How to be a Super Google Searcher

Ahhh, kids nowadays are so lucky! The internet and search engines only came into being towards the end of my college life. Doing research back then made me browse through several encyclopedias, sift through the card catalogue in the library, made me sneeze through old newspapers and made me go physically to the resource and even other libraries.

Things were much easier though during the time I was taking my MBA. Google was new back then and I immediately started using it. For a nerd like me, Google was heaven sent and I can say that I've been using Google for 12 years now! Wow!



Last week, Google Asia Pacific's regional product marketing manager for consumer products Jay Trinidad came to Manila to demo some new stuff on Google's search product. The following makes Google search faster, fresher and more intuitive:

Google Instant. Search results show as you type keywords. This saves you 2 to 5 seconds per query.

Caffeine. Caffeine is a new search index that provides 50 percent fresher results for web searches compared to its previous index. It is also the largest collection of web content Google has ever offered and will be the foundation in building a faster and more comprehensive search engine. (This is good news for bloggers too!)

Real-time search. Get highly relevant and freshest content from across the web. Shows results from micro blogs, news sites, blogs, web pages and public pages of social networks. This is great especially if you want to see fresh content about ongoing events because it provides information that is happening now.

Re-designed image search. I just tried this awhile ago and it's awesome. Try this: (1) search for "jeepney" on Google Image Search; (2) click on the color red at the lower left side of the page and notice that the results would page would show red jeepneys! (3) now try the other colors. Jay (my hubby) and I tried searching for celebrity photos too!

You can also use other "operators" to make searching on Google easier. The operators I use more often are "define" and "site:" (for searching only a specific website), and I use Google often as a calculator. Check out the Google Cheat Sheet to become a super Google searcher like me!

100 Days Before Christmas

Midnight of September 1 I promptly greeted my online friends through Twitter and Plurk a Merry Christmas. My friends from other countries find it hard to believe that we have the longest Christmas celebration. It is not unusual for radio stations to play Christmas jingles as soon as the ber months set in. Some malls and shops also start decorating for Christmas. Halloween and Thanksgiving is usually just another day locally and not many celebrate it.

At home we usually put up our Christmas tree on Bonifacio Day (November 30) since it's usually a holiday, but there were times when we set things up as early as All Souls Day. Our street was usually the most lighted and decorated in our village - well until cost of electricity went up. Now that I have my own little family and home I have started to think about Christmas and I think I'd like to enjoy it this year (last year was a mad dash to finish everything for the wedding!).

Christmas Dishes. What got me started thinking about Christmas was the event hosted by Kraft Foods I attended two weeks ago. I have only been cooking for 9 months now and Eden's 100 Days, 100 Towns, 100 Unique Cheese Dishes is overwhelming. That's 100 towns vying for the 2 million pesos support fund through votes for the best dish (more info at http://www.sarapngpasko.com). Whew! My personal goal would be to learn to make at least 2 of our family Christmas recipes (my Mom's Chicken Galantina and special ham).

Christmas Decors. Whatever Christmas decor I had before is all gone because of Typhoon Ondoy so I'm starting from scratch. I'm planning to get a small tree and make my own decor! I'll probably leave the outside decorating to Sweetie and Miguel.

Christmas Gifts. I always end up cramming for gifts! Things to do within the week: update my Christmas list and check my inventory of gifts (yes, I do keep a stash for emergencies). I used to make gifts when I had the time. Hopefully I'll find some time and make some stuff!

And to kick-off a 100-day countdown to Christmas, here's the Las Pinas Boys Choir singing their Filipino Christmas songs repertoire:

Movie Review: Sa `Yo Lamang

I like watching Filipino movies, so when the trailer for "Sa `Yo Lamang" showed on TV I told Sweetie that I wanted to watch it (that was last July). We finally got the chance to watch it today with my parents, my Tita and Miguel because of the holiday.

At the end of the movie, amidst tears I was trying to hide, I asked Sweetie, "Why does Star Cinema only make these types of movies once a decade?" Anyway, this movie couldn't have come at a better time and I applaud the producers of this movie for going around schools to reinforce the value of family togetherness.

No Family is Perfect. We all have our weird quirks. We all fight - may it be in a noisy or silent mannger. We all have problems. We all go through periods of being distant, being together. Trials always come in one form or another. One of the characters summed it up pretty well when she said, "No family is perfect. You either accept them as they are and make the best out of it. Or pity yourself and be miserable for the rest of your life."

Togetherness. The many trials the family faced in the movie seem quite unbelievable, but it is probable. The movie showed how mothers play a major role in keeping a family together.

Forgiveness. There can be no love if there is no forgiveness. The movie showed the importance of opening one's heart to forgive, no matter how huge the sin may be.

These are just some of the things that the movie tried to reinforce about how a family should cope with trials. Watching it with my family made me remember all of the trials we've been through in the past. My Mom's just like Amanda (Lorna Tolentino). Strong, prayerful, forgiving, loving and the ilaw ng tahanan. Something that I should be like now that I have my own little family.

Watch the movie and be prepared to cry.

The Convection Oven that Blogging Bought

Once in a blue moon I earn some money from blogging and usually the pay-out comes in time for my birthday. Last year I got myself a nice executive chair from 2 years worth of blogging. It was something that I really missed from my previous job, a nice executive chair that dwarfs me (mababaw lang kaligayahan ko). It was one of the two things that we managed to save during Typhoon Ondoy (whew! The other one was my desktop PC).

I love to bake, but I haven't been able to do so in the past few years because I didn't have a working oven and I've become allergic to LPG so I can't use my Mom's oven anymore. I wanted to get one last summer but I didn't have the budget for it. I started to scout around for the one my best friend in Singapore recommended, but found out that local appliance stores/department stores don't carry that many brands.

I settled for the Imarflex 3-in-1 convection and rotisserie.

I was so excited to bake again I bought 2 new baking pans and some ingredients the next day and immediately worked on baking some peanut butter cookies.

It didn't turn out the way I expected it to be (pan was too small), 

but the 2 dozen cookies I baked were gone in less than 24 hours. 

And then last weekend I baked some yummy chocolate crinkles!

Hopefully, I can get my online cooking tutors to teach me how to bake some yummy dinner dishes. Also have to get recipes from my Ate.

A Lesson on Humility

I was quite excited about the long weekend because I was celebrating the tenth anniversary of my 25th birthday. My friends encouraged me to celebrate since there was a lot to be thankful for. I had three separate home parties (that means I cooked!). The first one was planned by my Mom and Tita. It was held at my parents' house and was no different from the childhood birthday parties I had (sans the balloons). I even blew the candles with both my parents beside me (my choice!). The other two was just done at home with some childhood friends and I'm glad they liked my cooking.

One thing though marred my special day. As we were about to leave for my parents' house we heard a car horn honking like mad. The hubby went out to check it out. I wondered why he was taking so long so I went out to investigate who arrived. As I peeked out of the door the guy in the green car (he was the one honking madly) started to scream at me. Apparently he was upset that our guest (who was picking us up) somehow double parked the car (but the road was still passable, I don't drive all that well but I would've managed to get through).

During this time the hubby was moving the car behind another neighbor's vehicle. I apologized to the guy, but he kept on ranting and kept on saying, "I don't f--king care if your guests just arrived and are about to leave! Hindi ganyan mambastos ng kapitbahay, mga bagong salta lang kayo dito!" I just kept apologizing to him continuously, but he was in a rage and I didn't bother explaining that I've lived in the same village since birth. I waited for Jay to come back inside our house and the guy just kept on hurling insults at us. I just said one final apology and closed the door.

What happened hurt and I was shaking until about an hour after. To experience so much rage from someone we don't know was truly a scary experience and I wondered why I had to experience it on my birthday. When we got to my parents' house I immediately relayed to my parents and my Mom's friends what happened. I also told them that I was worried what may happen the next two days since I was expecting guests. My Tita immediately called the village security officer and requested for them to be around our place for the next two days (she's the village association president so it would be a big headache for her if anything else happened). That's what helped me calm down a bit and I soon managed to enjoy the party.

I still wondered though why it happened. The answer came during the homily the next day where our guest priest talked about humility. He said that being humble doesn't only mean not being a show-off. It's not only a test of character when you receive praise. Showing humility in times of trouble. The most powerful word, which should be the last word, during fights is an apology. The totally wrecked my mindset since I was really indignant about the incident. We weren't at fault and I thought he shouldn't have made a mountain about a mole hill. I wanted to find the neighbor. I wanted to talk it out or something just to get the bad feeling off my chest.

It took about 24 hours before the sermon sank in and as the priest said, "Humility is one of the hardest and most painful values to learn. Be thankful when God reminds you about it." It was a painful experience, but I'm glad we just held on and did not fight fire with fire. It would have just probably created a bigger mess. We always wondered as well why our neighbors don't seem to know each other (unlike in the street where I used to live, about 7 streets away). It was truly a painful experience to be berated by someone you don't know. Much less to be scolded by a mistake that isn't yours.

I thought I'd blog about it to get it totally out of my system and to be a reminder of the lesson on humility I received on my birthday.

And here's a song for my neighbor:

The Heart of Healing

I wrote about a miracle last year. I was miraculously healed from heart failure. My Singaporean cardiologist was quite surprised that I was in good shape and took out most of my maintenance medicines. The planned heart surgery last year was postponed. It's been more than a year since the planned heart surgery and I've since been slowly getting over my allergies. I can now eat/drink chocolate, Coca-cola and I'm halfway over my allergies for crabs and shrimps! Hooray!

Early this year though, my cardio advised that I should still go through heart surgery so that I could live a normal life again and have more kids. I was really saddened over that and became a bit depressed over it. For a few weeks after my check-up I ended up having asthma attacks almost everyday and I was not my usual perky self.

Ardy Roberto's book "The Heart of Healing" was a token from a talk I gave. I was immediately hooked when I started reading the book while waiting for Sweetie to pick me up. The book is about Ardy's wife who had lupus. Lupus is a disease that isn't curable and Ardy's journey wasn't an easy one. I am glad though that I came across the book because it surely reminded me of what Fr. Faller said during his homily. He said that healing may not be immediate, but may come in phases.

The cloud that was on me for the past few months lifted half-way through the book. Healing is indeed a process which often takes time to happen. I continue to pray to be healed so I can continue my mission.

It's my birthday today and I'd just like to thank my family, friends and everyone who has touched my life for being there. And, of course, thank you Papa God for the healing grace.

Bongga!

10 Things that were Non-Existent Back in the 1980s

This post was inspired by the game that was played during Neo's launch of its newest 3D gaming laptop where we were challenged to name as many things that were non-existent during the 80s. I can easily name 30, but would just limit this post to ten things I use a lot now.

Chatting


I remember back in high school me and my imaginative friends dreamt that we would eventually talk/chat easily through a computer. We all had PCs with monochrome monitors and no internet access yet when we had that conversation. It did come true. My best friend lives in Cebu and I only get to talk to my other friends via chat (GTalk, YM, Facebook, Skype and ICQ).

Mobile Phones and Wireless Landlines


I was issued my first mobile phone when I worked for a telco. It was the N100 and was nicknamed "pangkaskas ng yelo" because it was solid and heavy. It could only do voice calls back then. And who would've thought that we could carry around our landline phone? Smart phones nowadays, like my NexusOne, gets you on the internet in a jiffy. Oh back in the early 80s our phone had a rotary dialer. My son couldn't imagine how it worked.

CDs and Dibidi (DVD)


I used to collect cassette tapes and record my favorite songs while listening to the radio (unheard of for Miguel!). We also used to watch movies on Betamax and eventually VHS tapes. Nowadays one's favorite song can be easily acquired by buying the CD and movies through DVD (and BluRay!).

Email and Social Networking Sites


I lost touch with a number of friends to immigrated when I was a kid. I'm quite happy that I've found most of them through social networking sites like Friendster, Facebook, Multiply etc. Back then the only way to stay in touch was by calling them or writing them through snail mail. I even have a stamp collection to prove that I used to write a lot of letters. I now use snail mail only on rare occasions since there's email anyway.

Digital Cameras


I got my very first camera from my sister. She found it on a sidewalk in the US and when no one claimed it, she sent it to me. A good chunk of my allowance went to having film developed. Thank God for digital cameras since taking photos is now limited only to the size of your SD card/memory. Most phones also have cameras so it's easy to capture images anytime, anywhere. (And yes Miguel, back in the 80s we did have colored photos already! Rawr!!!).

Google!


The founders of Google are just 2 years older than me so it definitely didn't exist yet in the 80s although based on some readings I've done search has been around for sometime already, just not for everyone. I was already a college graduate when Google was founded, but it definitely got me through grad school because it made doing research much easier.

LRT and MRT


I don't really know how I would've survived commuting to and from school without the LRT. I used to take the jeepney though whenever I had to study for an exam.

Monstrous USB Storage and The Cloud


My first USB had tiny storage space. Inarbor ko from my Kuya. I dunno how old it is right now, but it's with Miguel and has survived a couple of floods already. There was a time my thesismates had to go to my house to physically share files with me (on a floppy disk!). I can't imagine how we managed to complete our thesis back then. Eventually things got more sophisticated and I just burned huge amounts of data on a CD, then DVD and now I can just easily copy stuff on a USB flash drive.

The iPod


I felt really cool when I was 12 because I had a Walkman. I used to sleep with it (and that probably affected my hearing) and that's how I listened to my cassette tape collection. I skipped owning a DiscMan because I found it too expensive (I was already working then so I couldn't ask my parents to buy me one), but I did gift myself with an iPod Nano (not the first gen iPod) when it came out. I love listening to music (my son too) and my iTunes holds my music collection now.

InkJet Printers 


My Kuya had a dot-matrix printer in the late 1980s. It was quite noisy and I'm proud to say that I acquired the skill to change its ribbon! My son has never experienced printing on a dot-matrix printer and maybe one day I'll unearth the one we had in the early 90s. It's still somewhere at home.


We take these things for granted nowadays, but kids are so lucky they have all of these things at their fingertips. I didn't mention gaming consoles in this post since the only one I had back in the 80s was Game & Watch and a PacMan watch. I was never allowed to play Atari or Super Mario so I still play games like a three year old. Anyway, all of these conveniences are great and helpful, I wonder how things will be 30 years from now.