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Some changes…

Okay, first thing’s first: The site’s wider width. I’ve thought about elevating my web standards to something else. So, yeah. I now think that 800×600 is crap. It’s 2008, for crying out loud! Everyone has at least a 1024×768 resolution by now. Heck, I have people running their monitors the highest capable resolution. For now, I’ve increased the width of the site (I mean, every page on this site) to about a hundred pixels more, and if it goes well, I’ll try getting flexibility on them. Although 900 pixels is already enough to view it.

Second, I’ve kinda read about the tags versus categories debate in a while, and yeah, I’ve been using my tags as categories for a while. (Or categories as tags? I dunno, it’s very confusing.) So now, I’m putting both tags and categories a place of their own. I’m in the verge of putting the tags on each post.

And last, WordPress 2.7 (dubbed Coltrane). I’ve upgraded it from 2.6 last night, and its panel interface is fantastic. The amount of engineering (and by that I meant the web design and development) they’ve put in there must’ve been very significant, yet excruciating at the same time. I mean, I really can’t help looking at it over and over again. I’m thinking I’ll be getting some inspiration from this. (Not copying the code — that’ll be really bad — but the ideas, the design of the interface, etc.)

Oh yeah, I’ll also be adding several things in my portfolio soon. I’ve done some designs during these gut-wrenching months — and take note, I’ve been doing them during exams, projects at school, things like that; a bit idiotic move, if you ask me. Not that many though; people aren’t outsourcing enough projects to me. (Jay, where’s my next project?! Haha)

Magic of what? Hewlett-Packard?!

That’s right. HP, Microsoft and fifty kick-ass blogs and websites (cool Google calendar c/o Long Zheng) are giving away packages that’ll make anyone, or at least the geeks, drool for countless hours - over US$6,000 worth of computers and other tech stuff! A touchscreen PC, two laptops, a netbook, a media center extender, a printer, and a lot more. I’m already kinda drooling here. Heh.

So far, I’ve entered and joined up in these sites (yes, you can enter in all fifty, if you’re that desperate):

• BleepingComputer.com
• GearLive (They actually had a TouchSmart PC giveaway a couple of months ago, but I didn’t win, so I’ll try my luck again on this one :P)
• Neowin.net (I’m doing something cool; watch this space!)
• istartedsomething

To be honest, of all the prizes in there, all I want is the netbook (which is an HP Mini 1000). Come on, I’ve been longing for one since forever, so why not take the chance? I’m terribly unlucky with big contests like this, but if you think you aren’t, you better check those sites. Who knows, maybe you’ll get a TouchSmart and be the envy of your friends and colleagues!

Update: Well, I lost almost all of it, except in GearLive. The Mini 1000 contest is in this page. Wish me luck!

Update 2: GearLive’s Akismet (the anti-spam thingy for WordPress) thinks my entry was spam, so there’s probably a 0.00001% chance of getting picked (since no one would probably even see it). There goes my chances. Haha.

Lack of opportunity.

Hey. It’s been some time since I’ve posted something here. If you have been following me on Twitter (or recently, on Plurk), things are fast-moving. Studies have been hitting me in the head, as usual. I haven’t designed anything until recently. I’ve been broken-hearted, yet again (but before I brag about the specifics, let’s just leave it be) — the usual things that occur in this space-time continuum.

Blogging has been too boring for me nowadays. I mean, I like blogging, and I really want to see myself blogging about a lot of stuff, but that’s just not happening right now. Life has been too much of a routine. Sleep, wake up, take a bath, go to school, study, eat, go home, use the computer, then sleep again. It’s so tiring; I really want to get out of it as soon as possible.

I think I’m beginning to see the boring side of me — the person doing barely nothing in front of a computer. That’s probably why I’m getting bored in using it. I don’t do much in this computer. Every time I wake up, I take a look at it and update my instant messaging status to whatever I’ll be doing today. Depending on the day, I’d be watching episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, then view some random websites. In the evening, I’d look at Twitter then find updates for other blogs and Multiply sites, especially people on the school domain (or near it), like Gwen’s, Janine’s, and Gian’s (you can see their corresponding links at the main page, well except for Gian’s Multiply page). Recently, I have two web-design related tasks so I had to take off the random-website lurking, but that’s basically it. And to think that I’m doing this all day, everyday, even during class.

My parents are always playing a role in keeping me behind that by-the-rules line. I’ll give this as an example: I don’t get what I want because my parents don’t want me to, so what do I do? Earn it, right? But then they don’t even want me to earn anything, so what do I do? Nothing, right? So they go with that, and they’ll stick to it until I probably reach the age of 27. So, get this: I’m already in college, and I’m almost a year shy of graduating, but I still can’t get a taste of opportunity?

Well, I know these series of topics aren’t going anywhere anyway so I’ll end it here for a while.

So while I’m sleeping, please recommend me to other people who are in need of a web designer/developer so I can get my Samsung NC10 and make my life a little peaceful, okay? I’m currently doing a design for a dedicated game-server provider, thanks to my online friend and partner (and also the person hosting my sites), Jay. But even then, after I’m done, I’ll be jobless all over again, so make me otherwise. I’ll say pretty please if I have to.

Everything you need.

Here’s something I’ve made up during the extreme boredom of classes. It’s a self-researched study that’s only dependent on my perception and observation. Please, don’t be bothered by the amount of immensely-complicated graphs and charts you will see below; I’ll help you in figuring them all out. Actually, they’re not really complicated at all.

Some things to take note: First, there’s no hypothesis to be made, because the things to be discussed here are already known to the reader; and second, this study might be completely inaccurate, since the variables shown are only based on observation.

Okay, so let’s start, with this graph:

The X axis in the graph refers to the number of months in time, while the Y axis refers to an arbitrary abstract metric. There are three levels in the graph: 1 through 99 (level 0), 100 through 199 (level 1), and 200 through 210 (level 2). According to my observations, there are a total of five classifications of people with events occurring throughout these levels, and thus, we call them S0, S1, S1-, S2, and S2-. (-) is composed of all the negative classes S1- and S2-.

Let’s start with the S2 family, consisting of S2 and S2-. These two classifications have the characteristics of being able to surpass all three levels. S2- only differs to S2 by its outcome; it reverts back to level 0 after an unidentified period of time. On the other hand, S2 stays above the level 2 boundary, and sticks to 210, the highest metric, indefinitely.

The S1 family, which consists of S1 and S1-, has the characteristic of being able to surpass both level 0 and level 1, but whether it approaches level 2 is unknown. S1- is similar to S2- by its outcome. (That’s why they’re called the negatives, right?) S1 has a very unique characteristic, though: It is able to approach level one, stays there, and continues to have a constant rate of increase, albeit small.

The last classification is called S0. It is also called the basic class, because this classification goes within level 0 only. (Level 0 can be considered as the basic level range.) Its characteristic is more like its limitation — this class cannot go beyond level 0 for unknown reasons.

It doesn’t stop there, though. There are age brackets, so I’m showing you the demographic-by-age chart here (might not be accurate):

It seems we can make some additional observations already, just by looking at the first graph. We can say that the negatives S1- and S2- might be considered as such because they started attempting too early in a specific period of time, compared to the normal S1 and S2. We can also say that S0 might be considered as such because they were way too late in attempting. 

So anyway, here are my conclusions:

First, I am in the S0 class. Second, I have been constantly experiencing the same class in the past eighty-four months, but I don’t want to be in the same class forever. And third, we do not want to be in the S1- class, much less in the S2- class.

More notes: It works in most abstract concepts, and class N0 was not included in the study. N0 is simply the class where it stays at zero (it’s not on any level).

So, my official code for this is S[0,0,0,0,0,0,0]. (This code is interpreted as: This person is in the S0 class since seven years ago, until present.) What’s yours? Oh, and don’t forget to put your own observations through posting comments.

Inverse schadenfreude.

Okay, before putting this blog entry off-topic, I’m going to talk about what happened this evening.

There was this CATCH2T10 (that’s Computer Batch 2010) Night going on a couple of hours ago in the university. As my initial mindset, I would’ve chosen not to attend the event since I’m the kind of guy who leaves the premises early. But alas, I was there. I registered to get my COMPARC (Computer Architecture, a course) incentive, which is yet to be known, and I sat at the back of the little theater with my blockmates.

This event has a talent competition (it’s still called PasiCATCHan, right? Paulo said that event is yet to be held) as the first agenda for the evening, and so I silently watched as they perform, sometimes shouting Justin’s (another blockmate) name as he performs with his fellow group members, but I quickly got interested on this group playing for the acoustic category. I actually knew that they were going to perform there, but to all honesty, I haven’t seen or heard them doing it. And for a guy like Paulo, the infamous passive-aggressive joker of their block, it’ll be the first to see or hear him sing (he’s the lead singer of their “band”).

Okay, so he started to sing Everything You Want by Vertical Horizon. The band’s guitar timings were off at times, but all went well. And then he started with One And Only You by Parokya ni Edgar. The first thing he did was to stand up and get a couple of feet worth of microphone cable, so I thought he’ll be going somewhere, probably off the stage.

Few minutes later, he did. He got the flowers, leapt off the stage, and gave it to someone at the front row.

Now, I didn’t know who he gave it to, but then I thought that (a) the person is a girl, and; (b) Paulo apparently likes this person. And then I realized — they named their band The Sneaky Band for a reason. And this was it; very sneaky indeed.

I salute you, Paulo, for this mesmerizing performance, and the rest of the band for going along with your flow. Good luck on putting your efforts further.

Now, what’s the off-topic? First, I think I’ve just felt inverse schadenfreude. If schadenfreude is “being delightful for yourself over someone’s misfortune,” then its inverse would mean “being saddened and frustrasted for yourself over someone’s accomplishment.” Get the point there?

Second, I’ve finally posted some pictures on the Portfolio page. Have a look at them by clicking the thumbnails. So far, I have three of those thumbnails containing images, and I will continue this productivity streak until I am tired of it.

Third, I think I’ve nearly fixed my keyboard (read: piano, except electronic). Of course, with Dad’s help.