Be the change you want to be

Be the change you want to be.

Citation

..and finally

and finally i got my visa last April 27. whew

1 step closer…

Yesterday, April 14 I reported and submitted my Passport as well as signed the Appendix A.  I think these are the requirements before the issuance of Visa.  Still have to wait for another three weeks and hopefully the issuance of my visa.

Life is GOOD when you think it BETTER an…

Life is GOOD when you think it BETTER and act on it to make it BEST!

What A Week It has Been

I used to plan my day-to-day activities, taking into consideration all the things to be done, all the reports to be submitted, all the compromises to be fulfilled, etc. Since it will be the last week of the current semester, schedules of the final examination has been set. After the examination will be the checking of papers, encoding of scores obtained by the students and grade computation in preparation for the distribution of grades. I’m glad one of the subjects I’m handling now is CCNA Exploration II. Since there is an online facility for the course, less work entails on the part of the instructor. There is lesser work in test construction, checking of examination, tallying of examination results and computation of grade. These are all accommodated in the online facility. My only concern will be to download the CSV to convert to the format being followed by the university. On my two other courses, I am teaching Programming II: Visual Basic Programming.

I have set already the schedule for the week: Monday will be our last meeting for the last topic discussion, Tueday will be their hands-on examination and their written final examination will be as scheduled which will be from Wednesday to Friday. For the CCNA class, Monday will be their modules 10 and 11 examination and on Tuesday will their final examination since we normally didn’t schedule the CCNA examination along with the other subjects because it is taken on-line.

But on Saturday, I received a call from our VPREPD informing me that I’m going to attend a two-day training on HRIS at PCCARD being the designated RMIS representative of the University to the STARRDEC consortia, together with one staff from Research Office, and on the coming Thursday, I’m going to take the Lab Assessment Examination for the IOSN Lab Training.

I was able to meet my VB class on Monday for the last topic discussion and scheduled the modules 10 & 11 examination for the CCNA class, however, another problem was encountered in the Cisco Lab, there were only a few computers with internet connectivity running and the time will not cover the entire class for batch examination. I asked my secondary instructor to reschedule the module and final examinations for the CCNA class as I am not sure if there will be internet access on the seminar venue, though I can activate the examination through my phone via 3G access. Luckily, when I was on the seminar venue already, we have internet access and I activated the modules exams for three hours, that was 9:00 AM. I even called my student assistant informing him of the activated exams. I checked back at 12:00 noon and to my surprise, nobody tool the examination.

For the two-day, training workshop about the human resource information system (HRIS) for researchers, IMHO, the training is not too interesting because the system is too simple (for an IT people) while for the other participants really enjoyed the workshop. The seminar workshop ended after lunch the following day.

Thursday morning, i woke up early for my CICT trip, since I must be in the examination venue at 8:00 AM. However, as a university measure to save expenses, my trip ticket includes some other people from the different offices who are also attending important matters in Manila. Unfortunately, some people are insensitive on the schedule of other, so I arrived at the examination venue at 9:15. So that means, I’m fucking late for the examination. I approached the proctor and asked him if I can still take the examination and gladly, he allowed me to take the examination. The examination is all about lab assessment and passers will qualify to the training that will be conducted later. I finished the examination before lunch time and I headed back to the university. I took the bus ride instead of waiting for the other passengers going home. When I arrived at the university, I checked again the Cisco portal and I am surprised to learn that my students took the examination the previous day and some are taking the exam at that moment. I immediately called the attention of my SA and asked him who ask my secondary instructor to activate the exam without my knowledge. I got furious over this matter.

With these turn of events, i have to set another schedule for the hands-on examination as well as for the online final. Whew.

Realizing My Dream: The Challenges of IELTS Exam

One of the major requirements when migrating to English-speaking country is the proficiency to the English language.  I’ve been encountering several acronyms – TOEFL, TESOL, IELTS, ESL, among others.  This is also in some cases, a requirement for our nurses who wanted to work abroad.

As mentioned in my previous post, when I was issued with my immigration file number, I was also advised that I have to take IELTS exam.  As for the required score, I should scores not less than 6.5 (of course, there is no passed/failed; it depends upon on the requirements).

Dr. Alemi told me that I should enroll in an English review class prior to taking the exam so that I will have better chances of passing the exam.  He gave me a review center and his card as well so that I can avail as much as 50% discount. Well, not bad.  But hey!  The review is compose of five sessions only and cost 8000 bucks.  So that will be 4K bucks if I enroll on the review center.  I also checked some review centers in the area and I found one in Batangas City and two in Lipa City.  There are five sessions as well but it costs only 4K bucks here.  Effort wise, much better, If ever I can save some monies for the transportation expenses.

However, I decided not to enroll in these review centers, why?  I guess I still lacks time and of course I can save money as well.  Maybe, I am confident that I can get better score than 6.5!

I informally started my IELTS by gathering some materials.  I ask the help of my friend Lloyd to download some materials available from the net.  Well I have some GB of downloaded materials, the only problem is how am I going to read all of those.

I also bought some books about the IELTS (Focus on Academic Skills for IELTS & IELTS Test Builder) from National Bookstore.  The books cover the four areas: reading, listening, speaking and writing.  The contents somewhat relate to the actual examination.  I have reproduced both the books and CDs included and share it to my colleagues who are also preparing for the IELTS exam.

Before, I believed that among the four areas, listening is the most difficult one because of the different accent of the speakers but after listening to some sample conversations, I think I can do it.  I can say that I am more confident now than before.  What I did was to copy all the four CDs (2 per book) in my lappy and I follow it while reading the book.  Of course, I don’t have fixed schedule for my IELTS self review.  I just do it whenever I have free time (which is very seldom) especially now that the semester nears its end (lot of workload for the checking of papers, encoding of scores, grade computation, reports submission, ect).  When I am at home lying in bed, or just at home doing some computer works, I let it plays non-stop (with my Creative surround and bass speakers ).  In that way, I will get accustome to the accent and  apeaking skills, sometimes I try to immitate the speaker.  I also stored the contents of the CD to my Ipod Shuffle so that whenever I am on transit – bus or jeepney, I can still listen to it while I’m on travel.

I am planning to take the IELTS exam later this month or early next month, anyway the six mos allotted to me nears its end as well.

So guys, I’m just hoping that I will surpass this another challenge to me with flying colors.  Any tips from anyone?

Realizing My Dream

It was early this year when I finally decided to try my luck of migrating to other country.  I came across a portion of a broadsheet newspaper about certain company providing services for people interested in migration.  I memorized the company website and when I got home, I login to the net and visit their site.  After some brief information  of the site to check if it is a legit one, I finally took the self-asessment to determine if I am qualified to immigrate.

It is a brief assessment starting with the category: check; personal information: check; educational qualification for the last five years: check; language proficiency: (hmm) check; spouse and spouse details –(hey I’m single!): check; relatives in (?): check; and finally contact details and references: check.

The following day, I received an e-mail and I was invited to attend a personal interview in at their Manila office.

Am I really decided to do this?

I replied to the e-mail and had my schedule on the second Saturday of January. See, I don’t want to mess my personal activities with my schedule in the university, lol.

Came Saturday, I got up early to attend to the interview.  I was surprised, I am not nervous or something.  It is just a natural one as if I am just talking to my students.

I personally talked with Dr. F. Alemi, the CEO, and he conducted the personal assessment about the possibilities of migration to other country.  He told me that I am qualified to migrate based on the information I submiited during the assessment.  The only possible hindrance to this will be if I submit fake documents! (Hey it seems we Filipinos are globally known for forging documents, how sad).

One of the important considerations in applying for immigration status is the financial capability of the applicant.  Although I have distant relatives abroad, I don’t have any plan of “using” them.  While Dr. Alemi examined the several pages of application form I submitted, he told me that everything seems fine, except for one.  You know what it is?  Under the amount of money available, I wrote $4K and he told me that the minimum amount should be $11K. Whew! OMG! (Later, I found out that it was clearly stated in their website of information)

Well, do I have the 11K at hand? Of course, I don’t have that amount of monies.  But still, I decided to pursue the application process.  (For some reasons:  the time and effort i have invested already; the initial service  fee i paid to Dr. Alemi and the dream of earning big bucks later!)  Maybe, if time comes that I have to present bank certificate with regards to my available funds, I can seek help from my well-off buddies (attention: Euge, Jojo, Ledge and Bunso) and of course from my other siblings.

After series of personal appearances to their Manila office for package submission and payment of fees, I was finally issued with my immigration file number.  I was also advised that I have to take the IELTS exam and submit the results within 6 mos period (watch for for a separate blog for IELTS!).

With the immigration file number at hand, I can easily check online the status of my applicatiion.

Well, the waiting time has just started…

CQ20-205TU Saga Continues…

I just received a text message from the tech staff who worked on my lappy.  I hope it will help to others experiencing the same problem with the SLIC in CQ20-205TU.

“If you want to install unlicensed Vista to the lappy, go to the BIOS setup, select Device Configuration using the Tab key, change the harddisk option or config setting to IDE mode.  On the other hand, if you would like to install XP instead, change the value to ACHI mode.”

I will check this later!  Thanks anyway.

My Very First Post at WordPress

Hello guys. So this will be my first post here at WordPress. First and foremost, I would like to thank the management of WordPress for freehosting this non-sense blogs of mine. I got to have this site while browsing the net and reading some blogs and eventually signed up. So I am starting now my post. Lol

Well six months ago, I bought an Acer Laptop in replacement of my old one (Neo). Of course I got it for 0% – 12 mos period. Don’t get me wrong, I had my replacement because my nephew decided to buy it at much lower cost. So he will be saving a lot, especially that he’s going to pay it at his convenience, meaning to say, there is no specific schedule for his payments ( well, I think there are only 3K bucks balance, huh!). My Neo is still working properly, no problems encountered so far, still working on both Edubuntu Linux (yeah, I’m in the academe and teaching open source technology) and Windows XP.

On the other hand, the Acer is going smoothly as well. It has Windows Vista Ultimate installed in dual boot with Edubuntu version 8.4.0.1. The first challenge I encountered using the new Acer is the new Office 2007 installed. OMG! It’s a disaster. I’ve been proficient with Office 2000 and 2003 as well as open office suite, however, working with office 2007 is a disaster (at first). I’ve been in limbo! Good thing, I have aspenm32 as my immediate CSR, (thanks). After a month or so, I finally got accustomed with the office 2007.

In our office, there are several hotspot areas; I’ve noticed that Acer (referring to the model of my laptop, in particular) has a weaker wireless connectivity than Neo computer, whew. In some cases, I preferred to wired-connect it rather than wireless connection (somewhat defeat the purpose of 802.11 a/b/g). It was also a problem when installing the Edubuntu OS for dual booth. You have to manually configure the wireless driver because of interconnectivity issues which is a mess especially if you are not familiar with the command line interface of Linux OS. Since during that time, we are conducting the CILC (Computer and Internet Literacy Course) for the recipient schools of the iSchools Project, our course presentations also involved multimedia, I’ve noticed that I have to update first the audio driver so that whenever I connect on output device, the audio will be streamed to the output device. So that is another minus point for the Acer. When my sister in Lipa got a DSL connection from Digitel at Plan 512 (well this is another story), I opt to buy a wireless router to totally utilize the spending here. My brother has his own laptop (another Acer), plus my own Acer and my nephew frequently stays at our place. I was able to properly configure the wireless router, and my brother and nephew were able to successfully connect to the wireless router, my sis’ N92 and my E90 phones. However, my Acer cannot connect to the wireless and I’m always prompted that there is an incompatibility with my wireless router and WLAN card, huh. Again, I have no choice but to connect using wired connection, wtf!

Well, this is not really a performance comparison for the two laptops. I believe that there should be equal specifications at least, when we are comparing the performance. I’m sayin these because of my actual usage of the two devices.

My sister decided to have her own laptop, her hubby is working abroad, and she talks with her hubby everyday. For the time being, she uses my nephew’s laptop in the morning while he’s in the university and I let her use the laptop at night. I browse the net for possible installment (again) and decided to have a mini note (HP 2133). After some queries from the computer store, HP 2133 was dropped for several reasons. I finally decided to have the Compaq CQ20-205TU instead of the HP 2133. Specification wise, the former is much better than the latter. It was finalized and CQ20 was bought. (Thank you very much to SOMEONE who lend me some monies)

Since my card was used to purchased the unit, we agreed that I’ll be having the new one (well that is always my plan, LOL). So that’s it. I have my new COMPAQ CQ20-205TU while my sister has the Acer ( I reformatted the unit and installed XP and Office 2003, she’s not too acquainted with Vista and office 2007, and mind you, the wireless is working properly!)

How excited I am to have this new unit? Well, very excited, as if Dad got home with a new toy for me!

And the real problem occurs….

During the installation process, licensed OS is required. This is a common thing to do of course, however, if we can use unlicensed software, why not? Several attempts were made, however, to no avail, all were unsuccessful. Why? This is because of the SLIC feature of the BIOS. SLIC (System License Internal Code) which is used by the manufacturer to determine if the OS running on the machine is a legit or not. Microsoft together with four other computer manufacturers have an agreement with the SLIC. Eventually, SLIC will be implemented across all products. So meaning to say, my fellow unlicensed users, it is the right time to migrate to open source software!!!

What are my options? I can make use of the restore CD so that even if I don’t have the licensed OS, I can proceed with the installation process. Another is to go back to TCA, but all they can do is to extend the trial Vista Basic installed in my machine, and to purchase a licensed OS. Whew, I enquire from the different shops here in Batangas City and the least I got was 5K bucks,huh. This is a disaster!

It’s a pity on me. I settled for Windows Vista Starter!!! I’ve been testing now this OS and hopefully it works fine. (Or else, I have to purchase at least a Windows Vista Home Basic).

By the way. I got a RAM upgrade to 2G when I bought the unit. Heheheh

Free Coffee at Starbucks

Just recently, I discontinued the use of one of my Standard Chartered credit card. I’ve been a responsible credit card user for the last three years (at least IMHO) paying my due ahead of time or on due dates. I’ve never been charged for late payments or insufficient payment as I always make it a point to pay more than the total amount (just rounding off to the nearest hundred). I always make sure that I had the credit card bills prior to my payment. I usually check my bills whenever I got home and I didn’t noticed that I haven’t received my standard chartered bill. I was in the university when I was checking my due dates, I noticed that my standard chartered card is already due and I haven’t received my bill yet. I immediately called the attention of SCB and informed them about my non-delivered bill. It’s been three or five days already after the due date, and yet I still haven’t paid my due. When I check again the SCB CSR, they informed me that I was billed already with late a charge which is equivalent to 600 bucks. WTF! Immediately, I request SCB to debit it from my account. After, two days, I received a text message from SCB telling me to call their office regarding my request. Since I’m already home and we don’t have PLDT Line to call the toll-free number (I’m a Globelines and recently Digitel subscriber, you know, smart people use Globe!), I texted back informing them that I ‘ll just goin to pay my service charge rather than to call them with long distance charges (you know when calling to CS numbers, will be prompted with AVR, press 0 to shut up!) The following day, I paid my bill (less 600, since it will be billed the following month and then check my available points. Whew, well I was able to save enough for a cup of Starbucks coffee, lol. I requested to convert my points to Starbucks GC and after 3 days, I receive my 12 GCs. I shared 3GCs to my bro and I keep the rest.

Afterwards, I called SCB for the cancellation of my card. When the authority asks me to elaborate why I am terminating my SCB card, I told her that I am not happy anymore with the services they provide. I want them to realize that it is not only SCB which can provide those services to the clients but there are several other credit card companies willing to give cards with minimum requirements. (Hello HSBC!!!)

From time to time, whenever there is a chance to drop by at Starbucks Batangas, I together with Pareng Buboy (hey Pareng Jayson, are you listening?)were able to enjoy “free” coffee. Last time, we had Grande Americano and I’m planning to have Café Mocha on my next visit. Will you join me?