I Bought a Wacom Intuos3 Pen Tablet!

A friend of mine brought a pen tablet one time in a conference and that was the first time I learned about them. Honestly, I never knew the name of that tool but I knew at that moment I want one. It took me weeks before doing a research on it and a couple more days convincing myself it will be worth the money since I am not going to earn a penny from it. My interest in drawing specially in Photoshop is quite strong because since high school I like to draw things although my mom do not agree that I can (create beautiful pieces). Well atleast I believe I can . So then last month after my last training day at Mapua, my boo and I window shopped in Megamall and I really bought a P17,000 worth of an item!

So what made me bought a Wacom tablet? There are only 2 brands that I found while looking around in Megamall, those are Genius and Wacom. I also did a little googling about pen tables and most of the reviews I that others highly recommends are wacom products. My first plan was to buy the Medium Bamboo Fun or 4×6 Intuos 3. The bamboo has a mouse and a pen which is what I just wanted and it is just what I need as a hobbyist designer. The Intuos3 though is the recommended among the wacom family by most users. The only thing disappointing in the Intuos3 is that is does not include the mouse in its package. Blame myself for not reading thouroughly. Anyway, if you are interested about the prices, below are approximate prices for wacom products.

• P4,000 – Small Bamboo Fun
• P6,000 – Medium Bamboo Fun
• P12,000 – 4×6 Intuos3
• P16,800 – 6×8 Intuos3

The prices are just right based on the their websites but I wanted to keep on looking for more stores. Mostly there are no available products on the store. You have to order it and it will take around 3 days for you to either pick it up at the store or they ship it to your home.

The next day, I attended my last training day in Mapua and my boyfriend had a meeting near the place so we decided to go to Greenhills. Unfortunately, Frank was coming then so we had to cancel it. But I am really itching to get a tablet. I’m excited I think Unfortunately, there was no available products on that day for the 4×6 Intuos3 or Medium size Bamboo. Nothing can really stop me from buying one, neither the price nor frank soooo I decided to give in to my childish behavior and be indebted for 6months for this graphic toy that I wanted so badly. I have placed myself to a lot of sleepless nights for doing extra work just so I can pay for my pleasure. I love myself so much!

For the record, Intuos is not just a toy. Wacom is the leading company for Pen tablets. Intuos3 is one of their best products. It use USB connection, it has high pressure sensitivity, the pen is cool with an eraser and the reviews are great! Bamboo Fun on the other hand can also be used in designs and is recommended for noobs (like me). Here is a more detailed comparison table for the 2 items. If you have the money, Intuos would be a great investment (they say).

Here are some reviews for more information:

• Wacom Intuos3 6 x 8 Pen Tablet Amazon Review
• Bamboo Fun Amazon Review

Ok. That’s already a long post, I have to stop now ^__^.

My First installation of Linux – Funny ^__^

Have you ever written your first experiences? Fortunately I did. I visited my old blog written 3 years ago and read some of those when I was just beginning in php and linux. I can’t stop laughing at myself specially now I know what was the problem. Hahahaha! I’ll share it here but it’s written in Tagalog. It’s a bit too long to translate it so sorry for non-Tagalog speakers.

Its around 2:30 am now and i have not finished installing any Linux distro! I think i started working on it mga 9pm or 10 na. pero no luck p rin ako! Mejo naiinis n nga ako kaya naisipan kong isulat n lang tong experience n to at pagtawanan ang sarili ko pag dumating ang time n experienced n tlg ako.. hehehe

Nauna kong na try n install ung Suse enterprise server 8 (meron din akon ubuntu 5.04 dito) kc un ang sabi sakin n i-try. so ginawa ko naman. unang attempt p lang may problema na. ayaw magboot sa cd! ngayon pala hindi nakasaksak! hehehe tanga! edi pinlug ko so ok na. nag boot n kc eh,, edi mejo ok n ako.. then may checking ng hardware.. aba cnabi b nmn s akin n not enough daw ang disk space ko samantalang 40G free and hd ko! aba linoloko ata ako ng installer n un ah.. so edi i tried to configure it (as if marunong ako, pero try lang naman eh) kaya lang alam ata n wl akong experience kaya wl p rin.. nagreboot n lang ako at nag try ulit ng same process. malay mo kc may di lang nabasangmabuti ung installer.. at saka nagkaroon nga pala kc ako ng problema kc di ko alam kung anong cd ang gagamitin ko. biruin mo 6 n cd un, 3 ata ung may cd1 na pangalan. eh ang nkalagay lang sa intruction put the cd1 into the cd drive.. hindi b tanga un nun! anyways tinry ko ung tatlo para sure at wl akong namis.. wl p ring swerte.. lalo n at ayaw mag read nung mismong cdrom.. tinry ko n rin pati ubuntu,, ayaw tlg.. disk boot failure ang lumilitaw.. ay nku.. wl n tong pagasa.. humingi n ako ng tulong sa kasama ko thru internet.. ky lang hindi ko madescribe ng mabuti ang problema kaya wl rin syang naitulong.. hanap ako sa internet.. sa mga forums.. sa mga articles.. wl p rin solusyon.. ayaw ko naman magtanong sa mga forums dhil bk okrayin lang ako kc nga di ko alam describe ung hardware ko. as in di ko alam kung anong processor meron ako at ilang ram, memory at kung ano pang pwede nilang itanong.. ang alam ko lang may 40G hd ako(buti nga my alam p ako eh). so un, mahabang pagbabasa ang nangyari pero nagsawa n ako kc nga wl akong mahanap n magandang article.. so nagtry ulit ako. malay mo kc maghimala! Aba nag himala nga! hehehe.. pero hindi sa suse kc wl p ring magandang resulta dun.. n try ko lang ang ubuntu.. nag try akong mag install ng server. ewan ko kung ano un basta nag try lang ako.. edi un ok naman ang process.. tapos nag reboot.. edi akala ko ok n kaso biglang prompt sa akin command line!! hello! malay ko b sa linux command.. acutally ang lumitaw p lang naman dun eh ‘login’ hehhe nag panic n talga ako sa gnun lang.. pano kc di ko alam kung anon isusulat ko.. nag try ako ng root, kaya lang di ko alam ang password.. nagtry ulit ako ng ibang combination hanggang sa makapasok.. so akala ko papakita n sa akin ung color brown n gui ng ubuntu.. hay naku.. command line p rin ang ibinigay!! ano BA!! eh ls at whoami lang ang alam kong command sa linux eh.. ay meron p pl.. man! hehehe wlang pag asa to ang nasabi ko n lng.. pero syempre dpt optimistic tyo so nagsearch p ako.. at saka kc ang alam ko tlg may gui un eh.. un buti n lang may nabasa ako.. ang sabi nya un palang napasukan ko eh minimal lang ang iinstall. ibig sabihin, manual ang installation ng lahat. nge! hindi un ang hanap ko.. kaya no choice ako kundi mag install ulit.. hay.. wlang katapusang installation to! buti n lang at mejo bumait sa akin ang ubuntu kaya un nag trabahong mag isa..and after 30 minutes,, hahah horray!! nakita ko na ang color brown gui ng ubuntu!! horray talaga!!

oldo masaya n ako sa gnun pero alam ko start p lang ito ng mas madugong karanasan.. hay.. ano kaya itong napasukan ko.. just wish me luck ok..

Geez, my composition is horrible! hahahaha. I hope it’s better now. Is it?

About Linux, I still have not tried to install a linux distro by myself but I might again and while reading this blog!

PDF Vista reader Sucks!!

It was just last night that I gave up using PDF vista. Simple word search and jumping from one link to another doesn’t work correctly. Adobe Reder is just the best! It saved me a lot of trouble going round and round the files. I did not know why I had waited for such long before deciding PDF vista isn’t just right. d*rn!

** ranting ** just another bad day **

Answer ala – “Bb. Pilipinas 2008 – Ms World”

Just watched Bb. Pilipinas 2008 pageant Q&A portion and it reminded me of my visit in a toastmaster club late January. In tagalog, nag-ala “Bb. Pilipinas 2008 – Ms World” ako. It’s custom in a toastmaster club that they will have an impromptu speech for their members. As a visitor and a second timer visitor that is, I never expected them to call me because I was just there as a spectator. When they called my name, my body already started to shake and my hands sweating. The whole time I was answering, I looked like this

I know I don’t have Ms Janina’s confidence but thank God I was still able to answer the question and THANK GOD the members and evaluators there was so KIND to still appreciate my answer because they know it was my first time.

To Janina, I know the 50% of how it feels. 50% because I was standing only with a small crowd. Bring back that confidence and practice more for the upcoming pageant. And PLEASE if you are not confident enough to use english, TAGALOG is your second option and you will not be the first one to use a native language in answering questions. Heads up and Good luck!

I’m back!

Hello World again! It’s been a busy January and Feb-ibig month for me. I’ve shared all my love to a lot of people and things around me so I had no time for my blog. But don’t despair coz I’m back! There are a lot of news I wanted to share and a lot of changes as well.

First things first, let’s go to the oldest news up to the hot and latest ones.

My February is travel time! Just this month, I went to the Hidden city of Philippines, and then to Mt. Samat and then to Bataan to take deep underwater relaxation. Oh and I forgot, last December, at long last, I visited the Summer Capital of Philippines – Baguio City! My experiences to these provinces are still fresh and I could take you for a tour!

February is also a month of meeting new people. Last January, I’ve visited a toastmaster club in Pasig City. I was expecting a warm welcome from them since that was not my first time visiting a toastmaster club. But to my surprise, I was asked for an improptu speech!!! I am with my partner when I came there but fortunate for him they chose me. I just couldn’t say no and so I did stand up and another HORROR story about public speaking has been added to my history. Thank God the people there are so professional that they actually saw something more from all that dreaded experience!! Anyway, things aren’t all bad because for the second time I’ve met the local PHP user group last Feb 23. There has been a lot of planning and activities going on which I am excited to be part of. More news to come on that when we already have laid of a very firm plan to let it out in the open. What I am just expecting next week is the meeting with Mr Andre Cruz for some TDD (test driven development) lessons.

February is also a month of delivery. Finally, after 5 months, my latest project has been shipped. A lot of last minute work has been done and for a week I worked for like 9-10 pure work hours a day. So much stress but now I am ready to start on another venture!

More detailed stories of the things I mentioned here. So please come back after a few days. Cheers ^__^

Pampers Baby Pic Contest

My newphew recently joined the Pampers Baby Pic Contest sponsored by Pampers ofcourse. I can’t get enough of his cuteness specially when he already started to dance the Itaktak mo by Joey de Leon. He can now identify his nose and tongue and always gets excited when he hears the engine of our motorbike. He would mumble ‘broom.. broom..‘ and then wave his hand. Lhex, as I call him and Davis by his parents, has already turned 1 year old last November and just got his 4th front teeth this month. Yesterday he turned 14months and it would be cool if he can make it on Pampers’ first page by next month! If you think he is cute enough to be on the first page, please vote for him. I gathered a few of his pictures smiling. Just click on each pictures to view a larger image.

Lhex’s official entry

So cool.. His latest picture in Baguio City..

Pictures while playing

First steps with his father

The voting system is a bit of a troublesome because you have to register. The process is not actually the problem but the loading speed, it is so so so slowwwww — i could rant on that all day but that would be on a long topic to discuss here. Back on topic, below is the summary of how-to vote.

1) Register first . You have to enter a baby name though. I really do not know what is the purpose of that because you are only there for voting! Anyway, you must check the box indicating you are to vote only
2) Wait for the verification — uhhh, I think I waited for more than an hour for that verification. Please bare with it.
3) Finally, visit his page and vote. You can vote other babies as well because all of them are so cute. All babies are CUTE and LOVELY!

You can even submit your baby’s pic as well. Let me know if you did

It’s a nice day…. It’s a bad day

What would you do to get back to work and act normal when you feel miserable?

I got up early today because I heard my brother knocking the door to get the office keys and so after that I felt already alive. It is unusual for me because I always get up late in the morning. Maybe because it is the BONUS day! So I got up, made my choco milk and drunk. Then an idea pop up to me to get my notes and write how I will spend my money wisely so I won’t become poor on New Year’s eve and so I did and check for my mom to get some suggestions. After that, the news arrive and suddenly the world changed… my eyes get teary even though my mind says it’s not a big deal. Maybe that is what you call feelings..

Until now, its almost dinner and I can’t get my mind straight to work and be more productive. Yesterday was such a great day, I am even anticipating for this day and now it’s all a mess! I do not know how to even ignore this event and move on. I wish I could, it will be better for everyone. I wish I could just forget and pretend….

Smaller tasks makes a difference

Today is an amazing and very productive day. I was able to resolve 8 tickets, continue on other 3 tickets, read about Google Gadgets and read about Getting Real Book! The last 2 activity was just driven because I have to write my goals for the next year (thanks to Promet btw for giving me reason to do that). I think what made the difference today is related to this section of the Getting Real book

Smaller tasks and smaller timelines are more manageable, hide fewer possible requirement misunderstandings, and cost less to change your mind about or redo. Smaller timelines keep developers engaged and give them more opportunities to enjoy a sense of accomplishment.

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been managing a project and I have been doing a lot of thinking and coding and rethinking and I feel every night I am totally exhausted and all my spirits are gone when I finally go to bed. I felt my time was very limited and I have no other time to do things like walking for fresh air late afternoon. I just realize now that I do not manage the project and my time effectively. After a few weeks I have started dividing tasks to smaller ones but was not really into it since I have to think a lot of things and haven’t realized the benefit of it. Last night, thankfully the application was reviewed and I got a lot of feedbacks in smaller chunks which was great because it gave me more idea on what and where to focus next. The greatest of all with this event today is that I was able to appreciate my day! And ofcourse learned a lesson. It felt I had accomplished a lot of things and probably that made the difference why I was able to do other stuff. I will certainly keep this in mind for the remaining timespan of my current project. For the meantime, I will have to go to bed now and ready myself for another productive day tomorrow!

Checkout the travel category on the coming days, I finally visited the beautiful Boracay! and this weekend I will be going to Bagiuo with my family. It’s an awesome week!

Updates and Events

It’s been already a while since I transferred the site here and still got no new post! I have a lot of ideas to talk about but lacks the time to write them. The things that keeps my mind busy – another website, the reason I bought this domain but now made to this one instead of “that”, studying Drupal, widgets and meeting up with the local Php users.

Recently I’ve met with PHPUGPers (great people) and talked about a few things. I’m excited about the upcoming event this December 1 although I am not able to come Well there is also another BIG EVENT for the Promet team this upcoming late November so I’m quite preparing (and praying) for that now . Back to the Dec 1 event, as a Php user, I am excited to know there are local events like this and recommend everyone to join. The Goal of the meeting is about Gathering of country’s best tech-talents, professionals and web developer’s promoting the use of PHP and opensource solutions in the enterprise and schools. There are already some subjects I like

Tentative Topics/Sessions this year:

1. CodeIgniter with Aptana (PHP) by Roger Filomeno (Mobile Specialist, TechBiz Asia Group Pte Ltd)
2. TipidPC: How it was made! (PHP) by Jesus Domingo (Frontend Engineer, Yahoo! Singapore)***
3. Database 101 using MySQL (Database) by Cherrie Anne Domingo (Multinational Investment Bank Corporation)
4. Sulit:Ads made Easy (Business) by RJ David (CEO, Sulit.com.ph)
5. Defensive Design (Web Design) by AJ Batac (Director of Operations, Webcore Canada)***
6. CSS and the Web (Web Design) by Angela Sabas (Frontend Engineer, Yahoo! Singapore)***
7. Test Driven Development in PHP:Recap (PHP) by Andre John Cruz (Application Developer, Barclays Singapore)***
8. IT Trends (Business) by JR Yap (CIO, MobileXchange)
9. Zend Core and Oracle (Database) by Clodelio Delfino (Moderator, PHPUGPH)
10. PHP in Schools: A Visit (PHP) by Anne Michelle Santos (Web Developer/Professor, University of Santo Tomas)
11. Exploring OpenSUSE 10.3 (Linux) by Reuben Ravago (CEO, OLM Technologies)
12. Stealth Startup Product Launch by AJ Batac (Director of Operations, Webcore Canada)***

I just wish I have a modified soul I can use to watch the other event for me. To find out more about this event, visit this thread.

For ticket reservations, visit: http://www.jotform.com/form/72883452322.

Reserve your tickets early to avail our early bird promo and get a 50% off discount on the ticket prices and special ticket promos.

• Student Tickets for Php 100 (Orig. Price: Php 200)
• Professional Tickets for Php 500 (Orig. Price: Php 1,000)
• Student Special Promo – Buy 2 Take 1 for Php 200 (Orig. Price: Php 400 )
  
• Professional Special Promo – Buy 2 Take 1 for Php 1,000 (Orig. Price: Php 2,000)
  

Promo ends on November 16, 2007.

Job interview bloopers

Interviews is one, if not the top one, most hated thing when applying a job. I’d probably prefer to answer 8hours exam and do 16hours programming non-stop rather than an hour of interview. I am not proud of it but I really suck at those times. If only looking at the interviewer’s eyes (heh.. i practiced that) and smile the whole can make me get the job, then I would be a very good candidate! Maybe because I was not really trained to talk, i was trained to type! Or maybe if it was a tagalog interview, maybe I am able to talk alot. But that will never happen I even planned to be a member of toastmaster club but that didn’t became a reality for the sole reason of Im afraid to talk in front of teachers! (most of the members at that club are teachers.. missing college eh?). Those are just the things I remembered when I read this blog, ‘Why Should I Hire You?’ and Other Favorite Interview Questions. I tried to answer some of the questions and think as fast as I can but some questions are just too tough for me. Examples are:

What book is currently on your nightstand? > I don’t read a lot of books, I read a lot of blogs though and please don’t ask me about the author, I do not remember author names most of the time, just the url or pictures of the author. Hmm.. that said, maybe I should start looking at the authors?

What are your long-term goals? > I remember an incident once that an interviewer asked me about this. I didn’t know what to answer. I was newbie in the IT world then, I only wanted to work but that doesn’t mean I have no dream. I wanted to be successful at it. I wanted to say I want his position but he is HR and I am looking for an IT job! I wanted to say become your President, but I would be lying. I ended up mumbling! It is tough, it was really an awful answer. Thank god it was only a phone interview (unsurprisingly, I never heard from them again.. hehe).

Why should I hire you > When your starting, it is just hard to boast what you have when really do not have anything to boast at the moment.. tough!

What will you do if you don’t get this job? > I have another interview..? hehehe…

And the hardest question that I can be asked off-guard:
Tell me a joke > Oh my god.. I already lost the battle!!! I probably laughed before I even begin to say a word!

I found some job interview and call center bloopers and they are unbelievable and funny at the same time. check them out.