Immortal Texting Extended

I knew that this promo ended Feb 21, 2010 but I tried it anyway and it seems that the promo has been extended.

For only P15, you get to enjoy 5 call minutes PLUS 50 texts to Globe/TM that will never expire!

To register: simply text Immortal15 to 8888. You need to maintain P5 balance to use the service.

What's great is that the 5 minutes of calls to Globe/TM are consumable, and may be used for several calls or for one long call. I've reloaded twice in succession and now I have 100 free texts and 10 minutes of calls.

Promo is extended to March 21, 2010.

Continuity Is The Name of The Game

A Rube Goldberg machine is a deliberately over engineered machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction. The expression is named after American cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg.

This video is one damn great Rube Goldberg Machine. And receiving nearly 2 million views in less than 2 days is proof how popular the video is.

This is the official video for the recorded version of "This Too Shall Pass" off of the album "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky". The video is directed by James Frost, OK Go and Syyn Labs & produced by Shirley Moyers.

The video was filmed in a two story warehouse, in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. The "machine" was designed and built by the band, along with members of Syyn Labs over the course of several months

Wahct the video to appreciate and be awed.

Run United For Wellness

I've always had a liking for jogging. In college, I took 2 semesters of running. Whenever I had time back then, I would jog to keep fit and train for Tae-Kwon-Do. After college, I regularly jogged around the Marikina Sports Center to keep fit. I haven't been jogging for a while and I was hoping to get back into the jogging groove last year in time to trim down my weight for my wedding. Well, the floods last year and the wedding planning left me with practically no more time to jog.

Fast forward to present: I'm married and we now live in a new home in Paranaque, which incidentally is a jog-friendly subdivision. So I figured I can get back to my regimen and start jogging again.

Coincidentally, I learned about the Unilab Run United for Wellness that's taking place at the Bonifacio Global City, Taguig on March 7. I got excited about this because even though I've been jogging for years, I never joined any marathon. Well this run is the perfect way to resume jogging and prepare for the event. I'm not getting any younger and I am more conscious of my health now than a decade ago where I could slack off.

This event is not only about joining a run. It's a health and wellness event for the family with running as the core activity. Aside from the 3 km, 5 km, 10 km, and 21 km categories for adults, there’s also a 500-meter dash for kids to help parents get their children started on a fitness lifestyle.

I'm personally excited to participate as this will be my first time to join such an event. To add to the excitement, I was able to meet the renowned running & fitness coach Rio dela Cruz and his several international running achievements is an inspiration of what any one of us can achieve by running.

To register, got o Planetsports Trinoma and Runnr store at Bonifacio High Street,Taguig. Registration is from Feb. 22 to 28. Top finishers can win cash prizes, Unilab gift packs, and New Balance gift certificates worth P5,000. Finishers in the 21 km category will receive a finisher’s medal. The first1,000 finishers in the 21K can also bring home a finisher’s shirt.

I'll be joining the 5km run. See you at the finish line !

Morning Thoughts

Ever received those e-mails or text with quotable quotes ? The kinds that can either inspire you or make you ponder ? Well here's mine. I hope my quote would reappear in any form somewhere else.

If I said everything I thought about... most of it would be stupid. Good thing our brain is there to filter out what to say so not to look stupid most of the time.

My Early Pick For American Idol 9

I like making early picks on these reality tv shows. Even if they're still cutting down their current Top 46, I'd like to predict, Thaddeus Johnson as my early pick for Top 3 in Idol.

Out of all the auditions and even on Hollywood week, Thaddeus has caught my attention. His vocals are superb! He doesn't need to reach the highest of notes with his big solid voice cause his vocal range fits him perfectly. Check out his audition video of this 17 year old high school student from Oklahoma City and listen to his powerful rendition of Michael Jackson's Man In The Mirror. Oh and I hope his mom doesn't lose her voice cause she'll need to be cheering him on for a much longer time on Idol. Go Thaddeus !

UPDATE: A few hours after I posted this, Thaddeus didn't make it to the Top 24. The judges said he didn't do anything wrong. It was just tough competition as all of the contestants were very very talented and it was a matter of talent vs talent instead of talent vs. non-talent. Oh well, there goes my pick. I think I'll make another bold prediction after hearing all 24 perform next week.

Of Traffic & Constructions

The Metro Manila Skyway is currently being extended from Sucat onwards. Being under construction has caused severe traffic in the South for months now for both the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and the entry-exit points of the Skyway.

The official Metro Manila Skyway website is also currently under construction. What a coincidence !

Ironically, both of them are under construction. But in contrast, the website doesn't cause any traffic at all. In fact, it may need traffic.

...if only the vehicles could enter the information highway instead.

Showing Your Love Online & Offline On Valentine's Day

There are several ways to celebrate Valentines day: a romantic dinner, a valentines concert, an out of town getaway, a surprise gift. But even the simplest of gestures can make an impact as big as the others: a stroll at the park, a dedicated poem, a valentines card, a bunch of roses or even a simple sincere prophecy of an "I love you".

With the advent of technology and the internet, expression of thoughts and messages have been cut down to very simple methods: searching the net for love quotes or romantic photos and e-mailing the link, sending a hug or kiss via a facebook application, sending an e-card with an automated e-mail, posting a tweet or plurk exclaiming your feeling or simply going online to chat with your loved one. As much as they all seem hi-tech, they require very little effort and they only exist online. In special occasions like these, it's far more appropriate to show more effort in expressing your feelings than just sending electronic data in the form of lovenotes.

The good thing is you can still be hi-tech and make your presence felt both online and offline with IslandRose.net. If you love being online and using technology to your advantage but want to make your loved one feel special and affirm your offline presence as well, then you can visit IslandRose.net and send a gift to your special someone. As its name suggests, Islandrose's specialty is roses. Send roses of any color, kind and quantity to the person special to you. These are nowhere close to ASCII art roses (remember this ? @};-'-,---- ) or a photo link of a rose. These are real, homegrown, high-quality roses that islandrose.net will deliver to your loved ones. You can choose from a variety of roses and customize them through their user-friendly online store. Everything can be done online from the rose selecting and delivery instructions up to the online payment as they accept all major credit cards. What's more convenient is that they deliver to any point in the Philippines. So even if you're thousands of miles away in another country, you could still make your presence felt and send flowers to the Philippines through IslandRose.net. Aside from roses, they do offer chocolates, fragrances and other similar items suitable to trigger feelings of love so aside from sending roses, you can send gifts to the Philippines from anywhere in the world. Let IslandRose be your flower delivery to the Philippines.

A few years back, I've personally ordered a long-stemmed rose via islandrose.net and I was very pleased with the rose and box it came in. It even had a tube filled with water at the end of the stem to maintain freshness for a longer period. I couldn't have selected a better way to send it.

May it be for the fast approaching day of Cupid or for any other special occasion, consider sending your roses via http://www.islandrose.net. As a special offer for Valentines Day, you can use this code VDAY022010 to get a 10% discount. This discount code is valid until February 20, 2010. Happy Valentine's Day !

Simply Human Nature

One of my favorite Michael Jackson songs is Human Nature. I love the melody and arrangement. Even how many times and ways this song has been revived, rearranged and performed, it's still a great song. I'd like to share Craig David's version of Human Nature with Michael Jackson and SWV's versions both fused together into a melodic acoustic performance. Enjoy !

You're MyBrute

I haven't had time to actually play any full-length video games. I miss the times I'd spend hours playing a video game from start to end. The satisfaction of completing each level gets more intense as the harder the gameplay gets. And discovering what challenges are in store during the game is a thrill.

Nowadays, I need more time for other stuff and so the least I can do to still play some games is via an online game called MyBrute. It's basically a 2-D fighting game similar to Street Fighter & Mortal Kombat. Customize your character, choose your opponents and sit back and watch as your character will challenge your opponent until a winner emerges. The great thing about it is that it doesn't require any skill on your end to memorize keys to walk, run, jump, attack or defend. Everything is automated. All you need to do is cheer for your character and hope he makes you proud. If you haven't tried it out, you can try it out here and click on the left character to create your own. You can challenge me too at http://jaydj.mybrute.com

Happy MyBruting !

Tip for Windows 7 Users

I've been using Windows 7 since beta release till the release candidate (RC). And I must admit that I love it. It's a huge boost from XP Home and Vista.

One of the things I found strange though is there will come a point in time that your program list in your start menu will suddenly disappear. This occurs due to a 70 file/folder limit in the Start Menu directory so your "All Programs" from the "Start Menu" is limited only to 70 items, both files, folders and shortcuts. The solution is to keep files, shortcuts and programs in subdirectories and maintain the folder limit. This is also a great way of classifying your apps. My start menu has an audio, graphics, video, editor, OCR and browser folder, so I can easily classify my programs.

To solve this limitation, you can create subdirectories in C:/ProgramData/Microsoft/Windows/Start Menu/Programs/ and transfer your files, folders & shortcuts to their respective subdirectories. If you can't see the "ProgramData" subdirectory, enable "Show hidden files, folders and drives" in "Control Panel" / "Folder options" / "View".

Happy foldering !

Drumwear For The Mobile Musician

Don't have a set of drums ? Wanna be a drummer but never tried ?

Then this t-shirt is perfect for you. Imagine wearing a drumset. Impossible ? Not with this t-shirt. The shirt has a picture of a drumset. But the "whoa!" factor comes into play the moment you tap on each drum... it plays !

You can play the drums just by tapping them on your chest. There are 7 different drums in all. Check out this cool demo on how it works. I can imagine dancing and rapping while playing drums on your chest as rhythm.

Don't you just love technology !

Royal Rumble

One of the very first pay per views (aside from Summerslam) for the WWE was The Royal Rumble. It is until now my most favorite wrestling event. Imagine 30 wrestlers getting into the ring by luck of a draw. And every 2 minutes, another wrestler steps into the ring until all 30 enter and then it's by elimination over the top rope. The last man standing wins.

It's exciting to see instant teamups, and who wants to eliminate who as everybody is out their for themself. You can witness friends, partners & teammates go up against each.

Here's a preview of the 2010 Royal Rumble. Are you ready to rumble ????