The DJ who's not a DeeJay

Spotted this on a shelf at the grocery. They were compressed side by side and so I saw only part of the packaging until I got curious and reached for one. Wonders if marketers of this product intentionally named it this way. The "er" makes a whole difference.

After the main event when WWE RAW went to Manila in 2006, Trish Stratus brought a cake to the ring and told everyone it was Ric Flair's birthday.  Big Show led singing Happy Birthday along with the other wrestlers.  Triple H, who was their opponent in the main event, entered the ring afterwards and after a stare down, and out of character, eventually greeted Ric Flair a Happy Birthday and even hailed to him.

Did you catch the finale episode of "Ikaw Lamang?" Did you tweet using #ILFullCircle? Did you like the ending?  Did it leave you with some unanswered questions?  Well, we can't do anything about it since that what the producer/director/scriptwriter decided to go with. But I feel that there was more that could've been added to make the finale a greater ending than it already was.

please dont miss the finale episode of #ikawlamang tonight!!!😊 thank you po!!!:) photo repost from @smokey_manaloto 😄👍 #ikawlamangfullcircle #ikawlamangfinalbattle

A photo posted by Kim chiu (@chinitaprincess) on Oct 10, 2014 at 2:48am PDT

I had a lot of wishes and what if's that I think it's worth sharing.   So here's some scenes we may have wanted to see in the finale.

1. Isabel has got to stop thinking that she should surrender to Franco's bidding to make all this hatred, violence and chaos stop.  Isabela, can't you accept the fact that people are fighting for your independence?  Don't waste that.  
2. Tessa got away too easy.  Arrested by police and nothing to say?  Not even a fight?  Ikaw Lamang invested so much airtime and story plot on her as Franco's all-around secretary that her quick demise in the storyline isn't justified.  She's the intelligent woman you just want to hate and I'm sure everybody does hate her.   I wanted to see her strapped in a chair and a long line of angry people ready to slap her, That lines includes every single cast member from Natalia to Roman, the Sanggalang family, and hell yeah, add the entire town of Salvacion to the line. Last but not least to slap Tessa is Natalia's yaya, who gets unlimited slapping opportunities.  Then have everybody line up again and repeat process.
3. Too many critical seconds lost in saving Andrea.   I know they have to add dialogue in their scenes, but in reality in a situation like that, valuable time is wasted and every second counts.   If they had spent more time telling each other how they are "The One", any one of Franco's goons could have easily shut and lock the door, and scoring 2 point in recapturing Andrea and capturing Gabriel.
4. I think a lot of people would've wanted to see Franco go through due diligence and see him in court charged guilty for all accounts. A lot of people would've been happy, not just the Obrero's of Salvacion but the audience as well.  And if that actually happened, Tessa: what would you do? WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
5. Speaking of Franco, his death scene is very similar to a Mortal Kombat fatality (reference to "The Pit" if you're an MK gamer).  It's kinda gruesome for prime time.  And we were all waiting for Franco's last words... if he still would still stick to his stubborn self that he will always get his way (even if he's all "hung" up), or would finally say sorry (even if nobody would hear it).  A flashback of his entire evil life would've also been a nice touch to his demise.
6. So Gabriel and Andrea tied the knot after all.  Wouldn't it have been nice to see the ghost of Samuel as opposed to an urn of Samuel held tight by Isabel?  While you're at it, how about Franco's ghost too?  Andrea is still his daughter anyway.
7. Some movies end by showing each character and what happened to them or where did they end up.  That would've been a nice ending for this telenovela ... unless there are plans to come up with a sequel in the future.

The boat ride from the pier to the entry point of the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, more popularly known as the Underground River takes only 15 minutes.

A short walk through a monkey-inhabited forest will lead you to the Underground River starting point.
The canoe ride takes tourists into the first 1.5 kilometers of the cave and back which takes a total of 45 minutes.  The total length of the river is 8.2 kilometers and takes at least 3 hours to traverse one way.  A pre-arranged tour must be made to tour the entire cave as it is not offered by default.

Tricycles from Puerto Princesa, Palawan are cool.  They're bigger than the usual and are stylish.  Here's one that looks like it went through a Pimp My Ride upgrade.

Skyway Alabang (courtesy of Aileen de Jesus)

If you've passed along NLEX, SLEX or Skyway, you've most likely seen those exclusive lanes reserved for e-Pass.  The e-Pass lanes are dedicated for vehicles with the electronic toll collection transponder attached to their windshield and pre-registered with the e-Pass system associated with a prepaid account.   Each time a car passes through an e-Pass lane, the transponder is scanned and any toll fee that needs to be paid will be automatically deducted from the account.

This is not new technology as it is also being used in several other countries aside from the Philippines.  In the Asian region, countries such as Singapore with their ERP (Electronic Road Pricing), Thailand & China use Eelectronic Toll Collection (ETC).

If you frequently pass through any highway which requires toll, the e-Pass can definitely benefit you.  Here are 10 reasons why you can definitely benefit from using an e-Pass.

1. It's automated! The fastest you could pass after paying (assuming you have exact change and the attendant can count fast) is 10 seconds.  It only takes 1.5 seconds for e-Pass to scan your account and deduct the toll fee from your account.  
2. It's paperless!  If you take the highway twice a day (roundtrip) and take the same route everyday, that's a total of 60 receipts a month.  Compare that to no receipts at all and you've also saved the environment by not accumulating paper.
3. Express lanes! Depending on which toll gates, there are at least 1 to 2 dedicated lanes exclusive for e-Pass vehicles.  Long lines could easily build up at the regular lanes due to the time it takes for each vehicle to pay, receive change, and get a receipt. Vehicles going through e-Pass lanes just pass through in seconds!
4. No need to stop! You need to come to a complete stop to pay a tollbooth attendant.  With e-Pass, you only need to slow down until your e-Pass scanner is recognized.  So you don't need to start from 0 kph.
5. Avoid paying accidents! - In fairness to tollgate attendants, I haven't experienced any discrepancies when given change from payment.  I'm talking about accidents like handing over a bunch of coins and accidentally dropping them, or paying a bill not holding a firm grasp and suddenly the wind blows sweeping your one thousand peso bill with it.  Imagine the inconvenience for you and all the cars behind you angrily waiting for you to move. Definitely not a situation you'd want to be in.
6. No money, no problem! No e-Pass, problem! - As long as you have sufficient balance in your e-Pass account, you don't need any cash to use the toll highways.  If you entered a tollgate without an e-Pass and without money to pay, you'll actually be forced to pull over. And just where will you find an ATM or person to meet you to lend you money when you're at a highway exit? Bonus challenge if that happens to be around midnight when you have no one to turn to.  Not very good odds.
7. Reload at convenient locations! - There are several places to purchase e-Pass loads to add to your account.  Some convenient locations are gas stations, malls and even online through ATM!  If you go to Glorieta in Makati City, there's even a dedicated ATM-like machine just for purchasing and loading e-Pass accounts.  If you want a totally seamless and automated way of paying, you can fill out a form which will automatically charge your credit card with a reload value of your choice once your balance goes below P500.
8. Easy budgeting! -  http://epass.com.ph/ is the official website for the e-Pass.  Several online features include checking balance, loading account and updating account details.  When you buy an e-Pass kit, there's also an option to send a monthly breakdown of your tollgate history and charges.
9. Automatic Check-ins! - Can't remember where you went on a certain date?  You could check the e-Pass SOA (Statement of Account) sent to your e-mail at the start of the month which contains a historical trail of toll exits you've been to all time-stamped. If you can't figure out where you were 2 Saturdays ago, may be the e-Pass history saying that you exited Alabang-Filinvest at 12 midnight would give you a clue.
10. Get to your destination faster! - The main benefit is saving time from lining up and paying.  In worst cases, that process can take 30 minutes.  Why wait that long if you can pass a tollgate in a minute or less.  During rush hour situations, every second counts.

www.jejejeje.com, a Jejemon site. Yes, there were a few floating around the net then!

What can I say for now?  Jejejeje!

Google recently announced that it will be offering domain registration services which will be known as Google Domains.  While currently by invitation only and beta phase, some features which standout are

1. Free private registration - other domain registrars charge extra for this.  If you have 10 domains and select private registration service, that's already 10x of that add-on cost more than getting it for free.
2. Bundled with customized e-mail - You usually need to associate your domain with a hosting provider to setup and configure your customized e-mails. Sometimes you'll just use your gmail account.  This is powered by the Gmail engine learning curve is very minimal if you're already familiar using Gmai.
3. Use Google's DNS Servers as your own - Your domain would connect quickly and reliably to your website.
4. Integration with Google Apps - If you were using Google Apps in the past, you would have had to register a domain elsewhere and integrate it with the Google Apps and the Google Apps engine.  Now it's a one-stop shop.
5. Website Building Integration - Google is working with some of the top website building providers like +Shopify, +Squarespace, +Weebly, and+Wix.com to integrate with their interface and setup.

Starting July 31, 2014, 5 international airlines will be transferring from NAIA Terminal 1 to NAIA Terminal 3.  They are Delta Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Cathay Pacific.

I've always admired the efforts by foreigners learning a Filipino song and actually singing a good version.  Here Matthew Mannucci arranges and performs his own acoustic version of Yeng Constantino's hit "Chinito." His version is obviously called "Chinita."  Kudos to you Matthew!

This blog has just reached its 100,000th view!  Thank you to everyone for visiting my blog.

After 8 years and over 900 blog posts, my blog has finally reached 100,000 views.  It may not have taken that long for other bloggers or if I had blogged more often, but I'm not competing with anyone and definitely not catching any deadline.

It has always been a hobby of mine to blog and aside from this being my main and personal blog, I have also took on several other blogs, some which have been consolidated here and some are still ongoing because they have an entirely different theme and niche.

I've been blogging on blogger since 2006 but I've been writing since I was a teenager.  In high school, I started my fascination for writing.  In college, I created a computer program to duplicate Doogie Howser's journal as shown on the TV series just so I could enter write daily thoughts like he did.  Unfortunately, it wasn't as profound as his and so I ended up writing about my college crushes.

Trivia: My 1st take at writing for a publication was actually in college where I was a contributor for the Ateneo Math Club newsletter.  Yes, it exists! And my 1st assignment was to interview one of the new Math professors, Ms. de Lara.

After college, my first job was being a musical arranger (thus the DeeJay).  I also merged my love for music with my original college degree, Computer Science and creating a music website became the next logical step.  My experience in handling a website honed my skills in writing articles and music reviews.

Aside from writing professionally, I also wanted another venue to write about personal ideas, experiences and just about anything I considered interesting to me. Hence, the birth of this blog.

I could go on and on but I'd like to keep it short and thank everyone again for visiting and reading my blog.  Hope you find it interesting to read my past and future posts.

Autobot Drift gets a feel for island slippers while getting ready for a stroll in the beach.

Not your "bu" but mine.
Not quite a chocolate kind.
Juicy mix-mix time.

Since Michael Jackson's unreleased song "Love Never Felt So Good" in his new album Xscape debuted worldwide last month, I've fallen in love with the song.  Its retro Michael Jackson sound makes me relive the sound I grew up with.  After each new popular song released nowadays, do a YouTube search and you'll find dozens if not hundreds of versions of each song.  Name it you got it: acoustic, acapella, choir, opera, rock or even reggae.  So far by the best instrumental version for me of this song is this rendition by Stot Juru  Check out his sax lead for "Love Never Felt So Good."

I had time to spare and was kinda bored at the hotel in Cebu.  I looked out the window around noontime and noticed the cloud formations were ever-changing. Was hoping to take a video using my digicam but unfortunately, the red battery blink of death dawned upon it.   Turned to my celphone to take a video but my memory card was full.  So it kept me thinking what could I do to record a video.  Then I instantly remembered that my new laptop had a very decent built-in webcam.

So I took out the ironing board, placed it beside the window, placed the laptop on top, and set the webcam to record.   After a few tries, I figured out how to set up a few things for a smooth recording.

• Plug laptop especially if you'll be taking long videos
• Set battery to always on (so the laptop won't hibernate)
• Cover background with curtains so the glass window won't show any reflection of the room

1. If the number of your followers reach 666 and stops, you are cursed.
2. If you post a selfie underneath a ladder, you will receive #socialmedia bad luck.
3. If you're about to be the 13th person to like a status update, wait a while for someone else to like before you do.
4. Your tablet picks up two WiFi signals, named "Heaven" and "Hell" and you scaringly await which signal your device will connect to.
5. You doubt Google's "I'm feeling lucky" whether it means good or bad luck.
6. If you watch a YouTube video about a ghost at exactly midnight, that ghost will watch the beside you.
7. If you're in a webchat that says you're all alone, but messages scroll blazing fast coming from you even if you're not typing, your device may be possessed.
8. Your smartphone has 3G but no SIM, you have WiFi in a deadspot and your phone is running without a battery!
9. You switch your smartphone's camera to front-facing mode to take a selfie.  Your entire background can be seen, except you.
10. Your phone's display replicates and becomes the exact display of every TV, tablet and phone within your WiFi coverage. Can you say everybody is watching you?

• Roundabout traffic: letter O
• Highway traffic: letter I
• Traffic on a zigzag road: letter S
• Gridlock on an intersection: letter X

Define courageous: 

My overhead compartment at my office desk is all tea!

I love tea. I actually prefer tea over softdrinks.

I used to drink a lot of bottled fruit juices and teas but since a lot of them contained a lot of sugar, I cut down on my manufactured tea consumption and switched to hot tea where I could control the sugar intake and choose what kind (brown, coconut, splenda or none at all).

Since then, I've tasted a lot of teas from different countries (thanks to all who've been giving me different tea flavors to sample too!)  I actually have over 25 different flavors in the office.  Having tasted a lot of teas (and boiled lots of water in the process), I present my Top 5 Favorite Teas.

1. English Breakfast tea - it's your all around tea, so breakfast is not the best term to describe it.  But it does have that kick that you'll most likely need in the morning so I guess that's why they call it such.  It's also one of the most popular complimentary teas you'll find in a hotel room.
2. Jasmine tea - I actually don't like flower-based teas.  This is the exception.  Jasmine tea doesn't taste anywhere near a flower.  Its light and mild flavor makes it easy to consume more than a cup.  If you have a tea pot of this, don't be shy to get a refill.
3. Oolong tea - Whenever I'm in a Chinese restaurant, I won't think twice on ordering this as my drink. This is one tea that doesn't need any additional sweetener to enjoy. This is best taken before and after meals as it would bring your taste buds back to normal.  No matter how full you may be after a hefty meal, an additional cup of this tea won't make you any fuller.
4. Blackcurrant tea - I actually liked the tea line of berries (strawberry, blueberry, raspberry) until I tasted this one and instantly preferred this over the berries.   Its grape-like flavor is good if you prefer a stronger taste for your tea.
5. Mint tea - I'm a fan of any mint-flavored candy (peppermint, spearmint) and so this tea flavor was no-brainer for me.  This tea leaves a fresh and soothing taste and sometimes feels almost as if you just brushed your teeth.   

Last January, I was invited to attend the launch of Google Street View Philippines.  Unfortunately, I had work that day (I regret actually not going).

Since its launch in January 2014, Google Street View, which has been popular for making it so much easier to virtually tour streets and places in the U.S. with this technology, brought the same technology to the Philippines.  For the 1st time, Google Street View capturing tools were going to capture Philippine streets and lcoations.  The Google Street View car started going around taking imagery to attach to Google maps.  And in places where the Google Street View car couldn't fit (think eskinitas and other terrain that a car couldn't traverse), there was a backpack version of the Google Street View device where a person could just strap the backpack and walk around capturing the same imagery.

It was only this morning that I actually saw one in action.  Well I don't really know if it was recording at that time, but I did see the Google Street View car going around.  It entered the Skyway from Bicutan in Paranaque City and exited somewhere around Magallanes in Makati City (I think).

I was keenly interested if it was travelling at a constant speed so it could capture images.  However, with the 60kph minimum speed limit, I figured it would need to go at least that fast.  Funny that it sped up, then slowed down, then sped up again.  I was thinking maybe it was taking instructions from a computer telling the driver to go faster or slow down similar to taking a panoramic shot.  But anyway, it was just nice to see the actual Google Street View car on the road and in action. If you've seen it elsewhere in the Philippines, post a comment and let us know where you saw it.


Related articles:

• Google Street View Philippines launched
• Mabuhay, Street View Philippines!
• Google Street View Car in Marikina

Since this blog has been up for years, let's do something different.

I don't know what to do.
But I'm prepared to waste time looking at you.
I know you'll keep me occupied for hours.
But I still control you and your power. - (Television)

If you're a techie, then you should consider following Microsoft's new CEO Satya Nadella on Twitter. He gained more than 100,000 new followers in less than 2 days. Follow Satya at @satyanadella.  Follow him to see what initial tweets he'll make about Microsoft and the IT industry.

As a social media specialist, I'm always on the lookout for the newest social networks.  It may take time for any new social network to gain a substantial number of people using it.  But at least signing up for an account would let you explore how it looked like when it started and the more important reason, reserving and securing your own username/handle/account which is handy if it does get popular.