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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.

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Tuesday, May 31, 2005

improvise

i was told two days ago to make a 2-page flyer in english and arabic format. the current one they have is a three-pager. they want it smaller than that. the problem is the content is too much and they want some more text.

so i devised this solution. the width is the same as a4 paper but the height is thrice as much. one side is english, the other arabic. when folded, it would be a six-fold type and the size will become a5 (half of a4 page).

o-ha.
discoursed by jeff @ 2:19 PM  |  1 comment(s)  |  permalink

Monday, May 30, 2005

watch your back from red-back

since last week, there was an eight-legged freak scare across dubai. newspapers, tv and other publications are reporting the sightings of the red-back spiders.


image: Museum Victoria Australia

red-back spider, redbacks or lactrodectus hasseltii is potentially a poisonous spider with a red stripe marking on the body. they are related to the notorious black widow spider but smaller in size. a native of australia, it is highly venomous and when bitten, it is characterized by intense pain and around the bite area.

redbacks are believed to be brought here from australia 10 years ago. there is one reportedly bitten as of now. one expert say it's now common here in the uae. aside from redbacks, there are also other poisonous creatures found here.

for more information check out these sites:
- Museum Victoria Australia
- Australian Museum Online
- Wikipedia

hey, is that spider who bit peter parker? maybe, i should try one also...
discoursed by jeff @ 10:48 AM  |  4 comment(s)  |  permalink

Sunday, May 29, 2005

pasalubong



my roomie, now called short-haired bob (used to have fine silky long hair), arrived around one o' clock in the morning from manila. he brought us pasalubong (present or gift) and the only request from him before he get back here... burger mcdo.

you may see me look cheap but hey, i like burger mcdo (an inexpensive version of hamburger with thousand island dressing) and i crave for it. :P

next in picture are my underwear. i told my mother to buy me some bikini briefs. briefs here are expensive and low quality (30dhs each). one problem though, it's stripes! next time, i'll be discreet even in colors.

last one is lengua de gato one of baguio's sweet delicacies. i didn't tell her to bring it to me but she told me she just wanted to. mothers...

thanks ma, yer the best! (of course, not on the underwear part..hehehe)
discoursed by jeff @ 1:29 PM  |  4 comment(s)  |  permalink

Friday, May 27, 2005

etsetera: art: raped and murdered



after few hours of waiting and doing nothing last night, i decided to make a photoessay. my perspective on plagiarism and piracy. check it out here

in other news, you wouldn't believe i have just met on the conference last wednesday night. it's mr. president himself, george errr bush.





nah, he's just an aper for the real president. his name is steve bridges. kudos to you sir for entertaining us that night. it was a good laugh.
discoursed by jeff @ 7:19 PM  |  7 comment(s)  |  permalink

Thursday, May 26, 2005

at last it's over

the five-day event is done. we're dead tired from tearing off backdrops, carrying boxes, dismantling wires and cables, collating paraphernalia and sending it back to the office.

we finished at 1:30am.

but i still managed to make up to my wifey...courting her to give me a new ipod. right hunnie?

for you my love:







if you're asking where did i get this flowers well, i snatched it from the function area...the flower arrangement costs dhs22k... just like the "good ol mobile days."

i miss you! ipod ko ha. hehehe.
discoursed by jeff @ 1:59 PM  |  3 comment(s)  |  permalink

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

what is gcc?

i just did some little research about it after lara asked about those guys in "costume."

the cooperation council for the arab states of the gulf, formerly known as gulf cooperation council or GCC was founded on may 26, 1981 between member states to achive unity with all aspects such as trade, finance, legislation, tourism, among others.

currently there are six members. these are: bahrain, kuwait, oman, qatar, saudi arabia and united arab emirates.


gcc logo (image: wikipedia)
discoursed by jeff @ 11:39 AM  |  0 comment(s)  |  permalink

Monday, May 23, 2005

recall

i was supposed to be in the venue but the big b told most of us to go back in the office and do the normal stuffs. good thing the wireless lan is back online since to what happened yesterday. i was able to finish my pending work in time.


this was taken two days ago...the first day of the conference.

damn, i miss the hotel food... he he he.
discoursed by jeff @ 4:10 PM  |  5 comment(s)  |  permalink

Sunday, May 22, 2005

techno stress

i have four workstations, one laptop, all defunct. i used to say it always been a user problem. i guess so. why?

they're not connected to each other. the wireless lan hub is not present and the only utp-cabled lan is the mac workstation. i can use mac but you need a software of some sort to connect to gates' system.

here i made some stupid but effective solution...

good thing i brought my external drive. i used the mobility of my drive to transfer files via USB (remind me to buy a flash disk next time). so i transfer here and there, unplugging and plugging... internet on mac and download the necessary files, copy to external drive and transfer to the other pc workstation and edit something... and finally copy again to external drive and transfer to the laptop.

wireless lan has disadvantages... and you should be prepared for an alternative.
discoursed by jeff @ 11:01 PM  |  0 comment(s)  |  permalink

Saturday, May 21, 2005

disconnected

i posted this blog during our conference day. very less sleep, hungry and tensed...

wireless.

the sponsor-provided lappie for five days gave us an easy work...everywhere you walk within the conference area gives you mobility of internet access. it made us publish easy press releases almost realtime.

but somethin' happened... one of the participants, a kuwaiti, fainted or probably had a cardiac arrest. he's not already breathing when paramedics came. first time i saw a man dying...

but the conference must go on and we're already behind schedule...
discoursed by jeff @ 11:55 AM  |  0 comment(s)  |  permalink

Thursday, May 19, 2005

jedi's darkest hour

finally, the media-hyped, much anticipated and final installation of star wars: the revenge of the sith showed on silverscreen. it's been two years since i went inside a cinema. my virginity going to the movies in dubai has come to an end.

after taking a nap for thirty minutes (i'm too excited that i can't sleep) i waited for mond and had dinner-midnight snack at deira city center. we're the first ones who entered the cinema. there were two sections: vip and the regular one. vip seats are situated on the uppermost part.

the difference... reclining seats.

regular seats are also comfy. it's just like a padded victorian dining chair of some sort with armrest that can be swiveled back suitable for couples cuddling while watching. mond picked beforehand the sweetest spot... the center. the audio effects thru speakers vibrates well especially when huge starships moving close. unfortunately the picture is mediocre and the quality of audio sometimes decreases.

the crowd at first, we thought people are few coming but on the last minute the place was jampacked. some of moviegoers were wearing costumes with the likes of obi-wan and darth vader and bringing plastic toy light sabers.

the movie... ah yes, it was dragging in the mid part where *tooot* (for posterity's sake for those who will watch). anyway, there were a lot of fighting scenes and the sfx were cool. a lot of the characters were doin' their part well. it's the missing link from attack of the clones to a new hope. george mended it well.

and of course, i like vader, coolest villain of all, when he wore his suit.
discoursed by jeff @ 8:47 AM  |  3 comment(s)  |  permalink

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

may the force be with you

after the heavy day's work, i'll be goin' home and take a nap for few hours... prepping for tonight's premiere of star wars: the revenge of the sith.
discoursed by jeff @ 4:19 PM  |  1 comment(s)  |  permalink

shindaga night out

it's an overtime job. last night, the office called me while fixing dinner and i didn't even chow down a bit. they needed me in a few minutes time while i was four blocks away.

here comes superman... i left my place, uber dressed down attire... sandals, shirt and shorts.

after dropping some passengers around deira, the driver picked the digital camera from the photographer we contacted before and dropped me near gold souk. the driver and i weren't in good vibes.

and so i walked till i reached the subject.

still thinkering with the device, i realized that i don't have much options... 10 shots for 32mb CF card, half-charged battery and no tripod. good thing there were fences... and use timer for antishake.

here's the outcome from canon powershot g5 camera (iso100, manual focus, f5.6, 0.8sec, natural effect)



this will be used as stage backdrop design with a span of 15x4m and will be the third undecided concept in less than a week's time deadline.
discoursed by jeff @ 2:24 PM  |  3 comment(s)  |  permalink

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

illustrator cs

finally i got a copy of adobe illustrator cs. i'd say it's way better than version 10. i didn't explored it entirely but definitely there are a lot of goodies like brushes, borders, swatches and templates.

while tinkering, i made a bogus logo out of it:



yummy.

addendum: three more banners added. portfolio's getting chunkier. *grins*

discoursed by jeff @ 12:44 PM  |  2 comment(s)  |  permalink

Monday, May 16, 2005

airport tax

the bureau of customs implemented stringent inspection of all inbound passengers to the philippines searching not just drugs, pornography, piracy nor deadly weapons anymore... they're looking for any taxable items.

according to the newspapers here, items such as brand new clothes (yeah, including underwear), shoes, watches, jewelries (so much for the city of gold), cameras, electronics and appliances are aimed for by the custom officials as taxable items for a certain amount.

bravo, mr. customs commissioner. you'd just changed my mind going home this june.

my fellow filipino expats are sweating their asses abroad to earn a living and yer giving a hefty tax on those people coming back to our native soil. why don't you guys tax other people instead, especially with lots-n-lots of riches and stuffs. we ain't rich and we deserve something brand new to be brought home for our families and friends.

now i have to ship my goodies by sea or air cargo and wait for another six months to come home.

excuse my language but... fuck you, bigtime.
discoursed by jeff @ 4:58 PM  |  6 comment(s)  |  permalink

Sunday, May 15, 2005

print day

since i joined this company, i experienced a lot of tasks mainly on print media. i took this job as a graphic designer cum web designer. last week, i did a horde of print ads for magazines and newspapers in english and arabic format. i barely didn't make it through. there were also sideprojects in the web like newsletters, email shots and flash animations. in other words, i patched things when there's a hole.

two days ago, my colleague and i supervised the stage design... i dunno what to call with it but now i'm designing it for the event including the dimensions, props and other stuffs.

with all the patience i had from waiting and crashing of my celeron pc (which of course, not suitable for large format printing artworks), i managed to finish a 30x4m stage backdrop and ten 1x2m print banners.

here are four of the twenty banners:



it's not yet over till the month ends...
discoursed by jeff @ 11:30 PM  |  1 comment(s)  |  permalink

Saturday, May 14, 2005

weekend controversies and more

like the usual weekends, here's an update:

- last thursday's roomie celebration, i became a paparazzi. i took photos and videos thru my k700i. if there's calapan, lasalle and makati scandals... well, i called this one satwa scandal.

- TDC reached its 5000 visitor hits.

- pampered myself by going to a parlor and spending almost 100dhs on hot oil, hair trim and a freakin' 50dhs anti-dandruff shampoo.

- indulged myself (stopped my designing aspects for a while) with dvds and watched hunt for red october, the edge, gladiator, independence day, the rock and m.i.b.
discoursed by jeff @ 3:07 PM  |  2 comment(s)  |  permalink

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

point where?

i've been conceptualizing logos and i'm runnning out of ideas. i ended up with this instead:



i need to unwind.

addendum: finally, i uploaded my design for faith's blog.
discoursed by jeff @ 5:38 PM  |  1 comment(s)  |  permalink

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

the accused

hey bob, if you're reading this we found the "swindler" roaming at wafi city mall last night.



we spent your two thousand dirhams shopping. we bought ipod, shoes and coffee at starbucks. thanks man.

nah, we're just kidding. we took japs and liz's paintings to a curator.
discoursed by jeff @ 12:19 PM  |  0 comment(s)  |  permalink

Monday, May 09, 2005

five in one

dennis just borrowed 5-in-1 dvds from a friend. of course, these are all pirated movies bought from street vendor or somethin'. they're good in bargains... making five blockbuster movies like the one i've watched few nights ago. usually there's one common actor/actress in these 5-in-1s or comes as a series. it's also cheap.

the disadvantage though is that you don't get a good picture or sometimes there's a delayed speech (like english-dubbed chinese movies). it also skips, stops, subtitles all wrong and worst of all, it crashes when the it comes to the turning point of the movie.

that's what you get for a cheap 5-in-1s. oh and by the way, it destroys your dvd-rom and players too.



"it's time to beginning" - and all you base are belong to us! hahaha!
discoursed by jeff @ 10:09 AM  |  1 comment(s)  |  permalink

Sunday, May 08, 2005

out of the ordinary

we went home late yesterday, before at seven. it was the first day of our "overtime" office hours before the may conference event. i was walking the usual route... from emirate towers side going to the pedestrian underpass beneath sheikh zayed road and surfacing in front of crown plaza hotel. it was my usual walk.

while walking towards fairmont, i saw some familiar face. afar, he looks ordinary, wearing a kondura just like other arabs but yellowish in color. crossing ways, i doubted it wasn't him. i was wrong.

face to face, eyes met, i've crossed with the crown prince of dubai just walking along sheikh zayed road with no or very few bodyguards. my mind blew off. he already passed me when i realized he was really him. i didn't even armed myself with the camera phone when there was a chance.

who knows, maybe he just want to stroll or probably checking the everyday people...just like any normal human being.
discoursed by jeff @ 8:37 AM  |  0 comment(s)  |  permalink

Saturday, May 07, 2005

learn korean in 5 minutes

kudos to eric, my old friend from britain, who gave this so-called translations. you must read it loud to get it right. i think it's an english-korean slang. :P

that't not right - sum ting wong
are you harbouring a fugitive - hu yu hai ding
see me asap -kum hia
stupid man - dum gai
small horse - tai ni po ni
did you go to the beach - wai yu so tan
i bumped the coffee table - ai bang mai ni
i think you need a face lift - chin tu fat
it's very dark in here - wai so dim
i thought you were on a diet - wai yu mun ching
this is a tow away zone - no pah king
our meeting is scheduled for next week - wai yu kum nao
staying out of sight - lei ying lo
he's cleaning his automobile - wa shing ka
your body odour is offensive - yu stin ki pu
great - fa kin su pah
give it to me baby - suk mai dong
who's been eating all the pies - yo fat wan ka
discoursed by jeff @ 3:11 PM  |  0 comment(s)  |  permalink

Friday, May 06, 2005

weekend update

- two of my photos have been accepted in sxc. these are ericssons and mobile banking photos.

- finished and waiting for faith's approval on her blog template.

- general semi-house cleaning and laundry.

- bob's despedida and accompanied him to the airport for his 10-day vacation in manila (or 20 days).
discoursed by jeff @ 8:54 AM  |  0 comment(s)  |  permalink

Thursday, May 05, 2005

socially blocked



first myspace, then orkut, and now the famous friendster.

etisalat, the so-called sole provider and government state-owned isp in the uae are responsible in blocking sites like the ones i've mentioned which inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values.

they also blocked internet-based telephony like skype and they say it's illegal to use alternative service of etisalat. you can also read the case study (actually a country study) i found on the web.

imho, uae is opening it's gates to internet with a leash. this is not bad, but they must be a little bit sensible in their judgements. internet has many loopholes and sometimes they're plugging the wrong ones.

hell, they might as well block yahoo with chat, social network and voice capabilities...
discoursed by jeff @ 11:23 AM  |  11 comment(s)  |  permalink

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

skyrocketing rent

we just got our renewal contract from the landlord. i couldn't believe what i've just seen. the price went up from Dhs15k to Dhs24k per annum. that's sixty percent increase. wtf, is going on? a crammy, insect-infested, tapped-metered studio flat would cost around this much?

two ways. either the landlord wants us out or they can't just get enough money. i researched and this is what i found out from the emirates network:

Important Rent Law
Rents throughout the United Arab Emirates have jumped and it is important that tenants know one crucial law regarding rent increases. A landlord can only increase rents every three years and the increase in rent cant be more than 20%. If a landlord doesnt abide by this law, a tenant can approach the Municipality and they will handle the issue.

my roomie inquired the other real estate agencies and he said that the increase went up to ten thousand dirhams.

i rest my case. the law doesn't work here.
discoursed by jeff @ 12:44 PM  |  0 comment(s)  |  permalink

Monday, May 02, 2005

broken routine

i'm losing it. i've missed the blog posts for three days now and a lot of things happened. it's been a very busy weekend for me. if the big b didn't go for ksa,i still would not be able to post. there's a lot of projects to do.

anyway, here are the events took place...

thursday till friday dawn
gerry's birthday. i volunteered to cook chopsuey for the guests in the evening and they loved it (they say). i haven't cooked big servings for a long time since when we had a canteen in a university in u-belt. also, we made a little heart-to-heart talk with the messiah look-alike and jammed with the groupies. went home almost five in the morning.

friday
backup and freelance work day. i went to i-cafe and retrieved my files i backed-up few months back. i also tried to finish gerry's business card, faith's blog, new look of tdc and my upcoming personal portfolio. i also did my "little" relaxation by finishing alien shooter.

saturday
didn't go to work. product of katams. continued yesterday's work and hanging around with japs, liz, and boni throughout the city.

sunday
going back to routine... logos here, artworks there. but this day was different...
rewarding time once again... and this time i got a raise. :D

forgot which date
since the pc is now fixed, dvd watching is back. constantine, the brothers (where the tigers are the main casts), and vin diesel's the pacifier.
discoursed by jeff @ 2:44 PM  |  0 comment(s)  |  permalink