Polymorphic

rrelos.net going live soon!

2005-08-26T19:19:00.000-07:00

rrelos.net is going live soon. This will be my personal website as well as marketing arm for my future tech endeavours. I'll move Polymorphic there as well as Randomized! (which will probably renamed as richard@work). But wait, I am also contemplating of mirror-aggregating Randomized! using an aggregator so that the current URL: http://rrandomized.blogspot.com can be retained.

rrelos.net will be the home site of my pet project ToyBox. Be updating ToyBox soon. For my readers, I'll be moving soon... See you @ rrelos.net.

Polymorphic: I change my mind

2005-08-19T01:41:00.000-07:00

I'll get a Sony Ericsson K750i instead... hehehe

Polymorphic: I change my mind

Future Techie Girl

2005-08-17T05:14:00.000-07:00

I am just amazed how technology has changed the way we live life. But I am more amazed the way my daughter is developing. So far, it is only my daughter that prevents me from using my computer freely (desktop or laptop). When she sees me, she'll definitely grab the keyboard and mouse and start to randomly do anything. She's fond of seeing the mouse move (through mouse and through the little red button in my thinkpad) and the Windows Start Menu show off when she presses some random button. I will not be surprised if at a very young age, Sam will be pounding the keyboards and do her own stuff. Probably, she is my mini-me girl-version. Here's a pic of Sharon (my wife) doing some homework while being "hijacked" by Sam.

...i'll be updating the pic...

Loyalty pays off

2005-08-16T22:16:00.000-07:00

An OFW worth emulating. The following article is taken from inq7.net. All rights reserved by inq7.net.

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Loyalty pays off for Filipina in Singapore

First posted 07:43am (Mla time) Aug 17, 2005
By Leila B. Salaverria
Inquirer News Service

PERSEVERANCE and loyalty have its rewards.

For the last 13 years, Filipina Jourgina Dagoplo has been working as a domestic helper in Singapore for the same family. Now, she is moving up with the help of her long-time employers.

Dagoplo has been offered a two-year job as technician at well-known electronics firm IBM, according to Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas.

Dagoplo landed her new job after graduating from Singapore’s Institute of Technical Education, which she attended with the help of Dr. Richard Ng and his family, who paid for her tuition.

She attended night classes at the institute for two years and graduated from an electronics course this July.

As IBM technician, the 32-year-old Filipina from Mindanao will be earning twice her 520-dollar salary as domestic helper and will be working from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Singapore-based labor attaché Merriam Cuasay said Dagoplo has applied for her change of work permit from Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower. After the approval of her permit, she will start working at IBM.

But despite having a new job, Dagoplo will continue to stay at the Ng residence, said Cuasay. Dagoplo told the press in Singapore that she would continue to do household chores in her free time as a show of gratitude to the family who sent her to school.

Sto. Tomas praised Dagoplo for her hard work and trustworthiness and said she should be emulated.

“Dagoplo has apparently exhibited industry, honesty, and other remarkable traits that won for her the trust and affection of her employers who supported her quest for higher education to uplift her life and her status. Her story should inspire other OFWs [overseas Filipino workers] to aim for a better life while working abroad,” she said in a statement.

Sto. Tomas said the country’s labor offices overseas would also devise programs to encourage OFWs to pursue educational activities abroad for their personal advancement.

My "new" iMac

2005-08-12T22:24:00.000-07:00

Just testing the new iMac I got from Linux User Group Singapore. Old PowerPC G3 machine with a new soul. I'll shell out some cash to replace the unresponsive keyboard and spice up the insides with a newer hard-drive. Then, give this mac with a new soul: a new Fedora distro installation. Too bad, Slackware is primarily for x86 only.

I am not a nerd!

2005-08-11T03:51:00.000-07:00

10% of people are nerdier than me.

I'd prefer to be called a techie.

Sam's Birthday Pic-Movie

2005-08-05T00:32:00.000-07:00

Polymorphic: Happy Birthday Sam

Ninong Mike has just created a pic-movie from Sam's Birthday Party. Time flies so fast. A year ago, Sam first came into this world. Now, Sam is already walking and can utter the words Dadde (daddy) and Mama (mommy). It is quite refreshing to see Sam smiling and walking towards me and her Mommy when we arrive from work. Sweet as Sam is, don't be mistaken, you'll run out of breath running around with her =) Sam is a very active baby.

You can download the movie here. Please notify me of a broken link or a corrupted zip file (formerly a tarball).

Randomized!: SUSE is coming back home

2005-08-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

Randomized!: SUSE is coming back home

If OpenSuse is out, now I'll have to add that to my list of wannatrys. I want to give OpenSolaris a shot but there is an itch that wants to push OpenSuse in front of my schedule. For the mean time, Fedora is the king of my machine.

Daily Bread

2005-08-04T00:34:00.000-07:00

Here in Singapore, and perhaps in some asean countries like the Philippines, the bread to beat is Gardenia. I myself only buys Gardenia whenever I can. It's like trusting only the brand you know, for example, gasul, colgate, sony, etc.

But when I do buy bread, I really don't care on what the freshess bread there might be. I just pick from the shelf and that's it. Some people might smell, some may squeeze. But here's a scoop that might help you determine the youngest bread.

The bread is delivered to grocery stores five days a week. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Each day has a different color lock tie. These are:

Monday - Blue
Tuesday - Green
Thursday - Red
Friday - White
Saturday - Yellow

This color scheme is very easy to remember. The colors go alphabetically: Blue - Green - Red - White-Yellow.

OK, enough of talk, let me get some spread...

I change my mind

2005-07-31T21:03:00.000-07:00

Polymorphic: 2006 Wishlist

I was mistaken for this phone. Yeah, it has great features. But it does not have an external memory? What I can I do with a measly 6MB? This phone is definitely for those who only wants style. I am mistaken. What I want is 25% style and 75% under the hood.

If this phone has hair, it'll definitely be blonde.

Your code sucks!

2005-07-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

Nice artcile on why your code sucks!

Let me summarize the writeup for the benefit of the guilty ones:

Your code sucks if it doesn't work.

Your code sucks if it isn't testable.

Your code sucks if it's hard to read.

Your code sucks if it's not understandable.

Your code sucks if it dogmatically conforms to a trendy framework at the cost of following good design/development practices.

Your code sucks if it has duplication.

2006 Wishlist

2005-07-27T01:23:00.000-07:00

It is mid-summer-autumn but I am already thinking of the goodies I want to have next year (2006). These techie toys will again last me for two to three years just like my present toys.

My Phone-Camera-MP3 Player-PDA in one:

Motorola Special Edition Black RAZR V3 or its successor in 2006. I am deviating from my usual stance that phones are only phones, cameras are cameras. This phone is so much of a techie's eye candy that I want to get hold of one. The projected usage is as follows: (1) as a phone, (2) as an organizer, (3) as my bluetooth powered mp3 player, and (4) as a camera phone. The good thing about this phone is that it has a good battery life, great reception (compared to the less performing MPx200), small and durable and it has a gamut of features that only tech-loving people would appreciate.

My Ultra workstation:

The 2006 latest IBM ThinkPad X Series laptop. My current X23 series has experienced a lot. It has been my buddy for a lot of professional and personal endeavours. Time to retire my buddy to usage of Windows-only multimedia household applications like MS Office. Why I love the X series so much is that these laptops are the most sturdy of their kind, battery is great, they're light, and they're powerful in their own right. Of course, you don't expect high-powered server program to be executed in a laptop! My new X will be pampered by Linux. No more Windows this time, it'll be pure Linux. Preferrably, Fedora, Slackware or LFS. All it will contain will just be programming and R&D stuff. Ahh... the techie's ultimate dream.

Happy Birthday Sam

2005-07-22T07:05:00.000-07:00

Sam is my little angel. She has just turned one. Sam is the reason why strive to work hard and be the best of my class. However, Sam and my wife Sharon are the two most important part of my life. Ironic, but I am willing to give up everything if it interferes or screws with my family life. And that includes my precious job and probably my IT career.

God will provide, my career is only second to my family. So to all concerned, please be a little touchy on this aspect. I am willing and is very much capable to go to the extreme if needed be.

Happy birthday baby Sam!

Futuristic Keyboard

2005-07-21T03:45:00.000-07:00

Are we really going to use this? All I need is my simple keyboard and my trusty mouse. But with all due congratulations, this keyboard rocks! This is the word "configuration" reincarnated as a real-world keyboard.

Here it is with an lower-case (shifted down) english configuration

Here it is with an upper-case (shifted up) russian configuration

Here it is with a photoshopt-specific layout

Here it is with a quake-specific layout

Oh, by the way, the keyboard's name is Optimus Keyboard.

No XP for me

2005-07-20T06:44:00.000-07:00

DISCLAIMER: This can be a potential flaim bait. But please, spare me the debate... I am not in the mood for a flamefest.

The much vaunted Extreme Programming, a form of an agile software development methodology is a failure. Do you think so? Yeah, I do. XP, like other paradigms has its not-so-good aspects. In XP, detailed specifications or requirement are not created or preserved, so where are you going to run to when a new batch of developers come in? XP says that developers work in pairs, this aspect really sucks big time. There is no better person to accompany you in programming and unit testing than you alone. After you develop, you can pass your code to a QA tester for further audit. There is no design phase. Most of the design activity takes place while in the development phase, on the fly and modified incrementally, starting with simplest thing and adding complexity as it evolves. The constant refactoring could be a major stumbling block to the cause and this could result in more effort for re-design and re-development. A representative of the client is attached to the project (spy! spy!). This client rep can become a single-point-of-failure and a bottleneck, not to mention that this guy can be great source of stress.

Nope, XP is not for me... well, at least I don't advocate it.

Not Bad...

2005-07-20T00:58:00.000-07:00

Which OS are You?

At least I am not Windows...

Misfortunes of the Nation!

2005-07-19T03:20:00.000-07:00

Randomized!: Ahh! Exactly What My Rumblings Are!

Looks like that the Philippines is on a silent mode this time. Hope the economy rebounds soon and all bickerings fade out.

Though I lost trust in my government, I have not lost hope in my nation. But every cry seems to be futile. My nation is seemingly in the brink of collapse. But as all mature nations in the americas and in europe, they have all experienced civil war and inter-nation war before progressing into maturity. I hope my dear Philippines learns from those mistakes instead. Me and my family are one of the lucky ones to be granted permanent residence in my surrogate country. But what I would see as comfort for myself, I would consider it to be a form of economic exile instead. My nation's diaspora.

Long live the Philippines. God bless the Filipino Nation.

Luke the JavaDrinker

2005-07-18T22:30:00.000-07:00

Just transfering a blog from Randomized.

While I prowl through cyberspace, I never ever put my true name unless it is ok to do so. I used to be known as Optimus Prime. Who is Optimus Prime? Of course, he is the leader of the Autobots! As of today, I am officially retiring my childhood pseudonym. My cyber-alter ego will now be Luke. Not Luke the Jedi! It is Luke, from "Duke", the Java mascot minus D plus L.

Follow the force...
Luke

Luke is my commonly used metasyntactic cyberpseudonym.

Randomized! @ Blogspot

2005-07-18T07:28:00.000-07:00

This blog will be for non-Java, general I.T. and all other stuff and rants. I am making randomized a java-centric blog.