Just so you know…

I’ve moved back to Blogger recently, and I won’t be updating this blog again (I’ll probably delete it soon). So if and when you want to read my blog, head on to http://gaki.blogspot.com. I’ve named it Base Two and it’ll contain articles, opinions (on certain things), links — basically, bits of information I’d like to share.. =)

Erm.. well, if you’re interested about how I’m doing (personally), yeah, well, head on to Round the Bend.

One more week till this site goes down. WordPress, thanks so much for everything!

Blogger Beta

Yes, just like how I got my GMail account, there appeared on my Blogger Dashboard sidebar that Beta invitation. The new features? Blogger’s making full use of Web 2.0 with Drag and Drop layout management, so beginners can easily customize their layout, but purists who like editing their code by hand (like me) can still do what they want. Blogger Beta merges your old Blogger account with your Google Account, so that’s one less password for me to remember.

Haven’t explored the rest of the new features, but when I was given that invitation, the first thing I checked was if they now have Tag/Categories. And guess what, they do! So I went Beta right away. Hahaha. I’ll post more about the new features when I’ve thoroughly explored it. Naah. Just have the tour yourself, yes?

Excited for this year’s Y4iT Congress

I wasn’t able to attend last year’s Y4iT congress.. But this year, I’m going!

What is Y4iT anyway?

Well, the Philippine Youth Congress in Information Technology, a.k.a Youth for I.T. (Y4iT) Congress, is an annual gathering of college students, professionals and enthusiasts in I.T. in the country. It’s a three-day event where information, opportunities and current trends in the I.T field are discussed. Aside from the talks, there are also exhibits, side events, paper presentations and a job fair, to show you snippets of what lies in field of ICT.

This year’s topics include:

• Interactivity Design
• Ubiquitous and Pervasive Computing
• Digital Photography
• Network Services
• Mobile Computing & Embedded Systems
• Success Stories in ICT
• Blogging
• Next Generation Gadgets
• Mobile Games
• Software Engineering & Best Practices
• Intellectual Property
• Life in Call Centers
• Open Source Technology
• Voice Over IP (VOIP)
• Tech-Based Entrepreneurship
• 3D Modeling, Rendering & Animation
• PODcasting/VODcasting
• Bioinformatics
• 3G Phone Technology
• Philippine National IT Standard Examination (PhilNits)
• Gaming
• Recent Trends & Issues in ICT

Need more details? Check out their invitation (in PDF), which contains all the details you need to know, or if you’re not in a hurry, go check out their website at http://y4it.up.edu.ph. See you there!

Bayantel’s Speed-on-Demand

Okay, I’ve subscribed to Bayantel/SkyDSL’s cheapest plan, which is 256kbps for P899. And it came with an SOD promo. We’ve been subscribed for a while now, and it was only yesterday that I learned that it wasn’t activated by default, and I wouldn’t have known it if a PLDT DSL subscriber hadn’t told me. Tsk, tsk..

Kuya Noel, you ass. You didn’t even tell me!!! Ayhechu!

Anyways, if you’re a SkyDSL subscriber, you need to activate the SOD (which doubles your subscribed speed from 10pm to 10am) by calling the Bayantel Customer Service at (632) 412 12 12. Or if you don’t like calling for technical assistance (unlike me), just append “@sod” to your username account and your speed should double at the mentioned hours. Enjoy!

Do you eat paper?

I’m currently eating a frozen Stuffin cupcake (yeah, I like ‘em frozen), and the paper just keeps on sticking on the cake. I think I ate some bits of paper.

This is not the only time I accidentally ate paper. There was one time back in high school when our teacher in homeroom gave us puto. I was halfway through when I noticed there was torn paper sticking at the bottom of the cake. Good thing paper can be digested.

But seriously, don’t you find it annoying seeing bits of cake sticking on the paper? I mean, it’s a waste of good cake (however little).. Maybe eating the paper is not so bad after all (I can hear you all saying, “Ewww..”). *laughs*

(And yes, ladies and gentlemen, that’s another related-but-still-off-topic picture you see above. This food talk is making me crave for cakes. I’ll bake and bake when the semester ends. Just you wait.)

The TV

Update: Somebody asked me if I was making money out of this blog because of the links posted in this entry. I’d really love to make money out of this thing, but no, I don’t. First off, it won’t work, because I have few (really, really few) readers. And second, I don’t post any interesting entries to make it work.

Ever since gradeschool, I never felt the pull of television. That feeling of being torn between watching TV and doing something else. It’s always been the computer. But lately it seems the television has been beckoning.

I just found out that Project Runway airs at RPN 9, 1900. I watched a few episodes of this during my vacation in Hong Kong, and despite not being interested in clothes, I was hooked. I didn’t know it aired on local TV (we don’t have cable TV). And then, there’s this Philippine Idol in ABC 5. From what I’ve watched, it isn’t as exciting as American Idol (probably because the excitement wore off long ago). But there’s something about singing competitions that appeal to me. It’s bound to be a nice show, what with the three judges being Ryan Cayabyab, Pilita Corales and Francis Magalona, and host Ryan Agoncillo of Y! Speak (which I also watch).

*Sigh* Just when I thought the computer’s enough of a distraction from my studies, the TV also decides it needs attention..

Preserving World Heritage

UNESCO has named eight world heritage sites in the Philippines: the Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park; the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park; the Rice Terraces in the Philippine Cordilleras; the Historic Town of Vigan in Ilocos Sur; and the four Baroque churches of Santo Tomas de Villanueva in Iloilo, San Augustin in Ilocos Norte, Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion in Ilocos Sur, and San Augustin in Manila. In 2001, UNESCO included the Rice Terraces in its List of World Heritage in Danger. Since then, efforts have been doubled to ensure the preservation of our world heritage. Join us as we take an audio-visual tour of the different sites and learn how we can help in preserving them for future generations.

The HARIBON FORUM

What can I do to preserve our world heritage?

• August 24, 2006; 6:00 PM
• Meralco Mini-Theater, Lopez Building, Meralco Center
• Ortigas Avenue, Pasig City

Entrance fees are P20 for students and P50 professionals/non-students. We request that you confirm your attendance by contacting Vyxz Vasquez at 0927-3994997 or 0922-8151933 or email us at advocacy at haribon dot org dot ph

The Haribon Forum is held every second to the last Thursday of the month and tackles important biodiversity concerns. Its regular venue is the Meralco Mini-Theater in Meralco Center, Ortigas Avenue, Pasig City.

Update: Wasn’t able to attend. I got sick!

(I) Miss Trixie

I miss Trixie. She’s currently with my Dad’s cousin. I’ve asked Dad when he’ll take her back and he kept telling me to wait till Trixie gets pregnant. It’s been a few months. How much longer do I have to wait?

Anyway, I was checking out the photos on Zooomr just after I uploaded Trixie’s picture. And I found this beside her photo:

Hosted on Zooomr

Don’t they look alike? *snicker*

Just so I don’t feel guilty about being unfair to our other dog, I’m posting Bogart’s photo.

Next time, I’ll take pictures of our two other dogs, Mel and Noli. (We already have photos of them on the other computer, but the hard disk was accidentally wiped clean of data.)

Class suspension

Got this from an email:

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Rowel Atienza <rowel@eee>
Date: Jul 23, 2006 3:27 PM
Subject: classes suspended tomorrow

>From Chancellor Cao:

Classes in UP Diliman tomorrow are suspended. Pls pass.

For either of the incoming storm or SONA… Whichever the case, that’s free time for me (a break at last!).

Blogger Trouble

Update: Thanks to the quick response of Karl and the Blogger Team, my Blogger blog is now back online (albeit empty)! For others who are having the same problem, just email the Blogger support and I’m sure you’ll resolve the problem in no time (just make sure to reply to the automated response so they can attend to your problem!).

Despite having moved to WordPress, I still want to rebuild my old Blogger blog. I would only rebuild it on the same address, and honestly, it annoys me seeing it still alive, because I’m obsessive-compulsive I’ve deleted it a long time ago. It seems I messed up Blogger’s database because when I deleted the blog, it was hosted on a free (external) webhost, so the one in Blogspot.com survived (though I don’t have control over it anymore). Blogger wouldn’t let me have the same subdomain name but wouldn’t let me delete it either!

Upon logging in, here’s what you’ll see on my dashboard:

And here’s what I see when I access the site with me still signed in:

Notice that the “Edit” icon is available. That doesn’t appear if you don’t own the blog. And that icon appears on both the Blogspot-hosted one, and the externally-hosted one (which I haven’t deleted). So I’m assuming the blog still “recognizes” me as the owner of the blog. Clicking on it gives me this error message:

I would really like to have this blog removed, just so I can rebuild it. I love WordPress, especially because of the tags (if only Blogger also has those!) but I miss being able to customize my layout and Blogger has lots of features I’d also like to try out. I know I can customize my layout with WordPress but that requires owning a domain, which I can’t afford.