Writer Feels

So I've finally decided to come back from the other side and write again. Feels like there's tons more to share besides the tweets on TW, the updates on FB, and the photos on IG. I'll be posting more in the coming days (and hopefully months) about my Greatest Adventure yet. I left work where I have been the past 11 years and 9 months -- am actually still on PTO through the end of the month. Long story but it was my decision to make and one of the most difficult ones in my history. Anyway, I'll be writing about my sojourn in Nippon. And I can't wait to start!

Return of the Jedi-Pac

Officially coming back after a 2-year hiatus. Press release: "I got too busy with life plus the emergence of these social bandwagons - Facebook, Foursquare, GetGlue, Instagram, and, of course, Twitter. But it's time to write again and keep writing." Now I need to figure out how to update everything on here -- from the layout design to the gadgets plus if maybe I can wire my social activities here too (not just Twitter). Any leads are welcome. Let's do this!!

Twitter just flatlined..

This just in: Twitter just flatlined across the galaxy. And I think it's been dead for over 30 minutes now.. we'll see what comes up soon -- and if it'll ever come back!

*NEW* BlackBerry 8900

I forgot to update my blog that I had gotten my new BlackBerry 8900 in the afternoon of February 18th, that's 4 long days after my birthday. I had planned on getting a new one--first choice was a Bold due to its availability locally--in time for my birthday but failed. I tried to ask Globe for one even if I'd pay for it upfront but they never gave me due to some technicalities--one of which is the fact that they only offer it to corporate subscribers and I'm just on an individual (or regular) subscription, you know--but religiously paying my monthly dues... oh well.

Anyhow, thanks to another BlackBerry addict from PhilMUG (member amf), and because he posted that he got his 8900 from ebuystore.com.ph (MNL-based ebay powerseller), now you know what happened next (yup, I'm so predictable at times). So I sought the help of yet another BlackBerry addict from PhilMUG, world-renowned writer Butch Dalisay (click it for his Wiki spot)--asked him to get it for me so he can inspect before shipping it over to Cagayan de Oro (just to be sure everything's accounted for) and so he did (thank you Sir!). I just wired him the money via bank deposit. And that was it, after a day-full of waiting, the beauty of a gadget finally arrived and knocked on the door!

For more information about the BlackBerry 8900, check out its official page. Finally, I now have GPS and Wi-Fi in one device! Now, if you'd ask me where my BlackBerry 8320 went, I had it sold to a friend--after I replaced the trackball and the faceplate so it'd look new and feel new.

Happy Holidays!

I know I've been out of my blog for too long and it's not even funny--such a shame. But I'll try to get back to regular programming--or blogging--real soon. I know I ain't no writer but that doesn't discount the possibility that I *might have* (or may have) suffered from the so-called writer's block.

Anyway, just dropping by, real quick, to greet everyone a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous '09! I'll be working on both Christmas eve and day but I'll be off on New Year's eve and enjoy the countdown. Enjoy the long holiday week everyone!

Be sure to take out some cash from the bank as ATMs easily run out bills...

To Blog Again

I've been busy, busy, busy. But I'm back and I'll be working on a major make-over... I hope to get that done by next week. So many things have gone on while I was off-camera and etc. And yeah, I want to take photos now (I'll blog about that later on too!). The NEW MacBooks are out and they look so kewl and everything. The new iPods have gone out too. Basically a lot of stuff have come out and I wasn't able to talk about them. Too much work for me at work (where else?)!

PS. I just got that photo off the web and I found it to be pretty amazing and very, very creative. It's called "hands with a face."

Nuffnang. Weird sound of money.

Nuffnang, Asia's First Blog Advertising Community, is already here! I heard about this from a blogger friend so I immediately signed up just so I could read more about it. And here's what I found out from their website:

After its massive success in Malaysia and Singapore with over 45,000 bloggers signing up in which most of them are enjoying the perks of serving ads to multinational companies like Nike, Citibank, Honda, Nokia, F&N, AirAsia and many more, Nuffnang.com.ph is officially online!

I think Nuffnang's kewl! Don't you think so? I guess I would need to up my posts a bit so I can get me some Nike ads. That's just my favorite brand of shoes, and always has been synonymous with first-choice... can't wait!

So what has sounded weird just lately? I think it's money and you get to hear the words blog, entre, adsense and (now) nuffnang. And you know what, when I ran a Google search for Nuffnang, I just find it more weird to have even seen a blog with this address: why-nuffnang-will-fail dot blogspot dot com. Weird day for me I guess.

Nuff said, nang it!

Know When Your Time Is Up

While scour-ing today for some random things, I came across this sort of calculator (or meter) that measures the approximate date when the Grim Reaper would have to ask you out. All you've got to do is head over to this site, provide answers to a few personal questions. When you're done, the table gets turned, and the answer to your question (take note: you must ask yourself first before you ever try this!) will be provided.

If you want to know when my time is up, this was what I got:

6/22/2053. On a Sunday? Yikes! I'd die unhappy if I ever live long enough to reach that. I would be over 70 by then. I would never wanna see me with my skin all loosed up. I don't know. Well at least the link made me wonder... and laugh.

How about you? When do you think the guy with the scythe would come to see you?

Search. Earn. Scour.

I've heard about Scour a long time ago from a pro-blogger friend. It's only today that I decided I need to start working with Scour--dubbed "The Social Search Engine." It's easy. Just search, and you earn points. Earn 6500 of those and you get a $25 PayPal check. Now that's easy.

Now I'm not saying you don't have to use Google anymore, I am just letting you in on an option. It could be a better alternative. Who knows? So start scouring now! There's lots more you could do with Scour. Scour this, scour that. So click THIS and start earning extra dough!

UPDATE: Globelines Issues, FIXED!

After calling Globelines' tech support every single day over the last 7 days or so due to my connection issue (read: slow), two guys finally dropped by today, along with their Asus EeePC, to check and validate how real slow my connection really is/was since the day it got installed. Right... they fixed it!

They didn't stay long though BUT they figured the issue was with the Sphairon Turbolink modem. They started their troubleshooting by running speedtests (off speedtest.net) on the small black ultraportable. After failing to at least complete a single speedtest result, they both agreed to try a different modem. Bingo! With the new shiny black Prolink ADSL2+ modem, I got these speeds and it's been pretty consistent eversince.


So thank you Globelines, especially to the two guys who came here earlier (sorry I didn't catch your names) You can now close the third trouble ticket numbered 919792. I can forget about the past, and move on as all I ever wanted to begin with was what had I signed up for and what I will be paying for--broadband Internet. Thanks Globelines. Case closed. More power!!!

A Kagayanon's Journey to Canada

While I was browsing the CDOCentral forums earlier today, I stumbled upon member name kicker and his blog about how he and his wife worked together to get to Canada, the legal way. The exodus story is just inspiring, at least for me. If you read it from the first post up, for sure you would re-realize (you already know this) that nothing in life ever comes easy.

You can go check out his blog at burlingtonjourney.blogspot.com. Learn more about migrating to Canada. And be inspired.

Online BUT Stuck!

If you examine the photo above, you should be able to tell that I'm online now. I've got my weather updates in (too bad there's none for CDO) along with my WAN IP as well. The Globelines folks have finally hooked me up at the new apartment late yesterday afternoon. But that's just the good news. News always comes in twos. Now the bad news is--the connection has been so slow ever since! To make matters worse, I only figured that out when the install crew had already left the area.

So did you want to know how slow this thing is? Well, it's way under the considerable speed even for dial-up! You may want to check the image ^^ again, click it. It's really ADSL eh? Take a closer look at the download versus upload speeds, there you go. Now I got those values from Speedtest and from my #1 widget, iStat Pro (get the latest version here). The download speed, the most important, is not even in 3 digits!

I guess it's just not my time these past few days BUT I've got to bounce back. With that said, I already gave the Globelines tech support guys a call early this morning and I got a reference number for the record. They said there could be something wrong with the facility or the main center where my line comes out from. At least he agreed there's something wrong! I just hope they would act on this no sooner than a month! Remember "the wait" I had to burn candles for just for the installation? It now appears the pain wasn't worth it at all.

Stay tuned...

Globelines suck!

The story: I submitted my application to get hooked up via Globelines (or Globe Broadband) last June 27th, a Friday. And up until now (running 3++ weeks), I am still Internet-less at the new apartment. I moved in June 25th and, like many other professionals out there, I cannot live without the Internet. Without it, I don't think I feel confident enough to talk to people. I mean what would I talk to them about? News? Local news ain't enough. I need to know what's going on with the world! And I would need the Internet for that, don't you think?

I think I'm gonna have to give them yet another call today and complain this time around. You know I'm the type of person who rarely complains about stuff and services BUT I think this is way over ridiculous right now that it's not even funny. I will update you guys about this whole mess/ordeal. I NEED THE INTERNET!

I got mentioned in a newspaper...

I just found out I got mentioned in an article written by Jose "Butch" Dalisay on The Philippine Star. It came out last June 22nd in the Sunday Gadgets' Section. The online version of the full article can be found here.

Here's the paragraph where I was mentioned:

As a Web browser and mp3 player, the iPhone is “light years ahead” of the BlackBerry, as even local BB guru Ric Pacana acknowledges. The iPhone’s Safari browser is the only real usable phone browser out there that comes close to the desktop experience, and the iPhone’s ability to automatically reorient images (horizontal or vertical) and to resize them with a two-finger “curtain” effect is matchless. However, Ric prefers his BB for its strengths: push email, long battery life, better security, and multitasking.

Butch Dalisay's blog > http://penmanila.net/

Rylee's First Bday in 6hrs

I'm still internet-less here at the new house I rented so I might need to up my blog's post count via BlackBerry for the time being. Nobody from Globelines dropped by today so that's disappointing. Hopefully, someone will be here tomorrow so they can start surveying and would probably get me hooked up in no time. I'm crossing my fingers. I can't wait until next week. I'd be losing a lot of time for sure...

Rylee's First Bday is almost here with just under six hours left. He's on a late afternoon powernap right beside me on the king-sized airbed I bought as our temporary bed. He's healthy, as always, and will transition to a "higher" formula beginning tomorrow. The milk brand or make is called Gain Plus. I just wonder why milk for 1 year olds are a lot cheaper than milk for 6-months and up. Any ideas?

Anyhow, as you can see on the right side, I haven't been updating my Twitter a lot lately. Twitter via GTalk still doesn't work for me. I think I really need to use the real GTalk client for it to sync. I should be able to use JiveTalk on my BlackBerry by then. We'll see what happens later this week.

One cool thing I found out today was plurk over at plurk.com. Some people said it's way better than Twitter so I gave it a shot... AND boy were they right! It just looks like fun over there! I will probably add a widget on here later so I could link my plurk updates. I love plurk's timeline feature and the karma system, too.

More updates later...

Rylee's First Bday Coming Up!

Baby boy Rylee's first birthday is just around the corner! w00t! Can't wait for it. He will be a happy 1-year old on Tuesday, July 1st. MJ and I are still trying to decide where we're going to celebrate his birthday. It won't be all about kids for now as he still doesn't have any friends yet--although he enjoys watching and interacting with them whenever he sees some play around.

Above: photo taken during Rylee's post-baptism photo session. He used to be small... but he's all big now and can actually walk! He can only say a few words for now though especially the local translation for milk, "dede" and I think that's cute. Babies are just awesome and they provide so much fun. They can help you de-stress but only sometimes.

There will be more updates as we progress towards his first big day!

Twittering via IM

It's a rainy Friday out here. It's been pouring down since early AM. I'm just too preoccupied right now updating this page's layout, fixing widgets' locations and how they appear plus there's twitter. And I think it's fun. The only issue I have right now is I can't seem to get through twittering from my GTalk IM account just yet. GTalk on my iChat is still stuck at "waiting for authorization." I guess I would have to use my brother's PC later on today just so I could isolate if it's a Mac thing that's holding me back twittering via IM. I couldn't wait as it's pretty much like blogging on Blogger via email...

I just signed up on Twitter!

Okay so I just took the plunge and signed up for Twitter. Thanks to mi amigo JayPads for the suggestion so I should now be able to begin twitter-ing in no time! Just so you'd know, all my twitters should be available over at twitter.com/ricpac. Go check that out will ya?

Now twit me, and I'll twit you back--no big deal, right?

Tuesday Jitters

It's one of those Tuesdays, I guess. There's not much to talk about as not a lot of stuff happened. I just went to work early. Got back home to pick up gf and went to Body 'n Sole for a massage. She got for herself a full one while I only went for foot reflexology. It did hurt but it wasn't much like the first time.

As I was out on the road with her, I thought global warming was starting to get real ugly. I mean it was so hot around here as early as 9AM--ran through noon time and temperature (+humidity) only dwindled down around 2:25PM when it started to rain. Man, if I was on the field the whole time today I would've gotten sick, that's guaranteed. Imagine what I would've to go through if I was a field worker. I would have worked through sweat only to get wet under these crazy little mid-afternoon showers. I know it's not good news but I had to share it.

Anyway, more to the tech side now, OK so I actually resetted my MacBook Pro's SMC today. Thanks to this tip from Apple. I hope doing that would at least fix the screen issue I have experienced since I updated to 10.5.3. My brother even saw the phenomenon for himself when he tried to use the Mac late last night--that's after he woke it up by opening the lid. Oh BTW, I got the idea about resetting the SMC from Apple discussions specifically in this thread. It is very clear that I am not the only dude who has a Mac with this mess. At least I know I'm not special.

Sports-wise, I could only wish the Lakers are going to win Game 6 in Boston to push the Finals to a dead-end. That would be fun rather than tuning in to Game 6. But with the Celtics having their crowd behind, I guess it won't be that difficult to stuff the trophy in the bag. And KG would be all smiles for sure.

Updates from the BlackBerry world? Sure. Here it is--photos about the demo unit of the Javelin (the 3G-less BlackBerry Bold variant) have surfaced online. Check this feed from BlackBerryNews.com and enjoy reading.

Experiencing some local issues with my laptop

So I have had this baseline MacBook Pro for over a month now and have had no issues until I updated my OS X to 10.5.3 when it became available via software update. You know Macs are never meant to be shut down, you just let them sleep, wake them up and they're back in action--exactly as you've left them.

Now here's the story: there was that one morning in May I'll never forget. What happened was... I just let it sleep the night before some disaster happened. I just closed the lid and let it snore. I woke up early the next day and thought I'd get online first before the usual morning rituals. And then I saw this after I opened the darn thing (BTW I call this a post-sleep nightmare):

I took that photo just for documentation purposes. Ok, so then I forced reboot it and that somehow seemed to have fixed that issue. So I posted this experience on the two Mac forums I know and frequent - PhilMUG and MacRumors. I then found out I wasn't the only one who has experienced this ugly phenomenon. Some have commented it most likely is a video card or worse, a logic board issue and that I needed to have that replaced, much less checked up on by a certified Apple service guru ASAP. The problem I have now is that there's only one authorized Apple Reseller and Service Center in the city--Lifestyle Quality Appliances. I doubt their technician could even handle this thing but I am going to give it a shot no less especially that it happened again last night! Check the photo below:

I just woke it up after moving it from the living room to the bedroom. What triggered it this time though was when I opened PhotoBooth to take photos of my baby boy. And boom it happened again! The only line that crossed my mind when that happened was this: "If it happened two times, then a third time is absolutely guaranteed!" Now that just doesn't sound right. I guess I really have to start thinking about bringing this in and have it checked up on. All I've got to do now is back-up and make a few phone calls before actually visiting the service center myself. Good luck to me and I hope I can have this covered soon.