Once again I am here to expound on my lack of DSL woes.

But worry not dear reader. I am in high spirits regardless. Basically because, well, there’s no other recourse but to be. I have been spending my time trying to do as much as I can outside of the Internet, and so far it’s been ok except for the fact that I cannot further plans revolving around those that do involve the Internet because basically, PLDT will not give me a solid date with which to assume that all will once again be well.

This is alarming because basically, almost all my financial activities revolve around access to such, and immediate as in immediate (as in should have been yesterday) plans were in the works for me to up the ante even more, resolving to go tentatively at first, but full blast as quickly as possible, into the business of hosting. Hosting in the level of involvement I was planning to go into requires at the very least a fast connection, and at best one backup should things go awry, a situation aptly describing that of today.

Internet access had already been at a high level of importance to me that I would sacrifice living in less than ideal conditions if only to satiate my need for such. Venturing into said activity obviously further emphasizes this requirement tenfold, requiring me not only to have double the access (if so possible) but even surgically attach a device to my person and find suitable connectivity in whichever way possible should I venture outside it’s reach (the resulting inconvenience which, incidentally, was the primary reason I had pushed this idea aside for the longest time, only doing so now because the Exchanges have reached a stage of growth and traffic, making it practical).

Continue reading Once again I am here to expound on my lack of DSL woes.

Legends Never Die.

I still cannot really come to believe that the great Dennis Johnson has passed away.

Not that I’ve lost grip on reality, it’s just that the Great DJ is such a larger than life character to me. He is my idol of all idols. He is the reason I’ve always worn jersey #33, (somebody already beat me to DJ’s #3 when I first started playing organized ball, so I settled for the next best thing).

I hated the Celtics, but I loved DJ. His stats: NBA champion (1979, ’84, ’86); NBA Finals MVP (1979); All-NBA First Team (1981); All-NBA Second Team (1980); All-Defensive First Team (1979-83, ’87); All-Defensive Second Team (1984-86); Five-time NBA All-Star 1979-82, ’85).

He wasn’t the tallest, quickest or strongest, but he made – no, worked, disciplined and forced himself to be the best. And that, to me, makes him my Greatest.

DJ will forever be my hero.

Coping with no net

I’m at the Compass Internet Cafe at Galleria. The difference between this and Netopia is that this place allows you to use Firefox, although the default is this annoying ‘Avant Browser’ which looks like some sort of IE add-on and, as is usual for such things, thoroughly annoying therefore.

At any rate, this is Day 6 of no internet at home, and my resulting efforts to cope have been interesting. First off, by an amazing stroke of luck I managed to score two excellent books. First, there’s “China Hands”, by James Lilley where he recounts his experiences growing up in China and eventually serving in operations of the CIA, and eventually ending up as U.S. ambassador in 1973. His is an absolutely absorbing tale of history and true drama.

The other is “Where The Game Matters Most“, about the 1996-97 high school basketball season in Indiana, the last year when the old rules of equal competition still applied before the new divisional system segregating schools by size came into place. The old rules allowed for such miracle stories as the ‘Hoosiers’, but more importantly discusses the small towns and small town details that make Indiana the mystical mecca of basketball (as opposed to New York, which is the mecca of the NBA), that it is.

Continue reading Coping with no net

Kikay Breaks 100 Members while its Admin Fumes in Netopia!

Recollected discussion with 171 PLDT customer support 11am:

callcenter person (after asking my telno, name, and relation to account owner): ah sir, matagal na po ito ano ho? tinawag ninyo noon 17 pa. Alam nyo na po kung ano yung reason ng pagkawala ng connection ninyo?
me: grunt (meaning neither yes or no, just tell me).
callcenter person: kasi po may problem yung switch namin sa inyong area. Ibig sabihin po nito karamihan din po ng mga sa inyong area wala rin pong service.
me: grunt (meaning tell me something I don’t know).
callcenter person: Itong switch po ang responsible for… (some semi technical whatever chuva explanation re how important this switch is).
me (finally getting a word in): estimated time?
callcenter person: baka po umabot ng a few weeks.

me: WEEKS?!?!?!

Continue reading Kikay Breaks 100 Members while its Admin Fumes in Netopia!

What I’d do if I had internet at home

God that title sounds pathetic. But really, what else could I think of, sitting here at this, imo unfortunately named ‘Excel’ Internet Cafe at Ever (Gotesco?) mall Ortigas, Jhologs Central. Ok I added that ‘Jhologs Central’ and that’s not really their name, but it might as well be. Here, otherwise normal Filipino men and women converge to sing Guns and Roses classics at corner videoke stations in full tilt till they’re blue in the face, without getting arrested for disturbing the peace. They may as well walk right up to me and hit me with a baseball bat, the effect being the same.

This is my 2nd post today. I call the house from time to time hoping someone would pick up as this would indicate that phone (and maybe DSL) service would have been returned, to no avail. It is dawning on me that this situation is getting dim. Not only can it get expensive (obviously I don’t spend on just the ‘net access, but on food and other important stuff as well, like videoke sessions), but it’s also very boring. I cannot work on the Exchanges and my clients at internet cafes. It just don’t work that way. The most I’ve done is send a billing statement, and that’s it. That’s work for the day. Whoopee.

So anyway, I was gonna write my todo list when I decided, why not blog it, right? So here it goes.

Continue reading What I’d do if I had internet at home

PLDT. Again.

So guess what. Yep, it’s PLDT time again. This time, our whole village, since last Friday, has lost both voice and DSL connections. The phone is a complete dead set, with no signal, no hiss, no noise, nothing. You can try calling our landline and it’ll ring, but again, we wont hear anything on our side. I found out it was a village – wide thing purely by chance when I played ball with my homies (the kids I coach) yesterday, when I happened to overhear them talk about their phone woes as well. Needless to say, DSL is an absolute zero.

What to do? Well, here’s one response:

AAA()*@&#)!()(S()!!!!SA_)))*@*@*#&$^@%!&@*!@&&@@!!!!!

..and that, really, is all the reaction I can have about that.

Continue reading PLDT. Again.

Pimping the Portians

I am under orders to promote the U.P. Law Sorority Portia’s Speed Dating Event, which is imo their best fundraiser idea ever conceived yet known to man forever.

There’s a p500.00 fee inclusive of buffet dinner and bottomless iced tea. You will need this iced tea as it contains sugar. Sugar is good for energy. Bring mints. Try not to talk about yourself too much, and whatever you do, do not skimp on the compliments.

Whatever. Check out their website for (ever changing) updates. First come first served, so email upportia@gmail.com, and they’ll let you know if it’s all good. Good luck.

I am selling my Bnew Samsung YP-T9B Bluetooth Mp3 Player

feb132007_yp-t9b.jpgFeatures:

  • 1.8 inch display
  • Bluetooth Stereo Music
  • Music (mp3, WMA, Ogg)
  • Photo Slideshow (jpeg)
  • Movie (ASF, AVI, RMVB and MPEG-4)
  • Games
  • Text viewer
  • FM Radio
  • Voice Recording
  • 30 hour playback
  • Li – polymer battery
  • half an inch thick and weighs just 1.7 ounces
  • Capacity: 4gb.
  • Color: jet black

store price: P11,000 +,

my price: P8,000 only, STILL SEALED in BOX.

Continue reading I am selling my Bnew Samsung YP-T9B Bluetooth Mp3 Player

Two Article Reposts and my fave PDI writers Part 1

So anyway, here are two of my articles that came out recently. One for PDI entitled “Two Stories of Technology Achievement Charity and Fulfillment“, and the cover story for this month’s issue for Speed Mag titled “A first view of Microsoft Vista”

Ok I know the PDI one was renamed to some incomprehensible title, with absolutely no relation to the subject story whatsoever, but what can I do? That’s what they wanna name it, fine. I can only close my eyes and re-read my orig version to enjoy it.

Incidentally, that was the ‘important’ article I was talking about last week. Important in the sense that it involved tech touching people’s lives and improving their appreciation of themselves, which, I suspect to everyone’s surprise, is what tech is supposed to do. A far cry from what they have become, flashy accoutrements to one’s life, to be used like jewelry to impress people, attain faux social status and burden one’s monthly income.

Continue reading Two Article Reposts and my fave PDI writers Part 1

I do not want to be busy anymore

I just dont. I want to go back to the days when we would just traipse to the mall to watch a movie at a moment’s notice. When we would roam the shops and the stores and the ruins (as in bf) of this world, and cause ourselves to get hungry and eat burritos and sip coffee and schedule trips out of town and change them as we saw fit at that moment to do.

Far, far too much to do. Much, much easier way there must be.