Congratulations to our “kababayan” Efren Peñaflorida for being chosen as the 2009 CNN Hero of the Year! Mabuhay ka! May your tribe, members of the Dynamic Teens Company increase.

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For the very first time, I had experienced having a flat tire last Sunday, 15 Nov 2009 — happy birthday mom, that day!

My family and I were on our way to church to hear the Sunday mass at around 0930H when I noticed this heavy feeling while driving. As we reached the parking area of our parish, my wife immediately noticed that my rear left tire is flat. Being an AAP (Automobile Association of the Philippines) member, I immediately called their hotline and asked for assistance. Not that I cannot change my flat tire by myself, but a medical condition (back problems) prohibits me from doing such thing. The dispatcher at AAP, by the name of Rodelyn (dunno if the spelling is right) accepted my call and had advised me that she will inform me via my mobile once the two truck is near my place already — this was at 0930H. My family and I then proceeded inside the church to hear the mass.

An hour later — 1030H, I asked the security guard of our parish if the AAP tow truck had arrived already, and he replied that he saw nothing, yet. I made a follow-up at AAP’s hotline, and I was advised that the tow truck is still at Cubao, Quezon City attending to someone else’s vehicle. Wow! Only if the AAP dispatcher had advised me the help will be coming Cubao, when I am at Makati City, I should had accepted the help offered by some of my friends at the church earlier.

Driving to work everyday, the AAP tow truck(s) parked at the foot of the Sales Bridge (Nichols) is quite noticeable. So I asked the AAP dispatcher (Rodelyn) if any of these trucks can be sent to help me change my tire, and she replied NO, those trucks are exclusively to be used inside the Expressways — which I find stupid, since my location is just near Magallanes.

Another hour, I made another follow-up call to ask if the tow truck is already heading my way. The AAP dispatcher was so sorry to advise me that the tow truck will no longer be heading to Makati (from Cubao) since it suffered a breakdown. WT*?! I asked the dispatcher (this time, it was Alma — Rodelyn may had already been pissed off by me) on how many tow trucks do they have, and she gave me something like 37. Of all those 37 AAP tow trucks, 36 were all busy and 01 had died along the way going to Makati?! What a coincidence. Could it be that the drivers were all very busy waiting for the Pacman-Cotto fight on TV?

Instead, Alma promised that AAP will be sending one of their guys using a car to help me change my tire. This time, the AAP car will be coming in from Boni Ave. — this is around 1130H, and by this time, I had sent my wife and child back at home via a cab, and my dad’s team had already arrived to assist me. Hoping to get my AAP membership’s worth, at 1200H (that’s 2.5 hours since my initial call for help to AAP), I made yet another phone call to their hotline, and I was advised that the car is already somewhere in Ortigas, on the way to me. But wait! I though the help will be coming from Boni Ave., and I’m at Makati City, but what the h#*l, why is it at Ortigas?! AAP, I think your dispatchers need a lot of (re)training, or perhaps, they should be provided with an updated road map of Metro Manila, at least. Ortigas Ave. is way too far from Boni Ave., and you won’t have to take the U-turn slot at Ortigas Ave. just to get to Makati City for CheeseWhiz’s sake!

To cut this long story short, my dad’s team helped me in changing the tire (oh, by the way, my dad’s people brought the spare tire to a nearby vulcanizing because it does not have the proper pressure). Some 30 minutes later, that’s around 1230H when a guy wearing a shirt with the AAP logo on it approached me and asked what was my problem. Too late, boy, you’re very much too late!

Did I mentioned that it was the 60th birthday of my mom that Sunday? I was supposed to pick-up her birthday cake at the Glorietta, but thanks to the unreliability of AAP (Automobile Association of the Philippines), the cake was too late for the celebration. I do hope, AAP tow trucks will be as fast as their collection agents when your annual fees are due.

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So, I found a spare 512MB SD card in one of my bag’s side pockets this morning and thought of using it to try ReadyBoost in my Windows 7 lappy. So what is ReadyBoost? Wikipedia defines it as:

ReadyBoost is a component of Microsoft Windows, first introduced with Windows Vista in 2006 and also included with Windows 7. It works by using flash memory, USB 2.0 drive, SD card, CompactFlash or any kind of portable flash mass storage system as a drive for disk cache.

ReadyBoost is also used to facilitate SuperFetch, an updated version of Windows XP’s prefetcher which performs analysis of boot-time disk usage patterns and creates a cache which is used in subsequent system boots.

So, I reformatted the PQI SD card and activated ReadyBoost:

Then, I did a simply test to check if ReadyBoost really works or not. With ReadyBoost activated, I fired up Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended and it just took me 40.1 seconds to see it’s GUI.

Now, I ejected the PQI SD card (ReadyBoost), made a reboot, then fired Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended again, and it took me some 77.0 seconds just to see the GUI. That’s around 30 seconds difference, and indeed it’s a big thing. Indeed, ReadyBoost works!

If you’re wondering the specs of my Windows 7 laptop, it’s an eMachines by Acer D725 running Intel Pentium Dual-core T4200 with 2GB of RAM. Now, I am thinking of getting a 2GB SD Card to be dedicated for ReadyBoost on my lappy.

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The 22nd of October 2009 marked yet another milestone in Microsoft’s history: launching Windows 7 to the world. While we here in Manila, Philippines still wait for the official launch of Windows 7 on the 7th of November 2009, I was one of the early adopters of the new OS (though I still have to install the retail version to my laptop soon). To summarize things, I am happy with Windows 7!

I hate Windows Vista, actually when I got my HP Mini 2133, a month later I changed my OS to Windows XP dual-booted with Windows 7 Beta (which was later on upgraded to RC). It made my HP Mini 2133 more useful (and faster).

With Windows 7, I got all the guts to be brave and bold enough that I installed the Release Candidate on my newly acquired eMachines laptop.

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Today marked yet another milestone for my car: the day I shifted from Castrol Magnatec to Shell Helix Plus.

Ever since we acquired our Mitsubishi Galant 1991 (automatic transmission; US version), I had been using Castrol Magnatec as my motor oil. I must admit, I was sold by their advertisements. But recently, based on my research, I concluded that Castrol Magnatec is the primary cause for the blackening of my engine — carbon deposits.

The week after Ondoy, Shell Magallanes inadvertently filled my car with fuel contaminated with water (the gas station was submerged to flood, thanks to Ondoy!). My car’s gasoline tank was drained by their competent service center crew (they even towed my vehicle from our house, free of charge). Observing them while fixing my car made me to decide that I will now entrust my car’s maintenance with Shell Magallanes (as it was long time suggested by my dad, too).

Today, my trip meter ticked past to 4,200 kms.: time to change my ATF (Automatic Transmission Fluid) and motor oil change (I don’t wait for the odometer to reach 5,000 kms). Brought my car to Shell Magallanes at around 1500H (together with my dad), I was #2 in queue. Ten minutes later, my car is being positioned to the lifter. Almost an hour later, everything (ATF and motor oil change, oil filter change) is done! I availed their change oil package (used to be PHP1,800++; discounted is just PHP1,300++) and spent PHP1,900++ all in.

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Smart Rewards Craze is the newest offer brought to you by Smart Rewards. Found at the Smart Rewards website (http://www.smart.com.ph/rewards), it is a fun and easy online game that allows players of ages 12 and above to earn game points (i.e. play money) by playing a series of mini games playable for a definite number of times per day.

To participate in the auction, players must convert their play money into game credits for use in the monthly online auctions. The monthly auction, still hosted within the game site, will feature prizes up for grabs to the player that bids the highest number of game credits. The game is open to all players, but players must be registered to Smart Rewards to participate in the auction.

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When you think of Sun Cellular, you associate it with words such as unlimited and value for money. Sun Cellular aims to bring these words in the world of wireless broadband through the Sun Broadband Wireless. Go online anytime you like in the Metro and North Luzon using the fastest HSDPA technology with speeds up to 3mbps.

Sun broadband wireless offers the lowest UNLIMITED plans for only PHP799 and PHP649 for existing Sun postpaid users. The PREPAID kit is only PHP1,895 and it comes with a free 180 hours of surfing.

Order for a Sun Broadband Wireless kit from me and get a DISCOUNT. You can contact me through 0916.320.1513 or email bob@bobreyes.com for your orders — no need to fall in line at Sun Cellular centers; I’ll have your USB modems delivered right in front of your doorsteps absolutely FREE.

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Admiral Overseas Corporation (AOC) has continually lived by the “art of colors” in bringing beauty to your digital lifestyle by offering a wide range of top performing CRT & LCD monitors and LCD TVs.

But more than this advancement in technology, AOC has maintained an environmental-friendly mindset towards gearing up for the preservation of resources. AOC being a green company have set the standards of manufacturing products that do not need to sacrifice quality performance and great display for energy efficiency.

“AOC is positioned to be one of the top global players in providing the best value display technology.”

AOC added to their widescreen LCD range monitors that bring green, entertainment, human-element life experience: 936Sw, 2236Vw and 2436Vw.

This line of AOC LCD monitors boosts the following:

• EPEAT Gold Award
• Power Saving mode: save up to 50% in power consumption
• With Analog D-Sub Input (for 936Sw 19″ LCD Monitor model)
• With DVI-D Input (for 2236Vw 22″ LCD Monitor model)
• Wall-mountable (for 2436Vw 24″ Class LCD Widescreen Monitor model)
• iBright Technology
• Power Off Timer

[View with PicLens]

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Students of member schools of the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) gathered in a festive inter-university blowout mounted this weekend by leading wireless Internet provider Smart Bro.

Dubbed as “B Free Day”, in line with Smart Bro’s partnership with the two premier collegiate sports leagues, which produced limited editions of Smart Bro Plug Its, dongles designed with the sports team monickers of UAAP and NCAA member schools. These are Adamson University, Ateneo, La Salle, FEU, National University, UE, UST and UP for UAAP. The NCAA member schools are College of St. Benilde (CSB), Jose Rizal University, Letran, Mapua, San Beda, San Sebastian, Philippine Christian University (on leave), and University of Perpetual Help.

“Supporting school sports is one of our advocacies as these provide positive entertainment and promote healthy competition among the youth. Giving away the dongles is our reward to them, in line with Smart Bro’s goal of delivering Internet for all,” explained Smart marketing group head Annie P. Naval.

Held at the Megatent in Ortigas Avenue, Pasig City, “B Free Day” thrilled the student crowd with back-to-back performances by popular rock bands Sandwich, Hale and Spongecola; raffle draws; and games and treats reminiscent of school fairs such as bail out jail booth, balloon darts, ball toss, back massages, burgers, beverages and other sponsors’ freebies—all beginning with the letter ‘b’.

Another popular section of “B Free” featured a remount of the successful Smart Bro Broadbandemonium – The Great SMART Bro Sale. The sale brought together major PC brands Acer, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Neo and Toshiba, which have bundled Smart Bro in some of their latest models, to give buyers the right equipment to enjoy the Internet with Smart Bro’s fast connectivity.

Smart Communications, Inc. recently launched its expanded HSPA network nationwide, from Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte to Digos, Davao del Sur—with many more cellsites expected to go live before 2009 ends. Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao, and other key cities are already covered with seamless, high-speed mobile broadband which provides a subscriber high speeds of up to 5.8Mbps, enabling Smart Bro subscribers to enjoy the fastest wireless broadband service when surfing the internet.

Thanks to the wonderful people of Havoc Digital (and Rogue) for the Press Pass!

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Ever since I started using WHMCS (Web Host Manager Complete Solution), my dilemma is that it uses the server’s timezone as its default. If a server is based outside of my local timezone, I have no choice but to adjust all of the transaction dates every time there is an entry at the WHMCS.

Now, here’s a trick to dictate WHMCS to use your local timezone:

1. Open the file configuration.php for editing.
2. Add the line date_default_timezone_set('Asia/Manila'); if you are from Manila.

The list of timezones can be found at http://www.php.net/manual/en/timezones.php

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It was just declared by The Palace today, 04 Sep 2009 (the 2nd birthday of my son, Robyn Andi Xeon) that Mon 07 Sep 2009 and Mon 21 Sep 2009 will be a Non-working Holidays all throughout the Philippines.

07 Sep 2009 was declared as a National Day of Mourning in honor of the Iglesia ni Cristo’s executive leader Eraño Manalo, while 21 Sep 2009 will be for Eid Ul Fitr (last day of Ramadan).

Can’t they just declare my birthday as a holiday as well?

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In honor of the late President Corazon “Cory” Aquino, it was declared that this Wednesday, 05 August 2009 will be a Special Non-working Holiday all throughout the country. It will also be on this day when the remains of the late President will be laid into rest at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City (where the body of his husband, the late Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr. lies).

“Cory, di ka nag-iisa.”

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For those who were asking on where they can find the LG KU250 mobile phone PC Suite, I guess today is your lucky day. Here’s the installer for the LG PC Suite that comes with my KU250 when it was purchased.

If you were helped of this post, your “Thank you!” is accepted, but your PayPal donation is better.

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UPDATE: So, someone knocked the head of someone in the Palace. They just released a clarification that 27 July 2009 is a WORKING HOLIDAY. In what part of this planet had you heard of a “working” holiday. Read all BS stuff here.

You read it right! On the last Monday of this month, the 27th, aside from the President (your’s not mine) will give her last SONA (hopefully), it will also coincide with the founding anniversary of the Iglesia ni Cristo. Not much fun fare there was, during our celebration of the country’s independence this year, it was signed into law as RA 9645 declaring the 27th of every July thereafter a non-working holiday.

As of this posting, I cannot locate a copy of the Republic Act. But was lucky to find a copy of the House Bill, which was the basis for this RA.

If you were helped of this post, your “Thank you!” is accepted, but your PayPal donation is better.

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Thanks to the people of the De La Salle University Business Management Society (BMS) for having me as their resource speaker earlier today. Had a talk about Microsofot Visual Basic 2008 Express for non-developers.

As promised, hereunder is a copy of the slide deck I used for the talk. For anything related to the seminar, please feel free to email me via bob@bobreyes.com

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