Not a lazy Sunday

Sunday morning is my favorite of all mornings. For one, we have no work – officially, that is – on Sundays. I don't like Saturday morning as I don't feel relaxed as of yet because of the work week that has just ended. And on Sundays, it's almost I am so relieved of all the stresses of the previous days.

Let me describe to you how I am spending my Sunday morning right this very moment:

I'm having grilled cheese sandwich and cappuccino here at Starbucks. I have just finished reading the Sunday newspaper, a tech magazine, and now, I am writing this post. (Oh no, I don't have a gold chain hanging on my arms or something, in case you over-imagined what I am trying to describe.) Later on, I will be meeting up with my cousin and former schoolmate, then in the afternoon, with my college friends.

Oh yeah, how I wish I can make my regular schedule something like this. This is the life – almost.

Apple

take a bite. it's alright.

I remember having a debate with one of my friends regarding Apple iDevices and Android phones. I was so passionate in saying Android is so much better in all aspects than any iDevices you can think of. I said Android is so much more awesome because it offers free apps way better than Apple's offering. Everything about iPhone 4S, I said, was alreday a late offering -- Siri, iCloud, etc. The apps in the Android Market are more relevant, more advanced, more practical than in Apple Store. If the Internet is the wheel that turns this digital revolution, then, Android apps are the industrial bearings that ensure smooth revolution of the wheel.

iPhone fanboys (and girls) claim it is the user experience that actually matters. I said, user-what???

And then, a couple of weeks ago, I got to use an iPad and an iPhone for a few hours...

My world changed.

Money cannot buy happiness

We have heard not just once, not just twice or twice, that money cannot buy happiness. Maybe. Maybe not. I tried to make an "experiment" and see if this is true to myself. My experiment, I list down some things that I've got (and wish I have) and tried to remember if those things made me (will make me) happy/happier. And not surprisingly, my happiness level increases as the monetary value of the thing I received increases. With that, I formulated this happiness formula:

H = f (M);

where H = happiness and M = money.

Oh, I am sure some of you are saying to yourself: "I am so d*mn lucky I am not as misguided as this poor, stupid Eks." Noted. Hehehe. But when I got to Others*, something I am wishing and praying for so badly, the happiness level is actually a perfect 10! But note that this Others* has no monetary value at all!

*Others -- This is where my formula crashed!

I guess it is true, at least in my case, that money sometimes can buy happiness, but the a Perfect 10 Happiness level is something it cannot buy. With that, I am leaving you with my revised formula:

H = f (M) and H < 10;

where H = happiness, M = money.

PS

1. Math Nazis will be killed.

2. "Wow, wala kang magawa, Eks?!"

PPS
I remember receiving some eddie bauer coupons before and I guess that would be somewhere in level 4-5.

Another insight on the CJ Corona Impeachment Trial

As I see it, this is going to be a battle of legalese.* I'm not sure if we'd hear stuff like "hindi po kinakain ang iced tea, iniinom po."

I have not seen everything yet (the Articles of Impeachment) but based on some news articles and reports that I have see so far (e.g., see PCIJ's report on the SALN issue - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjv8rIarir4&feature=email), I think the Impeachment Trial is not about justice at all -- this is a time-old power play between those in the administration and those who are not. Hayyy.

Good luck, Philippines.

*This would be too technical such that we'd perhaps hear the term Ingersoll rand compressor and we won;t even bother ask what that word is doing in this trial.

My initial thoughts on CJ Corona Impeachment Trial

In the News

Noynoy is confident Corona will be convicted.

Paano kapag hindi siya na-convict? Hindi na din niya rerespetuhin ang desisyon ng Senado?

Prosecution to Corona: Explain before the Senate, and not in front of your supporters.

Woohoo!!! Panalo. While this is really funny at its best, I'm not surprised. 185 of the 188 congressmen who signed to impeach Corona because he did not make his SALN public did not make their (185 congressmen) SALN public as well!

So, these congressmen who probably are just good in giving monogrammed baptism gifts to their supporters have suddenly become political geniuses. Sus! Good luck, Philippines!

PS: Is it too late to hope that I do not have blogger friends who are related to any of the 188 congressmen? :-D

Dear Dr. Love

Hehehe. Parang totoo no?

A friend of mine once asked me (yeaaaaaars back) about a problem she's having during that time. She posted my advice in her Facebook account. And whoala! Hehehe.

1. Even if a guy is attracted to you, it does NOT automatically mean he likes you. 
2. Even if a guy likes you, it does NOT mean that he would pursue you. 
3. Even if a guy pursues you, it does NOT mean he loves you, though he may say so. The pursuit could be a fact-finding mission, for all intents and purposes, to get to know you better. 
4. Even if a guy loves you, it does NOT mean he wants to marry you.
5. The only thing you girls can be sure of is that if a guy really likes you, he will give you stainless steel necklaces - joke! --  he will ask to see you again and again. He can't help it. But it's not true the other way around, i.e., if a guy is asking to see you again and again, it doesn't mean he likes you. He might just be playing.

Ewan ko ba bakit ko nasabi mga yun.

Going back home

My brother will be back from Australia by the week after next. And I am excited for so many reasons:

1. Pasalubong, syempre. Hehehe. He gave us a clue what they are and my sister is just so excited she even asked my brother to send the stuff via an overseas courier if possible. Hehehe. Ang sama! He asked me to choose between some northface jackets and something else. I chose the latter... the something else.

2. We have a couple of creative projects -- a Save-the-Date video for a friends wedding and a short film on a global issue. Trip-trip lang.

3. And of course because we miss him. :-)

Masaya ito

If one's failure to disclose SALNs is now an impeachable offense, then a long list of officials should also now be expunged from public office, including Ombudsman Carpio-Morales and by their own assertion, even 185 of the 188 members of the 15th Congress who filed the impeachment complaint against Corona but have not disclosed copies of their own SALNs.
From InterAksyon's report: SC justices, Ombudsman, House keep SALNs secret

Kakaiba. On Monday, the Impeachment trial will officially start. I had to include "officially" because Tupas and team have already started their unofficial trial a few weeks ago -- presscon here, presscon there. %$#@%. Funny thing is that we all know these guys are just fighting for power, and not really on justice and fairness. We all know that for every papag that a Filipino has, these high-ranking officials have a number of undisclosed log beds in their possession. Sus, unahan lang ang mga ito na magbintang sa isa't-isa.

waiting for the bus

dreaming. it's more fun in neverland.

Do you know that place between sleep and awake, the place where you can still remember dreaming? That's where I'll always love you. That's where I'll be  waiting.

-- Wendy to Peter Pan

Hahaha. Sorry. A cheesy post.* :-) But seriously, have you ever been in that situation where/when you really can't be sure if you are dreaming or not? if you are awake or not ala-Inception? Been there so many times. Love the place.

Good night, Universe!

*I almost tried to write "...where I'll be  waiting with citizen watches on my arms"... but that would ruin the cheesiness. Thanks to some grammarian/linguists a footnote was invented. And a small font. Hehehe.

Inquirer is funnier (really)

http://www.inquirer.net/?page-one=january-7-2011

The headline looks/reads something like this:

Editor killed in GenSan:

Why should you go to the Philippines

They really had to layout it that way, huh? While I really don't like how the DOT slogan was crafted, at least I am just voicing out my opinion in here (and only just a few of you guys actually can read this, hehehe). But Inquirer has a reader-base of hundreds of thousands! They could have just took a picture of hospital carts and put in it the slogan of the DOT! At least it's a little obvious that it's a joke. But the above is just... a failure. Tsk tsk tsk.

Is it more fun in the Philippines or in Switzerland?

It is not about whether it is a coincidence or not, it's not about whether it was used by Switzerland yesterday or half a century ago, it's about how they exerted effort on how to come up with a new campaign slogan!
This slogan according to DOT was a result of months of studies and consultations by professionals who can afford those expensive personalized cufflinks. If that was true, how come they were not able to see that old slogan from Switzerland? Netizens found that slogan just hours after the DOT launched the campaign!

What they should have perhaps done is start a contest and invite evryone to participate. Maybe they can create a website where people can make a pitch for the slogan. From there, netizens can assess the entries and vote for their favorites. In doing so, they can achieve two important things:

1. A campaign is being executed as early as in the contest stage.
2. Cheaters will be exposed by the netizens themselves hence, the oficial slogan (which will be coming from the winning entry) will be free from criticisms like the one they are having now.

A friend of mine said it would be better had the DOT used "It's FUNNIER in the Philippines."

And I think she's right.

To The Crazy Ones

Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

- Apple Inc.

What's funny here is that I really love how SJ markets Apple -- vision, mission, views -- but I would pick an Android gadget over an iDevice anytime. :-) Technology-wise, Apple is just a cell phone booster while Android is already a satellite phone! Hehehe.

To the crazy ones! Hehehe.

Another circus in the making

The Corona Impeachment is something we really should be looking forward to. Just like Erap's impeachment, up to all the Senate and HR investigations, this is going to be another circus on free TV.

Congressmen-prosecutors are so eager to have their 15 minutes of fame... so eager such that they would call press conferences and present their "evidence" to the public ahead of the actual impeachment trial. And you know what kind of evidence? Stuff like... Corona and his wife were able to buy a property (worth 14.5 M), which is beyond a public official's salary. Seriously. That was an evidence of corruption? They have got to have something more than that to make a conviction.

You see, I am just a lowly corporate slave then when I and my brother purchased (installment, actually) a real property worth almost 2 M (inclusive of everything that has to be bought). That is roughly 1/7th of the alleged Corona's property. Now, I am so much sure that Corona alone is worth more than 7 times I and my brother are. Corona is a topnotch lawyer as well. How can he not buy a property worth that much? Sus!

Are they trying to imply that doctors who can afford Marcus lab coats are (more) corrupt than those who can afford simple scrubs? The image that this circus is trying to show is that if you can afford a property that much, then, you are a bad guy. Scr@#@ them!

Someone like you (Adele)

Have you heard that song before? I liked it the very first time I heard it. Yesterday, while I was humming the song, my sister heard me and told me she saw a part of that lyrics posted in someone's wall. When I asked what the lyrics was, she said it was something like,

Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead.

Curioused, I search the whole lyrics and it was only then that I realized that the song is pure of heavy emotions... a bit on the negative side (and of course this is an understatement). Here's the first few paragraphs of the song:


I heard that you're settled down
That you found a girl and you're married now.
I heard that your dreams came true.
Guess she gave you things I didn't give to you.

Old friend, why are you so shy?
Ain't like you to hold back or hide from the light.

I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited
But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it.
I had hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded
That for me it isn't over.

Never mind, I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you too
Don't forget me, I begged
I remember you said,
Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead,
Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead

Here's a Youtube link of the song.

And why am I making a post like this? Well, it's one of those days that I really, really need to make a post but can't think of a decent one. No, I am not saving for Sferra products -- I'm saving for an iDevice. Hehehe. So, sorry.. :-)

Happy New Year!!!

From the bottom of my heart, Manigong Bagong Taon sa lahat ng makakabasa nito. (Or kahit di nabasa basta naramdaman. Hehehe.)