
^C
bash-3.2$ tail -f SFEwine.log
pkgbuild: + exit 0
--- command output ends --- finished at Sat Feb 23 05:45:09 PHT 2008

INFO: pkgbuild -ba finished at Sat Feb 23 05:45:09 PHT 2008

INFO: SFEwine PASSED
INFO: Installing SFEwine
INFO: Installing SFEwine-devel
--- log ends --- Sat Feb 23 05:45:26 PHT 2008

How did I finally do it?

First, I followed everything here: spec-files-extra

Then, after much trial and error (mainly not being able to compile SFEgcc or use the SunStudio C compiler for the SFEwine source), I got the Blastwave gcc3 compiler package and edited the SFEwine spec file as follows:

export CC=/opt/csw/gcc3/bin/gcc

I'll try installing some apps later to see how it goes.

My Newest Obsession

2008-02-22T20:06:00.002+08:00

I am vulnerable to new fads, and the newest one is to append "Fail" to statements that illustrate this nicest of all them words.

And as most of my links (well, a significant few) have lost their activity, I have dared to add a blog that collects pictures that illustrate "Fail" beautifully. As Hillary Clinton have said, "Actions speak louder than words." (In comparing herself to her Obama-wonderful rival.)

Update:

Executing(%build): /bin/bash /var/tmp/pkgbuild-carl/pkgbuild-tmp-2.18874
+ umask 022
+ uname -a
SunOS solarisOnGabranth 5.11 snv_79a i86pc i386 i86pc Solaris
+ cd /export/home/carl/packages/BUILD
+ cd wine-0.9.50
++ /usr/sbin/psrinfo
++ grep on-line
++ wc -l
++ tr -d ' '
+ CPUS=1
+ test x1 = x -o 1 = 0
+ X11LIB='-L/usr/X11/lib -R/usr/X11/lib'
+ SFWLIB='-L/usr/SFW/lib -R/usr/SFW/lib'
+ GNULIB='-L/usr/gnu/lib -R/usr/gnu/lib'
+ export 'ACLOCAL_FLAGS=-I /usr/share/aclocal'
+ ACLOCAL_FLAGS='-I /usr/share/aclocal'
+ export CC=/usr/gnu/bin/gcc
+ CC=/usr/gnu/bin/gcc
+ export 'CPPFLAGS=-I/usr/X11/include -I/usr/gnu/include -I/usr/gnu/include/ncurses -I/usr/sfw/include'
+ CPPFLAGS='-I/usr/X11/include -I/usr/gnu/include -I/usr/gnu/include/ncurses -I/usr/sfw/include'
+ export 'CFLAGS=-O4 -fno-omit-frame-pointer -fpic -Dpic'
+ CFLAGS='-O4 -fno-omit-frame-pointer -fpic -Dpic'
+ export 'LDFLAGS=-L/usr/X11/lib -R/usr/X11/lib -L/usr/gnu/lib -R/usr/gnu/lib -L/usr/SFW/lib -R/usr/SFW/lib'
+ LDFLAGS='-L/usr/X11/lib -R/usr/X11/lib -L/usr/gnu/lib -R/usr/gnu/lib -L/usr/SFW/lib -R/usr/SFW/lib'
+ export LD=/usr/ccs/bin/ld
+ LD=/usr/ccs/bin/ld
+ ./configure --prefix=/usr --bindir=/usr/bin --mandir=/usr/share/man --libdir=/usr/lib --datadir=/usr/share --libexecdir=/usr/lib --sysconfdir=/etc --enable-shared --disable-static
checking build system type... i386-pc-solaris2.11
checking host system type... i386-pc-solaris2.11
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking for gcc... /usr/gnu/bin/gcc
checking for C compiler default output file name...
configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables
See `config.log' for more details.
Bad exit status from /var/tmp/pkgbuild-carl/pkgbuild-tmp-2.18874 (%build)

FAIL.

At Home, Compiling Again

2008-02-22T19:42:00.002+08:00

I didn't know that I needed GCC to be able to compile Wine.

I didn't know that I was apparently being alluded to as a "learned man". Ooookay. George Bernard Shaw, 1903. Ironic to resort to such a Socialist view in light of the circumstances.

I didn't know a lot of things until recently.

What I do know, and am sure of, is that I do not claim to know everything.

What I do know, and am sure of, is that I do not hide my disdain for lack of transparency in processes, when it is necessary.

What I do know, and am sure of, is that I will continue to champion for the cause of integrity, when it is needed.

For My Current Visitor

2008-02-21T03:04:00.003+08:00

I'm sure that there is a logical explanation on why this IP address:

91.186.27.#

keeps on showing up in my SiteMeter.

For the last 36 hours, using my trusty report from SiteMeter, more than half of my web traffic came from just one IP.

I don't know if you're using the same proxy, or something else... and I don't mind the increase in traffic. But to disappoint you, I don't have any custom logos that may trigger a Cave Cricket incident [insert Hare Hare Yukai dance here].

It's just interesting, that's all.

Back to making OpenArena work full screen...

Time Flies While Watching Errors

2008-02-20T11:47:00.002+08:00

I woke up today at 2AM and began the tedious task of installing new software on my PC. I had to reinstall CBE because I pointed to a wrong directory during my first install.

Top didn't want to compile no matter what fix I tried to do. Gnochm made me realize that there were required packages, and that they had to be manually downloaded and compiled too.

Deluge wouldn't install. Azureus wouldn't download. Good thing that on the third try, Transmission compiled perfectly.

Tried to begin assembling required components for OpenArena, and what did you know? It was 5AM already.

Time flies when you're having fun watching error logs on two terminal instances, plus active edits on spec files in a text editor.

At Home, Compiling

2008-02-20T02:11:00.002+08:00

Who would have thought a year ago that I would be at home, running SPEC files to compile and install programs on my Solaris partition?

I was about to be disappointed again as the most recent Solaris release still didn't have something like Fedora's yum for software. I didn't know the first thing about how to compile from source... well, I do now, but it's still a pain to figure out - and I am only comfortable with Java sources.

But anyway, I was looking for a way to run Wine on Solaris, so I can at least retain some Windows functionality without resorting to XP again. I then found out that there was this wonderful thing called SFE, which you can see here, that would require some hand-wringing on my part before I can compile open source modules using the specifications. I had to download the JDS Common Build Environment and run it several times before realizing that one of the packages that is specified in its install script, SUNWsmbaS, is not required anymore.

Lesson: when prompted to install all required packages, answer "no" and install everything except SUNWsmbaS (found in the Solaris 11 install DVD) - one by one.

Now I have downloaded and compiled putty and unrar on my machine. Tried top, twice, before giving up - it's not a dependency problem like deluge, which I am trying to resolve right now.

Who would have thought?

But if a torrent client like Deluge would take me more than 30 minutes to install, I guess I have to allot some time for downloading and compiling from source. OpenArena, here I come!

Random Notes 12

2008-02-17T14:49:00.002+08:00

I just installed the most recent version of Solaris, SXDE 1/08. It was good that I blogged about my install problems before, so I didn't have to recall the fix I made for my Ethernet to work.

You might think that I should have done an update instead of doing a full reinstall. I did try to upgrade my installation, but I couldn't get past the login screen afterwards. Maybe a configuration problem with GNOME; Blastwave uses the vanilla flavor of GNOME and I can imagine that it doesn't really have all the tweaks that the Java Desktop System has.

==

Joy and I had a pre-Valentine's Day dinner at Mango Tree. It was great - nice food, great atmosphere, and the award-winning mango crepe capped off a wonderful evening. Too bad I had to go to work right afterwards. Damn night shift!

We also found a new place to have a classy dinner, the Vienna Kaffeehaus at Robinsons' Place Iloilo. A little bit expensive, but well worth it. They really do have quality offerings there; one of those nice steaks are enough for lunch and dinner combined.

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After six weeks and a lot of complaints, I am being returned to the day shift starting tomorrow. I did not really find the night shift as exciting as Amy would have me believe. My circadian rhythm was messed up big time, I wasn't able to watch all my favorite shows on cable, and I saw all the power players during the night shift that made me think twice about my workplace.

Damage done. Watch out for more.

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Well, I think that's it for now. I'll wait until I'm able to finish my xchm and mplayer downloads to retain some functionality on my PC.