Payday, Savings and Investments

It’s that time of the month when working class people like me get to savor the fruits of our labor.

Got savings to add up to, got bills to pay, supplies to buy, and enough money to spend the next two weeks for transportation and food while going to and from work.

It’s the saving part that gets me all giddy today — I’m thinking of adding up to our investment in mutual funds. With all the chaos going around the stock market after what happened the last few days, it might be of great timing to get some shares while the market is still at a low.

To friendster or not to — that is the question

I see Friendster (and other social networking sites) as something of a novelty on the internet, something akin to a “rabbit” (an old program similar to a virus that replicates itself, and over time takes up all resources of its host machine) that is just a waste of bandwidth. This has been going on ever since I knew about it way back 2003.

I realize nowadays that my view on social networking sites may be flawed in a way. It does take precious bandwidth (especially when done by some engineers at work). It might be something of a redundancy in the internet (we have chatrooms, IMs, and mailing lists to keep in touch with our peers).

However, when my wife “took the plunge” and joined a few days ago, I see a side of it that I haven’t before. There’s a little thrill in searching for a friend’s name and finding out that he or she is also registered. Not only that, it may also seem surprising that somebody you know is related to or knows someone else that you also knew (Whew! That was confusing!). Maybe that is the selling point that these social networking sites have that brought so many people — techie or not — closer to the internet.

Now I’m contemplating on eating my words and joining the bandwagon. I’m just a bit concerned that some lady friends might get my wife jealous when they try to keep in touch with me. So I have good reasons both in joining and not joining.

(Sigh.) 

A song from my childhood

The Rainbow Connection 

Why are there so many songs about rainbows
And what’s on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
And rainbows have nothing to hide.
So we’ve been told and some choose to believe it
I know they’re wrong, wait and see.

Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers and me.

Who said that every wish would be heard and answered
When wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that, and someone believed it,
And look what it’s done so far.
What’s so amazing that keeps us stargazing
And what do we think we might see?

Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

All of us under its spell,
We know that it’s probably magic…
… Have you been half asleep?
And have you heard voices?
I’ve heard them calling my name.
… Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same
I’ve heard it too many times to ignore it
It’s something that I’m s’posed to be…

Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection,
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

Laa, da daa dee da daa daa,

La laa la la laa dee daa doo…

Motorola E398 (MTV Hijacked) Review

Some of my friends following my blogs already knew what happened: I bought a Sony Ericsson K750i and lost it a few weeks after. I bought a Nokia 6600 to replace it, and was terribly disappointed with my so-called first Smartphone.

I can’t afford to spend that much money on another Php25,000 phone, so I need to look for one that offers most of what I wanted at a price that won’t burn too big a hole in my pocket.

If you want to know why I hated my N6600 a lot, just refer to an older post in this blog. Now, on to the review.

Package Contents

I bought my E398 from the Motorola shop at the Digital Exchange in Glorietta. I decided to buy there after inquiring about the price and warranty terms from several stores. Apparently it’s the only store that still has the white/silver model in stock.

The box that I got was colored apple green, with a sticker on top that says “As seen on MTV”. It’s a reminder of how Motorola got a deal to advertise its ‘new’ MP3 phone — a cameo appearance on a Black Eyed Peas MTV of “Let’s Get It Started”, multiple advertisements on all MTV segments, not to mention its own “MotoAlert” segment. IMO, this deal with MTV, followed by the popularity of the RAZR phone got Motorola back on track with the Asian market.

Inside are the following:

- E398 mobile phone
- Travel Charger
- Stereo Handsfree with a 2.5″ proprietary jack
- 64Mb TransFlash (name recently changed to MicroSD) Card
- TransFlash to SD Card adapter
- USB Cable
- Getting Started manual
- Owner’s Manual
- Warranty Card

One thing I want to commend Motorola upon opening the package is that unlike some other mobile phone manufacturers, they had enough sense to include the USB cable in the package. Most mobile phone users that get mid-range to high-end phones use them in conjunction with a computer to sync data or copy music and ringtones. Not all have bluetooth adapters on their PCs, not to mention that using bluetooth to transfer large files would take its toll on battery life, so I consider this is a big plus.

The travel charger is quite small compared to those I’ve seen in Sony Ericsson or Nokia phones. I don’t think this will matter to most people, but I like the way the plugs in the adapter can be folded when not in use. It makes it easier to tuck the adapter inside a handbag.

The handsfree that came with my unit obviously is meant more for listening to music than making calls. While I was reading some posts on a popular Motorola fansite, some referred to it as ‘Frankenstein’ earphones. Now I know what they meant the minute I saw it.

The TransFlash card included in the box was really small, maybe about a third in size as compared to a regular SD card. IMO this type of memory is meant to be placed inside its host device and rarely removed, as its size would make it easy for someone to lose it.

I’m not really a fan of Owner’s Manuals and Getting Started booklets, so I didn’t bother to look it up. I’d rather explore the phone myself and ask in the forums if I’m stumped with something.

The warranty card was filled up and taken by the store clerk after my purchase, which is one of the factors that aided my decision on choosing where to buy my phone. One year warranty on parts and service, as compared to a few days on small stores.

Camera

Upon turning on the phone, the first thing I checked is the camera. I tried to take a picture of my son to make sure that it captures images properly, or else I’d have it replaced immediately. The phone takes pictures at VGA resolution, quite small compared to latest 1.3 and 2 Megapixel models. The viewfinder is very responsive, and it even has brightness controls that you can adjust in realtime to make sure that the pictures taken won’t appear too dark. The built-in camera can take pictures at up to 4x digital zoom, as indicated in the camera lens. I don’t really use the digital zoom feature of cameras, as it makes the pictures less detailed, but I tried it just for kicks. Unfortunately, this is how the zoom feature of the E398 goes: it takes the picture at half the resolution for 2x, and even smaller for 4x! Quite ridiculous really, but since I don’t use the zoom feature, this would be negligible for me. Otherwise, the phone takes decent enough pictures at that resolution. After making sure that the camera works fine, I had time to check how the phone has been built.

Overall Build Quality

I think this is one of the overall strengths of Motorola phones as compared to others in the market. The first thing I noticed with the E398 is it’s as solid as a rock! No creaks whatsoever with the main unit while I’m holding it. I’ve had phones from Nokia and Sony Ericsson that fall into this price category, and all of them had a part that’s quite loosely attached (i.e. battery cover, a side of the housing that if pressed will move a bit, etc.). I’ve read in some magazines that Motorola phones are drop-tested (not all phones are subjected to this test during assembly), so that gives an idea that quality control standards during assembly of the unit is quite high. This gives an impression that this phone will last quite a long time.

Buttons/Joystick

The buttons feel just right for me, not too hard and clicky (like that of the Nokia 3210) and not too soft that it would take much effort for you to make a successful entry. The feel would be similar to that of a Nokia 6630’s buttons. There are additional buttons on the sides that allows you to control the volume and activate the camera, and another “smart” button that (according to the manual) tries to guess what function you want to access.

The joystick that is placed between the on-hook and off-hook/power buttons reminded me of two phones that I’ve had — a Nokia 6600 and a Sony Ericsson K750i. The joystick of the K750i appears too loose that it doesn’t give much tactile feedback, while the 6600 takes much effort for you to make it move to the direction you want. The E398 sits right in between the two. The joystick won’t make your thumb hurt in using the joystick, yet it is not so soft that you could easily make the mistake of moving to one direction when you intend to make a straight downward push.

Display

The display is considerably large and bright and doesn’t lose much detail when used outdoors. The high resolution (176×200) LCD display technically shows more detail, but doesn’t really matter that much when compared to that of the Nokia 6600. I tried to turn it to maximum brightness, and I ended up squinting to look at it when somebody sent me a text message late in the evening when the room lights were already off.

Sound Quality - Speakers

If there’s one thing that will draw your attention the first time you encounter an E398, it must be the sound quality coming out of the two speakers placed on each side of the display. The first thing I did to test the speakers was to play Kon Kan’s “Arts in D Minor (Harry Houdini).” It has a part near the start of the song that pans the sound from left to right and back several times. It confirms that the E398 indeed play sound in stereo. As for
the stereo effect, it is noticeable when you place it at ear level, about 2-3 feet from your face. This is quite understandable, since the speakers are far too near each other, and any “spatial effect” won’t do much in this situation.

Things get a bit different when you turn on “Vibe Sync.” In effect, this setting would make the E398 “thump” to the beat of the music. It fooled me once — making me think that the phone was taking a beating because of the loud sound coming from the speakers. It was actually a separate mechanism on the phone, which vibrates to the beat using a technology called “Haptics.” Turning Vibe Sync on also makes the music play louder. I have an old bass-y version of Masta Plann’s “Bring Dat Booty” stored in my E398 that (when played) never fails to impress those who listen to it through the E398’s speakers (of course with vibe sync on).

Sound Quality - Earpiece

Sound quality coming out of the earpiece is better than average, I’d say. The voice of the person from the other end of a voice call can be heard loud and clear, although not at a level that even others would be hearing it as well. This proves true even when you are taking a call in a loud area (in my case a train station).

Connectivity

There are two ways to make the E398 connect to a PC — one is through the supplied USB cable, and another is through Bluetooth. Sorry, no IrDA available for this phone.

The USB cable attaches itself to the E398 through a connector at the bottom of the phone. I must emphasize that this is NOT USB2 — transfer rates are not fast, but still usable. The phone may be set in 2 modes, the first allows you to make the phone behave as a Data/Fax modem, and another as a storage device (more like a USB drive).

Bluetooth connectivity in the E398 is quite tricky compared to that of other phones. First you have to turn on Bluetooth, then to pair with a device you’d have to select “Find me” in the Bluetooth settings. You cannot use the phone to search your area for other Bluetooth-enabled devices.

User Interface

On first glance, the E398 user interface (which is very similar to that of the RAZR V3) is quite plain. A 3×3 matrix of icons, where the cursor is positioned at the center by default. Pressing down the joystick would select the currently highlighted icon, and a submenu (which is now in list form) is displayed.

On closer inspection, the wonders it possess shine — every item may be rearranged according to your desire. This customizability endeared the UI to me. Now upon selecting the menu button, the center icon which is selected by default is set as my messages item, pushing the joystick up selects the address book, pushing it down shows the media items, pushing it left shows the office menu, and pushing it right shows the phone settings. The left and right soft keys may also be set up in the same manner (mine is set as sounds and messages for the left and right soft key, respectively).

Battery Life

On average use (Filipinos tend to use the SMS feature more than make calls), the phone took about 2.5 days starting from a full charge. When bluetooth is on, the battery life drops to a day or a little more than that. When using the MP3 player for about 2 hours a day (let’s say when commuting to and from work), it took about 2 days before it dies out on me. Charging the batteries with the supplied charger takes about 4 hours when starting from battery empty status.

Other Attractions

The E398 has lighting effects to go with its exceptional sound.

Rhythm Lights is a feature that makes your phone “dance” to sounds in its surrounding. This effect looks cool whenever you go to a place where it is noisy — the phone would suddenly light up. The novelty wore off for me after I learned that battery life took a hit when using this feature.

Whenever anything happens to the phone (a message is received, an incoming call is displayed, an alarm is set off), the E398 maybe set to turn on its lights similar to that of Rhythm Lights. You cannot miss it when somebody calls you and the phone is in someplace where it’s dark.

During charging, the phone turns on its lights ala-”Mac” when it is in sleep mode. The lights would continually fade in and fade out as if it is breathing on its own. Reminded me of Knight Rider’s K.I.T.T., actually.

Tweakers Welcome

I’d say that the E398 is for tweakers. There are a lot of third-party utilities online that lets you modify part of the firmware to enable or disable some menu items, set the gain of the sound and vibe sync, and add or change the supplied themes that come with the phone.

If you’d notice, the E398 looks a lot like the newer ROKR E1. Well you could use some of the third party tools to load the ROKR’s firmware to the E398, adding voice recording and video recording to it. I haven’t tried it yet, but when time comes that I’m not anymore satisfied with its features, I most definitely will.

Shortcomings

The E398 is not a perfect phone, mind you. There are cases when the UI tends to run a bit slow. It’s hard to compose a text message while using the MP3 player. As with all Motorola phones that use the same connector for data and power, the connectors can easily get damaged. Just 3 days after I bought the phone, I went back to Motorola Digital Exchange to have the power charger replaced because its contacts weren’t properly aligned to that of the phone. This is a problem that I learned to be a common gripe about E398 users when you search through forums in the ‘net. The 2.5″ headset connector is proprietary, so if you want to use your regular earphones to listen to music, the 3.5″ adapter that you can buy off-the-shelf from electronics shops won’t properly match. If you set an alarm, unlike other phones that show an indicator somewhere on the screen when in standby mode, the E398 doesn’t have any except for that small icon beside the alarm when you are in the alarm settings menu. The E398 has no voice recording and video recording as well — only sound and video playback is provided. As for the sound, you could only use MP3s — no WAVs here, and MP3s encoded in variable bit rate (VBR) would sound really funny when played. The included themes may only be changed or added by tweaking the phone unlike others where you’d download a theme and it is added instantly.

Conclusion

Overall, I’d say I’m more than satisfied with the E398. It’s more than a year old in terms of market age, yet it still puts some later-released phones to shame with its features. If you want a relatively low-cost phone that has a memory card and camera to come with it, plays MP3s (and plays it loud), has superb bluetooth support, and is tweak-happy, then this phone is for you.

Grandma… ‘La Na…

I woke up early Sunday (8am is early enough for me during the weekend) to hear the phone ringing. Admittedly I’m annoyed that somebody would call us at this time.

It turned out to be my mother-in-law. I don’t know why, but the tone of her voice seemed different. I handed it over to my wife so that they can have a chat and I could go back to sleeping. But then my wife’s voice went up a notch. Ha? Saan? Pano nangyari yun?

My mother-in-law was having a chat with one of her friends outside the house, and after saying their good-byes, walked across the street. Then out of nowhere a speeding scooter went past her, grabbed her mobile phone, and then sped away.

She was too shocked to react that the first thing she thought was to call my wife. It was then that she started to cry.

Now I’m not someone who’d trample on someone else when they’re down. But what happened next was quite hilarious for me and my wife. My son approached my wife, talked to my mother-in-law and then exclaimed:

“Grandma… Huh?!? ‘La na…” (while waving his hands)

Needless to say, we were all laughing with what he did. Kids really do the darndest  things.

At least it made my mother-in-law smile for a moment.

Stories That Spread Through E-mail

When You Divorce Me, Carry Me Out in Your Arms

On my wedding day, I carried my wife in my arms. The bridal car stopped in front of our one-room flat. My buddies insisted that I carry her out of the car in my arms. So I carried her into our home. She was then plump and shy. I was a strong and happy bridegroom.

This was the scene of ten years ago.

The following days were as simple as a cup of pure water: we had a kid, I went into business and tried to make more money. When the assets were steadily increasing, the affections between us seemed to ebb. She was a civil servant. Every morning we left home together and got home almost at the same time. Our kid was studying in a boarding school.

Our marriage life seemed to be enviably happy. But the calm life was more likely to be affected by unpredictable changes.

Dew came into my life.

It was a sunny day. I stood on a spacious balcony. Dew hugged me from behind. My heart once again was immersed in her stream of love. This was the apartment I bought for her.

Dew said, You are the kind of man who best draws girls eyeballs. Her words suddenly reminded me of my wife. When we just married, my wife said, Men like you, once successful, will be very attractive to girls. Thinking of this, I became somewhat hesitant. I knew I had betrayed my wife. But I couldn t help doing so.

I moved Dew s hands aside and said, You go to select some furniture, O.K.? I ve got something to do in the company. Obviously she was unhappy, because I had promised her to go and see with her. At the moment, the idea of divorce became clearer in my mind although it used to be something impossible to me.

However, I found it rather difficult to tell my wife about it. No matter how mildly I mentioned it to her, she would be deeply hurt. Honestly, she was a good wife. Every evening she was busy preparing dinner. I was sitting in front of the TV. The dinner was ready soon. Then we watched TV together. Or, I was lounging before the computer, visualizing Dew s body. This was the means of my entertainment.

One day I said to her in a slight joking way, suppose we divorce, what will you do? She stared at me for a few seconds without a word. Apparently she believed that divorce was something too far away from her. I couldn t imagine how she would react once she got to know I was serious.

When my wife went to my office, Dew had just stepped out. Almost all the staff looked at my wife with a sympathetic eye and tried to hide something while talking with her. She seemed to have got some hint. She gently smiled at my subordinates. But I read some hurt in her eyes.

Once again, Dew said to me, He Ning, divorce her, O.K.? Then we live together. I nodded. I knew I could not hesitate any more.

When my wife served the last dish, I held her hand. I ve got something to tell you, I said.

She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes. Suddenly I didn t know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want to divorce. I raised a serious topic calmly.

She didn t seem to be much annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why? . I m serious. I avoided her question. This so-called answer turned her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! .

At that night, we didn t talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer, because my heart had gone to Dew.

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. I felt a pain in my heart. The woman who had been living ten years with me would become a stranger one day. But I could not take back what I had said.

Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer.

A late night, I came back home after entertaining my clients. I saw her writing something at the table. I fell asleep fast. When I woke up, I found she was still there. I turned over and was asleep again.

She brought up her divorce conditions: she didn t want anything from me,but I was supposed to give her one month s time before divorce, and in the month s time we must live as normal life as possible. Her reason was simple: our son would finish his summer vacation a month later and she didn t want him to see our marriage was broken.

She passed me the agreement she drafted, and then asked me, He Ning, do you still remember how I entered our bridal room on the wedding day? This question suddenly brought back all those wonderful memories to me. I nodded and said, I remember . You carried me in your arms , she continued, so, I have a requirement, that is, you carry me out in your arms on the day when we divorce. From now to the end of this month, you must carry me out from the bedroom to the door every morning.

I accepted with a smile. I knew she missed those sweet days and wished to end her marriage with a romantic form.

I told Dew about my wife s divorce conditions. She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she does, she has to face the result of divorce, she said scornfully. Her words more or less made me feel uncomfortable.

My wife and I hadn t had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. We even treated each other as a stranger. So when I carried her out for the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mummy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly, Let us start from today, don t tell our son. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for bus, I drove to office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. We were so close that I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn t looked at this intimate woman carefully for a long time. I found she was not young any more. There were some fine wrinkles on her face.

On the third day, she whispered to me, The outside garden is being demolished. Be careful when you pass there.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I seemed to feel that we were still an intimate couple and I was holding my sweetheart in my arms. The visualization of Dew became vaguer.

On the fifth and sixth day, she kept reminding me something, such as, where she put the ironed shirts, I should be careful while cooking, etc.I nodded. The sense of intimacy was even stronger.

I didn t tell Dew about this.

I felt it was easier to carry her. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger. I said to her, It seems not difficult to carry you now.

She was picking her dresses. I was waiting to carry her out. She tried quite a few but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, All my dresses have grown fatter. I smiled. But I suddenly realized that it was because she was thinner that I could carry her more easily, not because I was stronger. I knew she had buried all the bitterness in her heart. Again, I felt a sense of pain. Subconsciously I reached out a hand to touch her head.

Our son came in at the moment. Dad, it’s time to carry mum out. He said. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had been an essential part of his life. She gestured our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face because I was afraid I would change my mind at the last minute. I held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly, as if we came back to our wedding day. But her much lighter weight made me sad.

On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. She said, Actually I hope you will hold me in your arms until we are old.

I held her tightly and said, Both you and I didn t notice that our life was lack of such intimacy.

I jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my decision. I walked upstairs. Dew opened the door. I said to her, Sorry, Dew, I won t divorce. I m serious.

She looked at me, astonished. The she touched my forehead. You got no fever. She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Dew, I said, I can only say sorry to you, I won t divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn t value the details of life, not because we didn t love each other any more. Now I understand that since I carried her into the home, she gave birth to our child, I am supposed to hold her until I am old. So I have to say sorry to you.

Dew seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into cry. I walked downstairs and drove to the office.

When I passed the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet for my wife which was her favorite. The salesgirl asked me to write the greeting words on the card. I smiled and wrote, I ll carry you out every morning until we are old.

Classic Hilarious Company E-Mail

While rummaging through some files on my hard disk, I stumbled upon an old email I saved to a text file. It’s one sent by my supervisor at that time. Gives me the laughs everytime I read it. I removed some information to protect some identities.

–

From: <supervisor’s email>
To: <male employees’ emails>
Subject : <subject>
Time : 2000/5/9 8:11

Good morning! This is <supervisor’s name>.

During the <meeting> yesterday, a complaint from <lady employees> was brought up. They said that <male employees> are ignoring them whenever they meet each other on the way to or from the comfort room. As your superior, I feel that I am obliged to give you some tips so that we can prevent this kind of complaint and start up a good relationship with them.

Things to do when meeting a girl going to or going out of the comfort room
===========================================================================
1. Tell her “Good luck!”.
2. Ask her politely, “T*t*e ka no?”.
3. Wink one eye.
4. Whistle.
5. Wink both eyes.
6. Stare at her from head to feet. If you like her, give her a thumbs up.
7. Tell her,”A while ago, I was just holding the Future of the Fatherland.”
8. Sing “Beautiful girl” by Jose Mari Chan. If you don’t like her, don’t smile while singing.
9. Give her a hug.
10. Give her a pat on the butt!

Let’s please them. If you have other ways please send them.
Best regards.

Bored as hell

I don’t have anything interesting to do now. After setting up a PC so that its hard disk will be cloned onto others, I feel a little empty and numb.

Got nothing to tinker with, not much interesting websites to go to either. Got 3 more hours to spend doing nothing.

My wife’s also at work, so calling her isn’t really a good idea right now.

Lately I’ve been thinking about going back to learning Python and playing a guitar. Nothing special for choosing to re-learn both, I just want to add something to my knowledge other than the usual stuff I do at work.

Since my sister has my old guitar right now, I think I might as well stick with Python.

Wish me luck.

Blog Posting Through Email

If I was able to understand the instructions, then this message will be posted in my blog.

This is quite a nifty feature, as it would eliminate the need to log onto the control panel to be able to post an article or two.

Now, isn’t this a good way to be able to post while I’m at work?

Health concerns

Last weekend, we were again at the clinic to follow-up on my wife’s previous ultrasound tests. Fortunately, things turned out negative, and the doctor advised her to change her diet and take fiber-rich food.

Now it’s my son’s turn to take a skin test to know why the lymph nodes behind his right ear is swollen. The tests revealed that he was exposed to tuberculin. Now this raised a concern as to where he was exposed — was it from us parents, from the babysitter, or from someone somewhere while we’re outside?

Fortunately the problem may be alleviated by taking some medicine (which thankfully is not expensive), albeit for 9 months.

Thank God it wasn’t a serious threat to my son.

A dream come true and a nightmare

Just the other day, my wife was able to upgrade her phone to a new Samsung D600. At last after a few years of putting up with her old cellphone she’s able to get a new one.

However things aren’t always great nowadays.

Just yesterday morning, we found out that her gold bracelet was missing from the jewelry box. It’s already the second time since last yer that this had happened, the first time it happened it was a gold necklace that was missing. Both were not found up to this day.

I sympathize with her, both jewelries were gifts from her parents, who saved up for a long time to buy a gift like that for her. She’s unable to eat and sleep with the disappointment since last night.

I was trying to get her attention off the matter while we think of something so that this won’t happen again, but at the back of my mind who would do such a thing? The part the gets me curious is that there are other valuable things in the house, and they were untouched.

Robbers? Housemates? We don’t have a clue as to who did it. 

The Slacker Gets An Upgrade!

At last, I’ve upgraded my machine from running Slackware Linux 10.1 to Slackware Linux 10.2.It’s almost 4 months after it was released, and boy oh boy I like what I’m seeing so far.

No more GNOME for this release, the login screen is already KDM. It’s a little bit weird, since almost all Linux installations I did that require me to start it at runlevel 5 (or 4 for Slackware) use GDM by default.

Reviews, they come a-pilin’…