College Buddies

Here I am with some of my college buddies on a night out in the city. It has been years since we last saw each other and hang out which we usually did during those times.

Now older, we don't party like the good old days but it has become sort of a way for us to relax and reminisce. It is also a way for us to be up-to-date on what is happening with each others careers and family life, though on that last part I can't contribute any being still single.

I am trying to make these get-togethers bigger by asking everyone in the group to also inform our other college buddies of these events. The bigger the better as the saying goes, and so that would be my goal to make these events as big as it could be.

Boracay Vacation

I was going over files when I chance upon old pictures of my last vacation that I had way back 2001, and I haven't had a vacation since then. I got lots of work to do and though I am not complaining since my work provides for my family's needs, sometimes I would plan to go for a vacation but due to my work commitments I had to put it off for later.

What's ironic about this is that I wasn't earning that much when I had my last vacation, the money I spent came from payments for web design projects and not from my meager salary.

If your asking who among those three guys is me, well I am the guy in the middle. Now that I am looking at this photo, I think it's time for me to go back to the gym and put on some weight. The two other guys in the photo are my former officemates in one of the biggest telecommunications company here.

It is at least 6 months before summer here in the Philippines, I have time to get fit and save up for another vacation. It is way past due.

Al Gore Wins! The Nobel Peace Prize

The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to both Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change as stated in Nobelprize.org website.

Now I hope this award increases the world's awareness that this problem is real and not something that would go away. It is something moral and spiritual issue and not just political as some quarters would say now that a former United States Vice President was given this award. This might also paved the way for the world to focus more attention on what is happening with our environment and take actions to avert further damage to the ozone layer.

The United States of America being one, if not the only, super power in the world should thus take the lead in promoting environment awareness to its citizens. What is startling is that instead of them leading the way to conservation they are steering clear of the Kyoto Agreement. The reason they gave to the world is that each nation should determine its own way of lessening carbon emission. This is bull!

I hope the American people realized that they now have a way to help the environment by pressing Al Gore to run for President and if Hillary Clinton really loves her country she would step aside and do the ultimate sacrifice of her political career. If Al Gore becomes the President of the United States of America there is hope that America would change its position about climate change and be the leader nation that it should be.

Still Globe (In)Visibility?

I just visited the forums where Globe's HSDPA service (Visibility) is the topic and all I can see are more and more complaints from its subscribers. It seems that until now the problem of network congestion is still there and Globe has not been able to resolve this. Isn't Globe being bothered by the bad publicity that their company has been getting in the forums and blogs?

I think they are trying to catch up with Smart in terms of revenue and if they would put up new infrastructures to provide more bandwidth it would set them back. Isn't this sad that a company such as Globe Telecommunications known for quality of service seems now has only more revenues in their minds.

This problem of network congestion is not only being felt by those who have Visibility subscription but also those who have Globelines Speak and Surf and DSL subscription. The problem also is that when you call their hotlines they won't tell you that the problem is being experienced throughout their network, so you would think that it was only isolated in your area. Reading through the posts in forums such as TipidPC.com would tell you that it is not isolated and is prevalent throughout Globe's network.

Lost Our Focus

There is an ongoing signature campaign being done to protest the recent episode of Desperate Housewives and how Teri Hatcher's character made a deregatory remark about the medical schools here in the Philippines. These people are making a big noise about it saying that it belittles the medical schools here in the Philippines and those who graduated from said schools.

My question is where were these people when such derogatory remarks where being made to our Filipino domestic helpers? Are they making these brouhaha because they are the ones directly affected by the said remark of a TV character? Is this issue more important to us than what is happening now to Myanmar where people are ruthlessly being treated for wanting to have a taste of democracy?

I think we as Filipinos who experienced 300 years of oppressive Spanish rule, 50 years American rule, a few years of Japanese and 20 years of Marcos dictatorship should be the ones leading in making the world aware of what is happening to Myanmar. We should be making more noise about how the protesters in Myanmar are being battered or even killed than about this statement of a TV character.

I am not saying that we should let the offensive remark pass, but I think we should use the power of our email and blogs to make more people aware on what is happening in Myanmar.