My post got featured again as the best post to date. Woot! Woot!



I would like to thank my sponsors for always giving me a subject to write about. Hmmm... I really can do this blogging thing full time. What do you think?

Speaking of alternative career, it's amazing how my married female friends wish they can stop working and be full time moms. Honesly, I have never considered that idea to happen to me. I know I should be there for my future family and raise my future kids and I did consider slowing down on my career but I can never imagine to completely stop working and stay at home to raise kids! Maybe I am just saying this because I am not yet a mom or maybe I am not a mom-material? Yikes! I'm sure I still have a couple of years to reconsider this thought. Who knows, I might still have a change of heart.

But then again, it's a choice about what makes a woman feel fulfilled? Right now, at my age and at the peak of my chosen career, I feel fulfilled when I put a software application into production which thousands *or maybe millions* of people use. It gives me a feeling of pride when I write down another project in the "Accomplishments" section of my resume. I feel giddy every time I attend post live celebrations with my client. I know my answers are not the typical answers you'll get when you ask that same question to most women my age. Well, it's just probably me. =)

Labels: rave, socialspark

I know I've been complaining a lot about how hot the weather is here in Phoenix. But then, this isn't the only thing that pisses me off every single day living here. If you've read my previous blog entries, you know that my car *Kimi* hasn't been officially turned over to me by my boss. We're actually doing the paperwork for the transfer of the title to me. One of my major petpeeves here in Phoenix is that the cops here are probably so bored or maybe working on their quota so they are apprehending out-of-state car registration violators that they even have to roam around private parking lots! Kimi is an out-of-state car coming from Texas which is where my boss lives so obviously, Kimi is still registered there. Last week, when I got to the office parking lot, a police car was parked on the side street of the parking lot. I knew they will be doing rounds in the parking lot and check for cars who are out-of-state or haven't renewed their registration. They've done this couple of months back and issued DMV warning notices and tickets. Yeah I got my 2nd warning last month. What I did that time was I went inside the parking and then exited on the other side to go to the nearest grocery in my office to park Kimi there. Pathetic! I know! This morning, the cops are at the parking lot again! I ran as fast as I could to the parking lot to get Kimi and drove off to the nearest grocery again. Good thing I got to Kimi before the cops reached the area where I parked him so I did escape another DMV warning or probably a ticket this time! My officemates find it funny that I had to do such thing every time cops are here. They even have this phone brigade going that if anybody on the team sees cops in the area, they will call me. The stress this stupid thing is causing me is really sucking all my energy! I could not even focus on my job because I worry about getting a ticket just for leaving Kimi in the office parking lot!

Grrrrr.... this surely sucks big time!

On the lighter note, a good friend of mine who's also an officemate is on her way to getting an L1 visa. Yehey! We're helping her out to get her papers going so she can move here in the US by next month. Just like me, her papers got delayed because of the so many factors that are somewhat similar to my situation before. She's handling tons of projects in Manila and somehow she can't start doing her turnover because there's nobody to turn it over to! I know that's a lame excuse for the delay but I guess being the remaining oldie *READ: longest staying employee* in Manila gives that feeling of security to my boss. Well, that's what I believe in. Goodluck to her and to us! I know everything will fall in the right place soon. =)

Labels: kimi, rant, work stuff

I love going to Vegas. Vegas lived up to its name as a gamblers haven. I've been to Vegas twice this year and I never failed to have fun because of the variety of things that you can do there. Every trip is always unique. During my last trip to Vegas, we watched the Phantom of the Opera show at the Venetian. We also visited several hotels and casinos along the strip. Of course, the fountain show at the Bellagio should never be missed. We also tried our luck in several slot machines and arcade games. For my next Vegas trip, I am hoping to watch a Cirque du Soleil show and watch either a Martin Nievera or Lani Misalucha show.

PerfectEscapes.com is hosting a sweepstakes for a 3-night luxuray getaway at the Wynn Las Vegas. Sweepstakes is open to all U.S. and District of Columbia residents who are 18 years old and above. To know more about the rules, visit the Perfect Escapes site. All you need to do is register for the Perfect 10 Newsletter at the Perfect Escapes site. It's that easy and best of all, it's FREE!



I have seen how beautiful and amazing the Wynn Las Vegas Resort is and I wish I can afford to stay there. It would be an awesome summer treat for me and my friends if I win this sweepstakes.

Labels: socialspark

During the last 3 months, I have been attending the Christian Life Program (CLP) in Chandler,AZ hosted by the Couples for Christ. Yup... The liberal minded, socialist me is attending some religious enlightenment sessions to be a member of SFC (Singles for Christ). Living alone has been my biggest motivator to finally join SFC. Although for a long time I have been travelling alone and I've been away from my family often, I guess it is different when you've totally moved to another country with an unsure time of coming back home.

Yesterday was my dedication as a fully pledged member of the Singles for Christ. I guess this is the start of my new life as a renewed Christian. CFC is my new family here in Arizona. I know they will be my home away from home.

Labels: sfc

One of my favorite hollywood movie lines is from Patch Adams. It goes something like this:

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you straightforwardly without complexities abide. I love you because I know no other way then this. So close that your hand, on my chest, is my hand. So close that when you close your eyes, I fall asleep.

Awwwww... This quote was taken from Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda, a Chilean writer. It's a very romantic line that everytime I watch this movie, I still become teary eyed whenever I hear the quote. It just melts my heart away and wish that someday somebody will say those words to me. *getting mushy here!*

I found this site where you can practice that romantic side of yours. This site is the Extreme Style by VO5's Ultimate Flirting Championship. Seriously, I got addicted to the game and was just playing in the site for more than an hour! So if you've been to the site this morning, you probably have played the game with me. Trust me, extremely addicting! The game is an online dating Q&A game. This game helps the guys squeeze their brain out for romantic one liners to win a girl. I had fun reading and choosing answers from these guys. It really shows how unique a person is and find out who you can relate to more because of similar tastes and outlook in life. The best thing about it is that it is interactive! You can actually chat with the players in the game. I am sure to hang out more often in that site! So if you do see me online but not responding your messages, I might be busy playing this Victory Hair game in VO5's site. Haha.

Join me in playing the Ultimate Flirting Championship game! I'm telling you, you'll catch me online there! =)

Labels: games, socialspark

Appetizer

What is the weather like today where you live?
-- Seriously HOT *like 104 this morning* and sunny

Soup

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how career-minded are you?
-- Can I give it an 11? Haha. So you know what I mean?!

Salad

What type of window coverings do you have in your home? Blinds, curtains, shutters, etc.?
-- Vertical blinds

Main Course

Name something that instantly cheers you up.
-- a trip to Europe!

Dessert

How many times do you hit the snooze button on a typical morning?
-- twice! Always!

Labels: friday feast, tag

I have been in the IT industry for the past seven years. My last five years *and counting!* was spent in IT consulting for various Java, SAP and even .Net projects. I have played various roles in the software development cycle such as Project Manager, Release Manager, Technical Lead/Architect, developer and SQA analyst in my previous projects. As what I have always told people, consulting is a difficult life to adjust to. Consulting life is something you really have to want.

The IT industry is such a huge jungle. It is definitely a survival of the fittest. To survive this jungle, you need to always keep your knowlege up to date with the latest trends, take certifications to build your credentials and create a good relationship with your clients. That's what I call client karma!

As a senior consultant and team lead, I have done various interviews to applicants who wanted to join my team. I admit that I usually favor those applicants with certifications. For me, people who take certifications exert extra effort in improving themselves and I think that is a great quality that any consultant should have. He must have that passion to always learn new things and improve his skills.

Cisco Systems is the leading producer of networking and communications equipments. That being said, Cisco certification
is one of the most popular certifications in the IT industry. Cisco Learning Network is a community where aspiring IT professionals can seek help in reviewing for the certification exams, inquire about training programs, get ideas which IT careerpath they want to take, and expand their social network for possible future employment or referrals.

Building a career in the IT industry requires the passion to always take an extra step for self improvement. What else can be a better way of taking this extra step than enrolling to a training course and getting certified? Being certified also gives you better opportunities for career growth and swooshing your way up that career ladder. I think it's the best weapon you have to survive this jungle.

Labels: socialspark

I just have to post this cute photo of a koala we saw at San Diego Zoo last weekend.



This photo makes me smile. He looks much like HH when he's so tired from work. HH can sleep anywhere, in any position. But I guess HH would have difficulties sleeping while sitting on a tree branch. Ngyahahaha. Fine! I must be missing him. =)

I didn't mention that HH is the "friend" who's going home to Manila. I went to San Diego to see him and send some stuff for my family back home. Talk about friends with benefits! Haha. We're still doing great. I mean, even if we're not together, we've remained good friends. Being with him this weekend felt like a bit of HOME. Awwww... I miss home.

Labels: lovelife, travel

I didn't have enough time last Friday to do this. Better late than never!


Appetizer

If you could live on another continent for 1 year, which one would you choose?
-- Europe! It didn't even take a second to think about this. Haha.

Soup

Which browser do you use to surf the Internet?
-- Firefox baby!

Salad

On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how much do you know about the history of your country?
-- I think I'll give it a 7... pathetic!

Main Course

Finish this sentence: Love is…
-- accepting and embracing someone for all his flaws and still think that he's perfect for you. =)

Dessert

Have you ever been in or near a tornado?
-- Nope! Thank God!

Labels: friday feast, tag

Who said traffic is always a negative thing? Ever since I joined SocialSpark.com, my site traffic increased. Just so you know, this kind of traffic is the kind of traffic that you'll want to get yourself trapped into. I am amazed at how big the increase of site traffic for my site was in a span of a couple of days. Fifty percent of the hits that my site got were from SocialSpark.com and SocialSpark.com friends' linkbacks.

Honestly, I used to speculate about the effectivity of advertising through blogs. But then when I saw how much people actually read blogs, I realized this is a great venue for advertisers to feature their products. It is much like doing a commercial on tv and paying for a spread in a magazine or a newspaper. In this highly digitized world, most if not all products and services can be searched through the internet. I myself am guilty of doing my research in the internet before I buy products.

SocialSpark.com gives opportunity to bloggers to review products from advertisers. I hope advertisers explore and take advantage of blogging as a better alternative for doing advertising. What could be a better way to find a review of a product other than a blog? As a consumer, a good review of a product helps us decide whether a product is worth investing our money on. I hope clothing brands such as Mango, Zara, Esprit and Steve & Barry's find their way to SocialSpark. I will be so glad to do a blog to review their products since I am one of their biggest consumers.

Labels: socialspark

Someone's blog post got featured in SocialSparks! =) My smile was from here (-----------------------) to here when I saw my blog as the best post to date for one of my sponsored posts. Naks!



Just got back from San Diego. Actually, I left SD around 11am for Temecula. I had to visit my auntie and do some errands for her. It was my cousin's birthday so I helped a bit to get things organized for the party. I left Temecula around 2PM and headed straight back to Phoenix. As usual, I had to pass by the scenic route *winding and mountainous!* California 79. Now I am feeling my body giving up on me. My arms and legs are so sore because of too much driving the past three days.

As what I've written in a not so old post, God makes all things balanced. He compensates for the great and wonderful things that he gives us by sending some challenges in our lives. So what the h*ll I am talking about? I got home safe here in Phoenix, no accidents and no damage to Kimi. But then, things can't always be great right? So that bad news is, just this morning, my iPod finally gave up on me. It's dead. I'm just not talking about battery dead and can be recharged kind of dead. It's totally gone now and I feel so bad. It served me for more than 2 years every single day. Hayyyy...

Labels: travel

I'm in San Diego staying at a hotel here in Mira Mesa area. The drive going here was one of the most tiring I've ever done! My GPS *named Dad* let me take the California State Route 78 which had lots of dips and winding roads. It was a spectacular scenic route. I even got the chance to see the Imperial Sand Dunes which by the way was far from the desert I knew in Arizona had. That desert made me feel like I was in the Middle East. Too bad you are not allowed to park on the shoulder to take pictures. Haha. Yeah, I was planning to do that stop over! Since I took the scenic route, it was a long 6hours drive that's mostly mountainous so I am unable to use Kimi's cruise control and now I am suffering from body spasms. =( Tiring but it was worth seeing!

Will be going to the San Diego zoo later. Yehey! I'm still a kid at heart.

Labels: travel

In my opinion, e-commerce is one of the best things that has ever happened in the 21st century. I am a self-confessed shopaholic and I've done lots of purchases online. What I love about doing online shopping is that I am able to compare prices and get great online deals so I often get those products at a way cheaper price. Knowing my hectic schedule, online shopping gives me the convenience of purchasing the things I need *and WANT!* in the comforts of my home or office *bad employee!* for as long as I have my trustee laptop and internet access.

Identity theft and fraud is a widespread crime here in the U.S. Identity theft is when somebody gets your personal or financial information and uses it to commit fraud. I've read a lot of news about it and have seen tons of T.V. commercials campaigning against it. In this internet driven society, we have exposed ourselves to more vulnerabilities. Shop Shield® is a new and better solution to protect yourself from identity theft. What Shop Shield® does is to create anonymous information for your personal information such as email addresses, credit card details, billing address, bank accounts, login information, etc. whenever you do internet transactions. From the internet application point of view, this anonymous information is what will be stored in the merchant site's database. With this anonymous information, hackers or anybody who has access to the database where you're doing your internet transaction won't be able to trace the information back to you. Below is a list of the benefits that Shop Shield® offers to their clients.

Shop Shield - 100% Security Guaranteed:
* Consumer data is stored in a fortress of security systems
* All personally identifiable information is fragmented, then encrypted
* Encrypted data is stored in multiple independent databases
* Every transaction is monitored using technologies that exceed federal banking standards
* Hardware that stores data is modeled after Department of Defense security standards.
* We’ll reimburse every penny, up to $10,000 more than the coverage your credit card company provides.
* We will also provide complete, and personalized victim resolution services at no charge.


You can Learn More about Shop Shield by clicking on the link.

Coming from the IT field, I know how important internet security is. As much as we can, we try to build internet applications that are fast, reliable, secure and abide by the security standards of the companies that we build those applications for. However, human intervention is sometimes inevitable and this is one of the vulnerabilities that e-commerce sites should address. By using Shop Shield®, we are sure that our identity information is well protected and will not be compromised while we enjoy the convenience of e-commerce.

One can never be too careful. Protect your identity! Don't leave a trace! Visit Shop Shield® now.

Labels: socialspark

I am going to San Diego today to meet up an old friend who's going back home to Manila. I'll also be visiting my aunt in Temecula to pick-up some stuff and attend my cousin's birthday party. I hope I have internet access when I get there.

After the Kimi accident, I can't help but feel nervous everytime I am doing a roadtrip. Woooozzzaaaaa... Relax... It's just 6hours drive and you've done worse. Everything will be fine.

Lord, please keep me and Kimi safe. =)

Labels: kimi, tgif, travel

Moving here in the U.S. was a big adjustment for me. Most of my life, I lived in a very sheltered environment with my parents and siblings back in Manila. At my parents' home, we had maids who take care of our everyday needs like cooking our food, washing our clothes, cleaning the house, etc. So basically, every single day, I never had to worry about doing household chores. Whenever I get home from work, I have nothing else to do except to eat dinner, watch television and sleep. Choosing independence over the comforts of my life in Manila really took its toll during my adjustment phase here in the U.S. I had to learn how to juggle my time for work *which by the way is very demanding and highly stressful* and household chores.

My most hated household chore to do is cleaning the house. Most areas of my current apartment is carpeted which makes vaccuming a very tedious and energy consuming task. I have been looking for a cordless vacuum to replace my current one because tripping over cords and having to plug-unplug the vac during the whole time I am cleaning the house makes the work more tedious. Thank God for Dirt Devil! The Dirt Devil AccuCharge stick vac and hand vac charges fast and consumes 70% less energy making it an energy efficient solution to my quick cleaning needs. The Dirt Devil AccuCharge vac uses a 15.6volt battery which when fully charged has a longer battery life than other cordless vacuums. It is the first cordless vacuum to earn that Energy Star approval. It does a great job in conserving energy so I'm sure it will also do a neat job keeping dirt and dust from my carpet and other areas of my apartment. I am looking forward to getting one of these soon!



Conserve energy and help save the environment by using energy efficient products. Go green and get it clean!

Labels: gadgets, socialspark

I found out that my client has a very unique and odd PROD environment for their SAP Enterprise Portal and SAP R/3 *Netweaver04*. They have two R/3 instances both of which reside in 2 different machines having two different OS's! One is running windows and the other running Unix. On top of that, there is a load balancer that handles requests and forwards it to whichever R/3 instance is free. Hayyyy... And then for their portal, obviously, they also run it in a cluster and you guessed it right! Those instances use two different OS's too. The environment should be none of my concern until this &*$%^@! error started showing in production...



What's worse is that Error 500 could be caused by anything and the annoying error message does not contain any clue on what's causing it. I checked the logs but each time we recreated the error, it points to a different set of classes. I also did my research in google and sdn but never found any solution. When we turn off one of the instances of the server, everything works perfectly! Is this an environment problem or something's wrong with my code? Arrgghhh!!! I have to figure this out soon!

We tried to set breakpoints in the backend since there's no way of setting breakpoints in the web dynpro java frontend without locking other users out of the QA server. After doing some more test runs, we found out that the application does not even reach R/3 backend! Think! Think!

I was at the brink of giving up and I have started to accept that there are mind-boggling puzzles in this world that I cannot solve. While I was leisurely browsing through the SDN site *yeah it's leisure! I'm such a geek!*, I read one article talking about the limitations of web dynpro java iviews *oh god! jargons overload!* and pages for the enterprise portal version that we are running.



My conclusion... there is a known technical limitation of NW04 portal and web dynpro java application when more than one web dynpro iview is included in one page that runs on a multiple instance server. As per NW04s documentation:

Web Dynpro iViews could be only embedded as isolated iViews. Putting more than one Web Dynpro iView on the same page could cause performance problems.

In this case, it's not just a performance issue. This thing does not work at all! Please see SAP documentation for Integrating Web Dynpro and SAP NetWeaver Portal for NW04s. A workaround for this is to use only one web dynpro iview per page in the MSS services.

Victory is sweet! =)

Labels: SAP EP, work stuff

What have I been busy with in between debugging SAP web dynpro codes and waiting for a server reboot? Yep, you guessed it right... I was surfing. But then it's not just my usual friendster, myspace or facebook surfing. I am actually bloghopping through other posties' blogs in SocialSpark!



What is SocialSpark? SocialSpark is a social media marketing, blog marketing and blog advertising site. Hmmm... too much jargons in that definition. Let's put it into layman's term so you would understand. Basically, this site is where advertisers meet bloggers. Much like the other social networking sites that I have been frequently visiting, this site allows users to actually interact with fellow bloggers and advertisers. On this site, bloggers have access to more blogging opportunities that can monetize their blog, increase the traffic in their website and eventually, build their own community. It is a chain reaction. The more blog traffic you get, the more advertisers will want to be seen in your blog. Of course, more advertisers mean more earnings!

What I like about SocialSpark is that they provide you with cool tools to easily advertise your blog, reserve an opportunity for an advertiser and give props to fellow bloggers. With its graphic rich UI, it's so easy to navigate through the pages and get access to these tools. They even have their own blog analytics tool which is a graphical representation of your site's traffic. Speaking of site traffic, SocialSpark built RealRank which is a more accurate page ranking system based on actual site traffic and not just some estimated or calculated link rating algorithm as what google page rank and alexa is doing.



SocialSpark follow a strict code of ethics:
-100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure
-100% Transparency
-100% Real Opinions
-100% Search Engine Friendly



I never thought that doing paid blogs can be this easy. If you want to earn money while doing one of the things you enjoy doing *which is blogging!*, SocialSpark is definitely the right place for you. It's so easy to join. Just click one of the SocialSpark links within this blog post and sign-up. Click! Click! Click!

Labels: socialspark

Got this tag from a fellow postie, Mary J.

Four jobs I've had
- Software Engineer/IT Consultant/Programmer
- Part-time cook -- Back in Helsinki, I had a deal with Chad that he'll pay for the grocery while I do the cooking!
- Manual laborer -- When I was a kid I used to put tags on our products for export. I got paid doing that!
- Businesswoman

Four movies I can watch over and over
- Coyote Ugly
- Ocean's Eleven
- Something's Gotta Give
- Titanic

Four places I've lived
- Quezon City, Philippines
- Helsinki, Finland
- Temecula & San Francisco, CA
- Phoenix, AZ

Four TV shows I love
- Smallville!!!
- House MD
- Topchef
- Project Runway

Four places I've vacationed
- Paris, France
- Rome, Italy
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Stockholm, Sweden

Four of my favorite dishes
- Fried chicken
- Pasta
- Unagi sushi
- Kare-kare

Four sites I visit daily
- Friendster
- SAP Developer Network
- Multiply
- Google

Four places I would rather be right now
- At home on my bed
- my family's home in manila
- San Francisco!
- Barcelona, Spain

Four people I tag
- John -- if you're that bored!
- Malejandria -- hello fellow postie!
- Anybody who's bored enough to answer this tag

Labels: tag

Here's a rundown of the gadgets/toys/things I use to do my daily blogs:



1. Depending on which laptop is free *READ: not being used to watch surfthechannel*, I alternately use my 2 laptops:
- Blue Dell XPS M1530 laptop otherwise known as "the slave driver"
- Trusty, old *and heavy!* Dell Latitude D610 aka the real "work Laptop"

2. 30Gig iPod video - where some of my photos are stored
3. Generic mobile harddrive - where the other photos are stored
4. Canon Powershot SD750
5. Nokia E51
6. Dlink Xtreme N Gigabit Router DIR 655 - so I can blog from anywhere my wifi is reachable

Labels: tag, whatiampacking

I just realized that my last post was so geeky. Haha.

WARNING: This is a rant post so if you don't have enough patience for people like me, better hit that close browser icon now. Pronto!

Have I mentioned how HOT it is here in Phoenix? OMG! It's even hotter here than back in Manila and I so hate the weather! It's NOT the kind of heat that will make you sweat a lot, feel greasy and eeeky. It is that kind of heat that burns your skin faster than you generate sweat! For someone who hates getting a tan *as if my skin's dark color couldn't be any darker*, this place is completely hell. Argh! When the wind blows, it's supposed to feel cold right? But here, when the wind blows to your face, there's a pricking pain... much like when the wind blows at -25deg in Helsinki! Aha! That is why this pricking pain is so familiar to me. It reminds me of Helsinki winter days.

They say that dry heat is more tolerable than the humid heat in the Philippines. Well for me, they're both not tolerable! I am already complaining like crazy and it's not even the peak of summer yet!







Waaaaa! Winter, please take me now!

Labels: phoenix

Don't you find it annoying when application users don't even care to read instructions in the page before complaining? Well, since there will always, always be moron application users around here, might as well customize the application for these kinds of users so they'll stop complaining. Hehe.

SAP EP6.0 has this workprotect popup that pops out (what the heck?!) whenever a user tries to navigate away from a page while in the middle of an unfinished transaction. The pop-up looks like this:


My client's users complain that they kept locking themselves out of the application because they have too many SAP EP windows open at the same time due to the fact that they didn't change the default selection from this pop-up prior to clicking OK. Anyways, one solution that my client wanted was to get rid of this pop-up. Here's the solution to get rid of this pop-up:

1. From the portal, go to System Administration > System Configuration > Service Configuration.
2. Browse through the Applications folder and look for com.sap.portal.epcf.loader. Expand this folder until you see the epcfloader service.

3. Right-click the epcfloader service and select Configure.
4. Look for the property workprotect.mode.default. Set this property to "2" then click Save button.

5. Right-click on the com.sap.portal.epcf.loader folder and select Administrate.

6. Click the Restart link beside the com.sap.portal.epcf.loader|epcfloader service.

Honestly, I don't like this solution. I think more moron users will complain that they lost their data just because they forgot to click SAVE and the application did not prompt them to hit Save. When applications use multiple pages to complete a transaction, I think it is a good practice to warn users when they are navigating away from an unsaved page otherwise they will lose the unsaved data. Well, it's still my client's decision if they really want to disable this functionality.

Labels: SAP EP, work stuff

Who would believe this thing came out of my kitchen?



Couple of weeks ago when HH *the chef* was here, we did a little kitchen experiment. I've been bugging him for years now about him making some creme brulee for me. Yeah, we were still together then. Anyway, finally after years of coercing him, he finally gave in. =) Here's an easy creme brulee recipe from chef gene gonzalez' book who is also HH's teacher/mentor, btw.

Creme Brulee
4 cups cream (we used heavy whipping cream)
1/2 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean or
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 eggyolks (use extra-large eggs!)
1 whole egg

Start by preheating the oven at 300 degrees F. Boil the cream, sugar and vanilla bean. Keep stirring so it won't burn and use medium fire. Remove from heat then add the beaten eggs. Read about how to temper the eggs here. If you see any curdles, strain the mixture otherwise, go ahead and pour the mixture into custard bowls. Bake in a bain-marie for one hour or until the mixture is set. Refrigerate for at least 6hours before eating.

I don't have a torch so we skipped the caramelized sugar on top of our creme brulee but I improvised by adding strawberries on top. This is one simple but heavenly dessert! It is wickedly delicious! I could finish 2 cups in one sitting. There goes my diet... tsk, tsk, tsk.

Labels: kitchen experiment

Honestly, joining the paid blogging bandwagon was never part of my plans. Not even in my most desperate attempt to earn extra moolah to finance my luxuries. Hehe. For one thing, I am a lazy blogger *guilty*. The things I blog about are usually about myself, my crazy lifestyle, my escapades and sometimes, some geeky stuff I do at work. I've never really imagined that anybody can be interested in reading the nonsensical things I write... besides of course my blogger friends who visit my site to say hi. *Hey john!*

I recently joined PayPerPost (PPP). Finally after couple of weeks of thinking if the money I will earn from blogging is surely worth giving up the so-called privacy of this blog, I convinced myself to give it a GO. Half-hearted and extremely nervous, I signed up in PPP and registered this blog. Luckily, I got my approval for this blog so I'm now officially a postie (READ: people doing paid blog posts).

What really convinced me? I realized that doing paid post or not, this blog is still in the internet which means anybody could be reading this... even the people I've been protecting this blog from. I realized that I'm not a bad technical writer *ehem* and I can do so much for this blog besides sharing my narcissistic point of views about myself and my experiences. I can actually do reviews of gadgets which by the way I am so obsessed at and recommend some things to do, places I've been to, solutions to techie problems I've solved at work, love problems *not that I am an expert at this*, kitchen experiments, etc. I guess being paid for writing the things I like to write about is just a plus. =)

The big question is, what will I do with the money I will earn from blogging? As I have mentioned above, I do have plans of financing my luxuries which are otherwise known as my vacations, my gadgets, my car *yep, Kimi falls under this category*, shoes, shopping addiction, etc. Blueginger is my life for the last five years and sharing my five years worth of experiences is a big leap for me. I hope my readers *or lurkers* will learn something from my life.

So, is the pay worth the privacy of this blog? Is the juice really worth the squeeze?

It better be. It better be!

Labels: payperpost

Appetizer

Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist?
-- I guess I've always been a pessimist. I hate disappointments so I psyche myself up to expect the worst.

Soup

What is your favorite color of ink to write with?
-- Black for formal stuff like signatures in work documents but I want to keep my planner colorful by using pink highlighter, red ink for reminders, green for action points, blue for normal day to day notes. Odd e?

Salad

How often do you get a manicure or pedicure? Do you do them yourself or go to a salon and pay for them?
-- I admit I barely go to the salon to have my nails done. So I guess that happens every two months? Haha. I do clean my nails at least once a month on my own but not the snazzy artistic manicure nor pedicure! Im a low maintenance kind of person... more like my pops. Haha.

Main Course

Have you ever won anything online? If so, what was it?
-- Hmmm.. I don't think so.

Dessert

In which room in your house do you keep your home computer?
-- The Slave Driver stays in my livingroom while the "nokia laptop" is with me in the bedroom.

Labels: tgif

Two weeks ago, I was able to purchase my cutesy and super fast wifi router. So far, it has never failed me. My wifi network is always available and I have never been dropped from the network. Really cool! Whenever I watch my favorite tv shows online, I try to use a wired connection to get advantage of that 1.5Gig internet. *yeah baby!* Yeah I know! I'm easy to please. Little things make me happy. Haha.



I think I haven't mentioned that my new Dell baby arrived last week. =) Boss finally gave in to my constant whining about how slow my current laptop is. Hehe. Of course he asked me to choose which business laptop I want. Knowing me, I need to have everything in my laptop like for instance I need it to be powerful enough to be a gaming laptop if in case I get bored with work. *READ: should be able to run warcraft 3 to play DOTA* I should also be able to watch my movies and tv shows in my laptop since I barely get in front of the television *READ: I am so addicted to www.surfthechannel.com*. My "business" laptop should also be able to withstand running Oracle db, Bea Weblogic, SAP Netweaver, and all sorts of geeky stuff that I do at work. It should be flashy enough so I don't get embarassed doing presentations using a dinosaur laptop. Hehe.



If my boss didn't specifically tell me that it should be a BUSINESS laptop, I would have chosen the red or the pink one! Hehe. He's a Dell XPS M1530 with a dark blue cover. I would have wanted it to be a baby blue or a shiny bling blue but they don't have it. Boohoo. Oh well... Anyways, I would like you all to meet my new toy... Errr... I haven't thought of a name yet but let's call him "The Slave Driver" for the meantime. Hehe.



It even comes with a dvd remote! A DVD REMOTE! Haha! See... Little things make me happy!

Labels: gadgets, projects

I am naming this entry as such so I can document the progress of this pet project. This is my first "real" personal project (note to self: beautifying and stocking my closet does not count as a project).

After several months of living here in Phoenix and moving from one apartment to another, I thought that it would be best to set-up a real home office. Although I admit that the best and nicest place to work is in front of the television while sitting on a comfy couch, legs on top of the table and munching junk food. Now can you picture how I am able to do more than 12hours work per day? =) Anyway, I was inspired by my friend who has been asking me to review several office equipments for his home office. I thought, if he is building his home office, why can't I? Besides, I am already doing a part of the things he's supposed to do to build his little empire at home by reviewing multifunction printers, laptops, routers, etc.

Hoookay... now, let's put that project management skills to good use.

Materials I need for my home office:

Home Network
- DSL/Cable subscription
- Dlink Xtreme N Gigabit Router DIR 655

Office Equipment
- Dell XPS M1530 laptop
- Canon Pixma MX700 multifunction printer
- Paper shredder *I need to find a reliable brand and model soon!*
- VoIP phone *still thinking*
- VoIP subscription *still thinking*
- Online backup subscription
-

Office Furnitures
- Filing cabinet
- Printer table

I don't intend to build this home office overnight because it's way too expensive! I am thinking of doing this during the span of 6months. Just right for the next thanksgiving sale in November! Hehe.

Labels: projects

I'm bored!!! TGIF!

SAY EXACTLY WHATS ON YOUR MIND, AND DON'T CHANGE IT.
1. You & your ex:
-- moving on... next please!
2. I am listening to:
-- So Far Away - Bamboo
3. Maybe I should:
-- leave the office now
4. I love:
-- my family
5. I don't understand:
-- why men do what they do
6. I have lost my respect to:
-- can't think of anybody
7. I last ate:
-- salad
8. The meaning of my display name is:
-- i don't remember why i have that name. It's a 5-year old blog.
-IS YOUR/ARE YOU-
1. Is your hair wet?
-- nope
2. Is your cell phone right by you?
-- yup... always!
3. Do you miss someone?
-- sort of
4. Are you wearing Chapstick?
-- nope
5. Are you tired?
-- just a bit
6. Are you wearing pajamas?
-- nope
7. Are u happy?
-- sort of
8. Are you upset?
-- nope
-HAVE YOU-
1. Recently done anything you regret?
-- how recently is recent?
2. Ever liked someone?
-- yes
4. Have you ever hit someone?
-- yes
5. Ever tripped over your own feet?
-- yeah
-RANDOM-
Q: Is there a person who is on your mind right now?
A: nobody in particular
Q: Do you have any siblings?
A: yup
Q: Do you want children?
A: yes but not now
Q: Do you smile often?
A: yes
Q: Do you untie your shoes every time you take them off?
A: no
Q: Do you like your handwriting?
A: errr... not really

Labels: friendster survey

Got this from my friend's blog who just joined Friday's Feast.

Appetizer

When you drink soda/pop/coke, do you prefer to drink it from the bottle, a can, or after pouring it into a cup?
-- bottle

Soup

What television show are you willing to stay up late to watch?
-- House

Salad

Name one person, place, or thing you think of as brilliant.
-- the internet

Main Course

Would you be willing to work 4 10-hour days instead of 5 8-hour days in order to save gas?
-- Oh sure! 10-hour workday is normal to me. =)

Dessert

If you were a superhero, what would you call yourself?
-- the Dirt Mistress... for no good reason at all! Hahaha.

Labels: tgif

I remember posting something about being "Googleable" and AdSense couple of years back. I've tried to put off the idea of doing paid blogging and making money out of this little pasttime at the expense of giving up this blog privacy. Now, I've decided to join the bandwagon. I haven't really started doing paid blogs but I did join adsense. If there comes a time that you don't see my old and supposedly censored posts here in blueginger, then that means somebody I know must have found his way to this blog and of course, I have to raise my censorship flag. =)

I was thinking of moving the old blueginger posts to another blog but then I am too lazy to maintain another blog. Hehe. I'll try to figure something out.

I just have to rave about my recent router purchase. I bought a D-link Xtreme N Gigabit Router last weekend and got my home network set-up. I know I should have done this months back when I moved to my new apartment but I was so lazy and was trying to save money for Kimi. =) Anyway, this router is fast and easy to configure. I got my network configured in a couple of minutes minus the sluggish reboot of my cable modem. For a wired connection, I get 1Gbps and then for wifi, I get 48Mbps. Not bad huh?! I haven't tested the range of the wifi connection though. I'll probably check later if I can get wifi signal from the carpark which is about 20-25meters away from my router.

I'm so lazy today...