Can't sleep

2:30 AM, and I still can't get my sleep.

Some thoughts are running through my head and I can't seem to settle my mind down. Or maybe I just don't want to stop replaying those thoughts in my head over and over again.

It was a nice cool weather out there tonight; I finally felt it and enjoyed it walking the streets. Saw the Christmas decors too. Funny, I seemed to appreciate it more tonight.

Christmas spirit? Maybe. I don't know. What I do know is I'm feeling good. Where that will take me? Who knows?! I'll just enjoy the ride. Maybe that's why I don't want to sleep and let this feeling pass.

Internet Anonymous

I just finished watching an NBA game live online. I totally enjoyed watching the Houston Rockets vs New Orleans Hornets streaming thru the internet.

At first, I was doubting I could enjoy a game thru this media. But, Wow! Hurray for the wonders of the internet. It was totally entertaining.

Now, I also got to know another live stream of the Philippines TV channel GMA-7. Not that I am watching it. But it's cool to get in touch with news, shows, and whatever is being shown in the Philippines live.

I'm Adrian and I'm addicted to the internet.

Life is Beautiful. Life is short.

It's been a very strange day. Last night, I got an SMS message from a team member telling me that he won't be able to come in to work. His sister had just passed away.

I'm not good in this kind of situation. Didn't know how to react, or what to say to comfort this friend. I just told him to not worry about work and take a needed time off.

This guy is just 23 or 24 years old. His sister, the eldest, I would guess won't be older than 38, maybe 35.

And I'm 30. What happened really struck me hard. I can feel myself getting old. hahaha! I notice my metabolism getting slow. I also notice physical changes in myself that are making me different from when I was 25, 26, 27, or even 28. Or maybe I'm just paranoid.

Still, what happened really showed me that our life is so short and so fragile. I shouldn't just let a day pass by. Why can't I get myself off the bed and away from the TV? Why can't I wake up early to enjoy the calm, cool morning breeze? Why can't I spend as much time with the people I love? Why can't I just do what I want to do and enjoy every minute of my day?

Maybe I should. Maybe I should enjoy every minute of my life starting now. But at the same time, I should pass each day in a meaningful manner.

Enjoy life. Carpe diem. Show the people we love how much we do love them.

Cisco Telepresence

I joined a proposal pitch to a client from somewhere in Europe which was conducted through Cisco's Telepresence technology....

Man! That is one cool techno stuff! Have you heard of that stuff? Well, it's like common video conferencing technology, but a lot lot cooler. The images of the people you're talking to are fed into a 3-panel 42+inch LCD screen monitor. and you can actually see their whole room! And that room would look exactly just like the room you're in. And the table they're seated to looks exactly just like yours. It would come out like you're just sitting around the same table with them. Totally awesome!

No lag. No delay. Their mouth is in-sync with the words you're hearing. When you plug your laptop into the projector, the same image on your PC is fed to the network and their own projector would show the same image. Amazing!

Totally enjoyed the meeting. No idea what was discussed.. just had a good time with the telepresence thingamajig!

Supervision

I'm getting a lasik procedure done on me and be getting 20/20 supervision in a couple of days. Hopefully procedure goes smoothly.

Finally, I got to save enough to pay for this procedure. My vision is not that bad. I think I have around 300 - 400 "grades" or whatever you call that measure for vision impairment. I can still see objects even without my glasses. The eye center is also giving out discounts. So, I just decided that this could be the right time to do it.

Excited! My friend and my sister keep on telling me that this is a good investment. Oh well, I at least won't be burdened by bringing along my contact lens, contact lens solution, and those stuffs when travelling. I won't again forget about putting on my contact lens for a basketball game. No more going to the mall just to buy those contact lens solutions.

Wish me luck! This could just change my luck! hahahaha!

In a funk

I'm currently in a funk. Everything that I get into goes into a funk.

I'm cheering for the LA Lakers. However, The LA Lakers are facing elimination and has to do a seemingly impossible task of winning the next 2 games after winning Game 5 just to win their 2nd game in this best of 7 NBA championship series. We're in a funk.

My work is not doing so well either. We have come to a plateau in terms of our work for this project. We have finished our development and are now just supporting the test and deployment stages. Nothing happening there. Just one boring day after another. Furthermore, the client hasn't yet committed to letting us handle the support work for when the system we developed has been fully deployed and is in production. I can't afford to stagnate this way. My career is also in a funk.

And personally, not much is happening. I tried to catch the play Avenue Q with some friends one day. I have previously planned to watch this particular play in Broadway last November 2007 only for the show to be cancelled because the stage people went on strike. It was gonna be staged here in Manila and I was suppose to catch it. Tickets bought already. Unfortunately, 1 hour from show time, when I was about to leave the office for the show, my car won't start! Grrr!! How's that for luck!?!?

Gotta get out of this funk soon.... Looking forward to a vacation on July!

NBA Final 2008 Lakers vs. Celtics

Unfortunately, Detroit Pistons lose to the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference Championship. This sets up a Lakers versus Celtics NBA Finals.

I didn't like Boston advancing to the finals. I grew up in the 80's. Learned to play basketball during the 80's. The first NBA game I watched on TV was the 1987 Lakers-Celtics finals on replay. I saw the Bird-Magic rivalry. I saw Abdul-Jabbar laboriously run up and down the court but still convert his patented sky hook with ease. I saw Worthy running the lanes and finishing fastbreaks for the Lakers. Then, there was McHale, Parish, DJ, obnoxious Ainge, and Greg Kite. For the Lakers, you had Cooper, a young Byron Scott, Rambis with his eyeglasses, Thompson.....

These are like sacred memories I had of my own version of the Lakers-Celtics rivalry.

Now, I just hope that Kobe, Pau, Odom, Fisher and Pierce, KG, Ray Allen can live up to that standard of play of the previous Lakers-Celtics matchups.

What's Bugging you?

Bugs are not good. We surely don't want cockroaches and other bugs crawling around our rooms. Computer codes don't want bugs in them. We also don't want eavesdroppers tapping our communication lines and putting bugs around our house.

And as pesky as cockroaches, a couple things have been in my mind lately. Although not all of those bugging me are bad. One makes me think of what might have been. Another makes me giddy, like a high school kid! hahaha...

But I'm such a brooder. All these stuffs would be on my mind for a long period of time. Until I can resolve to do something about them. Or until I just get tired and forget them. But usually the problem solving "Men are from Mars" in me, would want me to resolve them.

Oh well, I can't really say what those things on my mind are. I certainly can let go of the one that makes me think of what might have been. In fact, I may already have. And I can certainly stay giddy like a high schoo kid for a longer time.... I just hope the giddyness turns into something better.

Nothing wrong in dreaming and reaching for the stars.... Good Night!

Please listen to my opening page song

I've been trying to fill up my iPod with new, hip, and funky songs. I came across this relatively new hit single from Rihanna. It's playing quite often as of this moment in our airwaves here. And I kinda like it.... so Rihanna a song... the lyrics are quite ok... but I dig them, especially the chorus :)

So, I'm sharing her music with you. (Although the one I got from the net is not so nice... it has a station ID thingie at the start. Sorry for that! Hahaha!!) But enjoy.

Here's the lyrics:

How bout a round of applause?
Standin Ovasion...
Yeah yeah yeah yeah

You look so dumb right now
Standin' outside my house
Tryin to apologize
You're so ugly when you cry
(Please)
Just cut it out

Don't tell me you're sorry cuz you're not
Baby when I know you're only sorry you got caught

But you put on quite a show
You really had me goin
But now it's time to go
Curtains finally closin
That was quite a show
Very entertainin'
But it's over now
Go on and take a bow

Grab your clothes and get gone
(You better hurry up)
Before the sprinklers come on
Talkin' bout "Girl, I love you you're the one..."
This just looks like a re-run
(Please)
What else is on?

And don't tell me you're sorry cuz you're not
Baby when i know you're only sorry you got caught

But you put on quite a show
You really had me goin'
But now it's time to go
Curtains finally closin
That was quite a show
Very entertainin'
But it's over now
Go on and take a bow

And the award for the best liar goes to you
For makin' me believe
That you could be
Faithful to me
Let's hear your speech
oh...

How bout a round of a plause?
Standin Ovasion...

But you put on quite a show
You really had me goin'
But now it's time to go
Curtains finally closin'
That was quite a show
Very entertainin'
But it's over now
Go on and take a bow

But it's over now...

Channel Surfing and Reality TV

I'm a couch potato. And a TV addict.

I don't know if its just boredom or if I really like to watch tv. I spent the whole day in the house, doing nothing else but watching tv. Starting in the morning, I catch the live telecast of the NBA Playoffs which lasted til 1PM. Then, I watched a couple of movies on the DVD and channel surfed the rest of the afternoon until now, at 11PM at night.

And I just noticed, reality TV is such a great thing for channel surfing. Thanks to cable channels like Velvet, 2nd Avenue, Jack TV, etc.... I was able to watch TMZ, a couple of episode of America's Next Top Model (pretty ladies ;-) ), Top Chef.

But what I can really recall is a reality show of Victoria Beckham. Is she hot!?!?! Posh Spice! Woot woot! And I can seriously say that I like her more now after watching that show. Yes, she has a pretty face, slim and sexy body! And she's always dressed up and looking good. But watching the show, never thought she has a sense of humor, and she was very pleasant throughout the show. And she has personality! I thought she was just all beauty and nothing more.

Alright.. that's all... I'm going to back channel surfing

Summer 2008

It's the summer of 2008...

I've wasted a couple of friday nights because of work. There had been times when I had to stay at the office until 2 - 4 am!! Then, I would just spend the rest of the weekend in bed trying to catch up on sleep. I actually missed a company outing to Laguna just this past weekend because of working. I wanted to catch a lot of sun this summer.

But I had a very nice excursion the last weekend. We had a 3 day weekend because of a holiday. And fortunately, 3 slots opened up for me and my friends to join a group called Photoholic. They have arranged everything for a summer beach camp to Zambales. What I mean by arranging everything is as in everything. This is like camping for the rich.. or more appropriately for the lazy! Camping was just eating, lying on the sand and basking under the sun. The Photoholic group has arranged some professional campers who would bring and cook our food, drag the tents and setup our camp. We were a spoiled bunch of campers.

We went to Zambales' Pundakit town where we rode small bangkas to reach the island of Anawangin, Capones, and Camara.. Anawangin is where we camped for a night. No resorts, no electricity, and not even SMART has signal that could reach this island. It's just us and the idyllic beauty of Anawangin. I didn't bring any camera. I joined a Photoholic group. I was with experts of photography. I wouldn't want to bring out my compact camera and use my poor knowledge of photography to be with those SLRs that they were brandishing. So, no photos from me. I suggest you look thru my contacts to see our photos.

Anyway, I had a nice weekend. Met new friends. And I also tried to learn skim boarding. Looked easy, but didn't even managed to stay on for more than a second.

It's still the middle of summer, I hope to see more of the sun... on a beach...

SMB, sarap mag beach... Tara!

Tiring Week

The past week was a tiring one. But it was fun. I played a total of 3 basketball games on 3 different nights.

I and my friends joined a basketball league to play some competitive games. It's not a big league nor one where you'll see extraordinary players. Mostly the players are of varsity level skills; I'm not one of them. Actually, I'm a very marginal player. We've been playing in this league for the past 2-3 years. I don't get to play a lot, just the mandatory 5-6 minutes that every players should play. It's part of the league rules to ensure that everyone gets to play. And if ever I do play very well in those minutes, I earn maybe another 5 minutes or so in the second half. I also get to play more in times when attendance for our team would limit us to just 8 players or less. Good times. :)

This year, the same league set up another tournament. It's some kind of a "tournament of the weak". Haha! It does sound bad, doesn't it? Well, the tournament doesn't allow the best players of each team to join. In this tournament, I get to play a lot more in our games. :) At least I hope to.

This past week, 2 games were played with the regular tournament, and 1 game was played for the "tournament of the weak".

On Tuesday, we played our 1st game in the "tournament of the weak". We won that one by one point in a double overtime game. I think I played around 30 minutes. I was so tired. But I think I had a great game for us. During the last 30 seconds of regulation, we were down by 6. Our opponent turned the ball over. In transition, I got the ball on top of the key and just launched a 3 point shot. And it went it. Wow! I couldn't believe it! I was not thinking about the shot then. I just knew that we needed to make up a lot of points in just 30 seconds. We needed to make one sooner or later. The defense was not yet set up at that moment, and I felt I had space to take the shot. So I did and, luckily, it went in. After that, we were able to put up a good defense and one of our teammate was also able to make another 3 point shot to tie the game and send it to overtime.

On the first overtime, with just 17 seconds left, we were down by 2 points and I got the ball on the wing. I felt the defender sticking too close to me that time. Maybe, he thought I'd be shooting another 3 point shot. So, I tried to drive the ball to the basket as quick as I can. I got a foul. And I was able to make the 2 crucial free throws. Whew! :) I tied the game and another extra 5 minutes was needed to settle the score.

On the second overtime, I was able to make a 3 point shot and a jump shot. We defended well and luckily came out with a 1 point win. :)

2 nights after that, we played a game again in the regular tournament. I got more playing time than usual because of absences of a lot of our team mates. But I'm so not used to playing a lot. I don't think I played well. We lost that game by 12 points.

This week, I'm thinking of running the treadmill and maybe lifting some weights. I'm inspired by my game in that "tournament of the weak". Hopefully I can improve my game. And contribute more in our games in the regular tournament.

Until next time.... Hope I didn't bore you to death

Bizarre Week

I just finished watching the Roger Federer-Novak Djokovic Autralian Open semifinals match. Roger lost! Wow! After like 3 or 4 years of making every grand slam finals, he lost to Djokovic in straight sets. I don't know if his earlier sickness which put him out of service for the pre-Australian Open tournament affected his game. His forehand was trash! It was errors one after another. He'd get one good shot in and make an error on the next point. This is was really far from the Roger Federer that I have watched before. I don't know if you notice, but it seems Federer's mind wasn't totally on the game. And he was very very stoic. No emotions. No reactions. He'd shout and pump his fist from time to time... but they were few and far in between. Is his age catching up on him? He's 26. It's not yet old, but it also is not young for tennis. He seemed to be having a hard time chasing after the balls on his forehand side.. Hopefully, he'll continue to be as dominant as Pete Sampras was and have Andre Agassi's durability and longevity. That'd be the perfect tennis player!! Djokovic did play well. And he's been giving Federer some hard time since last year. Djokovic beat Federer in a tournament last year and lost to Federer in the US Open. Now, he beat Federer in a grand slam tournament. Impressive! His service game was on. Federer was always on the defense and never was aggressive. Djokovic was a ball of energy all game long.

Hollywood star, Heath Ledger, died this week. Such a waste. In my opinion, he is a great actor. I was expecting a big career from him. Unfortunately, he had a short life. Wonder how that new Batman movie will do in the box office? People are already saying that he had a very good portrayal of the Joker for that film.

Had an expatriate visit us this week. So, it was busy week at work. We had to like entertain him and show him the spots at night. Had a team dinner and we also accompanied him to see Corregidor. A surprisingly nice place.

Audio Blog

I've been tinkering around with the blogger and trying to figure out how to play music with my blog page.

So here, I have included a widget from another site that includes a playlist I've compiled for the meantime.

But I also would like to know how to play something from the background. Without that user interface from the widget. How's that possible? I know something's written in the Help page of Blogger.com but I'm just too tired to read through it. Can someone point me to where I can learn about that? Is there also another way of streaming a playlist without that very large widget displayed in my blog? Please help me!

Comments and suggestions are most welcome.

My First Blog

First, allow me to welcome myself to the blogosphere. Welcome Adrian!

I'm not good in writing. And I don't have the interest in writing also. But I love reading blogs. Here in the world of blogs, everyone has his own opinion and his own experience to share. Doesn't matter if the opinion matters or not. It also doesn't matter if your stories are interesting enough or not. Bloggers just blog. Simple as that.

Reason I created my own blog? Boredom. And I also read an article in Newsweek telling how the world of blog is creating a new venue for advertisement. There was this company in Japan that invited bloggers to test out their new product. After testing their products, bloggers wrote about it. A search for the product in Google, they say, resulted in hundreds of blog entries. Amazing.

So, it got me to thinking of creating my own blog. Who knows, Honda, Toyota, or BMW would want a blogger to test drive their new car and blog about it. I might even get premium gifts (dreaming of a brand new car) from them, aside from being maybe the first to drive one if their new cars!

Hello advertisers! I'm a blogger. And I may just be able to share your new products to the world effectively..

Mmm... But first, I guess I have to learn to write better. Write about interesting stuffs to get readers to my page. Now that's hard. :(