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We have finally concluded our Sharepoint forum event yesterday.  After one month of planning, preparation and execution, we managed to pull through one day of pure Sharepoint bliss.  Thought it has been tiring for me, I'd say it is just as satisfying to see a lot of interest the customers on Sharepoint.  It was also a chance for me to know the challenges customer's face today in this new product and how to maximize its capabilities.

We have taken home a lot of leads.  We manage to arrange a lot of meetings also with some potential customers in the next two to three weeks.  And I'm so excited to work on these opportunities and close a sale that I can call my own. 

I am also thinking about doing some product development on top of our latest offerings.  A consultant from another partner firm whom I had the honour to work with had suggested that we should consider creating core products which some of their partners had done on top of Sharepoint.  However, my company is driven towards a different strategy to meet our numbers, sad to say).  How I wish we had enough resources to do the product planning and road map to develop a product that sells.  It is a waste to see talents wasting their time everyday chasing opportunities without any clear distinction of what we are supposed to do.

Francis and I started to talk about brainstorming for solutions that sells.  My head has been flooding with ideas since yesterday.  But I guess true solution selling is not how creative you can be but how you can crossover technology over functionality that works for customers.  Having said that,  I'd say we still need to do lot of homework, research and heart to make this happen.  I also pray that we get enough support to make this all possible.

Just when you thought you knew everything you needed to know, you realize you knew little than what others already knew.  In the race of being the best brain in the field, it felt like you were just getting started the race while others were already midway to the finish line.  You stood there in awe like being wiped out by a giant wave despite of working hard day after day trying to learn how to tame it..... ride it ..... win it. 

It frustrates me to lose on something I'm supposed to be good at.  But I will never give up unless I die trying.

Thanks to Brian Gorrell for sharing.

For my existing contacts who arleady have me in Linked In, please add me again.  My account seemed to have been consumed by the bottomless pit of bytes-eater.  Linked in site cannot find my email address and says it did not even exist. 

I would have been fine if the internet monster decided to feast on my facebook and friendster, but Linked In contains all my business contacts from MISNet, Thomson and Getronics.  Now, I have to find them all again. 

So please if you are so kind, add me within your network from De La Salle University, Thomson Financial and Getronics.  If you need my email addy, please PM me.

Nais kong magpasalamat sa mga dumalaw para sa aming pagtatanghal.  Sa mga di makabili ng plane ticket papuntang Singapore, eto po ang kaisa-isang litrato ko na nabigyan ng pagkakataong itanghal kasama ng mga piling gawain ng aking mga kasapi sa Pinoygraphers.

Ang mag litrato ngayon ay naka-tanghal sa 7107 islands sa Marina bay at Philippine Embassy.  Inaanyaya namin kayong dalawin at tangkilikin ang aming mga piling gawain ng Pinoygraphers.

Maraming salamat po!!!!  Mabuhay ang Pilipinas

For the past few weeks is nothing but buzzing with business.  It should read busy-ness.  And as I sit here resting until I buzz again to another task, I felt compelled to update this spot about what is happening in my life:

• We won the Sharepoint Demo Shootout competition with Microsoft Singapore partners.  Francis and I make a fantastic team when we did the presentation despite of having it put together in less than one week.  Even if it is no biggie, I wouldn't mind having a 100 SGD voucher to use for the Great Singapore Sale (GSS)
• As we go towards the end of Q2, a lot of prospects and opportunities have been cropping mostly internet and intranet projects from various industries.  So I was busy with the Sales team chasing after them.  I have created this insane addiction of browsing through GeBiz.  Trust me, my hands are itching writing tenders to submit to nail one of these deals. 
• I'm certified Coca-cola zero junkie since early this week.  It has enough caffeine to keep me going less the sugar.
• Working on the booth presentation and POC for the Sharepoint Forum this July.  Demo Blade servers are coming next week and I'm excited to get my hands on them.  Waaah!  Geek alert.
• One of my IR photos is currently on exhibit at the Philippine Independence Day Celebration sponsored by the Philippine Embassy at Tropic Atrium in Suntec Convention Center.  My photo is titled "El Nino".  If you read this and currently in Singapore, please do find time to visit Pinoygrapher's photo exhibit tonight or tomorrow.  If you are a real friend, please do check-out my photo entry.
• Just got myself a DS-Lite which I have been playing for a month now.  After so many months of waiting, I finally got my red DS Lite limited edition for a great deal of SGD 199.  I finally got something to play during my 1-hour transit from home to office.
• I haven't gone to the gym.  Never made time for it after being so busy and tired from work.  Wasted money on membership fee for non-usage.  I need to motivate myself again but I forgot how.

Those are my updates so far.  Sa uulitin

Last weekend, I went to my first real outdoor model shoot.  The ones I’ve been doing model shoots were during the workshop which I have to elbow through the other participants to get a good shot of the model.  In this case, there is only a few of us.  No competition.  No elbows knocking me off guard.  The   subject was a 9 year old girl in a gothic theme.  Personally, I find it cute and unique.  A similar idea crossed my mind when I was thinking of doing concept portraiture to the point of renting costumes, if you know what I mean.  How nice would it be to photograph a model in a festive costume, complete with a fruit basket hat?

I realized that I knew nothing about CLS aka Creative light system.  I was not able to contribute anything on the lighting.  Almin brought two flashes that works like a master-slave with built-in flash as trigger.  Flo was using a strobe using a Velbon umbrella that works as a strobe and a functional umbrella.  Arman was angel enough ( he is not paying me a single cent for this hehehe)  to lend me his SB-800 to work as a trigger for the strobe.

As the shoot progresses, I feel like I'm hitting against the moon.  The lighting is a bit off.  I can't even change the position of the current lights out of respect of the other guys who are using it.  I got a few selected photos that I can say is decent.  Need further post processing to give further justice.

Also, I've been itching to buy a new camera since last week.  I'm starting to feel limited with my Nikon D50.  Not that I'm complaining but I feel frustrated of my camera's inferiority over Nikon’s recent offerings. The following are one of the things that D50 lacks compared with the latest cameras:

1. Low noise on high ISO.
2. Lack of wireless flash capabilities when I needed it.
3. Small LCD.  LCD view is not similar to what I see in the monitor. 
4. Color settings a bit off towards tungsten as my friend would put it.
5. Awkward menu.  Need to scroll down to change metering , bracketing and AF.
6. It can only do max of 6 megapixels especially if I crop images taken from my street photography/paparazzi sessions.  I can opt to zoom with my feet to properly compose my subject within the frame (without being noticed and losing the “moment”) or purchase expensive telephoto lens.

Having said all these things, I can always find a way to compensate to deal with my issues beyond camera’s capabilities.  This requires some technical expertise to master my camera’s limitations.   But I guess it is only a matter of time before I can finally decide to replace my D50 for good.

Who amongst you have ever used a 5 1/4" floppy drive in school?  I have used both low density and high density floppy disks.  I even lock them by sticking a black sticker on the right hand side to prevent it from getting a virus.

I used to do some basic programming, word processing using Wordstar and spreadsheets using Lotus 1-2-3. 

Back then, you have to know the commands to go around with MS-DOS.  There was no Windows XP nor Vista.  Windows 3.1 was just emerging and it definitely wowed me when I learned how to play solitaire with a mouse. 

There was also a time when I used microprocessors to access my email and chat programs.  Internet usage used to be text based using Lynx programs.  Multi-user dungeons were the MMPORG games of today.  Only it is command-line based gaming which requires a good pair of eyes, fast typing skills and a vivid imagination.

Monitors back then were either gray or green.  If you manage to have colored monitor, sikat ka na.  You can play pacman, Digdug, centiped and alleycat on those x386 machines when you are bored.

You would know when you have been hanging around with computers long enough when you tell all these stories and they would say "I never experienced those kind of things".

The food crisis seems to be the next looming problem next to oil price hike.   President Bush blames India and China for the shortage of food supply.  Vietnam is cannot keep up with the demand of rice across Asia.  For something closer to home, rice prices has increased roughly about close to 50%.

There are so many things that led to this consequence.  With the consumer market ailing for lower prices on basic commodities whilst petrol price increase, farmers bear the burden to keep up with the supply chain.  From middle men who haggle prices before supplying the produce to the public who also had to consider cost buildup and margins, there is little left for them as income to continue their livelihood.

Another cause would be the increase of demand for bio-fuel which consumes our natural resource aside from food alone.  Bio-fuel are by-products of corn and sugarcane.  And as such, it requires enough land to keep a bio-fuel plantation.  And given with such little land space for agriculture with increasing advancement on industrialization, our priority for generating food and fuel are divided.  If we cannot feed people with what we have now, how can we feed now if resources had to be allocated for the booming bio-fuel industry.

Personally, it all boils down to scarcity on energy which the human population are largely dependent of.  Without fuel, we cannot live our comfortable lives and the convenience that is available around us.  And if we chose to conserve in our own little way, maybe we can still stand a chance to "postpone" the imminent until we find a better solution.

First thing is to conserve energy.  Turn off electric appliances that are not used.  Use power efficient appliances and fixtures.  I am guilty of this but I try my best to turn off outlets when I see it before leaving the house. 

You can also conserve energy but taking public transport.  I like the new SMRT marketing strategy which encourages people to take public transport more than taking out their cars that eats up petrol.  Owning cars may indicate stature and success but what will that do if your gas guzzling machine can consume more petrol than it should. 

If public commute is not possible, opt for fuel-economic cars.  A lot of car manufacturers, particularly Asian brands, are producing cars that provide high mileage with less gas consumption. 

Conservation is not for energy alone but also for food.  At your local hawker, try to eat as much as you can finish even if it is going to cost you.  I would usually ask to have my food servings reduced as I'd hate to leave unfinished food on my plate.  I would think of a thousand hungry children who I can feed with it.

In our own little way, we can create a big change when done together.  It’s time to get conscientious with what we do and maybe our children doesn’t need to suffer the things that we have took for granted.

I never thought I'd live to see this spectacular view of the Singapore Skyline. 

It all started when some of the members of Pinoygraphers went down to Tanjong Rhu to take this shot after the Singapore Flyer became active.  I never got a chance to join them as I'm very occupied recently with my projects.

Another two Tanjong Rhu EBs has come and gone and I still haven't made it.  I told myself one day I will go down there even if I had to go alone.  Fortunately, Labor day is fast approaching and it falls on a Thursday.  I finally got a chance to go out for a night shoot on Wednesday evening (my Fridays are for quality time with my hubby). 

Worried on how to get there, I posted a question on how to get directions to this place.  Luckily, someone was kind enough to post the basic directions there and Chairman Glenn gave me a helping hand to know exactly where I am going.  They are truly dependable.

Also, Yhan was able to tag along.  It felt good to be lost with someone than being lost alone.  We took a cab from Aljunied station and look for the last bus stop of Bus 158.  Using our sense of heuristics, we walked along Kallang river towards Sheares bridge and looked for the fence to climb over, as rumors suggested.  When we hit the fence, we decided to walk around the perimeter for the fear of getting caught. We ended up lost while standing at the gate of Marina Bay Golf Course.  This is when I decided to give Sir Glenn a call. 

It was a good thing Sir Glenn was at the Millenia Tower, which was on the opposite side of the river.  He can see us from where he is standing and helped us by giving us the correct directions.  Knowing what to do, Yhan and I treaded back to where the fence meets the Kallang river walk.  We went above the short fence and walked at the narrow pavement, of which a few inches more and we will meet the murky waters.  We walked for 100 meters, crossed a wooden plank and walked around 200 meters more.  We took some shots of the Sheares river while there is still some light left before sunset.  Dark settled and we finally found the perfect spot for our night shoot. 

Soon after, the rest of the group found us and they started to setup to shoot this fantastic view of the city.  Mosquitoes started to feast on our fleshy and rats scurried along the sides while capturing the night-scape into our cameras.  The photo shoot lasted for 2 hours.  We decided to pack-up and head back shutter happy and hungry.  We walked back through the same way we used and reach the bus stop at 8:30pm.  Waited forever for the bus to arrive.  And when it finally arrived, we were welcomed with cool air-conditioning, cushioned seats, atmosphere for easy talk and anticipation of filling our stomachs soon.  Upon reaching Geylang area, the gang decided to eat in a near Aljunied station and I decided to part ways to meet Jojo, who is waiting for me in Sembawang for a movie date.

Despite of getting almost lost, mosquitoes, fear of dropping our precious equipment in the water, guerrilla tactics and a long tiring walk from the bus stop, having this photo is worth the adventure.   Kudos to Yhan for being game.  Cheers to Jowena, Eman, Lesley and Arman for the company and the laughter.

To see bigger size of the image, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/misaac226/2456244927/sizes/l/

Before I continue, I want to be clear that I am not promoting her concert.  I'm just a fan.   Oo!  I must admit that I have this secret admiration for the young diva even when I was in Manila.  When she first started out, I thought she is one of those one hit wonders.  But when she joined ASAP, she simply stood out from the rest of the brood.  She puts out a simple, un-exaggerated but outstanding performance. 

When I reached Singapore, I watch her sometimes on TFC especially during ASAP and Bituin Walang Ningning.  I can't help to think of her as part of the Philippines that I miss.

And now she is having her concert on June 15 at Fort Canning.  They just started to sell tickets at $88 for free-standing area and $150 for VIP seating.   And me wants to watch it.  Any joiners?

Click here to get more info about her SG concert.

For the past few days, I've been working on Sharepoint licensing schemes for a customer who is still using Microsoft Office 2000.

As you all know, Office Communicator 2007 is conveniently bundled with Microsoft Office 2007.  However, I do not think it would be necessary for my customer to upgrade their whole Office Suite to get the Office Communicator for free.

I was able to find out that Microsoft is offering a stand-alone licensing for Office Communicator 2007 that can only do IM.  However, if you want enterprise features such as VOIP and video conferencing, you need to package in Office Communication Server 2007 and Enterprise user CALS to make it work.

Fortunately, my customer can do away with the VOIP and conferencing feature (less headache for me to include this in my capacity planning woes which I will tell in another time).  But he wants online presence in Sharepoint and IM.  In this case, I still need to provide Standard bundle all three of them:  Office Communicator 2007 license with Office Communication Server 2007 and Standard User CALS.   You can setup this up in a single server and with proper hardware sizing, it can support up to 5,000 online users.

My flickr account used to be the dumping site of photos that I think is worthy to be viewed in public.  However, I have always wondered why I only get few viewers.  It seems that I am seeking for any comments or affirmations from people who liked my photos.  But I can tell that people might find it uninteresting (out of gazillion of wonderful photos posted in flickr) even if I personally find it interesting.  Talk about loving your own.

Lately, I have been choosing my photos carefully.  I am trying to build this habit of choosing, at least, one photo from my stock pile every 2-3 days and muster enough inspiration to post-process.  Inspiration never comes when you force it.  I would flick through my photo albums and see which photo can compel me to fix on Photoshop.  Once i'm done, I would then upload the photo on Flickr and write the story behind it using some of the inspiration left in me.

I guess I need to be really "in the mood" to feel the photo and put an all-out effort to edit the photo, bring out the best that I can, put the story that brought the inspiration and even put tags to make it searchable for people to find it.

And now views are boosted.  Even the ostrich butt gets more views than my lovely Sinulog shoot.  Few people are starting to ask for my photo to be added their groups.  Personally, I find it as a complement.  I am happy to hear from other people liking my work and makes all the hard work worthwhile.

To see some of my work, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/misaac226

If any of you subscribed to filipino channel thru cable, it may have crossed your mind that every news you hear from the Philippines is rehashed bad news.  I'm maybe exaggerating but I just couldn't ignore this observation while TV patrol is reporting about food crisis thru an interview with a common folk saying how hard it is to stretch their 300 pesos in the market place.  Filipinos have this flair of rhetoric that piques the emotion of its fellowmen.  I have seen these kinds of interviews so many times even when I was still in Manila.  The only difference is, I did not really care back then than I have now because I have grown tired of it.  Real time drama on daily news can be addicting as well as pathetic especially when it goes over and over again. 

Sure they say they want to show the truth, but the truth has many sides of the story.  But sadly, we only see certain sides of the truth.  One example is the kudeta incident in Manila Peninsula last year.  I was worried when I've seen the news but after talking to my friends and loved ones at home, they say it is just a farce.  I do not know anymore if this is just a mere government’s deficiency to contain the situation or media’s efficiency to show their side of the story.

So my point is this: cut to the chase and give the facts straight.  You are not helping the country but adding drama to the situation.  News should not be entertaining, it should be informative and unbiased. 

I decided to book my travel voucher to a short weekend trip to Bintan Lagoon with Jojo.   We are heading off the beach on the 26th of April.  Expect some photos soon.

The whole day dragged on with this sad, gloomy expression on my face.  This is due to the fact that my internet rights has ceased on the client site (no owa, no ym, no yahoo mail, no silip in filsg) plus I have to file a report related to the project I am no longer working with and three of my co-workers are leaving the firm in one months time.  I have also other things to be glum about but I'll keep that to myself.

The only time that pulled a smile on my face is talking to Dhez this morning to greet her for their wedding anniversary.  When the conversation is over, I feel so sad missing her terribly. 

Also, Jojo tried to cheer me up by taking me out for dinner at Soup Kitchen.  But after finishing my Tokyo chicken stew, no soup left to keep me smiling. 

Even retail therapy is no use either.  We bought some essentials like kitchen towels and fruits for the week.  Boohoo.  That didn't cheer me up at all.

I just feel so useless nowadays.  Crappy and useless.  I wish I was just as busy as last year.  Where is work to drown with when I need them? 

Life is short as the old saying goes.  I remembered this saying when I heard the news from Jojo that his family friend's daughter died four days after she was admitted to the hospital. 

She is their pastor's daughter who has been playing the piano for their choir during their Sunday worship service.  She is a lovely girl at the age of 20.  One of the warmest people I have met when Jojo took me to his Church in Antipolo.  Makulet.  Friendly.  Mahilig magcomment sa friendster.  No sign of sickness at all.

This is why I was also struck by the news.  I thought about Pastor Carding and Tita Wyett.  I know how parents would feel about losing their child.  My mom went through it when she lost my elder brother after struggling with Leukemia.  It was heart breaking even for someone who has witnessed all the grieving.

She had low platelet count which led to organ failure.  She had blood transfusion but it did not help at all.  The diagnosis was not even identified yet when she died.  Test results of the bone marrow test are only coming out by tomorrow.  They were speculating it was leukemia that caused it.  Jojo was thinking Malaria. 

Life is short as the old saying goes.  You will never know when death will come upon you and tells you that your time is up.  At least, she had a good life.  Yun ang nakashout out sa friendster niya.  Funny coincidence.

I've always wanted to take a shot at portraiture.  After getting tired of making do with my kit lenses, I have pondered of buying my first portrait lens.

There are two types of portrait lenses that I'm choosing from: a 50mm and an 85 mm.  Both lenses comes with f1.4 and f1.8.  My first experience with a portrait lens is with a 50mm and I liked how creamy and bright the background even at night when you only have light fixtures in the room as source for ambient lighting.  But an 85mm gives me more zoom and nice DOF while keeping some comfortable space between the camera and the subject.

As for the price, 85mm proves to be much more expensive than the 50mm but if I wanted wider angles, I can easily pick up a 50mm and maximize the aperture for poorly lit subjects.

The list of pros and cons goes on and on until I found a winner.  Thanks to this flicker site of sweethobbes.  Most of his photographs are taken using 50mm f1.4.  He is using a Canon though which can have some technical difference with my Nikon but I believe the concept is all the same.

Also, Ken Rockwell approves of this.  Even if there is no stark difference between its brother 50mm f1.8, I would rather get lenses that can do low-lit photography and daylight at the same time even it is worth 3 times the price of f1.8 (50mm f1.4 AF costs SGD 450++ btw). 

Time to tighten the belt and save up for this baby.

I boarded a train at City Hall while reading a hard bound copy of the Seventh Scroll by Wilbur Smith.  I moved towards the center of the car to save myself from the continuous inflow of passengers in the train.  And as I excused myself to a throng of people while nimbly moving towards my spot where I intend to continue my reading quietly, an old lady screamed the following words:

"Your bible offends me!!!"

I didn't realize that those angry words was meant for me.  As I stood on my spot reading my novel and still oblivious to what was really going on, she continued to rant against Christianity.  She even used the name of her father to attest to her mockery.  I can easily guess that she is a traditional Taoist, which nature is to pay homage to their ancestors.

People around her just shook their head in shame.  They knew it is against human rights to show discrimination which Singapore is trying to uphold for its citizens who comes from different countries, races and even religion.
 
What's worse is that she even ranted that Christians do not act as Christians.  I looked back and gave her "the" look but I never bothered to answer back.  There I realized that she must have thought that the black hard bound book that I was holding must be the bible she abhorred.  I stiffled a laugh and continued to ignore her.

Eventually, she decided to get off at Lavander station and continue to rant about the things she hated about Christians.  As I took a recently vacated seat while being stared at by people, I held my chin up and said in my almost flawless Singaporean accent, "She thought I was holding a bible.  She didn't know I was only reading a novel."