As artists think alike…

One of my biggest dreams is to own a hand-made classic grand piano. For me, performing on a high quality musical instrument such as that is the peak of a musician’s career. I’ve been in touch with quite a few portable keyboards for years but still, I’m looking forward to playing on a real grand piano. I bet no matter how much the portable keyboards imitate the sound of a grand piano, the latter is still far incomparable. I can tell, since my hearing’s a bit choosy when it comes to sound quality.

On my search for quality grand pianos, I’ve been introduced to a family-owned business who are into Sales, Restoration & Repair of top branded pianos. By browsing through the lindebladpiano.com Website, I came to the web page which provides the gallery of their pianos. It just feels like I’m now a bit more motivated to reach for that goal. One day, I know, it’ll just come, that’s why I just have to work for it. Lindeblad just reminded me of this dream, and now it’s just right to return the favor to them. If you’re on a search of Pianos for Sale, then Lindeblad is just right for you. They’ve been in this business since 1920, so jump off right to their website by clicking any of the links I mentioned above. Great choice, huh?

Poverty « Unstable Economy « Improper Fund Allocation « Tax Corruption « Habitual Corruption « Poor Education

Fact: There’s poverty because we have an unstable economy. We have an unstable economy because of certain factors such as possible improper allocation of funds and of course, corruption. If our taxes were meant for specific funds and absolutely 100% of these taxes are properly allocated for each, then we have a chance of improving our economy. Also, whether who among the geniuses shall be appointed as president is capable of understanding how he/she’s going to do it. Therefore, it’s not a matter of choosing who among them are the smartest.

Targeting aid for those who are searching for jobs including opportunities for Overseas Filipino Workers as well as assistance for small businessmen is an intelligent approach. This way, it somehow help boost their tax paying capabilities. If they become responsible with their taxes, considering their massive number, there’s no doubt that we’d have more funds to be especially used for government projects. But what we are missing is the fact that before these taxes can be fully distributed to different funds, there are chances that they can reduce in quantity, and this is all because of corruption. Therefore, no matter how much we citizens strive for progress, the moment our taxes are caught by corruption, progress stops right there. That’s why even politicians would claim that helping job seekers and OFWs would solve poverty, it won’t happen for as long as corruption still exists.

Fact: Corruption slows down economic progress. In order for our government to solve this issue, they thought of passing the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. This may have somehow acted against corruption, but it doesn’t really mean corruption no longer exists. Corruption will always exist and it will be passed on to the next generation of leaders, and to the next leaders, until it becomes hierarchical. Passing a law such as Anti-Corruption won’t stop the corruption chain.

Corruption is everywhere. Whether it’s big time or not, one form of corruption does not make any difference with the other, and it will be kept in practice until it becomes a habit. I am one of those who are ultimately aware that corruption exists even in school. In fact, a simple form of cheating in class quizzes is already an example of corruption. The worst, most of those students who cheat in school aren’t even aware that they are into corruption. It creates a very huge impact to their psychological being. At this point, they may no longer be able to understand the difference between a good act and an evil act. They may even consider cheating as a good act. This simple concept is not far different from a corrupt politician’s point of view. They are incapable of identifying which among their actions are corruption

The biggest problem our government must face is the quality of our education. Students won’t be forced to cheat if they’ve just been properly taught. Of course, a student will always find ways just for him/her to pass the subjects even it means cheating. The "passing grade" system itself is flawed. Who the heck thought of this kind of system anyway? The great philosophers once said that there are millions of ways to solve a certain problem. Hence, it’s just like saying, there are millions of ways to pass a subject. Another important thing, schools miss the fact that they also have the responsibility to introduce to the students the "evilness" of evil acts. All throughout the years of being a student, I have never been formally introduced on how corruption works. I just learned about it by thinking it through logically. Educators must teach students how corruption is done and everything related to it, and they must put it into their minds its effects. Schools must not deprive students from reality. Anyway, we will all still reach to a point that we’ll live in reality. I believe, with our current education system, for more than 14 years in the academy, I have never been taught how it is to live in the real world. We may not be able to completely eradicate corruption for the next 20 years, but we still have a chance, for the sake of the next generation. Sooner or later, the youth today will become leaders in the future, and let’s all hope when that day comes, they’d already be free from corruption.

Dr. Jose Rizal once said, "The youth is the hope of our nation", and this has been in circulation for more than a century now. How many youths have already taken over our government? When will that specific youth be born? How come we are all still struggling for progress? We are not just searching for intelligent leaders, but those who are also capable of stopping corruption in its simplest form. We are not just searching for leaders who has the wealth and power to help those in need, but those who can assure us that what we citizens are striving for won’t be put into waste.

Davao finally has its very own Online Business Directory. If you need to search for different business information within Davao such as Location, Contact Information, Services, and a lot more, then you can just do it all in a single website: the Davao Directory. Davao Directory is a combined Social Network and Online Business Directory. You can quickly search for businesses within Davao, at the same time, leave reviews, comments, suggestions to business owners of what you think of their establishments. Establishments include Hotels, Restaurants, Religious Organizations, Swimming Pool and Beach Resorts, IT Companies, and a lot more.

Currently, Davao Directory is gathering for businesses. In fact, they are offering submission of your business totally for free. This means, you can advertise your business without any cost. You have the full privilege to update every information needed so that you, as the business owner, can show off what your business can provide to the public. Enlist your business now at Davao Directory and be part of the community.

Also, Davao Directory is offering free Credits for members who can invite more members and more credits for those who can invite business owners. Credits are points which you can use in the future for specific website features. This includes the tools you can use to improve your establishment’s visibility or advertise your own establishment to every web page of Davao Directory.

Simply register at Davao Directory and end your search for business services! You may also Follow Davao Directory on Twitter.

Sun Microsystem’s Open Jive Regional Challenge has just recently selected our team as one of the 14 finalists for Philippines. The contest was about software innovation wherein we’d be proposing projects which will be created using Open Source programming languages. As the team leader of RoJose, I chose my original idea which is to create an AJAX-Based Multi-Website Management Panel able to manage multiple websites under a single administrative panel. Websites include blogs (Wordpress, Blogger, etc.), corporate systems (payroll, inventory system, etc.), social networks (Twitter, Facebook, etc.), and many more.

The proposed system shall operate through XML-Remote Procedure Calling. Just by sending post XML data to the server, it can produce results even without actually visiting the host website. Also, responses are encoded through XML. Through this method, managing different websites would be at breeze.

And what’s more? This post is created through my very own system (under development and testing). I didn’t even bother logging in to this blog. I just did it the XML-RPC way.

I’m temporarily leaving school. I’ve realized certain facts affecting this decision. While trying to note down the factors, here’s what I came up, starting with the cons:

1. I’ll miss the annual programming competitions. I’d love to be back in Cebu, especially SM and Starbucks.
2. I won’t be able to initiate I-Like-My-Match booth for Intramural and I can no longer overseer those students who liked whom.
3. I’ll miss the choir. Of course, I wouldn’t have to bother waiting for my phone to ring every first friday morning mass since the choir won’t be expecting the "always-late organist".
4. Lastly, I’ll miss SAD (which turned out to be literally sad) and the members who are involved. I say they have to be on their own now. Anyway, they can’t proceed the 4th year without the necessary skills they have to acquire. If they made it this far, then it means they really must be "something". Also, like I mentioned in my previous entry, I would rather prefer innovation for my thesis.

The pros:

1. I can start now with something I desire the most. Even if I have to finish the next two semesters, I’ll still end up with this something I want for my own. The only difference is that, there may be certain factors which would greatly affect this plan if I won’t have it as soon as possible.
2. I’m 20 years old and I’m not getting any younger, so the earlier I’ll begin, the more I’ll gain. Plus, the society is quickly evolving, what seems to be the latest today would already be obsolete by the next day.
3. I’ll be free from the virtual world, the harsh realization about the facts relating our current system of education. I’ll be learning how it is to live a real life.
4. Most of all, I won’t be wasting my remaining funds spending it for nothing but a silly diploma dictating how society should work, blinding citizens with the social reality that every person on earth should be judged according to their individual achievements.

I’ve always been wondrin’ why we need to spend too much time doing our documents for proposals down from researches up to printing of hard copies, if in the end, we’ll find out that its end product will just be stocked half-rotten on shelves. Proposal documents are of course not among those which will be piled up, but still, once they’re approved, another documents to be processed become candidates for "safe-keeping" award. I’m seeing most of these hard-bound books and I’d ask myself, "does anybody ever read them?" The only reason I can think of when somebody decides to open those books is when he needs to do another research (and those books will be especially used for Review of Related Studies), and the research he’d conduct will end up the same, and so on and so forth. That’s the most of its relevance I can imagine. Though, there may be little chances that depending on the topic of the researches of these books, new technologies can be produced, but if they’re about systems development and not purely research, will they really become basis of innovation?

These are documents written for computerized systems. Systems which I even doubt that they can last for years, or shall we say, systems which I doubt that they’ve been actually deployed by their client companies. I believe, wise companies don’t take the risks of implementing computer systems developed by undergrads. Even if it takes them less cost, still, they will never trust inexperienced student programmers to deploy these software. They would rather spend thousands of cash for those professionals already in the industry for years.

In my opinion, students are instructed to develop systems for one reason: practice. But it’s not what I would really aim if I were to produce such applications. Even if I’ll be given the lowest grade for the course, I will still aim to convince the client to make use of my software, because if the company won’t use it, then I have just made my biggest failure as a system developer. I would spend most of my time enhancing the quality of my software, rather than waste it fixing the documents. Client companies, who are the end-users, won’t understand those research papers, except for the documentation on how to use the software. For them, they serve no point. They’ll just skip to the "System Features" and "Help" pages.

If I were to be asked what panelists would really need to check when it’s already time for defense, I’d say "Test its quality. Check for flaws. Judge the features. Comment on its user-friendliness. Review the source codes", and of course, "Decide if it’s ready to be deployed and become among of the client company’s assets". For me, my thesis is my first and my most memorable major software. I’ve done enough practices way back when I was still in the lower years and I can’t afford to waste all of them just for another petty test.

I was led on website which basically attempts to identify my Life Path. Here’s the site: http://www.paulsadowski.com/BirthData.asp

So I completed the required inputs then it showed that my Life Path number is 1 and with the following description:

"The Life Path 1 suggests that you entered this plane with skills allowing you to become a leader type rather easily. Your nature is charged with individualistic desires, a demand for independence, and the need for personal attainment. Many of our military generals, corporate leaders, and political leaders are men and women having the Life Path 1. When you display positive 1 traits your mind is capable of significant creative inspiration, and it possesses the enthusiasm and drive to accomplish a great deal. You are very good at getting the ball rolling; initiating new projects is your forte. You are at your best when confronted with obstacles and challenges, as you combat these with strength and daring. This is both the physical and inner varieties of strength. With this strength comes utter determination and the capability to lead. As a natural leader you have a flair for taking charge of any situation. You have a tendency to do this, even if, at times, it is not appropriate for you to do so.

Highly original, you may have talents as an inventor or innovator of some sort. In any work that you choose, your independent attitude can show through. You have very strong personal needs and desires, and you feel it is always necessary to follow your own convictions. You tire of routine and highly detailed tasks rather quickly.

You are ambitious and assertive in promoting yourself. Although you may hide the fact for social reasons, you can be self-centered and demand to have your way in many circumstances. That said, for the most part, you are considered very good company, friendly, good-natured, and a wonderful conversationalist. People like you and are drawn to you. It is a good thing they are, because you are very sensitive to disapproval and you don’t handle it very well.

There are several ways that the negative side of the 1 can show up. The 1 always has the potential for greatness as a leader, but they may fail as a follower. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to follow for a while before you are allowed to lead and this can be a difficult time. When the 1 Life Path person is not fully developed and expressing the negative side of this number, the demeanor may appear very dependent rather than independent, particularly in the early years. If you are expressing this negative trait of the number 1, you are likely to be very dissatisfied with your circumstances, and long for self-sufficiency. This might be defined as the weak or dependent side of the negative 1 Life Path. On the strong side of this negative curve, the 1 energy can become too self-serving, selfish and egotistical. Avoid being too bossy and demanding."

Most of the readings above truly tells something that’s part of me and I also tried some of my friends birthday, and their description matches to their personality. It’s quite amazing. Try it out for yourself. As soon as you get your Life Path number, proceed to this page: http://www.astrology-numerology.com/num-lifepath.html then read about yours.

We are no longer evolving while everything else is changing. We use too much sunscreen, body lotions, anti-aging creams, disinfectants, and a lot more commercial products that we’re dying to buy at most commercial stores. Me may have proved how effective they are for our own, but the truth is, they’re gradually slowing down our natural process of evolution.

Evolution is the reason of differences in races. Africans have sweat glands far different from those who live in Asian countries. They are also darker in texture than those who are from cold regions such as New Zealand. In short, evolution takes place depending on the environment’s climate and source of food, but above these is the most concise explanation: survival.

We evolve because there is a need for us to survive. Animals adapt to their habitat and develop instincts depending on their predators and preys. That if ever they’ll be taking too much time before they evolve, they slowly reduce in number and later on become extinct and will no longer exist on this planet. These are all natural occurrences which humans must always allow to happen, but lately, we are unconsciously interfering to its process.

There appeared organizations to preserve wildlife, discoveries of several alternative sources of energy, development of artificial food and health related products, and of course, sunscreen. All of these slow down and may even totally stop us from evolving. It’s good to realize that we can make use of Science to allow ourselves to study nature but never on the part when Science already acts as a hindrance to evolution.

It’s true that our environment’s changing. Now that we’ve discovered fuel which at the same time happened to be the ultimate source of global warming, we’ve increased the rate on how fast our nature evolves. I believe that no matter what happens, Science will keep on searching for solutions how they’ll be able to help the human race adapt on a warmer climate in the future, but the question is, how long will we be able to survive?

Oops! I think it should be "My Mommy Weng’s wedding", but anyway, that’s what I would call her when they’ll have a baby soon, hehe. Finally, an every-girl’s-dream came true for a friend from Pop Choir (and who coincidentally does the same art as I do, but I’m better, bleh :p) just hours past. I’m not really sure how long Te Weng and Kuya Ronald have been together, but what I know is, they both met each other, in Church. Anyway, though this entry starts with a topic related to her wedding, I really won’t be talking much about that.

I was the one who played the accompaniments for the choir’s wedding songs. About how I did those? Errr… Maybe I’d just call it, "I was damn too nervous to get serious." Anyway, I still gave my best shot. I think the wedding’s not about music though, and it won’t be the highlight of the event. It only remains significant since the couple are obviously in love not just with themselves but also with music. Te Weng does the keyboards (she can sing too) and Kuya Noy handles the vocals. Now I’m wondering what would their children be.

Hmmm… I was really happy for both of them getting married at last, but honestly, I was also a bit disappointed for a reason: Not one of them or anyone from the choir performed the $8.00 Music Sheet I bought for Te Weng. Grrrrr… Hehehe.. So, the song in months of preparation and planning just ended up as a past time instrumental music for the picture taking session. *Sigh* I remembered there should be someone to sing that song with me, it’s just that, it wasn’t taken that seriously before. Te Weng’s really lucky, and same as Kuya Ronald, because they really found that special person whom God made for them.

A song Sarah wrote (which I arranged a piano instrumental).
We’ll have a duet for this song soon… Hehehe

This has been a topic circulating endlessly over blogs and different printed articles, but somehow, it still fires up my interests and my views on what really is the reason why people tend to end up losing their treasured "peace".

Money’s not the reason, and I bet every intelligent individual agrees to that fact. Furthermore, it’s also been known that what really causes this evil is what they call as the "Love for Money", and not just money alone. On the other hand, we can still relate money with poverty. I remembered a song of a modern OPM band, trying to portray the idea that as long as society still adapts the concept of the differences between financial status for every individual, as more people on top of the "triangle" are getting richer and richer, there’d be more people underneath losing the chances of setting off from poverty. This does not actually apply all the time. There are still wealthy people who’d be willing to help those in the poverty class.

Anyway, it’s never been any rich man’s responsibility to offer what he had for the poor. We are just missing the fact that it’s not only the "Love for Money" which causes all these evil. The society’s "Hatred for Money" is a stable proof of poverty. This is the biggest reason why we don’t improve at all. We love to dream about houses, we’d like to own a car, and we always wanted to travel around the world, but, how can we achieve all of these if we never aimed about earning money? Money’s not evil. It’s just a piece of light-weighted trading item with a printed number significant of its value. Though it’s true that it is capable of buying a lot of things more than you can ever imagine, but there are still some money can’t buy, those which are both invaluable and priceless.

Personally, I only see money as a tool in order for me to get all of those material needs. Money can be earned in many ways. So, there’s just no need for us to fight over this piece of paper. Remember this diagram shown here? This is Maslow’s viewpoint of man’s Hierarchy of Needs, and it shows that money hasn’t even halved of what each man truly desires. I’d like to raise a point that money is something that we both don’t need to love and fear, since we can never find true happiness if we just plainly rely on our desire and fear for money.

Just think of it as a spoon you use for you to feed yourself some food. Though you can take your meal without depending on utensils, but it somehow eases the process of filling your body with nutrition. Still in the end, you’ll reached your purpose of satisfying your hunger.

I must admit, it’s always been ironic to my part seeing people fight for money. They never knew its true value, and it seemed that they consider money as their own lives. And if money can only speak, he’d definitely say something he shouldn’t: "I’m flattered and honored!"