Pip Boy 2005

PM Files

2006-01-27T07:06:00.000+08:00

PM Files

* all these files are in ppt format. no zips, no exes. somebody attached virii to the files in the other server so i am moving them to another server.

mcnurin1
mcnurin2
mcnurin3
mcnurin4

estrat
km
erp
crm

$100 laptop

2005-12-10T12:00:00.000+08:00

heard about the $100 laptops from MIT? current specs are at a 500mhz processor, 1 gb of hard drive. it's got wi-fi and this baby runs on linux. it has a built-in battery and a crank-wheel - in case you run out of battery, just turn it and *voila!* you've got power again.

it will be first released to the poor countries out there. talk about preferential option for the poor eh? it will be available at a $100 on bulk incentives from governments and will be sold as $200 for the general public.

a lot of debate has been raised over such issus at /.

whether it's worth it or not. heh. some say it's a waste of money because it's not powerful enough. in response, some say, 'who cares, it works and will do everything i need it to do anyway'

if it runs as it is touted to run, linux + simple office productivity apps + web, i'd want to have one for myself too. never mind the slogan that it's for the poor. as part of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program, and me being a child at heart, i am entitled to one! besides, the neon green skin will make me the coolest slime on the block.

yeah, but mind you that i don't need one. i just want one. i'd just like to have another linux box to play around with at a minimum cost. and with all those usb ports, adding peripherals won't be such a problem. swoooooosh can do everything that i need it to do.

details of the hundred dollar laptop project can be found here.

when there's a will, there's a way

2005-11-19T22:12:00.000+08:00

i sat in at an ITM 124 class today. the course is about business strategy and ICT. the class is led by raul and ed rodriguez. brothers in arms with different expertise but of similar depth in experience and common sense.

i don't care if SOM prohibited MIS students from entering the class. if pipboy wants it, pipboy gets it. it might have been a simple introductory class but the promise of things to come from the two professors have already excited me. when either of them talks, logic magically appears where there was none. it's been a while since i've last brushed shoulders with the big boys. today is a happy day because i got to see great people in action.

we had two cases today and several pointers on case analysis. there'll be more in the coming weeks. from sir raul, we'll be tackling corporate cases. from sir ed, there'll be public sector cases. the course, btw, is designed to veer away from too many IT terms. the focus is on the management aspect of doing business. this would have been a great supplement to our staple MIS courses. although i wouldn't recommend the class just to anyone. there are a lot of readings and a lot of on the spot analysis. that goes without saying if you have an MBA professor with 17 years of experience under the belt and another one with 22 years of corporate experience.

in those two cases, we looked at how and why dot-coms flourished or failed. quick bits to end this blog:

Focus on the business part of the phrase e-business. the fundamentals of doing business haven't changed
Pace the speed of your business. you don't have to jump right away at every twist and turn of technology's progress
E-business cannot replace everything. There are still benefits in traditional modes of doing business. However, the lifestyles of people are changing which should prompt us to adopt properly
We need strong top-to-bottom management for business to be competitive
Businesses are not entirely logical. They are also behavioral. For instance, we can't expect all customers to make logical decisions. We have to factor in their values when creating a product.

While most of these are common sense for some, the way they were applied in examples particular to the current situation of the Philippines is not. Despite the dismal outlook of doing business in the Philippines, the two professors are able to come up with business ideas that are applicable and profitable. If there's something i want to pick up in this class, it would be the ability to pick up a niche in any business environment and figure out how to work on it as they have shown quickly and easily this morning.

goodbye p3-733

2005-11-12T07:02:00.000+08:00

after seven and a half good years, it's time to say good-bye to my p3-733.

the symptoms showed early last week. my friend accidentally kicked my box and it reset. How odd. maybe something went loose.

but it kept running well, so, scrap that thought.

a day or two after the incidient, i added a 128mb stick of ram to bump up the workspace numbers to 650mb. however, lazy me left the tower lying down like a desktop. i thought, hey, there shouldn't be anything wrong letting my tower lie down like this. i left it like that for three days running and downloading.

and then one faithful morning, it wouldn't allow me to get into m$ windows xp. i have sp2, btw. at first, i thought that it was a virus. a virus? impossible! i had a whole slew of applications and firewalls to detect known and heuristically detect threats. but, as a security person, i only know that i'm just lying to myself. hehe. the most secure system is one that is locked up in a safe box and thrown in the middle of the pacific ocean. atlantic, if you're from the west. a virus, after a few seconds of reflection, became possible. it was just discomforting that the last virus that ruined my life was when i was in grade school. exactly ten years ago.

so, i tried getting into safe mode. voila! i got in. and ran some antivirus tests. at the middle of the tests, the computer just restarted!

figuring it was now a real virus, i tried again. but now, even before i get to load my os, the computer kept restarting itself.

bless msi for their DLED. they are the blinking lights which tell you what part of the boot sequence they are initiating at the moment. so even if you don't have any output on your monitor, the DLED will show you the way.

so, with a pre-os hang-up, it no longer had to get into my os to hang! i also tried smelling the insides, nope, there was nothing cooking.

i think it's a hardware failure.

so i started taking stuff out.

i took out my dial-up modem. since it was there for aesthetic and sentimental purposes only. no luck.

i took out my extra network interface card. still no luck.

i changed the cmos battery. for a while, i thought i had solved the problem... and true enough, it was for a while.

i took out the optical disks. nope.

i took out the new ram. i didn't think it would be the culprit. but if the three sticks ( i had two 256 kingston sticks and the new one was a 128 twinmos stick) weren't compatible, it should have said so from bootup of day one's ram surgery. so i played around by leaving only one of the
three sticks in rotation. no good

i bought a new and branded power supply from pcx (curse you, villman!). it turns out my Php750 (or $13-$15) investment wasn't needed at all.

and finally, i got to the hardest part. the only thing that i was in denial of from the start. the hard disks. the hard disks couldn't be dead! no! that was 120 gb of data (excluding os files)! i just finished organizing them and renaming them for backup and guess what! no, they couldn't be broken. losing the 40gb disk was alright. man, ibm hard disks are tough. this disk is around 6 years old. my oldest hd alive is a 4gb ibm hd. and i can't remember how old it is. hehehe. it's even 5400rpm. it was only worth 15gb of download. a good two weeks worth ONLY. but if i lost my bigger hard drive (which i call batman), i'd be devastated.

so, at first i took them out. ang guess the freaking what! there were ant eggs! yes, ant eggs! the little white ones on the hard disk!crap! this is the second time this has happened to me. although i was able to recover the first time, the first time didn't make my computer reboot like crazy. i
dusted them out and waited a few days for them to "hatch" and get out my virtual real estate.

after a few days no luck.

i tried booting with robin - he's the 40gb ibm workhorse drive. no luck.

and i didn't want to try batman because he's just about data.

without the hard disks, i plugged in linux live cds into my desktop. dsl and knoppix. damn. they worked. could it be the hard drive? could it be? nooooooooooooo!

after a day of playing dota on my laptop, i got ticked and tried to fix my computer's desktop. the fact that batman was still in warranty wasn't enough to console me. my bro's comp
has been out of commission for the past year or so. i plugged in robin... and it worked! i ran some antivirus tests and they finished well! so, my hard disk and software was alive! i plugged in some of my peripherals from p3 - the lan card, ram and of course, batman.

and to my utter delight, it works! i still have to put the hard disks into the proper casing though. i was just so excited to make it run.

the errors that i had on my p3 was a stop error which resulted from paging an out of bound memory location. what caused this, i am still not sure. but like a good CSI, i am on the culprit's tail.

right now, i'm just happy to have my hard disk well and running. but i have a lot to do for next sem so i better organize stuff fast.

my temporary rig:

110% student

2005-11-11T09:57:00.000+08:00

next sem will be a blockbuster semester for me... i'll be a regular student!

normal academic load (no more overloading for fun)
no sidelines for me (i promise to do everything i can to refer all incoming jobs to other people)
few organizations (yep, no more new commitments for the meantime. i think 3 orgs are enough for my last semester)

so that i'll have lots of time to spare! no more late-nights to finish non-academic deliverables... just plain late-night academic oil burning. something to make sure that i get to do the following :

study like a regular student
exercise and make sweet love with the jogging oval over at the high school
do stuff without pressure (and sadly, without pay)
get ready for the senior syndrome and that blue roast moment (hahaha)

this will be exciting. the last time i was a normal student was when i was a freshman in college.

when i got into ateneo, i couldn't believe the college topics were going to be easy. so i supplemented it with real world work. something to put the theories into application. i'm not bashing ateneo or saying the curriculum sucked - but it was necessary for me to if i wanted a good career like my parents. too many are already studying harder than me. i'm not going to swim with the current. allow me to go against the current please.

i also wanted to prove that you could get good grades while having fun. that life was not just about reading books and getting only one mistake per exam. i wanted to show the possibility of work mixing with play (and sometimes pay). hehe, and i almost proved it. no longer running for honors, my averaged grade just got a bit shy of getting that extra medal on march. but no regrets, i learned a lot and met a lot of great people along the way. great people who have helped me more than i have helped them. it's funny what zig ziglar said:

in order to get what you want, you should help others get what they want.

for people who want high grades, you should make sure your groupmates get high grades - which means performing at your peak all the time. for people who want to be successful in business, it means being fair to your partners - making sure you compensate your suppliers well enough for them to grow and serve you better. something like that.

hehe, can't wait until monday!

philo of religion - debater mode (there is no better intellectual massage)
history - favorite subject after math (because life is about tradition)
3D modelling - yeah, because i like models. (lol)
decision support systems - to be or not to be?
theo - there is a God
project management - i was born for this

azureus nat issue

2005-10-29T09:43:00.000+08:00

to fix the nat problem of azureus behind a router, enable port-forwarding from your router towards the azureus client with the correct ports that azureus is listening for.

apache 2 troubleshooting

2005-10-28T21:59:00.000+08:00

if apache 2 doesn't work on your windows machine, check out these things:

- no other web server is running and listening on the same apache port
- is the service installed? go to the command prompt and :

C:\program files\apache group\apache\apache -k install

this will bring it up in the services console. [ control panel / administrative ... / services ]

- from then on, you can run the apache monitor to start the web server

open source

2005-10-28T21:05:00.000+08:00

the sembreak has seen me invest a lot of time into open-source technologies. not that i haven't done any commercial development, but i'd say that i spend 80% of my time lately acquainting myself with the particulars of linux.

i'm talking about ubuntu's breezy in particular. i've been reviewing how to configure linux and have recently enabled interaction between my windows workgroup. it's not something that big, but it's a start. hehe. the unknown keeps me busy during such times of stasis and i couldn't be any happier. i'm thinking of permanently porting my laptop operations to linux for my last semester of school. i wonder how fun that would be...

next week's line-up (in no particular order):

cron and at
wine
iptables
vnc
ssh
ftp, scp and telnet

Monad

2005-10-24T21:46:00.000+08:00

after so many years, microsoft has suddenly realized that the need for a command prompt will never disappear. throughout the past decade or so, microsoft has been pushing people away from the prompt and into it's gui. people who wanted a shell were given an emulated dos command prompt - a far cry from the real terminal prompt employed by linux operating systems. unfortunately, there really is something about the black screen and gray blinking cursor that is so much better than GUI-enabled system configuration that system administrators cannot explain.

in a few months time (where few is quite relative), microsoft will be releasing a more feature-packed development environment. one of the cool stuff included in the package is Monad - "an interactive command-line and task-based scripting technology." i wouldn't call it a glorified DOS because it is anything but a mere DOS prompt. it's supposedly a place where everything can be administered ala linux-style. it's got database support, .NET programming capability, programmable logic (iteration, selection, repetition), powerful output formatting, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

this is turning out to be exciting. i've recently migrated two of my computers into Linux - CentOS and Ubuntu for a Desktop and my Laptop, respectively. i got WinXP dual-booted in both of them - in case of a fragfest emergency. lol. i was thinking of shifting my primary OSes into open-source OSes. but no, microsoft does something that makes me think twice about sparing a 15GB partition for them M$ OS. so there. 15 GB of my HD real estate just for M$ OS. For the meantime, i'll plop a Server 2K3 until i get a hold on to vista. until then, this crazy laboratory of mine will have no rest.

java vs php

2005-10-20T09:46:00.000+08:00

PHP Succeeding where Java isnt

once you start comparing different fruits on the same bowl - exalting one at the expense of the other - please proceed with caution.

yeah, PHP can be simpler than Java - but that's pure preference. people have built careers and institutions around the two. who's to say which is better? both of them work - it's all about using what works well for your business. different fruits, different vitamins, same bowl.

while PHP development can be straightforward and simple, Java web applications offers scalability over a bigger system architecture that PHP is not yet capable of doing. (or at least i am not yet capable of doing)

imho, PHP works well with small and medium-sized enterprises in terms of the investment's rate of return. developing web sites and web applications on PHP is cheaper than having it done in Java, especially more so with the ever-growing number of PHP developers. however, i think J2EE still does the job better for providing solutions to big enterprises.

as with IT, it's all about using the right tool in your SDLC. don't use a concrete mixer to scramble eggs. it's just not right.

first day of sem break

2005-10-16T15:35:00.000+08:00

failed the trend micro competition due to mismanagement. i learned this time around that no matter how good one is, you can only do so much in a given amount of time. one has to be smart in choosing which projects to be part of. do the projects add value to the current skill set of the person? what is the probability that the skill to be learned from such undertaking will be useful in the future?

one has to be smart in choosing which projects add value to the company. focus on your core competencies and expand slowly but surely. just look at steve jobs. the macs. pixar. ipod. what's next? one thing at a time.

starting today, i hope to finish an alpha version within two or three days of my own task scheduler. something like what google desktop has. actually, the end product will be an approximation of google desktop and i'm calling it pip's desktop. hehe. google desktop is great but it leaves some stuff to ask for. so i'm inspired by google.

...

of course not, i wouldn't steal code from others. that would be unethical.

...

prototype (done so far) :

programming language used : c#
storage method : m$ access database
design pattern : none. everything is in one big class.
can: accept tasks with names, priority levels, primitive categorization and date due

alpha (to do):

interface for online version (PHP) and mobile devices (J2ME, PPC)
additional storage capability for MySQL, XML, CSVs
java version
MVC model : separation of presentation and application layers

finished product:

an application that will allow you to track your schedule wherever you go. yep, it's a glorfied pen and paper checklist. using various technologies, i would like to learn designing different systems and how they can interact with each other.

p and g

2005-10-07T23:10:00.000+08:00

whoah, it's been a while. i've been quite busy with academic work.

attended the procter and gamble leadership forum at the manila peninsula.

i'd say it was successful - the forum was able to clearly and explicitly explain how one can fare with a career at p&g. after the talks by the six functional representatives, who were heads by themselves, i'd like to focus on three things that i picked up.

1. complacency - can't be too complacent. the moment you say you're the best. you'll deteriorate then die. never lose enthusiasm.

2. results - it's s great to have plans. but in the end, they're only as good as its implementation. likewise, great ideas are useful in as much as they are communicated.

3. synergy - if you can surround yourself with the best people, you cannot but excel in such environment.

there were a lot of other common sense topics discussed, but i think these reiterate some of the for granted perspectives in doing business or in self-development.

reflecting on the night...

how should one feel when you hear, "you are in this room because you are the best among the 1,000 top students of the top 3 universities in the philippines" how should you feel? great? happy? flattered? how about if you know that most of your batchmates weren't there because they had other academic stuff to attend to? that the best, or others who are better than you are just out there, unable to come? shouldn't it go like "you are in this room because you are the best among the 1,000 top students of the top 3 universities in the philippines that was able to attend?"

hmm...

but then again, i was able to get there fair and square. in business, it's not who deserves it. it's who takes the opportunity to. it's not about who has the best product in town. it's about which product will most satisfy the needs of the customer anytime, anywhere, anyhow.

let me then try to satisfy you while others take care of other things.

how many ways can an atomic bomb kill you?

2005-09-25T19:27:00.000+08:00

watched two documentaries about the bombings of japan (hiroshima and nagasaki) during the world war two. even though the event was several decades ago, i couldn't help feeling bad seeing the destruction and loss of lives.

so how many ways can an a-bomb kill you?

anyone in the blast area or ground zero will be vaporized or carbonized
supersonic shockwaves coming from ground zero will fling you off walls like you were nothing but paper doll, breaking your bones that take care of your internal organs
radioactive gamma rays, that can pass through walls, will attack the cells of the human body
people beyond the blast site will be skinned literally by the scorching heat and radioactive shockwaves

and let's not forget:

buildings collapsing on you
fire burning people trapped in the buildings
shrapnel from glass, wood and concrete blasted by the shockwaves
if you are unlucky enough to be alive after getting caught in the blast, you'd be very thirsty. drinking water will trigger a breakdown in your internal organs. but of course, you didn't know that. so you'd drink any kind of water you'd find. if you can't find one and if you're lucky enough, there will be rain and you'd be thankful enough to drink it. unfortunately, rain water from a nuclear bomb site is radioactive and therefore, poisonous
stress
mental breakdown
loss of natural resources necessary for industrial competitiveness

anything else that i'm forgetting?

so what's the relevance of such blog?

if there were an a-bomb dropped in your country or working residence and you were lucky enough to survive, would you still be in business? how important is your business or profession to your customer?

it's always good to build on dreams based from the present. but your business has to be able to take anything in the future. while running a business requires a strategic view of the future, it will also require a realistic day-to-day perspective on operations. will your business be able to handle an atomic bomb in the future?

is it an unrealistic question? then i think a more appropriate question would be: would you be able to go back to business if the whole competitive playing field was levelled down to the ground? if the market suffered a massive breakdown and underwent a grassroots revolution on the supply and demand chain, would your company still be needed? would the customers really go for you given the multitude of choices and other companies out there?

for those starting up, is your business or career really needed? can you get into a business that will be needed?

the future is unpredictable, but you can play the present smartly so that the risks in the future are limited. no risk, no gain? well, at some point, it's all part of the game. where to invest one's resources has never really been an easy question.

the three Ls to success

2005-09-23T13:56:00.000+08:00

as far as merchandising industries go, the three most important things are : location, location and most of all, location. at least in the philippines, where your products or services are marketed will largely determine the success of your business.

it doesn't mean anything in the philippines if you have the best product or the highest quality of service if it's not f***king conveniently accessible to your customers. i added freaking because of how the Filipino market thinks. your outlet might be at the same row of high profile outlets. but if yours is at the end of the alley, you better give your customers a very good reason to walk the extra distance to your shop.

you have to be branded, cost-efficient, giving them value for their money, differentiated for them to spend those benjamins or tito-vic-and-joey thousands on your shop. so, if your advertising and marketing boys can't convince the people that they are getting such from your products through your ad campaigns, you'd have to do it the honest and the primitive way.

so how does the Filipno market think? in general (there's my escape clause, now i can rant as much as i want), Filipinos are lazy. they wouldn't be caught dead walking if they can avoid walking. they'd rather have the public utility vehicles (jeeps, tricycles) stop at the gates of their house rather than walk the distance.

with everybody wanting their service customized to meet their needs, efficiency is lost. the businesses that should push the market are being pulled by the market's whim and desires. and i don't see any businesses changing their tactic any time soon - lapdancing for the customer is where the money is. if some businesses do say "enough of this lapdancing, your demands are inappropriate to the whole economic picture," other businesses would just be willing enough to take their place and even add some belly-dancing to boot.

as such, lapdancing for your customers - er, i mean, the location of your products is one of the determinants of business success.

digging even deeper into the concept, there are other location considerations that you need to factor in for your business. for instance, where your factory or warehouses are located can also determine the profitability of your endeavors since your operational expenses will be determined by the good transportation fees, the labor fees of your workers, city taxes, etc.

in the end, business profitability is just about keeping yourself very busy or busy enough at an optimized level. it's positioning your product at a location where there will be a traffic of customers [keep your revenues high] or fixing your production line so that every peso or dollar spent counts [keep your costs low].

break

2005-09-21T14:54:00.000+08:00

we all need a break. we all need rest from the constant toiling. we all need to relax from the constant stress. and what better way to spend a break when you're doing that one thing that you'd love to do?

in my case, it's running. nothing beats running. nothing beats pounding the ground with your body and releasing all the stress back to the world. nothing beats sweating at the cold of dawn. nothing beats the sound of my jacket swishing and swooshing as i sway my arms to balance my footwork. nothing beats a good break from a long period of stasis.

but when you've been doing nothing but relaxing when you should be working, when you've been bumming your ass when you should have been moving about, then one still needs a break - a different kind of break that is - you need to break a leg.

one of the reasons i was not able to update this side of the blogging coin was due to too much relaxation. a note from one of my teachers the other day woke me up to the situation. yep. i should be working. it's good - no, it's great - to play and have fun. but there's a time and place for everything. with the end of the semester fast approaching, it is definitely not the time to play.

-=+=-

i wonder what would have happened if i took the p&g test? hmm... another what if in life brought to you by r-jay.

anyways, i don't see myself in p&g. it's not the type of company that could exploit my potential. i'd rather give it to someone more deserving. how about you? what kind of company would you like to be in?

i will not be part of a losing team

2005-09-19T19:14:00.000+08:00

heard that from my father and i've adopted it through the years.

i will not be part of a losing team. get in or get out of my way.

quality of service

2005-09-17T12:19:00.000+08:00

i don't think pldt thinks i think.

yes. pldt as in Philippine Long Distance TelCo.

i've been a pldt adsl (asynchronous digital subscriber line) user since april of 2002. i crank out P2,500 every month for their internet that's supposed to be this good. lately, it has been veeeeeeeeeeeery slooooooooooooooow. my download speed of 80 kilobytes per second dropped to 12 per second. it's still fast but not fast enough when you're spending 2500 per month.

possible dialog

pldt: the file has few people sharing the file for download.
me : the file has 1500 seeds and 4000 peers.

pldt: it's the internet's fault, pldt is fast. but pldt can serve only as fast as the net.
me : a friend using mydsl, downloading the same file with the same client does not experience this problem.

end possible dialog

i'd hate things to get dirty. but the funky customer support page's email form isn't working. i would like to inquire if ... they were actually capping the bandwidth of accounts. i guess they need it badly - after the "subscribe now and pay only P1,000 per month" promo? i bet they're swamped with new users and not enough bandwidth for everyone.

i could write a review and have it posted over the university newspaper. but that wouldn't be fair eh? that would slow down, if not halt, their customer growth in the blue pastures of ateneo. business is all about branding. if your brand sucks, unfortunately, the product will suck. if your brand is good, however sucky the product is, it will be good. a faded pair of jeans by diesel is worth thirty pairs of good jeans from the tailor next door.

so i'm going to give them two more weekends and see if it keeps happening. i think two weeks should be enough time for a company to upgrade their infrastructure to accomodate the influx of customers. in today's environment, a company cannot allow change to stop business, competition to overtake business and customers to be unhappy about your business.

i really hope the situation improves. i would rather see companies keep quiet rather than offer what they cannot. it becomes unfair for those who are fair. if pldt can't really offer that much bandwidth, then don't. but i guess it all boils down to money. people need to make money and this is one way to make good money. i don't want pldt to go down. nobody would want to bring pldt down. but i would like pldt's services to improve - a sentiment shared by many other paying and loyal customers.

in behalf of the others who are also experiencing the same internet connection problems, i will be drafting an article about this matter and will see which strings i can pull.

why do i bother with such books?

2005-09-12T22:22:00.000+08:00

Stuart Levine - The Six Fundamentals of Success was another great investment. i'm only 20 pages into this book and i'm motivated to work like an ostrich laying an egg. urmm... of course that didn't make sense - the point is ... i'm motivated and ready to work!

the book is about getting things right. it gives suggestions in the form of questions - a good way to hook the reader and get the creative juices flowing. by asking what really matters to a business and by looking for the traits that matter in an individual, the book is able to set the foundations for success.

-=+=-

after reading through several books, i'm beginning to form a new perspective on things.

it no longer satisfies me to merely have high standards of work. it no longer satisfies me to be merely creative, ingenious or novel. it no longer satisfies me to do what others thought i could not. i have been jolted back into reality and am no longer do it my way - but i have begun to do things the way others would want me to actually do things.

after a book by john maxwell, leadership 101, i found out why i was not getting the academic grades i thought i should. even though i was going beyond the requirements and thinking outside of the box, i kept getting Ds, Cs and Bs. sometimes, i thought i deserved an A.

john's book showed me why i didn't get my Aces. it didn't suffice to be merely doing the more. while my efforts were A+ quality, it turns out that the projects we lead (or the things we do) have to conform to society's expectations at some point. society, whether we like it or not, will be the benchmark of our success. we have to be dedicated to succes.

a company cannot expect to remain long in the industry just by cranking great products or offering cool services. the company has to give what its clients or customers actually want in order to stay profitable.

sometimes, we just have to deliver and keep things simple. additional features are good only as much as they actually add value to your product or service.

this latest installment in my library is stuart levine's practical day-to-day guide on how to do things right. i really enjoy reading such books. while they might be very expensive, the advice that i get - the perspective that i can assimilate - is priceless. in every book that i pick up, my goal is to look for one advice per book that i can apply. if i can get that one advice per book, then the book has done it's job and my financial investment has not gone to waste.

by next week, i hope to start reading zig ziglar's top performance.

why do i bother? because i'm learning.

surrounded

2005-09-11T17:27:00.000+08:00

how philosophical can a sound system be?

imagine a 2-piece speaker system. yep, those little rectangle boxes that come free with your PC. good. how does music sound like from such speakers? crappy? tunog lata? neverwinter nights have never sounded so retro.

now think of a 2.1 altec lansing. hmmm... better? of course! a properly placed subwoofer in the room can make you feel the footsteps of your level 20 paladin. it's not just about hearing it, now it's about feeling it. (a properly placed sub is at the corner of the room on a stable flooring - a wooden flooring does wonders to the acoustics of the room and disaster to the neighbor below)

lastly, how about a 5.1? two front, two rears and a sub? with a 2.1, you could FEEL the footsteps. but with a 5.1, YOU ARE making the footsteps. YOU ARE the one in the middle of the forest, walking randomly in search of strategically hidden treasure chests. YOU ARE the chosen one, out to vanquish the enemies and to conquer the hearts of the ladies. every part of YOUR body, with a 5.1, agrees that a sword hacking a goblin produces less squishy sounds than an orc.

7.1? let's not get to 7.1, that's too funky for our discussion. anyway, that's the goal of surround sound. with surround sound, your experience of the same game can change.

likewise, who you surround yourselves in work, school or life can produce different results for the same experience. there is something about having those extra speakers that make the investment worth it.

right now, i'm hounded by my 2.1 altec lansing. it's not 5.1 or 7.1, but it's still a 2.1 that i am proud of! and if i play my cards right, i'll be getting that 5.1 in the future. i'll upgrade and i'll be surrounded by different speakers in the future. hmm... when that day comes, the extra investment will definitely be worth it.

how philosophical a sound system can be.

games!

2005-09-10T10:33:00.000+08:00

brainstorming for an online game right now. i'm participating in a venture as a game data contributor.

some people are in it for the money, while some are in it for the experience. i'd like to believe that my situation right now is motivated by the academic need to learn.

it's actually similar to one of those online games that i have been wanting to do on my own. however, i haven't had the luxury of time to splurge on it but as luck would have it, i'm about to take part in doing something related to it. it's like hitting two pigs with one stone. you get to do what you wanted to do, and you get to do what you've always wanted to do! cool eh? hehe

dream big

2005-09-09T20:57:00.000+08:00

dream big with a team that's big. your team should be as big as your dream.

a weak team cannot hold a big dream, a big team will get bored quickly with a weak dream.

- an excerpt from the 21 indisputable laws of teamwork by john maxwell.

LDAP

2005-09-06T20:05:00.000+08:00

with a lot of my academic and extracurricular deliverables clearing up, i am now having more free time than i ever had for the whole semester.

such moments of calm are very disturbing. the moment of silence is giving me the opportunity to think about what i've done with my life so far. a jack of all trades and a master of none, i am having a hard time reconciling why my academic grades are not as spectacular as i would want them to be. spreading myself too thinly over too many projects has gotten the better of me. while i could get a B+ QPI on an 18-unit load, i think it's quite impossible for a 21-unit load, 2 orgs and 2 programming jobs. there will just come a point of mental exhaustion where everything will just collapse.

in jogging, the same holds true. you can't do two sets of six-kilometer rounds from monday to saturday and expect to be fresh on sunday. the body needs a balance between exercise and rest.

right now, everything is clearing up for me this semester. it's quite disturbing to be idle though. that's why i got myself into two projects the past five days to keep me busy. and this has gotten blood rushing up my veins. it is quite an honor for me to play with the big boys.

for them, i shall not fail. and for now, i must resume my research on LDAP.

virtue is a patience

2005-09-03T18:45:00.000+08:00

volunteered as a teaching assistant this morning for an ACED class. i was part of a three-person crew that taught a class of twenty students or so. the participant's age range spanned from the 20s to the 50s.

even though the lecture being taught was merely M$ word's paragraph formatting (bullets and text indentations) and picture insertion (clip arts and image files), it presented a wonderful challenge to the facilitators involved. some of the participants were quick to catch on with the class lecture while some of them preferred one-on-one tutorials to get it.

as such, the session became very tiring and stressful as time passed by.

the flop: at some point during the session, i was repeating the same set of instructions for around twenty minutes. i thought to myself, "what the hell? i've been repeating the same instruction a zillion times. shouldn't you have gotten what to do by now? if there's anything that i don't like doing, it's repeating myself." but of course, i couldn't do that. i got into this and i shall accomplish my responsibilities as deemed necessary - and that is teaching them lovingly, tenderly and caringly.

the turn: "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" ~ i thought to myself. how true. but, if i want to get by in the future, i have to know how to deal with such stressful situations. i don't expect myself to be at the top of the game all the time. and i hope that someday, people will be kind enough to help me around get by the most mundane things. last week, i felt so sheepish asking my professor to configure a j2ee web server for my laptop. i could have RTFM, but i didn't have the time. well, right now, i can't imagine the disbelief he must have felt when i asked for such a favor. but, being the good teacher that he is, he still helped me. i think the word temperance was redefined in my vocabulary today.

the river: some of them got it fast, some of them took their time. at first, it was disturbing to be around the people who took their time. later on, i realized a more disturbing thought. why did the people who got it fast not help the others? what the hell was wrong? that was crab mentality at one of its most primitive stages. i don't care about your ass. i only care about mine. crap. we need more people who think beyond themselves. we need more people to actually reach out and contribute.

it didn't help either that the people who had it hard were the last to get back from the break and the first to stand up at the bell.

i can't do everything but i can do something. and what i can do, i will do.

-=+=-

if it's really important, it will still be important tomorrow.

i saw this in my teacher's desk. and how well it drove the point home! earlier, the playstation 2 was winning in terms of importance with today's agenda. however, after reading it, i realized that the gratification of playing playstation 2 game can be delayed, but the opportunity to do well in my .net tictactoe can go away. so, i took up the challenge and after 5 hours, my c# console tic tac toe was accepting a combination of human and computer interaction.

the AI starts with a random set of moves for the first few turns. but after a couple of turns, the need to win kicks in - with the computer looking for holes to win and gaps to block. this afternoon freed me for the coming week ~ i can now study for my other academic requiremnts (that is, while i take care of my extracurriculars ~ but hey! who's complaining? not me!)

booyahkasha!

Backup and Shoes

2005-09-02T22:16:00.000+08:00

a backup is one of the most primitive but fundamental aspect of business continuity planning. In this world of 99.9999...s % uptime, backups provide a way to recover from information systems-related data meltdown.

Got sneaky data corrupted by a transaction? Restore the backup!

Erased/added/updated data accidentally? Restore the backup!

Feeling sad and blue? Restore the backup!

Backups can be a real business saver if implemented properly. As such, several strategies have been made known to man:

* Incremental
* Differential
* Full

When exactly do companies backup? Some with an 8-5 punch card do it after office hours while others with a 24/7 business do it when there are the least amount of users or transactions using their system.

Backups, i'd like to end with, are much like shoes. If you keep using the same and single media for backup, wear and tear will eventually produce a bad sector from the floppy or tape. if you keep using the same pair of shoes (or any equipment, for the matter), your shoes will have a short (but hopefully meaningful) existence. That's why it has been common practice to rotate several tapes/ backup media for physical data storage integrity.

* Grandfather-father-son
* Tower of hanoi
* Round-robin

Listed above are possible implementations of tape rotation to avoid data compromises or shoe rotation,if you would like, to keep them from getting funky.

As a last note, remember that backups are good in as much as they work. So when you do create backups, make sure that you test them if they work.

windows of opportunities

2005-09-01T23:06:00.000+08:00

windows of opportunities open fast and close even faster.

in such highly competitive industry, it would do well for people or organizations to be quick with their decisions. quick to think eh, not reckless. a fine line separates people who can come up with the best possible decision in the shortest amount of time and those who just act out of whim.

for instance, there was a class discussion earlier where i recited my take on the subject matter. i had another concept to add but thought about letting the class think of it for themselves. six seconds into the silence, i felt uneasy and wanted to speak up again to share my point.

i hesitated.

twenty-six seconds after my last uttered word, someone in the class voiced out what i had in mind. that hesitation cost me a recitation ~ an opportunity. i could have been the one talking!

lesson learned. next time, i will not allow hesitation and shyness t0 get the better of me.

ideas or thoughts are good only in as much as they are acted out or implemented.

though i don't mind losing credits in class, i thought about the future and how not acting at the right time can affect one's life. sometimes, such hesitation can cause us our careers or our lives. so you better ACT and ACT NOW before others take credit for the same idea that you arrived at fairly and squarely. after all, the credit is offered fairly and squarely to everyone for the taking.

grrrr

2005-08-30T21:57:00.000+08:00

what to do?

i have a c# .net homework to create a console text-based Role-Playing Game [RPG] based from the "landing party" [LP] game.

unfortunately or fortunately, LP was not the RPG i thought an RPG should be. it has less features than what i had in mind. it's unfortunate that some features that i thought were cool got left out : stats for character attributes, a character-attribute-based combat system and 2-d world map movement (as compared to the 1-d movement of LP). hmm... i miss my old rpgs (baldur's gate and the ultima series).

on the other hand, this can be a good thing. less work = more time for me!

so the additional features or my kind of RPG has gotten me thinking. as i've seen in this class, doing more than what is expected can actually prove more a liability than an asset. while i can just do both to end this argument, i do not have enough time to do both.

john maxwell said, you should have a strong dedication to success. in other words, you have to give the customers what they actually want. stick to their measure of success, rather than create your own. otherwise, you'll be wasting your time and talents.

hmm... landing party sacksteady style, here we go!

network works!

2005-08-29T01:32:00.000+08:00

set up my laboratory today. it's amazing how one piece of equipment can tie up all the loose ends one has. it cost me 3500 philippine pesos but it will be worth it. i need to review my network lessons since i will be giving a lecture on basic systems networking and administration within two weeks.

i've been meaning to get a router for so long and i finally got one today. it's a wireless d-link-624+ router. tested it with everything i have in my home and it works well.

1. p3-733 desktop w/WinXP pro
- this will be my server and setup point for the router
- runs well except for one complaint : my downloads were somehow limited to a maximum of 60kilobytes per sec (down from 80). i need to figure out why this is so.

2. nec laptop w/WinXP pro
- since i don't have (and most probably since i don't need one) a wi-fi card (or is it just because i don't have one for my laptop?hmm... nah. don't need it. i spend more time immobile on my desktop anyway), i had to test it with cable. couldn't be any happier with the results.

3. compaq laptop w/WinXP home
- the only wireless-enabled (so far) computer (taken into context) in our home, signal was very good everywhere in the house EXCEPT at the respective brothers' rooms. crap. i have to get me one of those pringles antennae

4. amd 1ghz
- my brother's desktop has been out of commission for some months now and it's just been today since i really tried to fix it. i fiddled with the cards to see which were running and which were not. it turns out that it had a busted stick of ram. sadly, i had to get a 128 stick from my p3 just to make this pc work (bringing down my desktop ramcount to 512). popped in also a new battery and it's been working fine so far.
- possible damage within the power supply. it wouldn't boot after i touched some of the wires during the experimentation.
- with XP pro, the internet and lan was detected right away
- with Knoppix, a dhcp broadcast was needed to set up the lan and net connections

5. switch
- i used to have a dsl-switch setup
- using the router, i will no longer need the switch - since the router has enough lan ports for my wired needs
- i tested plugging in the computers to the switch that was connected to the router to test for future scalability. internet and lan worked great

what's next?

- i need to get a decent operating system for the network (probably red hat ee)
- setup more security measures (i need more besides the encrypted communication channels and the basic filters)
- bluetooth and gprs for my pocketpc
- learn how to achieve the same setup without the router

if anyone would like some help setting up their home networks, i'd be willing to help with what i know and can. if i'm missing something in my setup, i'd be willing to hear from you guys.

entrepreneur

2005-08-24T16:12:00.000+08:00

entrepreneur. sounds cool. tastes even better.

have you ever thought about being your own boss?
would you rather create jobs rather than get a job?
does the challenge of the unknown appeal to you?

if you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, then being an entrepreneur is an option you should consider. being an entrepeneur satisfies the "yes" of every question that was asked earler.

while being an entrepreneur is a tough job that requires much time and effort, it is not impossible. it will be a pressuring experience if you bet everything in it. going all-out on a single hand is not really a smart move unless you have nothing else to lose. if you want to be an entrepreneur, keep your day job and explore the possibilities of life during your free time. in that way, you keep all your bases covered. i'm not saying play it safe all the way though. i'm saying play it smart until you can make the jump. because besides the money, pain, sweat and tears that you have to invest in such venture, you have to consider timing and lady luck's blessing too. some work hard, some time it well while some are just lucky (narrated in decreasing frequency of success and occurrence).

however, being an entrepreneur isn't about doing everything on your own. it would be great to have competent business partners or colleagues around that can work toward a common goal and supplement your skill set. but such discussion is set for another day. let us focus... and if you want to become an entrepreneur, read on.

if ever you get into a business, make sure you can answer the following questions:

- what do i want to do or achieve in the business?
- what am i bringing into the business?
- reality check : is there really a need for such product or service?

by answering the above questions, we can perform a primary filter of the good business ideas from the lousy ones. these questions will give you a headstart of what to do and how to do it using the tools you already have at hand (which is you - the entrepreneur).

now, why do we have to write a business plan in the first place?

- to get to know your business (what to do and feasibility of your project)
- to formally document the need for a loan or investment from prospective investors

this is the first of many steps in making a good business plan. i have just finished reading several books about it. while my preparation for it isn't complete (i still lack the marketing, operations management and financing skills), i hope that i get to apply what i've been reading soon. theory is useless until applied.

why read business plan right now when my formal education has been geared towards a corporate setting? simple. i want to keep my options open and my perspective of things wide. in addition, it is a good primer to my course in project management. the book that we have does well in telling us what to do and how to monitor a project while it is being implemented. however, it does not have a detailed explanation on how to initiate projects - something which a business plan does well by asking the right questions right from the start.

so, for aspiring entrepreneurs and project managers, you better know how to write a good business plan for the sake of your business or project. for those enthusiastic entrepreneurs who are starting up and don't know what to do, message me and maybe we can join forces and resources.

rich dad, poor dad

2005-08-16T22:34:00.000+08:00

just read robert kiyosaki's rich dad, poor dad. wondrous read. very inspiring jump board that has fueled again my desire for knowledge. i would recommend reading it especially if you're :

- the adventurous type
- open to a new perspective of life
- a risk-taker
- an entrepreneur

i can't wait to implement the ideas i have learned. it would be such a waste of a good book to keep it in theory. i'd love to talk more about the book, but i wouldn't want to spoil the fun or infringe some copyright issues. i respect the book's value and the book's author.

if there were one thing that i picked up from the book :

your brain is the best investment that you have. the more that one can do, the more opportunities become feasible for that person (opportunities are always open to more than a few people, it's just not feasible for all of them).

outsourcing integrity: is it possible?

2005-08-13T22:32:00.000+08:00

in a competitive business landscape, outsourcing is a definite option for IT businesses.

more often than not, it is cheaper than handling your own operations or application development. some companies might find it more convenient because they might not have enough resources (ex. manpower) or the technical requirements are simply beyond the capabilities of the current IT dept.

sometimes though, companies shy away from outsourcing because they need tighter control over their operations or are protecting sensitive and confidential data. for some unlucky companies, outsourcing turns out to be more expensive or result in crappy solutions.

for all the disadvantages that outsourcing presents, outsourcing is still an IT strategy chosen by many organizations. next question is, can we outsource integrity? philippines is severely lacking badly on such aspect right now. the lack of integrity in society is costing us our cerebral assets.

however, we cannot allow ourselves to focus on the faults or what we don't have. we have to work on what we have and the strengths. nothing ever really came out of focusing on the weaknesses.

does this mean that outsourcing is always a good thing relative to the perpsective? not all the time. when you're in an inter-school programming competition with a big prize money, outsourcing can be an unethical thing. while some teams burn the midnight oil for their own code, some teams simply hire professionals to do the program for them. sources say that these teams even attend the seminars conducted by the professionals to teach them how their code works.

being part of a team that is really working for their code, i have mixed reactions from such situation. for one, it is saddening to hear geniuses cheat their way to the top. if we can't rely on geniuses to think and use their most valuable asset, then who will think for our society? it's amazing how well television media has done in the past few years. thriving in a time of brain drain, media companies are feeding the lazy minds of the people with thoughts lacking intellectual acuity. the promise of escape in a fantastic world with false hopes of get-rich-quick schemes isn't helping the country at all.

without the promise of honesty and integrity within the community, what does this hold for our future society? outsourcing IT programs during college competitions is probably what we could call, "starting them young."

our team got into the competition with only four weeks to do the program. we were able to blitz the program and provide a solution on time only to find out that the deadline was moved two weeks later. so we worked on it again to lessen the bugs - while at the same time doing our academics. days before the submission, the deadline was moved again - and it wasn't two weeks - it was two months later. hell, that's enought time to provide solutions for two more platforms! we have lost the advantage of time already. it is time to bank on the quality of our work to get us through. this is not just fair. but what is fair in love and war?

however, being the optimistic that i am - who wants to see the golden opportunities in each situation, i am somehow glad that this is happening. for as long as schools are producing sub-par quality computer science graduates, there will always be a need for people who can do the real thing. people can engineer the truth for only so much in their lives. sooner or later, the truth will come out. sooner or later, the need for the people with brains will become the need for people who actually use their brains.

lastly, at least we got to learn. and that experience is priceless. even worth more than the million-peso pot up for stake.

restful weekend

2005-08-06T00:11:00.000+08:00

a little note on professionalism.

never ever promise anything that you cannot give or will not do. looking bad because you can't do something is less than looking bad due to a failed commitment.

if you tell your superior that you'll get in a report at tuesday 07:00 am, then the report better be at his desk by 7:00am. not 7:01am nor 7:05am. it should be there 7:00am at the latest. and if you fail to produce the requirement on time, you better look for him and don't wait for him to catch you.

between promises and forgiveness, two of the things that keep order in society, the business community can only tolerate the former. in an industry where there are a lot of people who can do what you do, replacing people who can't learn from mistakes with more reliable ones makes perfect sense.

this weekend will be a long and restful one. i plan to finish the aims registration web site for ajma. i'm finished with the program already. just finishing the wrapper (web site look and the administrative functions).

after that, i hope to do more damage on the .net book that i'm just half-way through. the sooner that i get through these basics, the sooner i can start documenting my networking and security lectures.

by the way, the weekend's restful because i get to work at the comfort of my home's desktop, dsl internet connection and unlimited iced tea (it's lipton season for me, next round's nestea). this is the first weekend this semester that i have no work or academic obligations that require me to go to ateneo.

business intelligence and data warehousing

2005-08-04T23:18:00.000+08:00

a talk by vic santos iii. ateneo ctc 313. 4:30 - 6pm

globalization + rapid evolution of technology = competitive industry which does not allow room for companies that make too many or big mistakes.

business intelligence, as a product of datawarehousing, aims to minimize such mistakes by empowering decision-makers with as much knowledge as acceptably and reasonably possible.

theory over, practical stuff commence.

if you're going to be a consultant or programmer or going into IT for the matter, get into an arena where there are a lot of participants. join the bandwagon where a lot of companies are. in tagalog, don't use or practice technology that doesn't have a high demand. let us redefine the phrase looking for a unique niche that you can do. it's no longer about doing what you want or something unique, it's actually doing something that people are actually willing to pay for - that's your niche.

in a project-based IT environment, start looking for a new job if you get benched for too long in between proejcts. idle time in the world of IT means lost opportunity, money and learning experience. remember that we have an early retirement age.

systems class notes

2005-08-02T09:28:00.000+08:00

boxing

valuetypes : primitives (int, short, long, float, double, decimal, booeanl, byte, char, date), struct
- goes to the stack
- contain the value itself
- copying duplicates data to twins

references : class, objects, interface, string, array
- goes to the heap
- has address to where the value is
- copying creates another reference to same data address

To go outside of scope, use ref and out
BR-OA
ref - initialize before
out - initialize after

ex. public static int sampleCall(int a, out int b, ref int c) { }
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
ejb = rmi + object pooling

data center

2005-08-01T03:36:00.000+08:00

among other things, a data center is a glorified computing center used to cater to an organization's needs. it could be an internal one (the one that your company owns) or an external one (outsourced or rented).

as a service that supports an organization with its business needs, a data center is a critical component that aims for as much 9s [yeah, that's right nine with an S - and read as nines] - 99.99999% uptime.

no natural disaster, freak accident caused by negligence or intentional motives should keep the data center from running. as such, data centers are required to be upgradeable online (hot-swappable server) or clustered computers with load-sharing.

in addition, we need to ensure that the environment has the fewest reasons for disaster (protection from elements such as floods), enough space for tinkering with the hardware during maintenance or troubleshooting and the most competent people. let's face it, technology is as good as the people who make it happen.

p.s. if security wasn't such an obvious prerequisite, i'm making it obvious now.

contracts

2005-07-30T22:24:00.000+08:00

never get into a project that has undefined scope and objectives. always have a contract.

without boundaries and specific expectations in a working agreement, either the client won't get the service he or she wants or the vendor will be raped. or even better, both. i am currently revising a php-mysql driven brochure website.

the original version featured crappy product database entries because a data dictionary and entity relationship diagram wasn't used to define the data to be handled by the site. for instance, if we want a sedan, we have the following options:

- color : blue, white, green
- seats : four seats, two seats
- engine size : 1500, 1600

as of the moment, the site contains records for EACH possible combination. one combination = one record or row. imagine the overhead and redundant data. normalization at its finest. Personally, i think it would have been better to have only one row for the sedans which contained the options for customization.

since such existing data took a considerable amount of time to encode, the clients do not want to re-encode them again.

HOWEVER, they do want a new look to the site with a NEW way to treat and show a product and its variables. this new treatment is only possible if we re-encode the database contents. which they do not want or for which i am not responsible for.

it wasn't made clear at the start of the project what tasks i was responsible for. right now, it's a "test your mettle game." who will be the first to concede? the client or the vendor?

.net!!!!

2005-07-30T02:38:00.000+08:00

almost done with the basics of the language. enough to get me through the ceremonial programs (forms, database). i hope to get a lot done on my .net foundations next week (web services, xml, sockets). this anti-spyware contest is doing a lot for my learning experience.

trend micro is hosting a million-peso contest ($17,000 or so). the elimination round is a server-client setup designed to catch basic spyware programs. i'm doing the server side which has client xml log collection capabilities which will be stored in a database. have to work on the relational aspect of it though - it's hard-wired right now to simulate a relational database and isn't one actually. hehe.

game plan

2005-07-29T13:59:00.000+08:00

i have a little under eight months before i get out into the real world. come march, it'll be game time. quite curious what will happen when the time comes. will i get a job right away? will i have a hard time? if ever i do, will i like my job? if ever i do, what will be my job?

hmm... too many questions that i do not have the time to write them down. all i know is that when march 2006 comes, i should be ready. i need to review on my technical skills in hopes that such momentum will give me a good start.

i want to review my java, .net, sql, sdlc, networking and unix topics. i'll try to get one done per month. the subjects are easy but until i'm implementing them, i can't consider myself knowledgeable. but i know i can't stop there. insatiable, i also want to learn C and cobol by then.

i need to brush up on my hard skills. as for my soft skills, my exposure to differing workmates are proving invaluable.

so it's going to be one long party for me as i strive to:

- graduate with honors (i need two semesters of perfect 4.0 s to cut it - hell, if i can't. if i can't reach the stars, at least i get a good stretch)

- reduce my weight (lost 26 pounds already since january. i need to lose another 20 more so that i am physically fit when game time comes)

- compete (better late than never, i'm inspired and i want to try to get a few medals before my formal academic career ends)

- become a good student (work never seems to run out. if it's not extracurricular, i get academic projects that gets to test my mettle)

- enjoy (hey, i am still human. i still think that playstation is still legal for me)

watch and learn. i can do it. the timing couldn't be better after such needed break.

the first post....

2005-07-29T09:37:00.000+08:00

is always about spam.