friday frolics: happy f-day, lists of books, old video games

Happy Father's Day!

That greeting goes for my Father -- Ely Ragandan, and of course, to all the fathers I know including my uncles, my cousins, my nephews, my friends, my current anf former officemates, and all the menfolk I have known who are now doting fathers to their respective sons and daughters, and yes, even grandchildren.

* * * *

Just had to put that out up front lest I don't get a chance to do it over the weekend as I'm not yet sure whether I'll have time to go online and blog.

Sadly, prior unshakeable commitments make it impossible for us to celebrate Father's Day on Sunday with my folks. And even though Monday has been declared a holiday, Elvie has work so that really ended plans for the family to go to Laguna this weekend. We'll just have to do the celebration another day then.

In any case, experience dictates that Father's Day isn't only confined to just one day -- every second, minute, hour, or day you spend with your children is already Father's Day. It's all in the mind, and in the heart :)

* * * *

And since it'll be a forthcoming three-day weekend, I hopefully can find the time to finally finish off the Hercules' Labors episode in Zeus: Master of Olympus and move on to the next episode.

While the game is an open sandbox (meaning there's really no definitive end to it), by completing the remaining two episodes (each episode consisting of about 4-5 chapters), it'll be akin to finishing the game (and then move on to the next level of difficulty). Plus, there are scores of downloadable episodes made by fans over at Zeus Heaven.

After this, I just need to locate my Poseidon expansion CD and it'll be off to Atlantean episodes thereafter :)

* * * *

When I was younger and had less responsibilities, roles, and commitments, there were lots of time to play video-games. And back then, I didn't even own my own computer.

My friend and former office-mate, Noel (Happy Father's Day, pre!), and I installed various games on our respective PCs. Since we were in marketing, we were provided with the top-of-line PCs, Noel's PC a bit more powerful than mine mainly because he doing graphic design stuff. Where did we get time to play? Well, off-hours, of course, meaning before work, during lunch-time, and after work. And yes, we even sneaked in a few minutes or so during work hours just to stave off the boredom.

I remember waking up quite early and leaving Laguna for the office before the sun was up just so I could have about 2 hours playtime. Offices opened at 9am so I was usually in the office by 7am and after a quick breakfast, went on to play. Lunch was also a quick affair -- at times done while playing. And then, staying on for another hour or so -- not for overtime work -- but to play. There was a period I was so addicted to a game that I left home at 5am just so I'll be in the office before 6am to play.

What sort of games are we talking about?

Well, some of those games I continue to play today like Zeus, Nox, and Dungeon Keeper 2. We also played the likes of Starcraft and Warcraft, plus Diablo. Noel tended more to play with action-packed games like MechWarrior, Diablo, Starcraft, Warcraft, and Half-Life while I leaned more towards simulations including Sim City, The Sims (1), and ThemePark World. I also played Odium for a while and almost finished Septerra Core but games I actually managed to finish during that time included Freedom Fighters, Max Payne 1, and Medal of Honor and its expansion packs. I also wasted a lot of hours on Grand Theft Auto III and on Asterix and Obelix. Noel and I, and sometimes with other colleagues in the department battled it out with the IT guys over Counter-Strike. It was CS that gained the notice of management. Apparently, since a lot of people played CS over the office network, the bandwidth was severely hogged by those playing that this caused the disruption of certain services including internet and email services. That ended networked games and we were back to playing solo.

Those were the days :)

* * * *

Unfortunately, Fully Booked Greenbelt didn't have copies of Philippine Speculative 6 on hand when I went there yesterday noon. They did have copies of the earlier volumes except for Volume 4 so I'll make sure to secure copies of those one of these days.

* * * *

To help me in my book prowls, I've started keeping small bits of papers in my wallet that lists down books I hope to add into my collection. This'll be helpful when I find myself deliberately or unexpectedly in bookstores and book bins with moolah to spare. At least I won't have to wrack my brains trying to remember whether I already have a book in a particular series.

Anthologies and stand-alone novels are no problem.

The problematic ones are those that are part of a series and many sci-fi and fantasy books belong to such. That won't be a problem with books by Brian Jacques which do not require you having prior knowledge from earlier books. However, if a epic story is split into a trilogy or a quad or pentad, that becomes a problem. I still have in my collection volumes 2 and 3 of the The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant which I bought on sale but have yet to secure volume 1.

My wallet now has lists for the following:

• missing books from the Redwall Series by Brian Jacques (I've actually amassed over half already of all volumes, just missing the more recent ones)
• missing books from the Left Behind series
• Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Robot series
• list of books under the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica Series by James Owen
• George RR Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series (seems that book 1 -- A Game of Thrones -- is usually out of stock in recent days)
• books from Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld (which like Jacques' can be read out of order but I've downloaded a reading guide some weeks ago that would help a newbie like me)

The latest list to join my bits of paper in the wallet is a list of core steampunk books that'll help one appreciate the genre.

When I get to buy a book from one of the lists, then I simply cross it out. So, these bits of paper will be staying for a while in my wallet as I'm not buying books as much as I used to.

* * * *

Happy weekend, folks!

friday frolics part 1: sleep, gaming, blogging via email

It's a rainy Friday, folks and with just a little over three hours of sleep this is going to be one yawn-filled day at the Desk :P

* * * *

No, insomnia is not attacking me at this point. It's just that my night hours have become erratic. I sometimes fall asleep before my actual bedtime of 11pm, napping and snoozing from somewhere 15 minutes to an hour, and promptly getting up because I needed doing the hygienic stuff one is supposed to do before actually sleeping (like brushing your teeth and changing to more comfy wearables). That's when the problem strikes because after the toothbrush and the change of attire, I no longer feel sleepy having just recharged. So, I end up staying awake late.

Like last night ... while babysitting our baby to sleep (my wife was working on an emergency case that spelled A-S-A-P), I also fell asleep. This was around 9:30pm. I woke up a little after 10pm and didn't fall asleep until around half past 1am. Then I had to wake up around 4:30am because we had to leave by 5:45am as Elvie's shift was at 6am (thank goodness for the big red car and the fact that we're just about 3 kilometers away from her office -- counting all the one-ways and turns, of course).

So, now, I feel sleepy and no amount of caffeine will fix this up for sure.

* * * *

But I will take in coffee .. in a few minutes ... after I email this blog entry. Yes, I am blogging via email as direct access to Blogger is blocked by the Desk's network police.

* * * *

To kill some time last night while waiting for sleep to come, I powered up Freedom Fighter and played around 20 minutes. Sadly, couldn't turn on the volume to hear all the rat-tat-tat-tat and booms as the kids and the wife were all sound asleep.

Now, I'm missing another game -- Zeus: Master of Olympus, that heck of a city-building game that I think I consider my all-time favorite. My CD is actually so scratched that I had to make an extra copy of it. Trips to Data Blitz, hoping the game would be re-sold as a budget pack game has so far been nil. Other city-building games like Rise of Nations are already being re-sold as budget pack games (selling for around P800) but so far, Zeus has evaded such fate.

* * * *

That's in for this morning, folks. Will likely email another entry later today. Until then, enjoy the Friday!

thursday tattles: innova, pirates, 34, blogs

My (supposed-to-be) income-generating blogsite is in a hiatus. I guess I have to get back to working on that soon as it has to start generating income or otherwise there'll be no point in renewing its domain when it expires later this year.

I am again thinking of tinkering with it -- the design, specifically. I already downloaded a new template for use but then again it means I'll need to redo some coding of the template (the site runs on Blogger but using its own "blogspot-free" URL) for the so-called "bells and whistles". But I am still thinking because tinkering it will mean more man-hours working on it -- I am by no means a web designer and have a minuscule knowledge of coding -- so to work the code for me means trial-and-error.

* * * *

Starting to scrounge around the internet looking for a second-hand Toyota Innova.

I'm planning to avail of the Desk's car plan benefit (you only pay half the total purchase amount of the wheels) and since the purchase of a new vehicle (one that is credible, no Suzuki's or Chery's, please) is astronomically way beyond the car plan's allowable limit, I am looking for a second-hand one.

Why an Innova? Well, it could've been a Revo for all I care but since they've phased out Revo's in the P.I., the Innova was the next best bet (forgive the Toyota bias -- there are practical and economical reasons for it, the same case that if I had a mountain of gold bars, a Honda or Ford or hi-end Toyota SUV would've topped my option).

Firstly, what is needed is a family vehicle -- one that seats more than four people. With Elvie, Ikai, Issa and two yayas along, a second-hand Vios would not be it.

Secondly, it should have space -- for bags and strollers and more bags and Giraffe (my daughter's rocking horse, este giraffe) even more bags and a styro-foam box (for food stuff like fish and meats bought outs of way).

Thirdly, it should be affordable (take note -- affordable, not cheap) in that it should meet the allowed amount limit for someone in my meager rank.

Fourthly, it should be easy to maintain in terms of repairs and maintenance (Toyota vehicle parts are quite affordable aren't they?).

Fifthly, it should be fuel efficient. No gas-guzzlers. Gas preferred as they say diesel-engined vehicles tend to deteriorate faster.

After careful deliberation of the five factors, sedans were ruled out. SUVs were ruled out. The multi-cab was ruled out. Vans (like Hi-Ace or Urvan) were ruled out. All that was left was that vehicle group that included Hi-Landers, Revos, Innovas, and Adventures. Out of the four, it was a unanimous choice -- the Innova.

So, anyone selling a first-owned, all-power, gas-powered, manual or automatic, casa-maintained, flood free, non-silver gray Innova at a friendship price are welcome to get in touch with me.

Oh, why not a silver gray Innova, you ask? The answer is simple. I don't want to get mixed up when I get out of the office and into the office parking lot filled with silver gray Innovas -- a major bulk of the Desk's vehicle service fleet.

* * * *

By the way, I turned 34 years yesterday.

No major celebration, no fancy fireworks to greet the day.

In fact, friends following me on Twitter and Facebook knew that I was up and about the second that February 23 ticked into February 24 at 00:00. I joined Elvie as she went about her graveyard shift and dozed off somewhere around 3AM.

Stayed in bed til mid-morning and then we rushed off to a derma doc to have alien growth checked on myself, Elvie and our little Ikai. A thousand bucks later (to be used on our skin to fight back the aliens), we three had a quick lunch at a pizza parlor and off to bed again when we got home.

The celebration happened at dinner time. And I, the celebrant, was the one who went out to buy the celebratory stuff -- a cake roll and ice cream. Pancit was cooked, Royal True Orange for them and a fiber-enriched fruit juice for me, and that capped my birthday celebration. And oh, Elvie went on graveyard again and I was on "damay" mode until 1AM :)

* * * *

Sid Meier's Pirates! conked out on the rig last night while I was in the midst a trip to Campeche. I don't know if it had to do with the laptop not being able to run it or there was something wrong with the game CD.

Yep, I am playing the game again. This time however, I first played it on the PSP a week ago and found out I missed the little bells and whistles on the actual PC game. So, I hauled the old PC game CDs from my chest bin and installed it on the rig.

And lo and behold! With the ATi Radeon 3200 graphics card it looked even way better than before! The graphics were much, much grander and game-play more smoother. The only problem was that the game required the use of a full numeric keypad (the dancing mini-games and the sword fights especially) which unfortunately was unavailable on a lappy. Now, thinking of buying a num-pad just so I can perfect the dance steps and win the heart of a governor's daughter or two. Or three.

Unfortunately the game conked out for no apparent reason last night. Will try to lower the game's settings. Or maybe the lappy's overheating?

monday mumbles: pirates and a sketch again

Another sketch posted on both my blog and on Facebook. This time, it's an inked cyborg hero from my kid-comics-day and he is called Sergeant Striker. Once again, inked the original pencil sketch, photographed using my Nokia phone and gray-scaled in Photoshop.

* * * *

I'm a bit addicted to playing Sid Meier's Pirates on the PSP but just a few moments ago, I decided to install the PC version on my mobile rig.

And voila -- the whole game was simply beautiful running on my Compaq CQ40 with its AMD Turion X2 and ATi Radeon 3200 graphics card running seamlessly. I remembered when I ran the game in my old P4 desktop, it dragged at times. On the Compaq, it was in full 3D rendering.

Problem though would be to learn how to play it using the laptop's keyboard. The game suggests using your number keypad to control the game but since that isn't available on the laptop (unless I buy a USB numeric pad), I have to start learning how to play it using a combination of the keyboard and mouse (turning your ship with the mouse can be tricky!).

* * * *

Short post for now, itching to play pirate on the high seas!

tuesday tidbits: issa and ikai, belated greetings, innocent life, spec-fic in 2010, sims 2

Firstly, please allow me the honor of welcoming you to another year of blogging (and ranting) here at The Coffee House Chronicles. Come 1st of May 2010, this here blog turns four years old -- a feat somewhat for yours truly at having maintained (albeit lamely) an online presence since 2006.

TCHC was preceded by my first foray into blogging -- The Oblique Observer -- which I envisioned then to be somewhat a newsblog of sorts, turning the daily happenings of my life into news articles all written from a third person persona. Alas, that format was a bit tedious to maintain and speaking (blog-wise) in the first person (the so-called "I" persona) was easier as thoughts flowed more easily from brain to hand which then churned out what you have been reading for the last four years.

I do hope to revisit TOO one of these days and turn it into an interest-driven blogsite ... something along the lines of the speculative probably. I also just checked and found out that a proper .com for TOO can be availed (or .net, if .com gets taken) and then I can probably configure the Blogger TOO to point to the actual URL, similar to how I am currently running my revenue-generating blog (which, unfortunately until now, has not yet generated any revenue, thank you).

Getting back to CHC ... I hope it will be a better year for blogging in CHC this 2010. Last year was not really that great and it showed in the quality and quantity of entries posted. This year, I will drive myself to update CHC and the rest of my blogs more frequently as things happen and not wait for things to die down before I get to sit down in front of the computer and type away.

* * * *

My apologies to relatives, friends, and acquaintances who might be wondering why they did not hear any greeting of holiday cheers from me last month. It was a rather busy holiday -- not because of the shopping sprees and stuff -- but because of the birth of Rissa Kristelle or Baby Issa (who now weighs a hefty 5 kilos!) and the confinement of my eldest, Ikai, in the hospital for five days thanks to a late-blooming baby measles (or in Filipino, tigdas-hangin).

But you all were in my mind and have spiritually sent my greetings to all on the 25th of December and thereafter.

Apologies are in order too to the Espinos (Jasper and Olga) for not being there for your babies' special thanksgiving and baptism, and to the Cruzes (Dennis and Pilar) for missing on your chikitings' celebration as well. And I have not been a very good ninong as well -- my inaanaks Ziggy and Luis fell victim to a hiding godfather. Promise boys, the next time we see each other I will make bawi.

It seems as well that I have also failed to greet people during the Christmas break even on Facebook -- the only site which I probably checked consistently during the short times I was on the 'net -- I have been bad and naughty. No wonder, Santa Claus did not give me any gift last Christmas.

* * * *

Work in 2009 was all about transition and change.

As early as March, my mind was made up that I would be changing business addresses but that only came to fruition in August when I bailed from the gaming company where I have been working since 2006 to join the new Desk -- Philippine Veterans Bank.

The decision to switch desks was done after a thorough soul-searching and a lengthy application process. While the monthly pay dipped a bit in the new desk, the overall remuneration package helped seal the deal and I found myself donning my barongs under a new ID.

The switch to a more traditional and mainstream Desk meant a drastic and at times unbelievable culture change. Whereas everything was fast and furious and frantic at the old Desk, the pace at the new Desk was rolling at the first and second gears only. Not because there was nothing to be done but because of existing systems and rules and procedures which hark back to the good ole days at the PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies.

But all in good time. I think I am getting the hang of things right now in the new Desk.

* * * *

This post is now starting to sound like a year-in-review ... sheesh ...

* * * *

Moving on to more personally-oriented stuff ...

I hope to accomplish more this 2010 in the field of creative writing, particularly, in the field of speculative writing (or in other words, the science-fiction and fantasy genre).

Last year saw me finally taking the initial steps into the realms of SF&F writing with submissions to two calls. Even though my submitted works failed in both instances, it was still a feat for yours truly for having submitted something in the first place.

This year I hope to do better in terms of the quality of stories I will write and of course, the quantity. There are a lot of promising markets this year both in the local and international spec-fic writing scene (just look at the right column of this blog for those writing deadlines) and while it would be quite an honor to have your stories appear in mags and anthos and 'zines abroad, a worthwhile achievement would be getting your stories published locally.

* * * *

If it seems that this blog is starting to get more spec-fic related than ever it is certainly because I have seemed to embrace the genre even more.

And thanks to the presence of online blogs, sites and 'zines on the genre, my appreciation for the genre has grown exponentially the past few years. While my reading time for the actual books has diminished, getting information and news on the happenings in the genre has become easier and I now read about a lot of writers in the field as well as realize that my exposure to the genre is still quite limited (often limited by the depth of the pocket and availability of books of the spec-fic nature at your friendly, neighborhood bookstore).

But nevertheless, technology is helping bridge the gap -- what with ebooks and purchase downloads. And I hope to exploit my abroad-based sisters to purchase for me books that are unavailable here in the P.I.

* * * *

Happy to report that my first year as a futurist robo-farmer in the PSP game Innocent Life has been completed with flying colors. By that, I mean that in the first year alone, I was able to accomplish the objective of saving the world.

The walkthrough did help a lot but for this game, patience was key. And the same virtue continues to be important as I start my second year with goal of harvesting 1000 crops in the next two years.

Speaking of games, Datablitz is putting up their Sims 2 games on half-prices. According to a saleslady I spoke to in their Park Square 1 branch, they were selling Sims 2 games (main games, expansions, and stuff packs) at half-price because the games were being phased out. Of course, with Sims 3 already here (with already one expansion game as well), demand for Sims 2 has dropped.

The minute I learned of this promo my heart sang out Simlish songs in joy because to date, I only have the Sims 2 Double Deluxe game and one stuff pack -- the H&M Fashion Stuff. The cut-price on the expansions would mean moi being able to buy them -- at least the University and the Open for Business ones.

Unfortunately, both Park Square 1 and Greenbelt 1 branches of Datablitz no longer carried the stand-alone expansion packs (all they had were stuff packs and at GB the recently-released University + 2 stuff package) so I will need to scour the other DB branches and hopefully snag my targeted Sims 2 expansion packs.

thursday tattles: delicadeza, freedom force, christmas

And just like that it's already December.

And December this time around is going to be special for me and my little family. Anytime between now and the 26th, we can expect the 4th member of our little mob to arrive. A false alarm over the three-day weekend had us packing and getting to rush off to the hospital but good thing the overnight sleep helped stopped Elvie's contractions. Last Friday, she was still in her 37th week when the contractions happened, still a bit early for Baby Isa to step into the world. But this week, Elvie is now in her 38th week and it's much safer now for the baby to be born.

So, my nerves will be a bit jumpy in the next couple of weeks or so anticipating that call from my wife about a water bag getting broken and something about rushing off to the hospital to have the baby delivered.

Let's see, bag is packed -- baby's going-home clothes, receiving blanket, Elvie's and my own clothes, a book or two to bring along, my PSP, deo, cologne, soap, toothbrush, spare blanket (for me), smallish bath towel, small notebook, lots of pens, glucose-meter, charger for the cellphone, digicam ...

Am I ready? I have to be. I'm going to be a father again :)

* * * *

Have had some difficulty sleeping the past three nights.

Last Sunday night, I wasn't able to sleep early despite feeling drowsy as early as 9pm. I ended up sleeping past 3am already. That was still fine because Monday was a holiday so no problem extending the winks in the morning.

Last Monday night however was a real bummer though. With work resuming the next day, I knew I had to really sleep. Unfortunately, I again wasn't able to catch Mr. Sandman early and ended up sleeping around 3am again. I ended up a zombie at work.

Last Tuesday's bout with sleep was better as I managed to get myself knocked off half past twelve.

As of this writing, it's already 12:20am Thursday. No sleep in sight yet. Good luck to me.

* * * *

I've put playing Innocent Life on hold for a bit as it was getting boring.

I've instead fired up my laptop and am now playing an old game from circa 2002 -- Freedom Force.

If you're a fan of old-school comics, hawking back to the days when comic heroes were reciting cornball lines and drawn Jack Kirby-style, you're going to love Freedom Force. While it's a video game, it pays homage to the Golden Age of superhero comics (forget Darna or Captain Barbell or Lastikman, mind you) with those outrageous dialogues that heroes and super-villains alike recite before attacking, and cut-scenes offering the origins of the heroes you control.

Speaking of control, FF is a squad-based, tactical, real-time strategy game where you control a group of up to four super-heroes and direct their actions in fulfillment of a stated mission. You start of with a Captain America knock-off called Minute Man but as you progress through the missions, new heroes join you or you hire available heroes. You also upgrade your heroes to unlock better powers.

Action can become quite frantic and some missions will require you to split up your heroes. This can lead to frequent scrolling all over the map to ensure that you keep your heroes in check. Thank goodness for the space button -- the PAUSE button. While paused, you can issue commands to your hero making the game (and the heroes) easier to manage (and helps you catch your breath).

I first played this game some four or five years ago and back then I had to play it on someone else's PC because my own desktop couldn't handle the graphics (full 3D!). But flash-forward to today, it runs smoothly on my Compaq CQ40 thanks to the ATI Radeon shared video graphics.

* * * *

In the news ...

According to DILG Secretary Puno, PGMA running for Congress is heeding the clamor of her future constituents. He says that call to run as Congresswoman of the 2nd district of Pampanga outweighs the call for delicadeza.

So, delicadeza is no longer a trait to be valued, you say? 'Lang hiya ...

* * * *

Because of the timing of our daughter's birth, we'll be celebrating Christmas in Makati for the first time since Elvie and I got married. It has become a tradition for us to spend the holidays with my parents in Laguna these past years so this year is a break of that tradition.

Well, it might also end up that we might be spending Christmas at the hospital after all. Elvie's due date is around December 26 after all, give or take a week or so.

However, like I mentioned earlier in this post, this Christmas season is quite special not only because of the birth of our new daughter but also because we'll be celebrating Christmas in our little apartment whereby we'll be preparing a Christmas feast -- the first time we'll be doing that.

Expect waistlines to explode this Christmas season and I'm sure my endocrinologist will be admonishing me come January for the weight gain -- and I'll hear her say I'm grossly obese again! But, it's bound to be a happy Christmas so a little pagalit will be fine. I just have to stay a bit conscious not to eat too much, hopefully.

friday frolicks: ad congress, globe diss, starbucks, spec-fic news, ikai, isa, psp

Globe has got some serious issues when it comes to fulfilling its promises to its consumers.

After promising to yours truly that the landline and internet connection would be back by November 1, guess what? Still no connection until now. Why am I not surprised.

Their most recent excuse after I visited their Greenbelt business center earlier this week -- their field contractors have revised their earlier deadlines and now our area is set to be serviced on or before the second week of November.

Egad!!! Doesn't the use of "on or before" entail a definite date and not a vague period of time such as "second week"?

My innards were screaming for blood and I wanted to turn the CSA's own innards inside out but I controlled my temper and left the counter without another word. No use in saying thank you, thanks or gracias (although that's impolite, mind you) because I did not receive the expected assistance that had me wait 30 minutes for my number to be called in the first place.

Hay, ang buhay consumer nga naman.

* * * *

And since I've not been blogging or surfing at home for the longest time I've turned my attention to other stuff.

I'm currently in the midst of the winter season in Innocent Life, a PSP game that touts itself as a "futuristic Harvest Moon". For those already scratching their heads and asking what the heck Harvest Moon is, well, it's a game, actually, a series of games released initially for SNES (1996 first release) and subsequently in other consoles such as GameBoy, GBA, PS 1 and 2, Nintendo DS, etc. It's a series of farming simulation games whereby you inherit a farm, grow crops, tend livestock, and a gazillion other tasks including being friendly with neighbors.

Innocent Life is pretty much the same as the earlier Harvest Moon games but flash-forwarded a gazillion years to the future where farming tasks can be automated.

It's not exactly an exciting or engaging game (personally, the Harvest Moon game I played before was more exciting and fulfilling) but since I'm a sucker for RPG simulation games, I'm sticking to it and hoping to finish the main pivotal task (appeasing the Fire Spirit via the Water Spirit thereby preventing the explosion of the volcano that will surely and likely destroy the town where my creator (you play a robot trying to be human) and the friends I will get to know live) within a year and not withing the allowable two years.

The problem with the game is that there tends to be dragging moments when you find yourself with nothing to do -- especially at the start of the seasons when you just finished planting your seedlings for that season. And, the game starts to become boringly predictable and that you can't "speed" up the movement of events because the important events that trigger the chain reaction of events is so time-bound. Like right now, I am just waiting for the 24th day of winter for the next main event to happen even though I've completed the prerequisite tasks for it before autumn ended.

At least in the Harvest Moon I played (Friends of Mineral Town played on PC via emulator), I seemed to have not enough time during the day to do tasks and build up my character. It was exciting but also stressful, in fact. Innocent Life is, let's just say, less stressful and at times, ah, I just plod on until the next main event.

But since there's really nothing better to do during my free times at home, I'm sticking with this PSP game for now.

* * *

What I haven't been doing though during this "downtime" of mine from blogging and surfing is reading.

I've been amassing books and graphic novels and magazines but I haven't been reading them. They're all in the book pile, some with their wrappings still intact. Still waiting to be opened include all the stuff I bought at Komikon along with Martial Law Babies as well as a couple of issues of Entrepreneur Philippines and tons of books. The book I got last week, Firebirds Rising is the latest victim unfortunately.

And there are many books in the pile that remain on the "unfinished-reads" list. I'm guilty of leaving a book I'm reading unfinished and owe much apology to the likes of JRR Tolkien, Fritz Leiber, Terry Pratchett, among others, for letting their works collect dust while I fiddle and diddle and take up another reading material (or the PSP nowadays) and promise to get back to finishing the erstwhile books "one of these days".

* * *

And have I told everyone that Elvie and I are expecting a girl?

She's going to be a Christmas baby (give or take two weeks) and as such, we'll be christening her Risa Kristine. Her aka will Isa (pronounced EE-ZAH and not the Filipino I-SA).

Ikai, our eldest, has now taken to pertaining to herself in the third person as "Ate Ikai". And that's a good sign for us because it's an indicator that she is now prepared mentally and emotionally for the coming of her baby sibling.

Elvie and I are quite excited with the coming of Isa and more comfortable now than before when we were expecting Ikai. That's because, financially, we're secure and emotionally, we know now what to expect. We're just hoping that it's going to be an easy labor (Elaine, how do you do it?) because it seems like this one's going to be a bigger baby to birth than Ikai was three years ago.

* * *

And speaking of Ikai, she's turning three this month on November 18.

We'll be having a small celebration with a few family and friends and Ikai will be hosting a smallish children's party for the neighborhood kids (roughly about 6-10 kids).

Our little baby is growing and she has become quite the talkative type. Her mouth never seems to close and when she's not talking, she would be singing instead and can repeat the songs and dialogues of almost every commercial on the tube.

Here's here photo when she and her cousin, Mark, went trick-or-treating last October 30 at Elvie's office.

You can check out other photos at her own blog where I've uploaded them.

* * * *

Over on the speculative side ...

Jeff VanderMeer is currently on a suicide mission, este, book tour to promote his new books Finch and Booklife in 14 states for 27 events covering 36 days. So, his blog will be hi-jacked by a slew of guest-bloggers, playing mouse while the be-whiskered cat is away. Enjoy a change of tone for a wee bit until the VanderMeer gets back zombified from his book tour.

Congratulations are in order to Charles Tan, the Bibliophile Stalker, for winning the Last Drink Bird Head Award for International Activism for "his efforts to bring writers from other literary traditions and countries to the attention of readers in North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia" as well as to Kenneth Yu of Philippine Genre Stories for winning Fantasy Magazine's flash-fiction-and-graphic contest.

Filipino horror writers you are summoned!!! Estranghero Press's Joey Nacino and horror-guru Karl "M.F." de Mesa are calling for submissions to a new online horror anthology they've entitled "Demons of the New Year: Horror from the Philippines". Guidelines here. Deadline is January 15, 2010 with a target publication at the end of the same month.

Two Filipino authors are included in the latest issue of Expanded Horizons -- Eliza Victoria with her story "I Am the City" and Catherine Batac Walder's "Twin Cities". I've yet to read them but you can check them out in this fine SF webzine. You can even download PDF versions, mind you, if you prefer to read it traditionally. Plus, EH is also now accepting art submission! Check it out.

Rocket Kapre has announced that we only need to sleep five more nights before the launch of its planned quarterly SF webzine, USOK. Paolo Chikiamco promises for USOK's inaugural launch -- five short stories, two quality reprints, three all-new tales -- all for FREE on November 11.

* * *

Anyone going to the Ad Congress later this month?

I won't but a couple of colleagues are and despite the disappointment that it's being moved from Baguio to Subic for all-too-obvious reasons, it looks like it's going to be a great event.

I will most likely be attending next year's event as the Desk where I am now working is quite open to such activities for the development of its workforce. The participation fee is a bit on the expensive side as it costs around P16K per attendee (EXCLUDING hotel, transpo and other expenses which you (or your company) will shoulder) and of course, you will need to bring your own pocket money for those unofficial expenses (the tons of pasalubongs come to mind).

The Direct Marketing Forum organized by DMAP and Salt and Light Ventures seems to have gone unnoticed this year. Have they held it earlier in the year? This is another marketing forum that I would like to attend next year if they hold it again. I've attended the first three that DMAP and SLV did and the learnings from those conferences have helped me in my career as a marketer. I am now a firm believer in direct marketing -- marketing that really works because they elicit a response from the consumer.

I will also look forward to the next Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) events as I am also a practitioner of digital marketing having been an online marketer for the past five years (before my recent incarnation as a brick-and-mortar marketer in the Desk) so I'll be keeping my calendar open for that.

* * *

Speaking of calendars ... I am NOT going to be bitten by Starbucks' Christmas planner promo again. Case in point, the planner I redeemed after consuming P2,000+ worth of Starbucks last year (not helping the D, of course) went to waste neither my wife nor I used it. I already saw SB starting to advertise its Christmas offerings and I'm steering clear of any SB branch for the meantime :)

for the writers out there

Picked this up from Bibliophile Stalker and I'm re-posting this brief but relevant insight from writer Jay Lake on how to find time to write ...

[process] Finding time to write

Yesterday I posted on being Jay Lake [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]. In comments, the question of time and productivity came up. I’m notorious for being a fast writer, though I’ve been slowing down a lot, but I also put a lot of time into my writing, fast or not.

The most important thing I ever did was quit watching television. Back in 1994, I turned the set off. I haven’t had a cable bill in 15 years, don’t own an antenna. I do watch a couple of DVDs per month, but that’s about it. Because television used to eat my life. I’ve never missed it, not really. Only ever caught two shows on DVD since then, Firefly and Battlestar Galactica, both when I was recovering from surgery last year.

If you watch television an hour a day, and don’t have time to write, then turn off the tv. Almost anyone can write 500 words in an hour. That’s 182,500 words a year — two short novels or a hell of a lot of short stories.

Likewise gaming. I never did play console games much, and shut off my last computer game in 2001 when my writing career started gaining traction. Haven’t missed it, either.

If writing is important enough to you, you will find the time. And I would always rather be actively writing that passively consuming packaged entertainment.

How much tv do you watch a week? How many hours do you game? How many hours do you write? You know my answers.

As usual, your mileage may vary.

- original post over at www.jlake.com

All I can say is ... ouch :P

surf's up -- a list of sites frequently visited

In the daily course of your internet life, whether you're sneaking personal surfing during office hours or leisurely abusing your unlimited internet connection at home, there are some sure sites you're bound to visit regularly. Obviously, the website lists on the right side of this blog indicates mine but let me go deeper as to why they're there as my top sites to visit. Please note, that this listing is in no particular order, weight or preference although I will state most likely what sites I devotedly visit.

Inquirer.net (www.inquirer.net)
Inquirer.net is the number one Filipino website when it comes to news and it remains to this day that. So, it's only normal that this becomes a daily habit with me. It's much more comprehensive than the print version (thanks largely because the press and photo releases don't get published anymore) but like its mundane form, is cluttered with ads. However, like the printed form, you can choose to ignore the ads (hopefully they're not intrusive like those new rich media types offered nowadays).

Yahoo Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/)
It has become a habit for me to check the latest sports news via Yahoo's sports pages (normally NFL, NBA, boxing (if Manny Pacquiao is fighting), and tennis; and on occasion F1 and horse racing as well) since I first worked for a sports betting company way back in 2005. That was the first time work required me to online for all the ten hours I was at the office and part of the work required that I routinely check what's happening in sports-dom. That habit has stuck until now.

Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org)
The true encyclopedia online, I wouldn't be surprised if this website was single-handle reason for why many roving encyclopedia salesmen lost their jobs. While there are still questions and critics regarding Wikipedia's open-to-all writing and editing policies, it has fast become a popular (albeit not always reliable or credible) source of information. I first encountered Wikipedia during my first online marketing work and it since then become an indispensable go-to site for quick information. For me, it's also a great way to pass the time as you learn a lot and you just find yourself browsing topic after topic. You start off looking and reading one topic and then some eons later, you find yourself a zillion topics hence.

Facebook (www.facebook.com)
There's no doubt that Facebook nowadays occupy a big chunk of my internet time. There's just so many things to do on that social networking site that I've virtually abandoned my Friendster account already and devoted whatever online time I have to FB. Chat, email, play games, send virtual gifts, join causes, connect with long-lost friends -- the list of things that can be done on FB is outstanding that in my opinion, it easily outruns MySpace in terms of activity. My fave things to do on FB currently? Farm Town, FarmVille, and Mafia Wars.

Penmanila (www.penmanila.net)
If you simply admire writers and authors who can write eloquent English but who can still be so Filipino then Penmanila might be worth your while (it is for me). Penmanila is the website and blog of Jose "Butch" Dalisay, one of today's more prolific Filipino writers and academician and in it, you can read about things and issues that are close to Sir Butch (yes, he was a professor of mine back in college for one CW subject) including literature, the English language, travel, politics, writing, the academe (and teaching), fiction and his love of fountain pens. Updated weekly so this doesn't qualify (technically) under my daily web surf but it has become so much of a habit that it deserves to be put in here.

Komikero Journal (http://gerry.alanguilan.com/)
Accessible via Komikero.com, this is the blog of comic book writer and artist (and video-blogger and podcaster) Gerry Alanguilan whose credits include Wasted, Timawa, and more recently, Elmer. He is also well-known in the comic-dom for his work with DC and Marvel titles including Superman, Batman, New X-Men and Wolverine. Through his blog, find out how he lives his life as a comic book artist making ends meet, his chronicling of Philippine komiks, and his advocacy of uplifting the local comic book industry. His latest adventure has taken him taking a stance that Carlo J. Caparas is not qualified as a National Artist for Visual Arts (find out more through his blog posts and you'll be enlightened!).

Notes from the Peanuts Gallery (www.deanalfar.blogspot.com)
As a budding writer for the fantastic, it's only natural that I try and find out as much as I can about the local science-fiction and fantasy scene here in the Philippines. Stumbling upon the blog of businessman and writer Dean Francis Alfar instead introduced me to Filipino speculative fiction. Dean is one of the more stalwart advocates of Filipino spec-fic and has championed its cause by winning numerous awards for his spec-fic works. His (and his wife Nikki Alfar's) annual anthology of speculative fiction by Filipino writers is a much-awaited release. Unfortunately, Dean hasn't been active of late with his blogs as his other interests (I think) are demanding more of his time.

Twitter (www.twitter.com)
Do you tweet? I do. So, it's only natural that I visit Twitter daily to tweet. And I've linked my Twitter and FB accounts so that whatever I tweet also gets pasted as my shout-out on FB. They call Twitter micro-blogging and indeed it is. It's a fast way of updating your readers and followers on what you're doing, what's occupying your time, and whatever (mis)adventures you're undertaking. Blog posts like this one takes time so Twitter is a life-saver. And I think we Filipinos will have no probs with using Twitter because it's exactly like texting -- your message in just 160 characters. If you want to follow me, just hit the "Follow Me on Twitter" on the upper right corner of this blog-site.

Bibliophile Stalker (http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/)
Another daily source for anything spec-fic, fantastic or science-fiction(istic), writer Charles Tan's website directs you to lots of links related to subject, and also contains interviews, book and magazine reviews, and his personal thoughts on relevant matters. It's a daily, Monday to Friday, compilation of the latest news, views and issues related to the speculative fiction realm and has been cited by even American author and editor Jeff VanderMeer to be a daily resource of his as well.

Other sites that I frequent although not on a regular (as in day-to-day) basis include:

Jeff VanderMeer's Ecstatic Days
For the entrepreneur-to-be-in-me: Entrepreneur
Adobo Magazine Online -- the local ad industry's magazine
BoardGame Geek - all about playing games unplugged
Gamespot - counterpart of BGG, this one is all about video games
Concept Ships - for fantastic drawings and designs of airplanes, spaceships and just about anything that can fly or has a rocket engine
Mental Floss - for the knowledge junkie in you and me
DC Comics - always been a DC fan so out of nostalgia I chance upon this site every now and then

I also am a regular visitor to online bookstores like Fully Booked, Powerbooks, and National Bookstore as well as international bookstore site Borders (which is incidentally also a fan page of mine on FB). I also frequent PC retail sites especially when I was still agonizing whether to upgrade my busted desktop or buy a laptop (and before I bought my latest rig) like PC Corner, PC Express, and TipidPC to check out prevailing prices. And oh yes, I also frequent CDR-King's website as well.

Ikaw, what sites are your regular haunts?

monday mumblings: new work, new rig, new gadgets, new possible writing submission

My apologies for being away for quite some time and not updating my blog.

This has been the same story for my other blogs, namely The Diabetic Daddy and my income-generating one (supposed to be generating anyway). My marketing and advertising blog, Pinoy Marketer Observer, hasn't received an update for over a year now so I'm not including that one in the list of blogs that need updating.

I have been quite busy lately ... busy adjusting to the new work and the culture shock that came with. It's a welcome culture actually. From the fast and frentic pace at the old work, the new work is a bit relaxed and laid back, harkening back to the earlier days at PJ Lhuillier when I was a pioneer at the company's marketing team.

I'm still in the midst of trying to understand how they do business in the new office. Obviously, being corporately stiff to the bone, there's a lot of paperwork that need to be done to get things done and to get people to move. And I'm still busy learning the system. But I'm getting there.

It can get frustrating at times especially since for the last three years I've been used to getting things done right away. Now, when I send out my request, I just need to sit back a bit and wait and hope that in three days or so, my request will somehow get signed off (first) by the approving body before it gets passed on to the actual fellow who'll be doing the actual work.

In any case, it's been fun so far. Re-learning stuff and re-orienting myself to the structure of the new company is quite a challenge. I really have to exercise my patience here because getting frustrated will only affect me. Like I said, the mantra in the new company is sit back and relax. Chill out a bit.

* * * *

As my Facebook and Twitter friends will have known, I've not been with the company for a month yet and I've already made my first out-of-town business trip. Just a couple of weeks back, I was in Dagupan City in the north to handle some branch marketing stuff. It's great to be travelling again even if it's for work. The last time I travelled was way back in 2005 when I was still with the Lhuillier Group and we attended the 2005 Sinulog in Cebu.

The new work entails a lot of travelling aside from the regular desk work. From the past meetings I've had, probable travel itenararies for the coming weeks include Cabanatuan, Lucena, Antipolo, Pagadian, Tagbilaran, Cebu, and San Fernando. And that's only for this year. With about 15 branches to open this year and several branches to re-locate in the provinces, I'll probably need to ensure my travel bag is always packed.

* * * *

So, what have I been doing so far, you may ask.

Well, my new boss and colleagues still have to figure out how to maximize me and my skills, my experience and my talents given my mixed marketing exposure.

For the meantime, while I still try and gauge how the business is being done in the company, I am tasked with ensuring our website and our intranet portal are updated and upgraded. The website has last seen a major upgrade way back 2005, and the update at least a couple of months back. In fact, a total rehaul is in the offing and I will be commencing work on that one soon as I've just about finished the back-work needed.

The intranet was launched this month, same day as I first reported for work. Since not everyone in the office had internet access (as I'm told, only assistant managers up are plugged to the 'net), the intranet portal is the employee's link to what's happening in the company. And at this early, the proponents of the project would like to see changes and I will be on hand to ensure they happen.

I'll also be engaging myself in the first online marketing foray of the company as it will promote a product online. Not purely online though, but an integrated one. However, the online marketing component will be key so this is my first chance at proving to them I'm worth the salary I'm being paid. Wish me luck.

Aside from that, I'll be busying myself getting involved as much as possible with ongoing projects and projects assigned to us as a team. I'll let my other colleagues take a lead on those as they've been doing them for quite some time now but I'll make sure to be a solid contributor on all fronts.

* * * *

Last week, I've finally bought my new rig.

After months of agonizing whether to upgrade my P4 or buy a laptop, I've decided on the latter and purchased a Compaq Presario CQ40 AMD Turion X2 from the CoolTOYZ branch in Dasma, Makati (the shop is at the Petron station on the corner of EDSA and Pasay Road).

Why buy a laptop and AMD at that when I've been Intel for the last so many years? Basically, the sales pitch, the price, the service at CoolToyz (thanks to Merwin) got into me. Read all about this laptop and its specs here and see if you don't get attracted to purchase one as well.

As can be seen from the photo, the 2.2 kilogram laptop is quite handy. It's not so bulky nor too heavy to lug around. And as I intend to bring it along with me in my travels, the weight and dimensions factors come into play beneficially.

It also features a 75% dedicated graphic card, with the remaining 25% graphics capability working in tandem with the processor. Since AMD and ATi are essentially one and the same company, this laptop features a seamless graphics interface that according to CoolTOYZ's Merwin will enable it to run the latest Crysis videogame (at low-medium GFX quality). So, that means, the Sims 2 will run seamlessly here. I have yet to install Sims 2 but when I tested GTA III (circa 2002) which already called for a powerful graphics, it ran well with no problems. I intend to test this machina with Photoshop and CorelDRAW soon.

I'm sure Zeus: Master of Olympus (circa 1999) will run so smoothly on this rig :)

At around Php 26K, this laptop (given its features, specs and graphics capability) is a bargain. As I intend to use this not only for play but also for my sidelines (designing and writing), if it proves to be as powerful as it is supposed to be, this'll last me for the next three years most.

How about the old P4 rig? As soon as I get my bonus, I'll upgrade that one as well (motherboard, memory and HDDs) and still use it for my personal works.

* * * *

Speaking of gadgets ...

My father recently surrendered to me my sister's PSP. He reasoned that his eyes hurt after he plays it but I'm guessing it's more because he's getting tired of playing Luxor over and over again.

With just a 2GB mem-stick, this PSP unit needs a serious upgrade. Aside from the mem upgrade (how much is an 8GB memory stick PRO duo anyway nowadays?), the firmware needs to be upgraded to be able to play all those ISOs and CSOs that I've managed to download. I guess this calls for a trip one of these days to Edmon the hacker for his PSP services.

In other notes, my sister's old Ipod is now officially dead. She bequethed the Ipod last summer during her last vacation and the old thingy ran well for the next several months. About two months ago, it started acting up -- freezing actually, and when it ran, it garbled the songs. I tried restoring and restarting it (relying on online instructions on how to do those two acts) but failed.

So, about a week ago, I took it down to a repair booth but even there, the technicians (whose skills I seriously doubted) failed to repair it (even with their bravado that they can fix everything). First, they spent 3 hours trying to restore it. Then, I had to return the next day because they reasoned they had to jumpstart it from inside. Then, they reasoned they had to send it to their main repair office since the problem was internal. After allowing them four days to try and salvage the Ipod, they returned it to me and said it could not be fixed.

Ah, well.

* * * *

Now that the work pressure is lessened (and with a new rig available), I hope to get some creative writing done. Calls for submissions are aplenty and one particular interesting opportunity would be to submit a story to our very own Filipino speculative anthology -- Dean and Nikki Alfar's (and co-editing for the upcoming anthology is Vin Simbulan) annual Philippine Speculative Fiction.

Deadline is in October 15 for a February 2010 publication date. Guidelines here.

monday mumblings: biotronic, diabetic daddy, fb apps, moving on

biotronic addict
While my wife, her sister, my daughter's yaya, and my daughter herself, got themselves hooked on Boys Over Flowers this past weekend, I myself got hooked to an addiction -- Biotronic on FaceBook.

While it was a busy weekend with a Saturday trip to the doctor for my wife's monthly check-up and a Sunday worship and me running errands (and walk-xercising to boot), the weekend afternoons meant indulgences -- them with Jan Di and Jun Pyo and a marathon of the series (in subtitles, no less) and I with Biotronic.

The FB game app is by no means original. It's the usual mix-three-explode-mix-four-bigger-explode-fill-the-meter run-of-mill game (much like Bejeweled or Chuzzles) but I guess part of the appeal is that it's fresh (new elements that you need to mix and match -- not jewels or chuckling, furry heads), new twists (mix-four and get a single-color bomb, get 5 or more and get a multi-colored bomb that can eliminate all the same shapes on-screen at the same time) and the fact that you always race against time, all the time. The trick is to always find the best combo -- the fours or fives -- as the three-combo only give you only additional micro-seconds. The bigger the explosion you make (with 4-5 the combos), the longer time you gain. But then again, the longer time you spend at a level, the smaller the score. So, you have to analyze the pattern of elements as soon as they appear and look for the killer-combos right away. Otherwise, your effort will just be a race against the seeming unfair clock.

Part of the addiction I've experienced with Biotronic is that fellow FBer Rastle, the notorious little lady who offices a block away at an online media company, has bested my score last Saturday evening! For approximately four days I've topped the scoreboard then out-of-nowhere, she comes and trumps my 69,470 with 69,940!

Played Biotronic last Saturday from 4pm to 10pm and then again the next day from 3pm to 8pm. Now, my right arm and wrist are sore from all that clicking and mouse manipulation. Talk about addiction :)


other fb addictions
Aside from Biotronic, other addictive game apps I'm currently hooked on include FarmTown, FarmVille and Restaurant City. I still play Pet Society every now and then just to make sure that my pet stays healthy as well continue my other farm over at Barn Buddy but my extra times are spent on the three game apps first mentioned!

Up and coming addiction includes Mafia Wars (yes, I'm a late bloomer) and there's a new farm app called myFarm. Still trying it out but it's not excitingly different from FarmTown or FarmVille so not sure if I'll stick with that game.


new blog up
I've just started a new blog -- The Diabetic Daddy -- a blog chronicling my now-forever battle with the big D. In it, I hope to daily post how I'm managing my diabetes as well as my weight management.

I also plan it as a rough guide to living the diabetic lifestyle which include calorie and sugar-counting on all food intake and reviewing foodstuff considered friendly for diabetics including all those items on the grocery shelves tacked and labeled with "fat-free", "sugar-free", "low-fat", "high-fiber" and "n% less sugar".

It features a newsreel for all matters pertaining to diabetes and I will add more features to it as I find time.

Why create it? To keep reminding myself that this is a battle I need to take seriously as well as to help other like myself who are struggling with the need to change the lifestyle. Information and education are key objectives for that new blog.

There's a likelihood that there'll crossovers between The Coffee House Chronicles and The Diabetic Daddy but I hope you guys also bookmark that one as well.


july is moving on month
This month, July, marks my last month with the company I currently am employed with.

Yes, folks, I'm moving on and in exactly 28 days I'll be rewriting my professional career at a new desk and a new office with a new set of colleagues and it's actually pretty exciting. The decision to move on has been a long time coming but the stars and the planets have finally aligned and they have, through various auguries, informed me that now is the time to move.

While I've made no secret of my intent, I've not broadcasted it widely either (except to a select few) until now.

For sure, the news has already circulated around the office and before you hear rumors that I will be moving to another gaming company let me say that I'm not transferring to a rival gaming company. I'm not even moving to the other online gaming type of company (MMORPG and casual games).

I'm moving to another industry and my FB and Twitter friends will know, come August 3, what industry and what company that will be. I'm going mainstream and my whole family is excited with that prospect.

And why move when I am already in possession of a stable, nurturing and developmental job that promises career development and a chance to scale the corporate ladder, you ask?

There are personal reasons and there are other reasons but primarily, I've got my family's future in mind when I finally made that decision to accept the offer from this other company. This move is actually a step-back in terms of career growth from my point-of-view but it's a necessary sacrifice that I need to make to ensure that years from now, my family will be taken cared of and I will still have a career to make of.

There's still a chance to scale the corporate ladder with the new company and who knows, maybe I can still make CMO one of these days.

So, this month is basically about wrapping up things in the old office and prepping for the new one. Papers accumulated for the past three years are being sorted out, odd jobs and responsibilities being relinquished to colleagues, and come last week of July, I'll be saying my goodbyes and relishing the 43rd floor cityscape view from the relatively new office space I have.