DND: Watching Prison Break 4 via iPhone
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Yep, on a Prison Break Season 4 marathon in the car, thanks to iPhone (that's what's keeping me off blogging). Trying to catch up with earlier episodes so the wifey and I can watch on DVD/TV together the final episodes. Took me several attempts though, to decrypt the DVD, and then later convert to iPhone/iPod format and size, after many failed application downloads and installations.
As soon as I get in the car, I'd recline my seat, put on my headphones, and start my Prison Break 4 watch-a-thon. I have a driver by the way, and when I'm usually asleep (especially after work), now I'm wide awake with the iPhone working on the clips for around 2 hours a ride.
I told my driver: you can listen to your favorite AM radio station, as long as you keep the ride traffic-smooth and bump-free, and so I can "concentrate" on a new habit I hope I can soon break. [Already, I have "Lost" next on my decrypt/convert list]
And that, I'm on constant, DND mode.
Old Brad. As my pappy used to say, "Stand by your glasses steady, and drink to your comrades eyes. Here's a toast to the dead already, and hurrah for the next to die." Theodore 'T-Bag' Bagwell (Prison Break: The Legend #4.10)
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Of women working in BPOs and call centers
This BusinessWorld article entitled "Labor concerns in the business process outsourcing industry - Clarifications on night work prohibition" by Leonard Vinz Ignacio caught my attention this morning. Really, I didn't know there's an article in our Labor Code that prohibits women employees to render nightwork.
ARTICLE 130. Nightwork prohibition—No woman, regardless of age, shall be employed or permitted or suffered to work with or without compensation:
(a) in any industrial undertaking or branch thereof between 10 o'clock at night and 6 o'clock in the morning of the following day;
(b) in any commercial or non-industrial undertaking or branch thereof, other than agricultural, between midnight and 6 o'clock in the morning of the following day; or
(c) in any agricultural undertaking at night time unless she is given a period of rest of not less than nine consecutive hours.
Of course, this nightwork prohibition takes into consideration the varying safety and health risks to women on their way to and from, and while inside BPOs and call centers.
Back then (ca 2001), I'd walk to my Ortigas office from a bus stop at Robinson's Galleria. I'd see female agents doing the same. Never had a bad experience. In other areas though, it's not as safe to walk as in Emerald Avenue (and around Ortigas Center) and so you'd have read/heard of police reports on mugging, robbery, rape of mostly young, female call center agents.
Because majority of call centers provide work opportunities without bias to gender (and other factors), BPOs and call centers should be exempted. But as suggested by Ignacio, it may be wise for these companies to secure prior DoLE (Department of Labor and Employment) ruling for exemption, submitting proof of compliance with the facilities and conditions required to ensure the safety and health of women employees working in the draining graveyard shift.
Whether this is actually being done (the observance and compliance to nightwork prohibition), even by the bigger international call centers and BPOs, I tend to think they're not. But I hope I'm mistaken.
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CONTINUE reading >>> Of women working in BPOs and call centers <<<
Top EC droppers for June 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Many thanks to my June '09 top Entrecard droppers:
1. Living with Purpose
2. We live to tell God's Amazing Grace
3. Drop it like that..
4. Drop until you top
5. Yashiro
And the rest of them EC buddies, thanks!
6. C'est La Vie
7. Family Health and Home
8. My Poem
9. Buhilaman sa Bukid Malindang
10. danteoms
As always, happy EC dropping!
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Wanting to burn
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
It's Tina Arena, the Australian pop singer, and her nice-to-sleep-with song "Burn" that got me finding time to write this post. I wanted to do a lot, juggling, balancing work and otherwise, on an unending marathon of pressing deadlines, wanting all of them done quickest time... then getting a little bit burned [out] along the way. What sign I did see as to how I'm nearly burned-out? I haven't had that much tea-and-talk moments with the wifey.Do you wanna be a poet and write
Do you wanna be an actor up in lights
Do you wanna be a soldier and fight for love
Do you wanna travel the world
Do you wanna be a diver for pearls
Or climb a mountain and touch the clouds above
Be anyone you want to be
Bring to life your fantasies
But I want something in return
If working hard means getting to pick on "the sweet fruits of bitter labor" must I stop now and leave the wifey be? Absolutely...
...not, dropping everything now, to make more wonderful tea-and-everything-else moments with the wifey. And yep, I'm burning for you baby...I want you to burn
Burn for me baby
Like a candle in my night
Oh burn burn for me burn for me
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Goodbye Michael Jackson
Friday, June 26, 2009
I hate to admit it, but having learned early this morning the shocking news that Michael Jackson—the black American pop icon we love and hate—succumbing to a deadly cardiac arrest in his home in Los Angeles, changed a seemingly happy sunny Friday to a sad lethargic day. It's a terrible loss for the music industry. While many will not forget "Wacko Jacko" and the Neverland scandals, I do recall the "Bad" days. All that changed when Michael became too playful.
I was a die-hard MJ fan, in fact, back in my high school days, I wanted to dress up and look like him, as in this album cover.
Of course, school prohibited the bad-ass fashion and long curly hair.
Much as I want to forget the man and his misgivings, I'll never forget the music. You and I grew up to it. That's MJ's legacy. It sure is a bad day.
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iPhone 3G and the 3.0 update
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Got a new iPhone 3G (through Globe postpaid of course) and a day later updated it to 3.0 OS. Released June 17, as expected, downloading the 3.0 update via iTunes took several attempts (around 10 for me) and I had to leave my desktop on overnight because it looked as if downloading is going to take forever!
Of course the features included in the 3.0 update are all welcome! The Voice Memos, MMS sending/receiving, shake to shuffle songs, and landscape message typing. But did you know there are 10 other "hidden" features? Daniel Ionescu via PCWorld uncovered them:
Adjustable Song Scrolling Speed. Previously, while listening to a song, you had a simple dot on the song bar to rewind or fast forward. But now in the 3.0 update, you can scroll through songs at various speeds. Put your finger on the scrolling point and it will start glowing. Now, if you drag your finger left or right, you will scroll through the song at "high speed," and if you do this movement while dragging your finger down the screen, the speed decreases to "half speed," "quarter speed," or "fine scrubbing."
Special Characters In Messaging. The 3.0 keyboard has a few extra special characters when holding certain signs down. For example, when you hold down the "." you also get "..." The dash "-" also displays an em-dash "-" and quotations and apostrophes display "<<" and ">>" and can also be curved. Another quick tip is to hold and press on the numeric button while in letters mode and slide your finger to the desired punctuation sign. Then, the letter keyboard will come back automatically.
More Ways to Access Spotlight. Spotlight, the search function that looks through your e-mail, contacts, appointments, notes, and more can be accessed in multiple ways. While on the first Home Screen page, if you swipe towards the right side of the screen, Spotlight will be activated. (there is a little icon above the quick launch bar, just before the dots representing the multiple screens). You can also access Spotlight while pressing the home button when on the first Home Screen page. Alternatively, Mail and Contacts have now search bars at the top of the list.
Quote Fragment Within Reply in Mail. Just like on its desktop counterpart, the Mail app in the iPhone 3.0 update can now reply with only a quote from the original e-mail. To achieve that, you tap and hold in an e-mail (just as with copy/paste) and select the portion of text you want to quote. Then just hit the reply button and the selected fragment will be appended at the end of the e-mail (under your signature), instead of the whole original message.
Remove Individual Texts from A Conversation. One annoyance in the 2.X iPhone software was that you had to remove an entire conversation of text messages. But in the 3.0 update, there is an Edit button (it's in the top-right corner when inside a conversation), which allows you to select and remove individual text messages from a certain thread, similar to the way it is done in the Mail app. Extra tip: this way you can also select a text you want to forward (instead of copy/paste).
Open Link In New Tab In Safari. Safari now uses tabbed browsing, like big boys do on the desktops, and this new hidden feature is great. If you tap and hold on a hyperlink (hyperlinked text) on a Web site within Safari, a dialog will prompt you to open this link, copy it (link locations) or open it in a new page (which opens a new tab in Safari).
Force Quit Unresponsive Apps. Because of multiple functionalities for the Home button, this key will no longer force quit unresponsive apps like it did in 2.X software. To force quit an application in 3.0, you have to hold the sleep/wake button at the top until the red power off slider appears. Then you have to hold down the home button to quit the unresponsive application.
Shake Phone to Undo Typing. As simple as it sounds, when you are in the Mail, Messaging, Safari or Notes applications, after you typed a word/several words, just shake the phone and a pop-up will appear, asking you whether you want to undo what you have just entered.
Change App Store Account On The Fly. Until now, you were stuck to changing your iTunes account from your computer and then sync back to the iPhone. In the 3.0 software this can be done in two ways: either by going to Settings/Store and logging out and then back in with a different account, or straight within with the App Store application. At the bottom of each search page, your current account is displayed, so if you tap on it, you can sign in/out or even edit/view account information.
Unlimited Number of Apps Installed. In the 3.0 software update, you can now install an unlimited number of application (as long as the storage space allows you). The number of applications pages has increased from nine to 11 and any apps installed above the 176 that could fit on these pages will not be visible (no icons on pages). However, these invisible apps can be accessed via Spotlight (see above multiple ways to access Spotlight).
Nice set of "additional" features eh?
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SNAPS: Gian Carlo Siangko baptismal
Sunday, June 14, 2009
SNAPS: Of pussies and bowling
Friday, June 12, 2009
At the Mall of Asia, screaming our lungs out with "We love Pussies!"
Sweating out the alcohol with a round of bowling before hitting homeSupport I Saw The Signs!
CONTINUE reading >>> SNAPS: Of pussies and bowling <<<
Working 16 hours
Thursday, June 11, 2009
I'm currently working on a new project, and on its first day, it translated to my staying in the office 16 hours straight for work and to see it pull through. We're going international (we're calling Pinoys abroad), and while campaigns such as this is not new to me, trying to cover four countries with limited calling hours is quite an amazing task.
Taxing, challenging, confusing, nerve-wracking, and hopefully when the smoke clears and dusts settle, rewarding.
In my office with the pioneering "international" team: Nick and JamieAnd so I'll be terribly busy for work. Until then...
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CONTINUE reading >>> Working 16 hours <<<
The amazing Apple announcements
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Of the many "highly anticipated" announcements made at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco last Monday, I think it's Apple price-slashing here and there that made the most impact (and welcome change). I'm particularly excited about the new MacBook Pro lineup.
The new MacBook Pro now comes in three sizes: 13-inch (from US$1199), 15-inch (from US$1699), and 17-inch (from US$2499) and still packaged with must-have features: the thin and light aluminum unibody enclosure, advanced built-in battery that now lasts longer, high-performance NVIDIA graphics and stunning display—enough said, all them are simply drool-worthy. And I'm (finally) getting the 13-inch (yahoo!).
Of course, the iPhone 3GS is now supposedly affordable and the most powerful.
Wait until you see its Globe pricing, losing its well-intended appeal...
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Analyzing the Hayden cam scandal
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
You've probably seen one of the many "versions" of the now overly popular Dr. Hayden Kho Jr. sex videos, and amazed at the ensuing senate hearing circus, as the "who's the real victim" battle continues between Kho and Katrina Halili—dethroned FHM superstar now standing to lose, if not all, many of her projects.
Know what, you actually needn't watch the videos (if you suddenly become the outsider of the showbiz scoop loop). Just ask anyone you know with cellphone (who doesn't have one?) or computer, and I'm sure they'll tell you exactly what "actions" on the videos titillate many of Pinoys' voyeur fantasies, or shall I say tendencies?
Well, here's a very interesting analysis of the "Hayden Cam Scandal" by Professor Winnie Monsod—should you care to understand the brouhaha.
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First day high
Monday, June 8, 2009
Today, I woke up to the puppy-ish barks and door knocks of our Labrador we simply call Honeyblack. At 3:45 in the morning, on a Monday, I thought I'd better be up before I make a mess of the first day of my work week. So I got up in my jammies and gave Honeyblack the ritual morning hugs and then I realized today is the first day of school and immediately proceeded to banging everyone's room before the house sizzles with first-day-high panic. School bus will be here any minute!
To my surprise, everyone's up and about: Kurt's prepping-up his school bag, Marcus is having a hearty breakfast, wifey's making magic in the kitchen, and the still-sleepy me turned out to be the only one panicking, cuddling Honeyblack too much like it's siesta Sunday.
How untypically organized and stress-less our early Monday started. So cheers to a beautiful first-day and a great week ahead!
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MINI is coming to Manila soon
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
While Top Gear Philippines chief Vernon Sarne last month reported [in Manila Times] it coming within the year, the regional office of British automotive brand MINI, owned by luxury car maker BMW Group, confirms it has appointed a Philippine distributor to make the sporty compact cars available by next year.
But Vernon correctly pinpointed who the local dealer will be.
It's British United Automobiles, a subsidiary distributor of Willy Q. Tee Ten's Autohub Group, already with Ford, Nissan, Hyundai, BMW, and Chery dealerships in the country.
The British United Automobiles has been identified to offer the full MINI range, though it was previously rumored that the initial offering would be the Cooper. MINI is available in three variants: hatchback, convertible, and Clubman, and would probably be priced from 2 to 3 million pesos.
That's how optimistic the BMW Group is with the local car market's steady growth (though BMW pulled out last year) that they're bringing in the famed The Italian Job MINI. EDSA's daily automobile volume, near-clogged traffic on rush hours, and sightings of newer, more expensive car models, sure are compelling signs of such growth.
Where will the MINI dealership be located in Manila? Well, where's Lexus?
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