LefthandedLayup.com

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  • How much is slow costing us?

    Yes I’m still talking about the Taiwan earthquake and resultant Internet mess. And the fact I am still on it means I am starting to get angry. And if you deduce that when I say I am starting to get angry it means I will huff and puff but do nothing but write on my blog pounding my keyboard a little harder, then you are correct-a-mondo.

    At any rate, I had been invited by Hingemedia super head chief editor gadget head in, err, chief Adel to contri to P.W.I.T., (Philippine Week in Technology), the resulting acronym possibly recognizant of how he feels about it, but more likely because he thinks it sounds fun. A fun and intelligent man, Adel is. And surprisingly athletic! When we were in Tagaytay we caught MS Windows PM Chay Saputil smiling and enjoying an m|ph issue and I swear I’d never seen a man run, flip open his Canon 400d, get down on his knees and take a magazine worthy snap in, oh, that must have been .5 seconds! Amazing.

    So anyway, let me take you to his post in PWIT, where he describes in light detail how affected they are at the office. Here he says:

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  • Article Repost: Things To Know About Microsoft Windows Vista

    I regret the fact I didn’t write about how slow the ‘net was gonna be when I was writing my article about tech in 2007. I wrote it about the time the Taiwan earthquake happened and it was easy to see it was gonna kick us in the ass like it is now, as I wrote earlier. Incidentally I also regret not mentioning [tag]Alyssa Alano[/tag] in the ‘Year that was in Tech’ article, whom imo singlehandedly promoted YouTube to the masa via her manhandling of end make d parflays dance sylvimousse is barkley, so keys me. I mean, it’s even a consistent amongst my top posts, so how could I had possibly missed that??? Arrg.

    Anyway, below is another article that came out today, re Vista. I’m still waiting for a promised test laptop (no, not a free one), which I gather is being upgraded to handle it better (the ones we tried in Tagaytay were rather inadequate), along with an interesting presentation that by Ivan Franco, MS Consumer Marketing Manager, re customer buying habits. I can probably make ten articles alone from his findings, so I’m raring to get my hands on that.

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  • The Quarter Pounder that Blogging Bought

    Ok so I’m really not into showing off, ok? But that seems to be the standard, mature thing to do if you earn from your blog. And so, I’ve decided it’s time to pamper myself a little, and when I say pamper, I’m talking ‘Go Big Time‘, baby.

    all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese..

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  • I’m going to sue PLDT

    For not having a backup system in place to prepare for situations like the Taiwan earthquake, no matter how rare these might be.

    For not finding an alternative means of reliable internet connectivity during said time period.

    For losses incurred by my internet – reliant business during period, both for present and future activities.

    For relying their long distance and internet business on underground cables that connect to a country that is known to lie on an earthquake fault.

    Should I be billed my full PLDT DSL bill during said period, and not given a discount or rebate, whether I ask for one or not, I will sue them for this as well.

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  • Informatics Galleria T-TH 6-9PM, and the seat of my pants

    And just like that, I am now a Part Time Trainor again at Informatics Galleria. I decided to inquire about openings on Wednesday two days ago while on a lunch break with Ge, found time to submit a resume that evening, and by yesterday was signing a contract to teach Basic Photoshop for 15 hours at the aforementioned time and dates.

    I think what I was thinking was: 6-9PM is the absolute worst time to get a ride home from Galleria to Cainta. By 9pm the traffic would’ve cleared, and since I have to go to my client there from time to time, I figured it’s time well spent. Besides, I did enjoy the teaching gig a few years ago, and [tag]Photoshop[/tag] is my life, my love and my happiness. It is however, extremely tiring and draining. Although its supposedly just 3 hours every t-th, it’s an additional hour or two preparing for that, plus making sure everything else in your life is working so as to free up that time for it.

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  • Article Repost: Finally Vista, and other Tech Predictions

    Here’s the orig ver of my article that came out yest

    Finally Vista, and other Tech Predictions
    Gabriel H. Mercado

    Coming into next year, look forward to gadgets that are friendlier to each other, an Internet with more to see and hear than just read, and a big Scandal or two, all the while wondering if you should upgrade to Vista. Here are my predictions.

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  • We’re looking for an accountant

    or someone who can help us:

    1. learn to set up our books.
    2. develop sops to keep track of expenses.
    3. learn business best practices.
    4. i’m saying the same things am i?
    5. ok what else..
    6. sing and dance?
    7. particularly ‘on my own’ ala Mau Marcelo, the 1st Phil. Idol.

    No, seriously. We need someone to teach us keep track of stuff. It’s not like we’re raking it in, it’s more like Jill doesn’t listen to me when I try to teach her how important it is to use Excel instead of bits of paper when she does her ‘accounting’. Hehe. Seriously. I also need someone to help me as Jill is going to take the bar this year, and she seriously needs to start burying her head in reviews. Terms after the ‘more’.

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  • The Complete and Absolute Mayhem of A Manila New Year

    I surveyed most of the damage of last night on the way home an hour ago, around 630AM from Jill’s house in BF Homes P’que to finally here in Cainta (yes we live that far apart. It’s ok, we adjust). Some people were already awake, sweeping the streets, the rest most likely conked out in bed or in a dazed stupor.

    The air is completely thick with smoke from pyrotechnics all over the city. It had already been pretty windy last night but apparently that wasn’t enough to blow all this smoke away. Here in my room where the windows were closed all night, the smoke is creeping in and I can smell that familiar smell of a Manila New Year.

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  • 3 Reasons Why I’d be Stupid if I returned Microsoft’s free Laptop

    A thought occured to me as I was waiting for the Ortiz – Liddel fight. I hope I can type this out quickly enough before the fight starts.

    Let me tell you something. If Mae Rivera, PR head of Microsoft Philippines gives me a free laptop to review Windows Vista with, then I would do the following in this order: 1. thank my lucky stars, 2. thank her, 3. thank Microsoft, 4. tell the world about it via my blog, and 5. go and review Vista with it.

    Doing so, I think I would be doing the right thing which are (again in numeric order. Sorry, I like trying to organize my thoughts): 1. Thank all those responsible for giving me a gift. 2. Tell everyone about it, just because it’s an interesting thing to share, and 3. Review Vista with it, and share it with as many people as possible (regardless of your opinion being positive or not) which is the least you could do.

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  • All your eggs. In one basket.

    So here’s my plan. I’ll move my hosting lock stock and barrel to PLDT (provided they actually have hosting rates that are anywhere near realistic), or some universally recognized data exchange (and by universally I mean Globe, Bayantel, Smart, PLDT, etc.), and they’ll be the only reliably accessible sites in the known universe! (and by universe i mean Philippines, which is my target market anyway).

    Sounds like a plan ‘no?

    Seriously, although all those mighty telcos from Singapore to Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and over here are scrambling all over the place to get those undersea cables fixed, I highly doubt we’ll get anywhere near normal performance until way into February.

    I mean, those guys said it themselves in this article, when they said they won’t invest in a backup solution because basically, the chances of a disaster is so remote they pretty much lay down those cables once and forget about it “for a hundred years”.

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