Wake Me Up When October Ends

Here I am, waiting inside the office; looking how once a crowded and busy office became a scene from an aftermath of war – quiet, cold and uncertain. These words underestimate our situation here in the Philippines. Our president just declared our country in a state of calamity. And as early as 3 PM, our administrator ordered to dismissed our work and go home to prepare and pray.

Not yet recovered from the ordeal we have experienced from Ondoy (International Codename: Ketsana), another weekend of ordeal will be dealt with, in the name of Pepeng (Codename: Parma). I hope he splashes us with rains, enough for us to recover, blows its wind, enough for us to withstand. I welcome him, although I do not know if he’s going to be good to me. He, too, shall pass.

I pray and have faith, because I believe it can move mountains, and typhoons too.

Windows 7: To Be or Not To Be?

I know some of you, geeks and skeptics, might skip this article anyway. You might choose Mac OSX or Linux over this issue-prone OS, Windows. And now that Microsoft has yet to shelf-off their new OS, Windows 7 on October 22, 2009 (I suppose its name is Windows 7 because it is the seventh Windows OS with GUI), the web has been circulating buzz about it, like everyday it has something 'new' to offer. Readers deserves better and unbiased information, and because, honestly, I did not experience to use the release candidate, I found these good reads that might excite you or at least give you an interest to switch. And because it's Windows 7, Wired.com provided us the 7 Reasons to Switch & 7 Reasons to Avoid, for the benefit of your doubt. I love their punch line, "Remember Vista?".

Let's Build Habitat

(Image Courtesy of Habitat for Humanity)

Even the scorching heat of the sun did not stop us from attaining our goal - help our destitute Filipino families to build their own home for a better future.

From a simple company email announcement to a full-pledged community involvement, being involved with Habitat for Humanity was a rewarding experience in each one of us who have devoted our time and best efforts to build lasting shelter. Armed with our gloves, construction hat, and sheer determination, we have managed to pull heavy blocks, mixed cements and also chat with homepartners and even count airplanes (the place, Brgy. Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City, happens to be the runway path for landing domestic and international flights).

To know more about Habitat for Humanity Philippines (and how to be involved), visit their official website here.

Her Morning Elegance / Oren Lavie

It's seldom I find videos on the Youtube interesting. Most of the videos are covers, mainstream, videoke, opinions and some are just for the sake of impressions (videos that use related keywords but not related to content). But, I would like make an exception. Lo and behold, Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie, deserves two million views. It pushes another boundary of creativity and story-telling in videos (although stop-motion videos are here a long time ago). Also, I can't ignore the indie/acoustic music; simple yet poetic.

Google: You're Site May Harm This Computer

My browsing experience with Google would never be the same again. Before it was seamless, uncluttered and lenient, now, it's, completely annoying and time-wasting (sorry if I'm being too harsh) but at least I came across to their explanation...

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We want our users to feel safe when they search the web, and we're continuously working to identify dangerous sites and increase protection for our users. This warning message appears with search results we've identified as sites that may install malicious software on your computer:

If you click the title of the result, you'll be shown the following warning rather than being taken immediately to the webpage in question:

You can choose to continue to the site at your own risk. However, please be aware that malicious software is often installed without your knowledge or permission when you visit these sites, and can include programs that delete data on your computer, steal personal information such as passwords and credit card numbers, or alter your search results. For more information on these types of sites, please visit StopBadware.org

If one of these sites downloads malicious software onto your computer, please read our additional information about reporting these sites and removing the software from your system.

Source: Concerns About Web Search Results: Results labeled 'This site may harm your computer'