New look

My friends Dondino and Eric are redesigning the look of their blogs. I got jealous and decided to redesign my blog, too. :-) I have always wanted my blog to look like this. Simple. Basic colors over white. I also renamed it to Carl News Network, the name of my webpage when I was still learning HTML and CSS in college. Ironically, too, during that time I was also trying to figure out how to automate the creation of my web pages. That was in 1999, I think. I thought of putting a textfile in a certain directory and then run a program to automatically incorporate it to my webpage. I never got around to finishing that program. But what do you know. Other people were thinking about it too. And their solution (blogger, wordpress, mtcomments) were much elegant than mine. I guess I wasn't the only one who thought of simplifying self-publishing.

One problem, though. I cannot change the URL to my blog. Actually, I can. But I don't want to. My friend's links to my blog will break. And so it will stay this way, smallerpicture.blogspot.com, the Carl News Network.

Edit:
My blog looks a bit clunky on an 800x600 screen resolution, but what the heck, I don't want to code in absolute sizes. I'm thinking of finding the middle ground, font sizes that are very accessible (readable) at 1024x768, but doesn't look gigantic in 800x600.

Dot aye-en-eff

I got this from Dondino's blog. Dondino in turn got it from Mark's blog. I don't know why I took the test, but since I took it I might as well post my result.


Which File Extension are You?

One of those idle moments

Look forward

My ex-classmates are talking about "risks" in their blogs. And I'm about to join them with this post.

It's nice to think of risk as the price you pay for change rather than it being a byproduct of change. I don't consider myself a risk-taker. And I don't just feel that way, I am that way. Months of trading in a virtual stock exchange called HSX (Hollywood Stock Exchange) tells me so. But from time to time I do take risks.

One such time was last month (I forgot the exact date). I was asked whether I'd be willing to transfer from Development (where I make programs) to Support Services (where I co-administer servers). I didn't have to answer immediately. But I did. I said, "Yes." It was not a split-second decision, but within minutes I answered, "Yes."

I love to develop programs. Computer Science, the course I took in college, is much more than that, but in three years of developing programs I've come to love it more than any other aspect of Computer Science. It's a creative process. One day you create how to accomplish a job, the next day you are creating another way to accomplish the exact same thing. It saddens me, sometimes it frustrates me, that our development manager doesn't see programming that way. Sticking to familiar ways of accomplishing things is not bad, perse. But it stops you from discovering better ways that are out there waiting to be found. And in our case sticking to the familiar doesn't even enable us to deliver projects on time. Something must be wrong with what we are doing. I see it. My colleagues see it. Unfortunately, our development manager doesn't. It's no wonder I agreed within minutes to transfer to Support Services.

I'm sure it will be hard the first few weeks, maybe months, of my new job. I'll be off my comfort zone. I will have to deal with new people and learn new stuff. But I'm determined to make this new job my new comfort zone. I have no problem with studying new stuff. There are so much out there that I'd like to learn that the problem really is choosing which to do first. I'm taking a risk. That pasture that I will soon moved on to may not be as green there as it is from way down here. But then if I don't go there I wouldn't know.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Got my copy last Saturday. Finished reading it yesterday.

I think Half-Blood Prince is way better than Order of the Phoenix. 'Half-Blood' is not significantly shorter than 'Order', but 'Half-Blood' is way leaner. Somehow for a book the size of 'Order', it contains too little muscle compared to this new book. JK Rowling has definitely cut the flabs in this one and if only she did the same with 'Order', it could have been a much shorter book.

Whoever pens the screenplay for this book will have lots of headaches, however.

English

I'm not writing in English because I want to show the world how great I am at writing in English. It's not also because I hate our native language (Pilipino) or my native dialect (Bisaya). No. I'm writing in English because I know that I need lots of practice in it. I am an aspiring novelist and need lots of practice in English. It seems that online forums and message boards are the only places that I can "say" things in English without being given the "look". I'm sure some of you here are giving it to me right now, but at least I can't see any of you. Hehe...

Read my long-term goal (or you can call it a dream) here. Like what I said there, I'm not sure whether I'll achieve this dream or not, I'm not even sure if I can sustain the interest, but it will be worth the journey whatever the outcome.

Farewell, Jaime Cardinal Sin

Jaime Cardinal Sin, 1928-2005

I was too young to remember what you did for me and other freedom-loving Filipinos back in 1986, but thank you. Thank you for bringing democracy back to our country. Goodbye.

Lazy man chases dream

Believe it or not, I just woke up one morning and decided that I want to become a published writer. "To write stories," I told myself, "that will be my goal in life." For years I was not interested in goals in life. That's because I had none until that day I decided I want to become a published author. From kindergarten, through elementary, through high school, college, and after college, I've been asked what my goal in life was. And almost every time my answer would be different from my previous one. Now, I am thankful to say, I have only one goal. I want to become a published writer, specifically to be a published novelist.

I am taking, what I believe are, positive actions towards realizing this dream. I've read Stephen King's "On Writing" and I'm currently reading Sol Stein's "Stein on Writing". I'm not a native English speaker and rarely use English except in official correspondence, in online forums, and this blog. I need all the practice that I can get, and all the nuts-and-bolts that I can lay my hands on. I'm sure I'll be able to learn things from these two books. I could do worse than not reading them. It will just be like college, again. Except that this time around, I'm having fun while learning how to write stories. I'm also praying that I'll achieve this dream. Studying and praying. I can already see the end of the rainbow. The only thing left is to find out if the pot at the end contains gold, or hot water.

I'm not sure whether I'll achieve this dream or not, but hey, it will be worth the journey, whatever the outcome.

Dogs Go Barking at Night

I wrote this poem one night when I was awaken by some neighbor's crazy dogs. Or maybe they were my dogs, I don't know. It's short because I didn't get up at all. I just used my cellphone, which doubles as my alarm clock, to write it.

When dogs go barking at night,
Inevitably sleep is beyond sight.
Try as I may to go back to sleep,
The barking pulls me back from slumber deep.

Abba Anokk and the Stubborn Pencil

This is my second poem to be posted here. I wrote this on February 22, 2005. I actually have a printed copy on my office drawer. The inspiration for this poem is my inability (not of my own choice) to use modern programming techniques at work. I'm probably the only one who can understand this poem.

In the land of Blast, somewhere near our distant past,
Lived Tong Mangato, oldest of the wise cast.
In the town of Subsequent, where fine days are frequent,
Lived Abba Anokk, bender most stringent.

Two paths have crossed.

Dark clouds form, as thunder grumbles.
Lightning strikes as bull wind squalls.
The Matrix has been opened. Divide by zero divine.
Not still, yet not in motion is Time.

Bright future's a-calling, Abba goes yearning.
Prophecy of five revisited, sixty the magic number.
And so shall famine stay, five more years it may
Before sweet rain creeps out of hiding.
Then the blackhole of thirty-six good Abba shall escape.

Phones go a ringing as printers go a printing.
Abba from his desk awakens with drools a dripping.
Pencil in hand, paper in second.
Escape plan drawn commences at dawn.