Tag Archives: imagination

Trip To The South

6 Dec

The South Trip (Set 2)

The South Trip (Set 2)

140 Photos

The South Trip (Set 1)

The South Trip (Set 1)

87 Photos

INTRODUCTION

Before December begins, I should have used all my vacation days from work. It was the last two weeks of November. Usually, I spend my vacation in the overseas, but this year, I opted for a domestic trip with Frances.

I did not plan the trip ahead of time like I usually do things. Planning a trip most of the time does not work for me because things happen in between. I’ve been irking to go south this time, especially to Texas. It has been in the back of my head. Only financial burden and fear was pinning me down. That’s another thing why I don’t plan my trips; I get over the fear. So during the weekend when I picked up Frances from the airport (she came from Las Vegas, but originally from Vancouver, BC) I was thinking about the trip while driving. From there, I decided to do it. Face the music later. (more…)

Get Dropbox

15 Oct

It’s been a few years now that I’ve pondered how to share faxes with our office overseas. Before anyone criticizes the problem and offer a solution of CIF or Exchange routing, the problem is not as simple as that. Here’s the best simplification I can offer of the problem:

  1. Given 2 sites. Let HQ be the headquarter & XO be the offsite location.
  2. Given incoming faxes only.
  3. Faxes must be sorted according to its content. The sorting is manually done (drag & drop) into folders. Let’s say we have to sort into 3 folders, A, B, and C. These folders must be sorted by Day, Month, Year. That gives us 4-levels of heirarchy.
  4. HQ and XO may sort the faxes interchangeably.
  5. HQ must always have all files, thus it makes sense that files are hosted by HQ. XO does not need to have all files; only the files they need.
  6. Hierarchy must always be preserved.
  7. Both sites should be able to print faxes anytime they want.
  8. Low cost solution.
To satisfy my readers who are itching to recommend Goldmine or Exchange routing, how are you going to sort 300-500 faxes daily and easily access them when needed?
My solution was the use of Terminal Services. The disadvantages are:
  1. Expensive because of licensing, so I had to resort in limited users.
  2. Since the setup is minimal (click me), the resources are lacking which causes sluggish performance. That means, access is very slow. TS is already slow itself.
  3. Maintenance is too much of a hassle.
  4. It’s annoying to access RD in order to check faxes.
Experimental Solution
The latest solution I thought of is using Dropbox. The first 2GB is free and subscription is only $10/month @ 50GB. Therefore, I have 2GB of test space before implementing the logistics. Faxes will still be archived and hosted by HQ then XO will sync from it. XO must be restricted from deletion. Although Dropbox has the recovery feature that is a failsafe in case someone in XO‘s end is trigger-happy (my instantaneous backup in HQ‘s end will still remain of course; I’m paranoid).
With DP, the heirarchy is preserved, faxes can be easily accessed by both parties because the files will be locally (network scope) available to them. Since XO does not need the files, HQ will do deletion (folders have to be moved to reduce clutter in the workspace — imagine 30 folders when you only need the last 7 days.)

Cluster Computing

6 Oct

The main reason why I entered the computer science field is CREATION. Given a computer and programming environment, one can create something from his imagination from an empty notepad. Though I’m far from becoming a successful one, I still persist in learning. Learning is double edged. It’s fun and it’s demanding. Since my topic is cluster computing, there’s no reason for me to delve on the negative side of learning. Instead, let’s jump on the fun side. (more…)

Yugto

15 Aug

I’m not exactly a music critic, but I’ll mention a few things about Rico Blanco’s album Your Universe and especially the first single, Yugto. I’ll call this album good. Blanco’s poetic abilities is still evident in this solo album. Yugto has an operatic feel to it trying to follow Freddie Mercury and Queen. The intro surprisingly sounds Eastern European which I thought was cool. I can’t imagine the Vikings in the Philippines. Blanco did not try to sound different from Rivermaya and I think it’s a better move because he was after all Rivermaya. It’s good that he did not attempt to escape. I can’t wait to see him perform Yugto live because the song has a tendency to be an awesome live act.

Electronic Voting

21 Jul

Before leaving the house, I saw on the news that the Philippines’ Commission on Elections (COMELEC) will pilot an electronic voting process in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in the coming gubernatorial (regional) election in the region. The machines are provided by Avante. (more…)

Fountainheads

11 Jul

I never thought this would happen. While having breakfast in a cafe near our office’s building, a customer sat in front of me reading the same book I’m reading, Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. The same paperback version. I never thought that with the few different people I see in the cafe, I would find someone reading a philosophy novel. I often see people reading Sheldon’s or Brown’s or other contemporaries, but I never thought I’d see someone in front of me reading Ayn Rand, and the same title needless to say. (more…)

Top Ten Songs

29 Jun

Here is the top-10 list of my favorite songs of all time (not in particular order):

  1. Imagine (John Lennon)
  2. Lightning Crashes (Live)
  3. Losing My Religion (R.E.M.)
  4. Under The Bridge (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
  5. Creep (Radiohead)
  6. Everlasting (Manic Street Preachers)
  7. Don’t Look Back In Anger (Oasis)
  8. No Good For Me (The Corrs)
  9. Promises (The Cranberries)
  10. Sweet Child O’ Mine (Guns ‘N Roses)
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