Thanks to Eric Malloy for the riveting presentation during the Breakaway Talks for Advance WordPress Users who attended the Wordcamp Philippines 2010.  I am no Web Developer.  I attended this talk to be able to learn more about the backend of WordPress and Eric Malloy did not fail me.  Here is the reason why:

Hanging around Facebook is becoming a pain because of the barrage of online stores and stores tagging their goods with your name. At to some point it can become annoying and I now I started grouping those stores into Online Stores and added high privacy settings on this particular group. Although there were stores that I am genuinely interested in, there are some that can become annoying so I just unfriend those annoying ones just to get a grip on my list and it does

I came across this article from Spot.ph and reading it reminded me of my favorite band so many years ago.  Wolfgang.  Back when everybody was into Eraserheads and Rivermaya, I was totally into Basti Artadi, Manuel Legarda and Mon Legaspi.  It was not the coño look, but the long and curly tresses and the unique voice that a few local band has. That long hair’s gone now. Basti is now sporting a clean short cut.

So whatever happened to Wolfgang? Well, they seem to have come back.  Unfortunately, since I am no longer in Manila, I have not heard much about them apart from what I get from the Wolfgang’s Official Facebook Page.  I searched Youtube for their video and found something I have never seen nor heard– Wolfgang with the UP Singing Ambassadors.  How cool is that?

To those who crave heavy metal and the dark tunes of Wolfgang, check the video below:

To those who know me, I have always been a blogger– I have never attended any blogging convention though, and circumstances before had prevented me from joining even local blogging conferences. But this time, I stumbled on WordCamp Philippines just in time.

This year’s WordCamp is going to be held at the College of St. Benilde.  I know, I might start kicking myself the moment I get there cause I am not exactly within the 24-29 age category.  I dread someone might think I am a parent of one of the participants.  LOL

So, ok registration is now open.  To those blogging enthusiasts as well as those who intend to network with the local blogging community, this is your chance!  Registration fee is only P700.  If you register before August 15, enjoy a discount of P200 and pay only P500 or $12.

Secure a seat today!  Oh, and did I forget to mention that Matt Mullenweg has confirmed and he is attending the event???

One of the frustrations of living in catastrophic Philippines is the lack of urban planning.   As a country along the typhoon’s way, one would assume that we’d learn from our mistakes and go from there.  But its hard to pick up the pieces especially when urban areas continue to grow at an escalating rate everyday.  With the absence of livelihood in the rural areas, and the continuing growth in Manila, alot of people fled their small rural areas with the hopes of finding better opportunities in the cities.

Overcrowding, squatting and poor urban planning contributes to the floods and destructions of homes every typhoon season.  Philippines would you believe get an average of 6-7 tropical cyclones every year.  Ketsana last year has caused so much destruction in the north which according to Huffington Post, “430,000 people were affected by storm, including some 115,000 people who were brought to about 200 schools, churches and other evacuation shelters.”  Imagine 1 months worth of rain in just 12 hours.

Poor urban planning has long been blamed for the floods and the cause of traffic in the country.  But how do you fix  decades of mistakes?  Is it possible at all to start all over again?  During my travels to Papua New Guinea and Australia, I came to realize years ago how badly our houses here are built.  Its crazy to see European style houses sprouting here and there including the countless of low lying homes by money sucking low cost housing in the urban areas.  These subdivisions does not have proper drainage and sewerage systems that during typhoon season, these were one of the places affected by floods every year.

I have been a blogger for quite some time now.  Writing is almost like breathing or lets just say I love doing what I do best.   Now, blogging has not really been financially rewarding for me, except for the fact that blogging has helped me hone my writing skills as well as my technical know-how in various blogging platforms.

So here is a quick rundown of the Top Blogging Tools that I use here as well as my other sites:

WORDPRESS.  WORDPRESS.  I cannot say it enough but I love WordPress!  And yes, this has little to do with intelligent and handsome Matt, but its because WordPress is probably the best blogging platforms today.  I started blogging with Blogspot almost 10 years ago.  I was unhappy with its hosting limitations so I decided to switch on Moveable Type, which was uber cool 9 years ago.  I can probably launch a site in less than 10 minutes.  I guess the pros can do it for 5 minutes, but since I am plagued with false modesty today, I reckon I can get a WordPress site up and running in 10 minutes.  Another thing that I love about WordPress is its versatility when it comes to customization and there are literally thousands of reliable plugins to make your blogging experience spiffy!

For hosting, I have an account with SwankWebStyle.  And for domain registration, I use local ploghost and GoDaddy.

MacBook and HP Pavilion p6240d.  In order to write and post my articles, I use my reliable Macbook for non work related tasks.  I also use my HP Pavilion to maintain and write my posts for my client’s websites which are running in WordPress.

For my internet connection at home, I use Globe Broadband which is the most reliable service in my area.  Although I had issues with Globe (as if I have not ranted enough already), I have nothing much to complain when it comes to speed.  I have 2 internet connections at home actually so my children’s PC has its own sole connection and I do not have to fight with them when we are sharing connections.  Imagine, we can now do FarmVille and Farm Town simultaneously!

For images, I use a Canon Digital Ixus 30.  This has been one of my recent upgrade since the loss of my reliable GE Digital Camera.  For photo editing, I just use Picasa since uploading in Facebook takes only a few clicks!  I also like carrying a spare micro SD card along with my mini tripod along with my digital camera.

I also use my trusty Nokia E72 to take photos.  Its been very handy and I tend to use the camera as well since it comes up with decent images for my blog.

Blogging has provided me company when the going gets rough.  I would like to believe that I have amused and even helped some people because of this love for blogging.  There is no chance that I will quit writing in the near future, so all of the tools that I have dearly invested in better be worth it!  :)

Being an online worker can be very rewarding, not to mention convenient! I have been working online for quite some time now, and the best thing about online working is the fact that I never have to leave my house in order to earn a living. Talk about working on your pajamas, or even on your nickers… whichever is comfortable for you should work.



You certainly needed to be disciplined enough to follow schedules, honor deadlines and follow through every bit of task for which ever projects or clients you are working. But on my case, I use several productivity tools to track my work as well as keep tabs of what is needed at home as I am a single parent to 4 young children.



Being a mother, a teacher as well as a friend to my children take a toll on me, believe it or not. It takes alot of time to track each one of my children especially when almost all of them are attending school. Thankfully,l having a job online allows me to take care of my family as well as their need as they come at all times.

Eversince I started working online, I try to stay away from my work PC for at least two hours a day.  Apart from the fear of getting carpal tunnel syndrome, my eyesight is beginning to wane and lets face it, as we live in the internet age, everything just seem possible online.  You name it, shopping, banking, connecting with friends and VOIP.

Sometimes, my body screams foul and although I have promised to stay connected in case of emergencies, I never turn off the PC and Yahoo just in case.  So what do I like to do besides sitting on my comfy leather high back chair?  I like reading and watching movies. 

Its been awhile since I read a book for pleasure.  I love mysteries and legal fiction.  When I have extra cash, I like hanging around BookSale to look for Kellerman, Crighton, Patterson and Scottoline novels.  BookSale is convenient.  It is full of books from all genre.  Cheaper than buying new from National Bookstore.  Books are almost good as new!  And cheaper…

For this week I bought myself James Patterson’s Beach Road and Dirty Blonde by Lisa Scottoline.  It takes me one day to read a 350 page paperback.  Not bad.  But when I have work, I read my novel between breaks and before going to sleep.

To me, reading is one of the ways I can relax.  I like reading my books in bed. I also tend to take my book inside loo and tends to read while seated on the crapper.  Who doesn’t read while in the bathroom?

So, my friends, what books do you like to read?  Anything interesting?