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.

new roomies

the usual laundry day in the room

after a week of transferring stuffs, japs and liz are officially our new roomies. replacing kat and bob (which is temporary for him to move to a new flat), we managed to fit ourselves in our tiny studio flat.

we can now have lan party everyday

a lot of things were removed from room including the single sofa, defunct wooden closet and other things. we went to carrefour during the day and bought new things. before shopping, we had brunch in an italian fastfood having penne pasta, garden salad and chicken siomai (there's a chinese dimsum stand nearby). after eating, we went inside the grocery and shopped.

we purchased portable closet (linen coverings) for each, a table lamp, flourescent bulbs, and groceries. to celebrate their homecoming, we've bought lamb meat for dinner.

after installing the closets and light fixtures we decided to cook the lamb meat as kaldereta. the new guy from manila few days ago, dennis, cooked for us while we arranged our things. moments later, new faces came to our place and celebrated dinner.

another "class picture"

almost fifteen people fitted into our small room... crowded but we enjoyed the evening.

discoursed by jeff @ 9:29 PM | 4 comment(s) | permalink

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

abnormality restored

yahooo! i was able to complete my 10-hour sleep but unfortunately, i wasn't able to wake up for work. it's ok because i called up office not to report and the other conference we're having will be over by the end of the week but i'm not involved anymore.

this will be a regular day job for me again...go to work at eight thirty and do some graphic and other web-related stuffs, coffee break, check some blogs that i missed a lot, then be home at five thirty. also, ramadan will be up next week... another sudden tone down pressure from this month's rush. it will be a lazy month since the next event will be december.

so what to do this october?

- i might join the aap (art association of the philippines) contest by submitting photography and digital art entries. also, i might as well submit an entry for environmental awareness photo contest here. i've never joined such contests before and maybe, i might give myself a try.

- update my portfolio and photo galleries. i've listed them already and i've finished new ones.

- be generous. i've probably give three more blog templates to the lucky ones.

- get some more sleep.

discoursed by jeff @ 1:00 PM | 8 comment(s) | permalink

Monday, September 26, 2005

corporate lessons

this was forwarded to me by my mother-in-law... nice.

Corporate Lesson 1:

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next door neighbor. Before she says a word, Bob says, "I'll give you $800 to drop that towel." After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob. After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 dollars and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, "Who was that?" "It was Bob the next door neighbor," she replies. "Great!" the husband says, "did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?"

Moral of the story: If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Corporate Lesson 2:

A priest offered a lift to a Nun. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg. The nun said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?" The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?" The priest apologized "Sorry sister but the flesh is weak."
Arriving at the convent, the nun went on her way. On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, "Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory."

Moral of the story: If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Corporate Lesson 3:

A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out.
The Genie says, "I'll give each of you just one wish." "Me first! Me first!" says the admin. clerk. "I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world" Poof! She's gone. "Me next! Me next!" says the sales rep. "I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life." Poof! He's gone. "OK, you're up," the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, "I want those two back in the office after lunch."

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.

Corporate Lesson 4:

A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A rabbit asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?" The crow answered: "Sure, why not." So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested. A fox jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very high up.

Corporate Lesson 5:

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to Get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, but I haven't got the energy." "Well, why don't you nibble on my droppings?" replied the bull. "They're packed with nutrients." The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon he was spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.

Moral of the story: Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

discoursed by jeff @ 10:59 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Sunday, September 25, 2005

gitex 2005

after the quick ender of the conference, my colleagues and i were able to loiter and went to the opening day of gitex 2005. when this kind of event comes into view, most people who stayed here for a long time knew what would happen... the traffic.

one thing i also noticed when coming to this event was parking and means of transportation were lacking. anyhow, traffic can be dealt with since my place is walking distance to trade center and i don't own a car.

no need to waste my energy for complaining.

well, just like any big it exhibitions and trade conferences, people are everywhere. my opinion to this year's gitex was unsurpising and less entertaining... last year was a little bit better.

and so i went there just for photos... here are some:

discoursed by jeff @ 12:31 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Saturday, September 24, 2005

meeting with the leaders

lacking sleep from last night's bed fixing, i felt like a zombie. at four in the morning, we went to al bustan rotana to prepare the conference setup.

my mind and body's running for almost 24-hour straight...tired and restless....

but it's ok, i've got a chance to take a little chit-chat with hon. anwar ibrahim, former deputy prime minister of malaysia and a photo with the former prime minister of spain, hon. jose maria aznar lopez.

it's good being a photographer sometimes. oh, the food in the conference... it's superb.

discoursed by jeff @ 4:50 PM | 6 comment(s) | permalink

Friday, September 23, 2005

last friday

emirates towers from behind (shutter speed: f1/500 sec, aperture: f5.6, focal length: 21mm, iso: 100, manual focus)

this will be the last friday and it's going to be my last overtime. i've been working for the whole straight month already...

the ordeal is not yet over... we have to go to the two separate conference venues at three in the morning for the big event.

i hope this thing ends in a smooth flow...

discoursed by jeff @ 2:52 PM | 4 comment(s) | permalink

goodbye room 206

japs and his colleagues are moving from al diyafa to al quoz. no more lan parties. no more photo sessions. no more hang-outs.

we celebrated the final days in jollibee. unlike in manila, the fastfood chain here is more like of a resto. also, the chickens here are somewhat "mutated"... bigger yet taste weird. they also served gravy (unlike in kfc there's no gravy), rice and coleslaw. after the dinner we picked up some stuffs and took it to our flat.

we have decided to let them stay in our place.

although our place will be a little bit crowded, definitely the fun will be just the beginning...

discoursed by jeff @ 7:43 AM | 3 comment(s) | permalink

Thursday, September 22, 2005

what will it be...

after a four-day hiatus, i was able to breathe a little time for blogging. as usual, work has eaten a lot of my leisure time. gitex 2005 will be coming in the next few days and after almost a month-long pressure from work, i need to reward myself... the problem is i have to pick only one. can you help?

option 1: ipod nano
few months ago, the big brother ipod has slipped through my hands. the money went to my daughter's hospitalization bills. i didn't really crave for ipods since i'm still using the sony md player. the bumming part of it was i have to carry a couple of md disks...

option 2: 120gb internal hard disk drive
i have one 80gb and two 40gb hard drives already but almost all of them doesn't have enough space. i need it for my reorganization of mp3 files (around 10k plus songs) to this drive and the other for work, game and other personal documents. the problem now is, i don't have enough slots left (two dvd-rom drives are already occupying it).

option 3: 256mb ddr video card
my video card sucks and i think it's time for retirement. i can't even play recent games with it. the only thing that bothers me is if i get addicted to games again...

option 4: pda phone
my recent phone is very helpful but whenever i'm on the go, things go haywire sometimes (because i'm forgetful). i think, the i-mate is the best candidate for me since i don't need to carry two gadgets... but i'm clumsy on delicate items... i broke two pdas in my life already.

still if i can't decide yet, i probably go on a jetski ride on dubai creek just for treats..hehehe.

discoursed by jeff @ 12:34 PM | 14 comment(s) | permalink

Sunday, September 18, 2005

kids

it's an early assignment that i don't need to rely on company drivers anymore. i woke up at six hoping to catch the early ride from bur dubai bus station to catch the shuttle bus going to abu dhabi and attend to the client there. if you're taking a ride via bus, the one-way cost will be dhs15. for car taxi sharing, dhs50 per head. the advantages of taking a taxi is the travel time would be less. there's no rush on my part since i will be taking a two-hour nap time.

from the past week's hiccup, the schedule has been set and the selected schools are ready for the photo shoot. we visited the girls' pre-school first and started point-and-clicking. the little students are cute, participated very well and, friendly. in fact, they love the camera in which i had no trouble in directing them. instead of speaking, fearing that they wouldn't understand, i used hand gestures to communicate with them. after the session, we headed for the boy's school in another place. same with the girls, the little men are also cooperative with us. after few more clicks, we headed back to the client's office.

the girls are taking up the computer class

it professional in the making

while checking up the images i've taken, i decided to call up buds, an old friend of mine in manila and crash in to their flat for lunch. it's been months i haven't seen him. from the client's office i took the taxi and arrived to their place in five minutes. taxi fare in abu by the way is relatively cheap compared to dubai. flag down rate is dhs2 while in dubai would cost dhs3-3/50.

chloe, bud's daughter, posing for the camera

it's also the first time i see chloe, his daughter. i thought she would be scared to see a total stranger to her but she was gleeful and welcoming. at the age of one and seven months, she's very hyperactive... running to and fro, jumping, coming up and down the chair and so forth. good thing was i brought the camera and capture some good moments. after staying for an hour i went back to the client's office and finished my ordeal and headed back to dubai to report to the office in the evening.

i regret myself for coming to abu dhabi...

why?

homesickness sets in the moment i interacted with the kids. i felt happy and sorry at the same time. i'm happy because i still have the touch of making the kids smile. i also felt sorry because i do these to kids which is not mine. i took photos of strangers many times but not to my own kids. i feel very depressed at the moment.

i miss them a lot. i want to go home... now.

discoursed by jeff @ 9:47 PM | 8 comment(s) | permalink

Saturday, September 17, 2005

conference and cityscape

i've been given a task as a photographer. unfortunately, i have to fill in some duties instictively which in need of hand like fixing the giveaway bags, run errands, instant it and technical support and so on...

the first day is always the busy day for the conference, filling almost a thousand people in the conference and exhibition areas. only fifteen of us from the office took the impossible multitasking jobs just to accomodate and making the conference successful.

we did it but we're dead tired.

as soon as the conference for the today was almost finished, i headed to the other exhibition which is also going on the same date. usually most of the conferences are held in dubai world trade center. after my free time, i went in to the cityscape exhibition.

one of dubailand's theme cities

the exhibition is all about what it can do to the cities, the plans, visions and ambitions, particularly in the mid-east. there were miniatures of uber-futuristic metropolises, planned skyscrapers, themed cities and parks. i was fascinated on the miniature designs rather than the big scale projects.

burj dubai will be the world's tallest building once built

i got nostalgic about the doing a miniature house project in drafting class when i was in school...

discoursed by jeff @ 10:33 PM | 3 comment(s) | permalink

Friday, September 16, 2005

preparation

after jmert's boogaboo plans, i went back to work in the exhibition area and helped the guys in preparing the stuffs for tomorrow's event. it will be jampacked for sure... by the sight of the seats in the conference area and the rate of the fee for attending (dhs500), this will be the biggest ever for us...

we'll see.

the conference hall where speakers and delegates participate

they're ready when time comes...

discoursed by jeff @ 11:11 PM | 5 comment(s) | permalink

unexpected events

we have to work on a friday and it was expected because the conference will be next day. the unexpected one was jmerts called me in the morning for the photoshoot. it was unplanned and out of sync. worse, i have to escape the office for few hours for this.

and so i did the batman escape, vanishing in thin air and headed to the rendezvous to pick them up and headed to his friends' pad. his female friends, all cabin crew of an international airline, were introduced and we stayed and waited till the other groupies come. while waiting for crucial hours, japs, jon, jmerts and me did some shots at their place...just to kill some time.

the chessmaster... kuno

the lensmonster

finally the other party has come and time for the beach and boat ride. unfortunately, not for me. wasting a lot of precious hours waiting for them, i wasn't able to come because they're looking for me and decided to go back to work.

bummer. nice plan jmerts.

discoursed by jeff @ 6:53 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Thursday, September 15, 2005

the pinoy bloggers

I've just created a group for filipino bloggers who uses friendster. although the site is still on beta stages, we might as well give it a try. so, if you're a filipino, an account on friendster and you blog, this group might be the place to join in.

visit the site if you're interested. :)

discoursed by jeff @ 10:31 AM | 3 comment(s) | permalink

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

total recall

for those peeps who owns playstation 2 slim edition(including me), visit this site.

a friend of mine who works for sony informed me of this...

There is currently a worldwide concern with the adaptors for the slim-line PS2.

Some adaptors for this console heat up and melt, thus causing damages to property and an injury hazard.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. decided to recall ALL the affected adaptors around the world and replace them with new ones for free. All consumers have to do is log on to www.ps2ac.com and after filling out the information requested, a new adaptor will be on its way to them.

Important safety notices have already been published in local and regional papers.

i bought my console few weeks ago and now it's somewhat defective? what a bummer.

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

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

life...

shutter speed: 1/15 sec, aperture: f/4, iso: 100, focal length: 31mm, manual setting

...is like chocnut pasalubongs, you'll never know how many blessings will come to you unexpectedly.

gee, i love these local chocos!

discoursed by jeff @ 10:07 AM | 8 comment(s) | permalink

Monday, September 12, 2005

short taste of oman

talk about hectic sched, the office won't give me a break. instead of taking the "vacation" to kish for the nth time, i was forced-booked flight to oman and back. it's better to have an exit-entry there rather in kish. after the fieldwork in abu dhabi, i went straight to the airport without any baggage, just me, my passport, visa and ticket.

flying to oman and back are applicable only to have their new visit / employment / residence visas in hand else you will not be allowed to go and forced to fly to kish, queshem or back to home country instead and wait for the new visa. depending on the visa, you can get the permit onhand quickly by paying an extra amount. and so, since me and my colleague are too valuable at the moment, the company was forced to give the convenience of paying extras on visa change.

definitely the cost of airfare is dhs150 cheaper than flying to kish. better yet, it is a bigger, better and relaxing plane rather than a below par-level, often scary twin-prop fokker. the travel time comparison between the two are the same, a forty-five minutes flight but different altitudes. oman air soars about 32,000 feet while kish air is only 14,000. im acrophobic (and still felt the trauma of the past aircrashes) but i enjoyed this flight, able to sit near the window.

from above, the city of muscat is almost surrounded by rocky hills and mountains and it's smaller than dubai. when we landed, instead of a walkway tarmac, you'll be goin down on a mobile staircase from the aircraft parkway then take a bus to the building premises. since we're on a transit/visa change, we were directed to departure area immediately because we don't have to enter the immigration. for officially entering their country, you can buy a visa from the airport.

just like any other international airports, it has duty free shops, restos, a coffeeshop, foreign currency exchange and a bar. we arrived in the early evening and decided for dinner. one omani riyal is equals to ten uae dirhams.

after chit-chatting with my colleague for an hour, we're finally called to board the plane and flew back to dubai in forty five minutes time. here are pro's and con's of visa change flight via oman:

pros:
- you don't need to stay for a night in a hotel and spend much
- less hassle
- cheaper airline rate
- there's booze bar in the airport

cons:
- you must carry the visa (online/regular) with you
- pay an extra for the visa

the only bad part of this ordeal was i forgot to bring the camera... shuhada!

discoursed by jeff @ 10:15 PM | 1 comment(s) | permalink

fieldwork

getting used to this road somehow...

i'm back to abu dhabi for the photoshoot. although it's late, i still tried to get some shots as much as possible. the problem was time wherein my subjects will be available from seven in the morning till noon. our office opens at eight thirty then travel by car for two hours which you will land on the capital city before eleven.

the objective of the visit

after that, you'll make courtesy talks and ask permissions for the venue. that gives you one hour left. then you travel from a to b to c and so forth. one venue will take at least thirty minutes which means definitely you don't have time for c and others.

a common sight in dubai...

in the end, i ended up nothing. i'll be back maybe next week and probably spend a night in a hotel or someplace (buds, you hearin' me? hehehe).

discoursed by jeff @ 9:58 AM | 3 comment(s) | permalink

Sunday, September 11, 2005

my execution

it's time to get interact with fellow visitors. since i've been in a hell of busy scheds and deadlines, i put my head on the chopping block for you to judge. here are the questions (derived from knoizki's post):

- what was your impression of this blog when you visited it for the first time?

- describe the blog in one or two words.

- now, describe the author in one sentence.

- are you getting what the author was trying to say or you just want to get noticed for some reason?

- what do you love and hate this blog most?

- are you offering the author a job, indecent proposal or telling him to get lost?

- if you're the author of this blog, what changes would you like to make?

- isn't this questionnaire just plain stupid trying to make you busy?

- are you gonna spread this questionnaire just like any other meme, like a virus or a chain letter of some sort?

- what keeps coming back for more?

- are you answering this? if so, why do you want to answer these questions?

- haven't you notice anything different on the author's writing?

ok, since it's gonna be a busy september for me, i'll try to catch up on my posts. thanks and see you!

discoursed by jeff @ 9:52 AM | 5 comment(s) | permalink

Friday, September 09, 2005

friday madness

aaarrrrgghhh not again.

just like last week, i have to go to work. i spent my whole day finishing the rush marketing collaterals instead of doing my laundry or sleep.

however, i was able to spend my time with my friends and family (and of course to blog). after finishing the job in the office, i called up my mom to greeted her a happy birthday and to check how things goin' on. i also called up my mom-in-law to see how my kids doin'... but i was unable to talk to them because they slept early.

after "family matters", we took liz to the airport for her visa change in the evening. while in the terminal two, i saw and chatted with annlyn, my former officemate in manila and treated (discounted) us cappucino. as soon as things went smooth for liz, we headed back home...

...until my cousin called. it was reggie's birthday and invited us for dinner. we went for a little munch and committed a hit-and-run because some of us have to go and i have to do some "mission impossible" jobs.

we agreed to do the m.i. job at japs place since it's connected to the internet and i can catch up my posts. we finished around 11pm and at last it's time for me to rest.

unfortunately, i left my apartment keys in the office. *sigh*

discoursed by jeff @ 11:58 PM | 1 comment(s) | permalink

the rebel

since yesterday i've been toying around with the latest acquisition from the office... the digital camera. it's been months trying to convince them and i got my wish.

the canon eos 350d was the chosen one among other 8-megapixel slr cameras. not to suffer the same mistake again, i read the manuals this time before using it. at first the controls and the setting of aperture, focus and shutter speed are difficult but when you get the feel for it, it's veryyyy neat.

here are some of the shots i've taken with this camera (no manipulation, just resizing it):

shutter speed: 1/4 sec, aperture: f4, iso 800, focal length: 21mm, manual setting

shutter speed: 1/13 sec, aperture: f5.6, iso 800, focal length: 55m, manual setting

shutter speed: 1/10 sec, aperture: f4.5, iso 200, focal length: 31mm, manual setting

i've been experimenting it for two days and i say i'm beginning to love this baby...

discoursed by jeff @ 11:50 PM | 5 comment(s) | permalink

Thursday, September 08, 2005

the birthday

it's been very a busy day for me. the project in abu dhabi was taking too much of my time already that i had to take an overtime till seven in the evening. we've been doin' the rush brochure which will be needed before the deadline... the problem is, they moved the presscon on an earlier sched.

crunch time.

after work, we celebrated the birthday of dearest friend, gladys at fridays in sheikh zayed road. they had steak, i had only veggie salad... lost my appetite from overwork.

alas! the tgif staff have cometh! happy birthday!!!

a birthday treat... taken from a new baby, of course.

discoursed by jeff @ 11:51 PM | 2 comment(s) | permalink

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

the wedding

it's the big day for japs and liz. last week it was postponed and today they were able to tied the knot, judicially. i was able to escape work for few hours (since they didn't allow me not to report work today) and attended their wedding as witness (or godfather to others).

congrats japs and liz, and may have more weddings to come..hehehe joke!

wishing you all the best mga pre!

ok, take three and make the kiss longer-lasting!

cool newlyweds after the ritual

the accused and witnesses

discoursed by jeff @ 11:21 PM | 8 comment(s) | permalink

10k mark

ip address: 83.110.202.79
country: united arab emirates
isp: emirates telecommunications corporation
visit length: 16 hours 6 mins 9 secs

congratulations, you're the 10000th visitor and because you're in uae, just drop me an email (zchizzerz AT yahoo DOT com) for the prize.

to all, thank you for the visits and comments and hopefully you enjoy the stories i've been experienced while i'm here in dubai.

to the infinity and beyond! (knoi, is this correct? hehehe)

discoursed by jeff @ 9:12 AM | 4 comment(s) | permalink

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

whack someone's head with a phone and pay dhs500 for damages only!

this post has been updated

not only that, the victim gets banned from entering... here's the story from 7days:

This man hit his receptionist in the face with a phone. He got a dhs500 fine. She got four stitches and faces a six month ban. A dental nurse who was assaulted by her boss faces being banned from the country after he reported her as an absconder.

Grace Castello was celebrating her 30th birthday when Dr Mohamed Nihad Mohammed Gouma, a dentist based in the Comprehensive Medical Centre at the Crown Plaza in Dubai, lost his temper over the time of an appointment and hit her over the head with the telephone.

“I was asking a patient to come to the clinic at 2.00pm instead of 4.00pm. I was surprised when he started shouting at me and took the phone from my hand and hit me with it.

He hit me with the telephone so hard that I had a cut on my forehead and I started bleeding,” Castello, from the Philippines, said. A surgeon in the same building gave her four stitches, she said.

The case eventually went to court, where Gouma was found guilty and ordered to pay dhs500 compensation for the attack. When Castello said she was too afraid to return to work, she was reported as an absconder, and she could now be banned from the country for six months.

“He wanted to settle the case amicably and I refused, hoping that this man learns a lesson,” she said. “But I feel he has got away with a mild punishment - even for a traffic violation we get the same fine.

“My sponsor had warned me that I was digging my own grave and now I feel he is right,” she said. When contacted by 7DAYS, Dr Gouma claimed Castello had fallen over and invented the story. He hung up when told 7DAYS had seen court documents on the case.

Siza Darwish, the patient who was on the other end of the phone when Castello was attacked, said she could hear a man screaming. “Then I heard a bang and she [Castello] was crying.

“The call was disconnected after a while,” Darwish told 7DAYS. Despite repeated requests, Dr Gouma’s sponsor refused to comment on the case.

this is the uae version of russell crowe's case. mr. crowe doesn't get away with the justice system, but this dentist for just paying dhs500 for damages? c'mon, we're not stupid. i'm no lawyer but it's not reasonable enough just to be paying dhs500 only. i bet it's just the fee for stitches she got but he must be jailed, local or otherwise and compensated more for the trauma she had.

in that case, i can whack everyone's head with a phone, pay dhs500 and do the same process until i got bored... or maybe a different justice system for third-world or expats?

yeah, he may get away with banning the victim due to absconding because she was afraid to go back to work but his reputation will be blemished.

so the sleepyheads from the embassy will act on this matter or just bow-wow-wow again?

discoursed by jeff @ 5:51 PM | 2 comment(s) | permalink

quality control

it was the first time i got hold of our playstation 2. i borrowed an original game (since is not yet modified for greenhills version of games) from a friend and tested the console. last night, i unpacked the brand-new toy and start installing the cables and wires. when i pushed the power button...

wallah, i was dumbfounded. some configuration setup appeared on the screen... waw, i'm a dinosaur for this and so, i grabbed the manuals and start reading. if you're going to operate a new electronic stuff, my advice is read the manuals first. don't follow my footsteps...hehehe.

so there ya go, everything's fine now. i tested each controls and played a little longer to see if it hangs. so far so good. after i got bored, i turned it off and tested it for dvd watching. it also worked even for gh version.

this stuff was tested ok and will be packed for home. i also finished tet's blog, watched phoneboot and fantastic four as a sidedish.

discoursed by jeff @ 9:15 AM | 2 comment(s) | permalink

Sunday, September 04, 2005

building blocks

one of my favorite toys when i was kid was the lego. before the age of g.i. joe's and transformers and voltrons, lego was one of the hottest toys for the kids, building things like towns, trains, cars, houses, castles, and even spaceships from small parts.

(image courtesy by oldlego.com)

my first collection of lego was this cargo ship. dad has given to me when he was in ksa. it has less and big parts but the cool thing here was it really floats on water. even the parts are made of plastic, there was a metal weight inside on one of the parts and can be attached to the bottom of the hull which will balance the weight and keep them afloat.

(image courtesy by oldlego.com)

next was the jeep from lego technic wherein you can move the parts just with levers and gears. it was too complicated for me that time that i give to my older brothers instead.

(image courtesy by oldlego.com)

i got also a spacecraft model just like the one above. this was the real challenge for me in assembling it. i made also some other designs as well by expirementing the other parts. designs were infinite as long as you expand your creative mind and imagination.

even my female cousins owned a lot of legos with the likes of police station, firehouse, castles and others. during the summer, i went to their place for the rest of my vacation there playing legos with them.

years and years past, one by one, piece by piece, it's either got lost or damaged... and eventually stopped building. decades later, a friend of mine introduced me this software which actually can design things out of lego parts. and so i tried this and it gave me a reawakening of the past which i enjoyed.

you can also make your own designs from lego digital designer. i chose to design the f-15 eagle fighter with missiles and bombs.

it's good to be back playing these stuffs again!

discoursed by jeff @ 9:03 AM | 6 comment(s) | permalink

Saturday, September 03, 2005

mr. perfect

i've been branded and this morning's office meeting was the cause. i was set an example by the big b as an efficient one. he even told others that he's giving jobs to me unecessarily just to catch if i'm going to succeed or fail... but he failed.

and now, colleagues of mine are taunting me as mister perfect... i don't like it.

why some people are looking for faults instead of encouraging others to correct mistakes or support for the best? crab mentality doesn't apply only to filipinos, it applies to everyone also.

actually i don't need to make fuss out of this branding, i'll just do my job as usual and focus on it. i'm very very busy with the task that has given to me that i can't even blog this on time.

gotta hear that five for fighting's song...

discoursed by jeff @ 1:45 PM | 5 comment(s) | permalink

Friday, September 02, 2005

lan party 3

we did it again once more. an attempt to break the korean guy's fifty hours of non-stop gaming, we started since wednesday night. the challenge was supposed to be oncourse but the office called yesterday for an overtime work.

killjoy.

anyway, we're just having some fun since we have no money left and there's nothing to do (making a little sidework for tet's blog configuration..bleargh).

i guess this will be last because we're saying goodbye to the accomodation which they're gonna move to sharjah (hopefully not) and my schedule will be busy for the coming months.

discoursed by jeff @ 7:43 PM | 4 comment(s) | permalink

Thursday, September 01, 2005

ber

now the countdown begins...

when i was in manila, it would be a countdown for christmas broadcasting on tv's and radio stations. although it's only september, some people started decorating their places with parols (christmas lanterns) and christmas trees. the four months ends with -ber starting from september till december will be my also my countdown going home.

what to expect the ber months? well, ramadan is near (and office hours will be less which i'm grateful), and the temperature's goin' down a bit for upcoming winter. this month, unfortunately, will gonna be busiest sched doing three conferences and exhibitions plus a frequent abu dhabi visits which we have a project there.

this month also, i will research and analyze the early booking of flights going home (i won't tell the date just for surprise) and planning for my return. the earlier the booking, the better chances of getting the right date. the first ever launching of balikbayan box, sending goodies to my family will also take place.

october, on-going production for the upcoming events on december will be taking place plus some surprise events which we don't know of will come.

november, my second year term staying in dubai. i felt my stay here was kinda short... but homesickness is gettin' worse.

december, time to go home for a while.

why december?

i had two strikes already and i don't want to be striked out spending the yuletide without them. some people say it's gonna be expensive on my part since it's gonna be christmas but i don't care. as long as i'm with my family, i'm happy.

this will be my agenda for now... now, back to lan party 3!

discoursed by jeff @ 1:47 PM | 6 comment(s) | permalink

al israa wal mairaj

today is a public holiday wherein uae celebrates the heavenly journey of prophet mohammed and you know what does this mean...

few of us still have work. bleargh.

anyways, since last night we took the opportunity of this celebration by doin' the part three of the lan party series and it still goin' till friday.

i slept a little from four till eight and now, i have fifteen minutes left before i brush my teeth, shower, dress-up and go to work for few hours...

bwiset, bitin.

discoursed by jeff @ 9:30 AM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

The Dubai Chronicles