The Dubai Chronicles: Rebirth

about dxb chronicles

The saga of Jeff living in the City of Gold. Presently living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, unravel his journey throughout the city with memoirs and everyday life stories.

tagboard

since im using a redirecting domain, i have to dump the referral widget. it's useless. instead, i added a tagboard....

just tag along.

discoursed by jeff @ 4:32 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Sunday, February 27, 2005

site referral

ok, i am bored. i've finished most of my projects at work and i need to redesign my site but while there's other projects pending, i cannot do so. anyway i've added referrer widget on this blog just to track sites. i've tracked only ip addresses of users dropping by and not site referrals. the problem with this free add-on was the width. the minimum is 200 pixels. i want lesser.

oh well, better to have one rather than nothing. i'll deal with it soon. kudos to truefresco. i hope this add-on improves.

discoursed by jeff @ 4:02 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

backtrack: egg en roll

friday:

i "woke up early" (i spent too much time playing the game until 4am) and geared for cleaning. unfortunately, my flatmates were still sleeping. quietly as possible, i cleaned some stuffs and waited for them to wake up. suddenly, i had hangover with the game and played it again....until afternoon. i almost forgot my laundry and the gig.

after the rushed laundry, i headed to jap's place and watched the gig. jmerts brought his newly purchased "wooden box-drum" from manila. later on, i participated in a free jam using the "egg caracas".

it was fun. here are some pics:

rock my egg. **ckin' a! hey where's the mic yo?

rock en roll attitude...and attire

after the jammin' we headed to our favorite kingdom:

kings of burger king...tambay kings.

discoursed by jeff @ 8:39 AM | 1 comment(s) | permalink

Thursday, February 24, 2005

sim city 3000 unlimited

it was a slow day for me, i've spent my evening sitting on a computer installing and playing the sort-of-boring game sim city 3000 unlimited. i played this game years back and it was an old version of sim city. little changes... same crap.

you're the mayor of this game and the objective is to build a city and let it manage by yourself. it's a hard job being a mayor but the money is there. no wonder some people want to be politicians.

all because of the money...

...even the former philippine actor who turned lawmaker and later became kidnapper can't get enough of it. tsk tsk.

discoursed by jeff @ 11:38 PM | 1 comment(s) | permalink

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

etsetera: the art resto

what other people think of or see to an artist? darwin 'japat' guevarra explains this (i really think he's crazy...LOL!) but i think it's cool, full of expression and meaning (and senseless stuffs). enjoy your meal dude!

see his philosophy on etsetera

discoursed by jeff @ 11:27 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

inq7net: a case study

last month, the philippine web designer's network also known as philweavers decided to make a design challenge posted in the forums. one of the moderators picked a site to do a "facelift" of a selected site. of course, it was just for fun and at the same time to educate other designers.

Here's the challenge:

You're the lead designer for one of Manila's Top 5 web design companies and you've learned today that one of RPs most visited news destination Inq7.net asked your firm to redesign their home page (http://www.inq7.net).

Based on a survey an independent firm has conducted, the main user complaint about the site is that there are just too many advertisements on the page to the point that it has become difficult to identify which ones are news and which ones are junk.

There are too many columns and the visual flow of the entire page is scattered all over the page. They would prefer that the "grid" becomes more evident and if possible, reduce the number of columns to 3. You are free to redesign the color palette and even come up with a new logo if you want (although changing the logo is of a low priority, they're willing to keep the old one due to brand equity).

Obviously, the advertisements are a revenue generator for the online newspaper but they are willing to reduce the number of ads on the homepage down to 30% of the original (no less).

Your mission, should you choose to accept it is to produce an 800 pixel
wide JPEG of your new design. Post the URL of the image on this forum and the deadline is exactly, 1 month from now (Feb 22, 2005).

and so i finished it to the last minute. here's the sample.

design deconstructed

i did retain the color of the logo on the header but changed the color scheme a bit. obviously the advertisements were reduced to half and repositioned the main links on the left instead of top (of course there are alternatives on top and bottom of the page) for easier flow. main content (news and other articles will be occupied on the center (two columns) and advertisements (less important) on the rightmost.

the main content is flexible (depends on how many news of the day will come) downwards and still be matched to the grid. headlines and breaking news are visible on the first glance when loaded. the objective here is to inform the viewer what's the latest news. lesser topics are posted below.

the design is for educational purpose only.

discoursed by jeff @ 8:45 AM | 1 comment(s) | permalink

Monday, February 21, 2005

3000

yey, still strong after a month. TDC reached the 3000 mark visit. thanks guys!

discoursed by jeff @ 8:41 AM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Sunday, February 20, 2005

template mode

yep as the title says, i've been busy with the templates for work and off-work. the mr. aak instructed me to made some designs and later on to fill in by the other guy. transition is going well now, no more ranting (i'm getting used to this anyways)... just do your job and get paid mode now. so far, mr. aak is happy the way i do things for him.

the template is a hybrid of table-based and css-based design and coding in order for the other guy (note i aliased him as this) to comprehend. the other templates are up and running now with some flash i've created.

the off-work template is pure css design for a friend's blog.

discoursed by jeff @ 1:12 PM | 1 comment(s) | permalink

Thursday, February 17, 2005

b-day gift

my buddy, buds, asked me to do an invitation for his girl. i didn't charged him, i offered it as a gift.

too bad, i can't go to the party... it's in abu dhabi.

discoursed by jeff @ 1:32 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

restless part II

two consecutive nights i didn't get any good sleep. first the drinking session and now the arrival of fellow kabayan to dubai from manila. i understand the excitement of the newly-arrived person in the house, but the boisterous fag visitor was not. he keeps on making loud gestures, bragging about his stay here for a long time and all plus the other brouha-has to his peers.

i got up on bed and made my presence aware to them... too late, the hymn of praise to nearby mosques can be heard now. it's five thirty in the morning now.

discoursed by jeff @ 5:24 PM | 2 comment(s) | permalink

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

restless

i didn't sleep well last night. my roomies have a visitor and went for a little drinking celebration. they arrived few minutes after i went to bed. it didn't take long that they switched on the light and started talking. few more minutes and they fired up my pc and start watching dvd. i tried to muffle the clamor with my pillows but to no avail. sleep patterns begins to turn on and off...no less than 3 minutes interval.

i was going to tell them that there's someone trying to get some sleep but i kept it to myself instead because there's a visitor. later on, one of our roomies puked out, lying on his bed, too drunk to stand up and pray to the toilet...

after the commotion ended, silence was back... and it's already four thirty in the morning. they still have consideration that i'm still there.

discoursed by jeff @ 2:24 PM | 1 comment(s) | permalink

Monday, February 14, 2005

ka-blog of the week

oil mah gas, the dubai chronicles featured at pinoyblog. Thanks guys.

discoursed by jeff @ 10:28 AM | 2 comment(s) | permalink

happy valentines

discoursed by jeff @ 8:45 AM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Saturday, February 12, 2005

dubai dry docks

ronald, my cousin's -> cousin -> brother-in-law (in fact, not my relative anymore), who works at dubai dry docks called me up and asked me if i can help him install his roomie's pc. after office i headed back to their place.

it's my second time to visit their accomodation. the first one was also to fix the computer. when you entered the place, i felt like i'm in china... bicycles are everywhere! as far as i know, approximately there are 2,000 employees working at the docks.

i took me four hours (two hours figuring out what went wrong) to install the hardware and software of the new pc. the delay was caused by the new wireless keyboard and mouse they've bought. batteries were not charged.

the lesson: always have a spare wired-keyboard and mouse. wireless is cool but when the batteries drained, you're screwed.

discoursed by jeff @ 8:51 AM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Friday, February 11, 2005

drag myself down

i stucked my ass in the house for the whole day, didn't do anything but to play drag racing from a flash game i downloaded before. it's my day off anyways, no internet, no sidelines, no friend's visit, not even laundry.

sorry guys, i need myself to unwind just for one day.

discoursed by jeff @ 11:44 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Thursday, February 10, 2005

acoustic night

before i left manila, acoustic sessions with the likes of paolo, nyoy, jimmy, nina and others were hot almost in every bars. it's my first time visiting the millenium hotel near the airport to visit the only acoustic playing pinoy bands (as far as i know because i don't visit around the clubs much). we're supposed to party in a fifty-footer sail yacht. unfortunately our contact advised us not to go because it was prohibited to visit during the night and so we deviated to a club instead.

the place is nice, very relaxing and has a distinct touch of philippine design. one of our kumpadres, paul, designed the place. he used walis tambo (coconut-made brooms) and sinamay (im not sure with this; woven fabric made of coconut also) as decorations. overall, the place is 4 out of 5 compared to other bars i've visited.

as for the band, the performance was ok but i have few comments. the filipino band who played that time consists of one male bassist/singer, male guitarist and a female vocalist. since the place is called acoustic pinoy, they'd be playing at least playing filipino songs even there are other nationalities present. from the moment we arrived there till we left (which is 3am) i heard a very few opm songs... the rest all english music. im not trying to be patriotic or anything but if some people like me who wants to listen live opm songs and being disappointed because the band played none or very few, i might as well download it on kazaa, mirc and winmx instead. why bother going to an pinoy acoustic performance?

also, their breaktime are lot longer than their gig. the guy next to our table noticed it also and complained about it. anyway, we did enjoy the night even if they didn't play japat's requested song (the vocalist chick keeps on looking at us btw).

...after the booze we visited our favorite hangout, burger king and ate fries and drank hot choco.

discoursed by jeff @ 11:59 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

hijri holiday

today is the islamic new year and it's a holiday...

...not to our team. we're instructed to work on a new project and it's another rush job. everything is rush job for them. bleargh.

discoursed by jeff @ 8:56 AM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Monday, February 07, 2005

preparation

i was forced to join with them in setting up the materials for tomorrow's conference eventhough i'm not really involved in it. i already did my part in designing some stuffs for the event but i wanna see where it will be and so i came with them to the hotel.

four of us, three pinoys including me and an iranian, prepared the props in advance. later on, mr. k visited the venue and see how things are. we ate dinner buffet (from the leftovers of the function few hours ago) with him and chit-chat a little bit. he mentioned that he axed another guy today. it was a big surprise to us and later i realized that the meeting this morning was a warning to us and bye-bye to the guy.

i still pity him eventhough he's an a-hole.

after the setup, we hit the road and headed home. while in the car i heard the song from bob marley which i've been looking for all these years. i don't know the title but it's the song from catch me if you can (leonardo de caprio, tom hanks) and the jingle song of a nokia commercial years back.

here's the part of the lyrics (i don't even know if i'm hearing it right):

"o, (summer/sober) man, where you run to, (summer/sober) where you gone to?"

discoursed by jeff @ 11:48 PM | 1 comment(s) | permalink

Saturday, February 05, 2005

accomodation

i paid a visit to my former place in jaffliya yesterday noon. i was greeted by king-sized can of san mig pale pilsen... an offer i cannot refuse because its my type of beer. it was accompanied by pulutan too like cripy pata, chicharon and bulalo. friendly friends came by and as usual, sing-the-song videoke and playing the filipino version of poker, tong-its.

i've been thinking lately and i realized that it's hard to get a decent accomodation here in dubai. aside from the prices are steep, the factors of getting a suitable place is difficult. one week ago, bob and i accompanied some friends of his looking for a room of four. the price is 1,200 dirhams a month and its only limited for two persons. the room was very clean and accomodating but with that kind of price, nothing will be left on a person's salary if he/she's earning 2k a month.

instead, people will opt for a bedspace. its a little cheaper but the cons for this type of accomodation is privacy. few lucky ones can get a little or more privacy if the sharing person is having a long work schedules.

right now, i dont need a room on my own. i can live with a little bedspace. if i can extend my budget further or some friend or relative will be coming here then it is time for me to extend my abode.

i will have my break and i feel that it's coming.

discoursed by jeff @ 6:51 PM | 1 comment(s) | permalink

Thursday, February 03, 2005

confronting the donkey

i've confronted my colleague yesterday. we debated the issues of using and not using css. i pointed out everything on my side what's the pro's and cons. i did win the debate...

...but still i'll be following his methods, and a backward one. he just can't comprehend what i was doing. on the side of the who made this and that, i don't give a f*ck anymore. i'll put the original design on my portfolio.

in other news the large print banners has been made and it was exhibited on dubai world trade center. here are the poster designs.

now, back to work.

discoursed by jeff @ 8:27 AM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

The Dubai Chronicles