monicai.multiply.com

monicai.multiply.com http://monicai.multiply.com/ Tue, 7 Oct 2008 07:12:27 -0000 Thu, 2 Oct 2008 04:33:00 -0000 monicai.multiply.com http://images.monicai.multiply.com/logo http://monicai.multiply.com 100 100 How That IT Job Can Kill You I read an interesting article about "How IT Job Wears Your Body Down" and I decided to change the title a bit because I think IT Jobs can kill people.  It may sound pessimistic but I feel that my job as an IT Consultant is killing me slowly.  From there where I draw this weird pleasure of being the masochistic slave worker and thus explains the reason why I work late nights and constantly checking my emails even if I'm not expecting anything important.    Maybe someday, I will need to switch jobs.  Maybe I can take up waitressing jobs or cleaning building windows for my next career \but I need to recover from my future Musculoskeletal disorders.  To read this article, go to :  <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/151763-1/how_that_it_job_wears_your_body_down.html">http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/151763-1/how_that_it_job_wears_your_body_down.html</a> http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/611/How_That_IT_Job_Can_Kill_You Thu, 2 Oct 2008 04:33:00 -0000 Josh Groban Sings Classic TV Medleys Watch out for him singing South Park theme. http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/610/Josh_Groban_Sings_Classic_TV_Medleys_ Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:40:00 -0000 Near To Vomit Experience by Dashboard Trinkets <img style="width: 237px;height: 150px;" class="alignright" src="http://www.bmacewen.com/blog/images/TimesSquareBall2007.jpg" border="0">I used to be a fan of little transparent glass trinkets given out during weddings or displayed in armoires.  But after yesterday, I had a different experience with these "trinkets" after our cab ride from IMM.  We rode this cab full of these not-so-little glass trinkets on the car dashboard and back panel behind the passenger's seat.  Most of these trinkets has LED blubs to goes on-and-off similar to christmas lights, only powered by the car battery.  Can you imagine the patience of this guy wiring all these trinkets?  There is even a centerpiece, which looks like a mini version of the ball that falls off during new year in times square, hanging from the rear view mirror. At first, I found it very cute to see something flashy.   However, sitting inside the cab in the dark with all the lights flashing before me gave me a nasty migraine.  Even looking outside the window, we can still all the little twinkling things within our peripheral vision.&nb... http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/608/Near_To_Vomit_Experience_by_Dashboard_Trinkets Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:13:00 -0000 Marche Jojo and I went out for a date at Marche in Vivo city.  It's been a while since we have gone out on a real date after Jojo moved to Sony for work and I became busy for Friday nightcaps.  We queued up at 815pm on an empty stomach.  Fortunately, one waitress in her swiss maid dress was going around serving almond raisins and mini watermelon/orange coolers for waiting customers.  Of course, Jojo and I indulged ourselves with the free food.  After consuming so many almond raisins for the past 40 minutes, we finally got ourselves a table.  I immediately went to the Rösti stand to order my serving of Rösti with Chicken cheese sausage on the side.  Jojo helped himself with a plate of savoury crepe with mushroom, ham and chicken.  We went back to our tables and ate our meals with gusto. I am guessing that either we were so happy to find ourselves eating after waiting for so long or the food is simply great.  We can't seem to get enough that Jojo o... http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/607/Marche_ Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:14:00 -0000 Aprub Na! After waiting for two months, I received my approval letter on my application for permanent residency in Singapore.  Kahit wala nang pera sa bulsa, at least, I got something to celebrate for Singapore giving me the rare opportunity to: - Save up for my CPF (a better equivalent of SSS) - Hopping jobs without worrying of my visa expiry - Getting my folks to stay here longer - Buy my own house when I have enough money in my CPF - Buy my own car if my CPF allows it - Give up OECs once and for all - Get tax exemptions when I start making my own babies - Upgrade my work pass but same fugly picture - Look at my CPF contribution to cheer me up when I'm broke - have my own NRIC that links to my every transaction, movement, etc. Did I miss anything? http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/605/Aprub_Na Tue, 5 Aug 2008 11:40:00 -0000 Delicious Studio shoot with Surfbabe Tikoy Tan My first ever studio shoot which I organized for my good friend and surfbabe, Tikoy Tan. Weeks before this shoot I am already nervous on the outcome of this one. The planner in me is hitting my panic button as I haven't really prepared for anything until the week before the actual shoot. Luckily everything pulled through on the last minute. I managed to rent the place on a time agreed by all photographers. I found the hats I've been looking for. Even if we did not manage a complete beach themed shoot, I worked around on whatever clothes that Tikoy had in her luggage and modified the theme to become deliciously sexy. The camera just loves her and the way her color registers in monitor. Her complexion is fantastic. Mickee has done her wonders and so is Tikoy's moisturizer despite of her skin peeling after her recent Bali trip. Lighting done with a beauty dish and two soft boxes hitting the white background wall. How we wish we had more time to shoot more of her. T... http://monicai.multiply.com/photos/album/55/Delicious_Studio_shoot_with_Surfbabe_Tikoy_Tan Mon, 4 Aug 2008 17:05:25 -0000 Wedding Random Thoughts #1 Couple of ideas for my wedding.  Jotting this down so I can look at this later before I completely forget: <ul><li>2-in-1 wedding (catholic and christian)</li><li>looking at Fernbrook gardens located South of Manila (www.fernbrookgardens.com)</li><li>Ball gown wedding dress is a must.  A bit of beige because off-white is soooo 80s.</li><li>Corset or off-shoulder?  </li><li>For the 2-in-1 wedding, refreshments will be served in between ceremonies</li><li>Definitely a morning wedding, as early as 6AM!!!!!  Must be crazy planning for this but photos are best taken early morning.  </li><li>Pastel colors for motif.  Deep red is just too err sultry.  Black is too depressing.  Blue is sooo Shoemart. </li><li>Guest count of 150 pax.  50 from my side of the family.  50 from Jojo's side of the family.  50 for good friends.</li><li>Very flexible on the caterers but it would be nice to opt for sit down dinner to enjoy the highlights of the wedding.  I would love to give a grand entrance on food alone similar to Chines... http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/604/Wedding_Random_Thoughts_1 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:06:00 -0000 I Guess You'll Do Hilarious!  I got this from my <a href="http://gelangenie.multiply.com">little brother's</a> blog site.  Enjoy this clip as much as I did. http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/603/I_Guess_Youll_Do Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:23:00 -0000 Little Goth Girl Post processing some backlog photos I had in my hard http://monicai.multiply.com/photos/album/54/Little_Goth_Girl Tue, 8 Jul 2008 11:04:53 -0000 Pinoy Style Spaghetti A classic dish I cook at the flat when I miss http://monicai.multiply.com/recipes/item/3/Pinoy_Style_Spaghetti_ Tue, 8 Jul 2008 10:27:41 -0000 Independence Day Festival http://monicai.multiply.com/photos/album/53/Independence_Day_Festival_ Tue, 8 Jul 2008 08:14:41 -0000 Warped So much have changed in ever since I've got here.  After being sucked into my own world, I finally had the chance to reconnect with my dear friends and family whom I left in Manila and told me all these things that has happened. It's different hearing second hand news than witnessing the whole thing or even just getting the story first hand, in person.  The feeling of disconnect is there embodied by the seas and lands the separates me from my home in Manila.  I cannot help feeling detached, longing and hoping that a friend or family would pull me back and make me feel like I can relate the things happening in their lives. ------------ I was telling my best friend that even though you lived in a certain place for years, nothing beats the sense of familiarity when walking along the streets, lights and rhythm of home.  Home is being stuck in traffic inside a pouring rain listening to my favorite tunes.  Because home is how you connect your personal experience to t... http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/602/Warped Tue, 8 Jul 2008 06:02:00 -0000 Thank God the Show is Over 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 ... http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/601/Thank_God_the_Show_is_Over Wed, 2 Jul 2008 15:02:00 -0000 Just When You Thought You Know It All 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. http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/600/Just_When_You_Thought_You_Know_It_All Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:05:00 -0000 The Old Manila Thanks to Brian Gorrell for sharing. http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/599/The_Old_Manila Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:41:00 -0000 Someone ate my linked in account!?!? 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. http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/598/Someone_ate_my_linked_in_account Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:27:00 -0000 Philippine Independence Day Photo Exhibit @ Suntec <a href="http://monicai.multiply.com/photos/hi-res/upload/SFpDdQoKCnYAABgu1oQ1"><img class="alignright" src="http://images.monicai.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/SFpDdQoKCnYAABgu1oQ1/IR%20tree.jpg?et=IVDxq6DDuxqLrnGtPN6EaQ&nmid=0" border="0"></a>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 http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/597/Philippine_Independence_Day_Photo_Exhibit_Suntec Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:25:00 -0000 Tough Week 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: <ul> <li>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) <li>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.  <li>I'm certified Coca-cola zero junkie since early this week.&n... http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/596/Tough_Week Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:32:00 -0000 Musings on CLS and my Nikon D50 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 an... http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/595/Musings_on_CLS_and_my_Nikon_D50 Mon, 26 May 2008 17:23:00 -0000 You've Been Hanging around With Computers for So Long when.... 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 ... http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/594/Youve_Been_Hanging_around_With_Computers_for_So_Long_when.... Mon, 12 May 2008 11:41:00 -0000 Looming Crisis 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.  A... http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/593/Looming_Crisis Sun, 11 May 2008 16:29:00 -0000 Tanjong Rhu <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/misaac226/2456244927/sizes/l/"><img class="alignmiddleb" height="124" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3107/2456244927_9c7a1de600.jpg" width="471" border="0"></a> 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.  ... http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/592/Tanjong_Rhu Thu, 1 May 2008 18:14:00 -0000 Sarah Geronimo In Motion Live in Singapore 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 <A href="http://www.sistic.com.sg/portal/dt?dt.isPortletRequest=true&dt.action=process&dt.provider=PortletWindowProcessChannel&dt.windowProvider.targetPortletChannel=JSPTabContainer/sEventsCalendar/Event&dt.containerName=JSPTabContainer/sEventsCalendar&dt.windowProvider.currentChannelMode=VIEW&dt.window.portletAction=RENDER&contentCode=sarah0608">here</A> to get more info about her SG concert. http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/590/Sarah_Geronimo_In_Motion_Live_in_Singapore Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:51:00 -0000 Sharepoint: Office Communication Server 2007 Licensing 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: ... http://monicai.multiply.com/journal/item/589/Sharepoint_Office_Communication_Server_2007_Licensing Wed, 16 Apr 2008 06:01:00 -0000 Simone Margaret Baptismal watch this space. more to http://monicai.multiply.com/photos/album/52/Simone_Margaret_Baptismal Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:40:20 -0000 IR Collection My first take on IR photography and post processing during my shoot at my photography trip in Batam Indonesia. Taken with a Nikon D50 with UV and IR filter and no http://monicai.multiply.com/photos/album/51/IR_Collection Sun, 10 Feb 2008 15:42:07 -0000