Till They Take My Heart Away

Katrina May, this one's especially for you... it's a song from Claire Marlow...

I'm looking to your eyes, so far away
There's trouble in your mind
You're losing faith
Hey now, let me hold you
It'll be okay!
Coz I will love you
Till they take my heart away.

Remember when you called
And said goodbye
We thought we'd lost it all
And so did I
Even if I lost you
I would feel the same
Coz I will love you
Till they take my heart away.

Believe in me
I'm here to stay
I will love you
Till they take my heart away.

Now we're stronger than before
We've made it through
I never felt more sure
Because of you
Hey now! Are you listening?
Do you hear me say
"I will love you
Till they take my heart away!"

Believe in me
I'm here to stay
I will love you
Till they take my heart away.

Following Through

If you knew how nervous I was yesterday, I'm pretty sure that you'll tell me, "Kaya mo 'yan!" or "'Di mo naman kailangang kabahan." It's my first time to present to a group of people with high positions. The audience included our company president and vice president, as well as the general manager and technical head of Supercharge, Ramcar's Australia battery company.

Perhaps I was expecting too much. I thought that the demo I would present would last for an hour or so. It turned out that the entire meeting was all about solving a mobile point-of-sale problem. Supercharge didn't like the long processing time to exchange information between the SAP server and the Pocket PC. A good 45 minutes into the meeting, I heard a great deal of the problem, and Mr. Peligrino, General Manager of Supercharge, was getting frustrated. He wanted solutions, and wanted good, fast, and reliable ones.

After a goal was set by the technical team of Supercharge, it was my time to present a possible solution. Apparently, I wasn't alone presenting a solution. They also had other potential solutions groups to tap.

So on went the presentation. At first, I was speaking in straight English, but eventually presented bilingually because of the realization that the mood was informal (lesson: informal meeting equals informal presentation). The bosses also told me not to talk about the technical side (Mr. Peligrino even mentioned, with a chuckle, that he didn't want to know about it!).

Overall, they liked the prototype, since it addressed the issue of minimalizing human intervention (the current system had to go through MS Excel, which the managers thought is a problem regarding data integrity). Best of all, it only took 20 minutes... or was it 30?

After a KFC merienda (I thought I needed one), I met up with Kaisa's technical team. They were interested with the details of the new system - specs, performance benchmarks, minimum requirements. They also mentioned that they were still interested with looking into the other solutions providers, including SAP Mobile.

So what do I have to do now? Follow through. Yep... now I have to really learn - even master - the Java components of the Sky mobile solution. I also have to report to Sky regarding the outcome of the meeting/demo.

One good thing, though, was a joke mentioned after the presentation by one of our vice presidents. He said something that still sticks to my head up to now:

"John, ano? Regular ka na ba?"

You Don't Deserve To Live

At around 3:45 a.m., I woke up. A second later, I heard my cellphone receive a text message. I was alerted, because it was a very unusual thing. I didn't expect what happened next.

I found out that Kat had lost her cellphone. No, not lost-lost, but lost-stolen. I felt sad and enraged, angry of what had happened. The one I take care of, the one I care about so much in this goddamned world, was held up on her way to work. Right now, I don't know yet if she got hurt. I beg You, God, please...

If you are one of the robbers, and by random chance, you stumble upon this blog, I want you to read on. I want you to feel my pain.

I want you to die. You have no right to live. You do not deserve to eat each grain of rice that was bought from what you have stolen. I want you to feel the pain of the people you've stolen from and from the others you hurt emotionally.

And while you live, I want God to give you each and every nightmare every time you sleep. You do not deserve sleep, for you never worked hard for what you sleep upon. You do not deserve any comfort.

If I had omnipotence, if you never change in one week, I will mutilate your arms; arms that have robbed and harmed so many. Another week, I will tear your legs apart; you will not run again. In another week, I will let you rot in a cell. I will let you feel the pain amplified by the number of people you've robbed.

And then I will take your soul, and teleport you to every crime, every atrocity, committed in this world. I will let you see what you - and what your brethren - do, and let you see it with the ones you love - should they exist.

You don't deserve to live.

The only way I can ever forgive you is if you change your life. Return all what you've stolen, heal all those you've harmed, and comfort all you've angered.

Until then, your soul is damned.

"Kill them all, and let God sort them out."

Test Drive - 2003 Honda CR-V

First of all, if you want to see a great Flash-based website, go to http://www.hondaphil.com. Great website!

Anyway, for today, I was able to test ride and drive a 2003 Honda CR-V AT8, thanks to Marvin. He wanted to get his ATM from the bank, and I wanted to withdraw cash for a time deposit. Too bad the ATM was offline (at least Marvin got his card).

Onboard the navigator's seat, the car was roomy and quiet, even with the engine on. It's quite hard to believe how vibration-free the car is (well... it's just a year old, John... hint?!?). Even with 2500 revs, there's no trace of engine noise anywhere. It's just so damn quiet. The seats are comfortable, plus the legroom is good. The road didn't cause me to shake, thanks to a comfy suspension. Heck, no wonder they called it a CR-V (Comfortable Runabout Vehicle).

On our way back, I was able to convince him (all I did was ask, anyway) to let me behind the wheel. The dash looks great - silver and black really make a good combination. The controls make you feel like you're driving something futuristic; the silver shifter and handbrake look like joysticks for a shuttle ride.

And the drive? Comfy. It's so comfortable, in fact, that it's quite disappointing - revise - it is upsetting. Perhaps I was expecting more oomph out of the iVTEC, 2.0-liter DOHC powerplant with 150 horses. They weren't pissed-off horses, they were tamed, behaved ponies under the hood mounted to a 1460-kilogram body. Do the math, and you have a power-to-weight ratio of 10.27hp:100kg. Acceleration was so smooth, you won't feel it. I didn't feel the I'm-squeezing-into-my-seat feeling even at 3500 revs. Again, it's why it's called a CR-V.

Verdict: If you're a family man who wants to live the quiet life on the road, go get this car. I'll bet your baby will fall asleep in no time on this ride. On the other hand, if you are a sports junkie like yours truly, then this is not your car.

Project '67 Beetle - Part 2: Conceptualization

Everything starts with a dream, so they say. That means I have to think what I want for this dream beetle. For one thing, I need to satisfy a specific customer's demands (hehehe... if you guessed right, give yourself a pat on your back).

So will it be a fast, blazing super Beetle, or a comfy, cozy, cutie Beetle? One thing is certain, though: it has to be comfy first, but can't we get the best of both worlds?

So here's a checklist:

0. Engine. Make it run first (and make it run nice while I'm at it).

1. Body. As usual, check for rust and other unwanted defects. I happened to see a Beetle for sale at 20,000 pesos on Buy and Sell. Sure, the ad guy claims it's in running condition, but how much rust is on it? Task here would be to sandblast the thing and do restoration work (which, by the way, is no laughing matter - considering it may take more than 250 working hours).

2. Safety. Yes, safety IS a major issue. Ika ko nga, sasakay diyan hunnie ko; baka siya pa ang magmaneho! First off will be the seats, since they didn't have headrests. One nasty bump, and your head may do a whiplash that can turn you to a vegetable. Next would be seatbelts, of course. I also have to check the firewall (heck... am I interchanging computer and car terms again?!?). Old Beetles tend to be a fire hazard; hence, I want to make sure that the fire won't go to the cabin (yes, that's a car term).

3. Air-conditioning. Driving in Metro Manila without A/C is like eating labuyo without water (if you'll enjoy that... congrats, you're above normal). So for this phase, I need to find a way to plug an air-conditioner. I'm sure it'll be a lot of customization.

4. Engine. Hey... didn't I say this before? Yep. In case the old Beetle can't support A/C, it means that an engine swap is on the way. I've read that you can fit almost anything. For now, I'm considering a Toyota 4AGE (Corolla engine) or a Subaru EJ20 (Impreza engine; more fun with Turbo!!!). I'm even considering a B16 from a Honda Civic SiR.

5. Radio. Yes... music for the ears will distract you from everyday traffic. A Pioneer sound system is a good idea... if I had the money. But wait! Since miniaturization is a big thing nowadays, why not put a Discman connected to nice PC speakers (Altec Lansing or JBL) connected to the lighter power supply? Now that's an idea!

6. Wheels, Tires, and Pastel Yellow Paint. The finishing touches. Surely, Katrina will like this.

If I get crazy enough, or get rich in a very short period of time, expect this car to be realized by late 2005. By then, I should have a Professional Driver's License.

Project '67 Beetle - Part 1: Introduction

No, I haven't given up Project '76 Lancer yet; I'm still collecting my paychecks. Hopefully, I'll get one this December.

Okay, change subject.

Surely everybody has seen a Beetle. You'd be an alien not to have seen one in your lifetime (heck, even aliens have seen these). They are lovable, cute classic cars that have been in existence since 1938, thanks to Ferdinand Porsche (same guy who created one of the most dominant sports car makers in the world) and Adolf Hitler (well... this is perhaps the best thing he did for mankind).

Yep, Hitler came up with the concept of creating a people's car for Germany; hence, the name Volkswagen (pronounced as fohks-vah-ghen; translates to people's wagon). He sure is a genius. Sad thing he went psycho, though.

According to www.histomobile.com, more than 12 million of the bugs were produced from 1938 up to now. In fact, these things are still created, and driven, in South America.

Okay, end of history lesson. Change subject.

Today, it's hard to miss these critters on the street. Give yourself thirty minutes on the road; it's hard not to see one. Repair shops for Beetles are still abundant, especially at G. Araneta Avenue (if you're going to SM Centerpoint, you won't miss these). Drive by there, and you'd be lucky enough not to see at least fifteen buggies.

Taking a peek at www.buyandsellph.com, the average price of a second-hand Beetle costs around 55,000 pesos. The cheapest one costs 30,000 pesos, while a showroom condition one costs 180,000 pesos.

Now, let's check the specs. The 1302-1303 series of the Beetle, produced from 1967 to 1990, weighs from 750 to 820 kilograms. That's pretty light, perfect for going quick (I've watched a suped-up Beetle take on a Porsche 911 on TV, and they were close; the 911 still was ahead, though).

The air-cooled engines are lame, though. At stock, they can only make up to 50 horsepower at 4000 revs. Torque tops at 79 pound-feet at 2800 revs. Lame, lame, lame. Oh... and did I forget to mention that they didn't come with A/C?

So what do I have in mind for the Beetle? I'll share it with you soon.

New Toy

Finally! It has arrived! It's my new HP Compaq nx9110! It's a 3.06GHz Pentium 4 laptop with 512 Mb of DDRAM, an 8x AGP card, a DVD-CD Combo drive, and a 60-gigabyte HDD!

Well... actually I had it since yesterday. I got quite upset with it, at first. Need for Speed Underground chopped like heck on minimal detail. "What?!? My desktop was faster?!? And this was supposed to be 'brand new' technology!!!" It's a pain thinking about it before I slept.

So starting 8:15 a.m. today, I've done a software overhaul on the laptop. I'm not throwing away cash for substandard performance! And, as of 1:15 p.m., it's breathing new life. Graphics are faster, thanks to a new driver (the driver that came with this unit was more than a year old) and DirectX 9.0c (latest version, hehehe). I've also updated the Flash BIOS, audio drivers, and the OS (now using Windows XP SP2).

I'm also planning to revive my music roots. Yes... it's time. I now have a mobile recording studio. I'll bet it'll be way faster processing Cakewalk Music Creator, or even Sonar, on this hardware.

Wow... ain't I excited?

Gotcha!

It's kinda odd to think that it's normal to find regular workers sidetracking. By sidetracking, I mean browsing the web, logging on to Friendster, downloading porn, playing LAN games, name it. It's normal, especially hiding it from the boss.

Now what if you catch your boss doing the same thing? Bosses are expected to be the "role models", right? That's the reason why they get to be the head of something. That's why they have bigger salaries.

There had been recently a case wherein a certain Subject J, who had been busy working on a rush project, approaches a Boss C to consult a certain matter. Although Subject J was able to consult with Boss C, the undisclosed subject caught a glimpse of his boss's monitor.

It was on Friendster.

And so Subject J returns to his desk, puzzled. He began to think, "How come the boss gets to be on Friendster, and I'm flying solo on this project? Perhaps that's the same reason Subjects J2, J3, D and K are also upset."

Well... sure I - er, I meant Subject J - also had his share of blogging and surfing, but NOT on clutch time! Besides, I surf and blog on break times and off-times, too. So how sure am I that Boss C isn't a frequent Friendster user?

So that's the case of a Subject J. Back to work. I'll bet Subject J will take most, if not all, of the credit on this one.

Back From The Dead

After four long days stuck at home, I'm finally back at work. I got out of that four-walled prison called "My Room". F*** the influenza that hit me hard.

Well... I'm better, thanks to the love and care from Katrina and my parents. Still got a few sniffles, but they're on the way out.

I can't strain myself too much on work, though. I'm kinda afraid that the flu will sneak back into my body. I'll hate that for sure. As a precaution, I brought along some medication; one I'll take 5 hours from now, and the other 7 hours from now. I have a deadline to catch as well.

Well... time to get back to work.

Moral lesson: Get plenty of rest, eat your fruits and veggies, and be good little children. It sucks having a flu.

Word from the wise: An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.