Quaere Verum

This is a pretty old story, I think. I first read this via email a number of years back. Occassionally I still receive a copy in my inbox. Pretty touching, considering that I can very well relate. Just thought I'd share it with you people: A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door. "Daddy, may I ask you a question?" "Yeah sure, what is it?" replied the man. "Daddy, how much do you make an hour?" "That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?" the man said angrily. "I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?" pleaded the little boy. "If you must know, I make $20 an hour." "Oh," the little boy replied, with his head down. Looking up, he said, "Daddy, may I please borrow $10?" The father was furious, "If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some ...

Ever since Netscape Navigator died, (it is dead, isn't it?) I had been a regular user, albeit grudgingly, of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Now several years later, Internet Explorer has become a monster, a huge program stuffed with megabytes of fixes and patches, yet still vulnerable to attacks from spyware, ActiveX controls, etc. Recently I just discovered a worthy replacement, a browser with it's roots somewhat related to the old Netscape Navigator. It's secure, stable, fast and lean (only less than a 5MB download), with the Google search engine built right in the browser. It's called Mozilla Firefox , and I've been using it with hardly any problems for the past few days now. If you want an alternative to Internet Explorer, it doesn't get much better than this.

What's there to say? Doc's going away party was a blast...:-) Better than expected. A fitting send off for a person who has touched so many lives. Can we do it again? :-)

A friend...well, a number of friends actually, have commented that I often listen to music on my earbuds at an extremely high volume. I never really noticed. Ever since I got my first personal stereo several years ago, I have always listened to music on a headset at a high volume. Went through several generations of personal stereos over the years. Remember radio headphones? Big, self contained headphones with it's own batteries, and can pick up AM/FM stations without being plugged to anything. Then the ubiquitous and ground breaking Walkman. Went through three, I believe, with the last one I bought around ten years ago still neatly stored at home. Does anyone still use cassette tapes anymore? Some probably still do, but I gave them up long ago in favor of...CDs. CDs, as we all know, are a far cry in terms of sound quality from the hissy sound of tapes and scratchy sound of vinyl. My Discman bought in 1991, for all it's weight and size compared to present models, became one of ...

Tomorrow's the day we celebrate Doc Olive's upcoming departure (well, she's not leaving yet for at least a couple more weeks, but yun na rin yun ). Mixed feelings I guess. A good friend is moving on to greener pastures. I'm elated that she had found an opportunity to go beyond the four walls of our current office and to live up to her potential, to maximize the use of her accumulated training, experience and skills. At the same time, there's a tinge of sadness. A colleague I have come to know and respect (on occasion, hahaha), have discourses with, trade jokes and quips, and work with on perhaps to most important and relevant issues in our office's history (excuse me while I roll on the floor laughing) will soon cease to be a part of my daily life. But that's life. We all have to move on sooner or later. Though change is a constant and essential part of human existence, it still gets to us sometimes. And life goes on.... Doc, you shall definitely be missed. ...

Quick! 10 points to anyone who can tell me where I took this picture...:-)

Talk about last song syndrome....this song has been going around in my head for the past few days now. I guess I can just relate with the lyrics. It's an alternative rock song, with all the power chords and such, so it may be too much for some, but this is just the way I like it....It's an awesome song, you just have to hear it...:-) Boulevard Of Broken Dreams Green Day I walk a lonely road The only one that I have ever known Don't know where it goes But it's home to me and I walk alone I walk this empty street On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams Where the city sleeps and I'm the only one and I walk alone I walk alone I walk alone I walk alone I walk a... My shadow's the only one that walks beside me My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me 'Til then I walk alone Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Aaah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah I'm walking down the line That divides me somewhere in my mind On the border line ...

Spent half the night looking for, of all things, a copy of my Civil Service Exam results. The document is at least ten years old and I can't even remember if I still have it with me or if I filed it with my office's HR department. Well, suffice it to say that no...I didn't find it. But in my quest to locate it, I must have unearthed a dozen or so old and dusty brown envelopes filled with various odds and ends from my past. For example: 1. A certificate of distinction for having joined a college spelling bee dated February 17, 1994. If I remember correctly...I lost. Hahahahaha....:-) 2. A letter from the Dean of Student Affairs from my college appointing me as a member of the student body COMELEC dated July 26, 1993...incidentally, a fellow member was my ex-wife...; 3. Receipts from some computer parts I bought way back in 1993 and 1991. I purchased a 40 megabyte hard disk for P2,400.00 way back in January, 1993. Also bought an EGA card (anyone remember those?) ...

A good friend of mine only just recently started making a blog of her own. Why not pay her blog a visit? It's at http://ninggarbo.blogspot.com/ . Hi Ning!

Have you ever had the feeling that life seems to be just like one...long...soap opera? Or perhaps a sitcom? I don't know, lately it seems to feel that way to me. Things have been happening lately...a lot actually. Not necessarily to me, but to the people around me. A lot of life changes are in the air. Friends moving on...to different jobs...countries even. Kids. New friends. Old friends, but with new twists. Acquaintances dying. Revelations. Cast members leave. New cast members come to take their place. And the list goes on.... Sometimes I feel like I'm standing still, while everyone around me is moving to and fro. Like everyone's going somewhere but me. But then I thought...it just feels this way, because this is me . Perhaps, to their point of view, I'm one of those moving quickly to and fro, while they feel like they're standing still. Everything is relative it seems, and we ought to be thankful for what we have, for the blessings we have received. Just recently...

Beside my nightstand I have a couple of magazine racks piled with old and new magazines, and a number of books in various stages of being read. I guess I was always a bookworm, from as far back as I could remember. Unfortunately, the rigors of public servitude (as if) as well as the hustle and bustle of daily life leave little time to indulge in one's literary passions. However, there still remains a small of window of opportunity for myself to enjoy a good book or magazine every now and then...or for that matter even a bad one. Among those waiting by my bedside to be finished, along with a brief anecdote, are the following: 1. 2004 Edition of the Guinness Book of World Records Well, nothing really remarkable about this book. Been reading the Guinness Book of World Records for more than 20 years now, ever since my I got introduced to it my eldest brother. It's an annual publication, and it's not really the type of book you read from cover to cover...just the type of book yo...

For some reason or another, a number of my friends have started reading this blog page of mine...hmmm...I wonder how they found this page in the first place. I was initially taken aback...yes, I know this IS a blog page, and that people are indeed supposed to read it...but I guess I was a little apprehensive at first about people reading about ideas floating around in my head. Not many people get to dig really deep into my psyche, and now I'm broadcasting my thoughts into the ether of cyberspace. I guess one of the reasons why I never really opened up to many people is the underlying fear of being misunderstood...being judged. That's probably why I have...according to some people at least...a good sense of humor. A defense mechanism preventing scrutiny of my thoughts...hopes...desires. I'd like to think that I never really gave a damn about what people thought of me. Maybe just the opposite is true...that I DO care a lot. That's why I don't let most people scratch d...

Ladies and gentlemen...Elvis...has left the building.

I'm tired. A slight headache...perhaps a bit of a hangover...? I'm tired of the same old routines...of playing the same games over and over again...of doing the same stuff...and dare I say...I'm tired of talking to the same people over and over again...seeing the same faces...talking about the same stuff....not that I appreciate them any less. The office...I'm tired of the office. Waking up at five, going to work, wasting my life for eight hours. I should be the one to talk, I've wasted the past several years brooding...thinking...wondering...waiting...all to no avail. As the Borg would say... "resistance is futile." I learned a lot of lessons in my life. I've learned my limits...learned to push past them when the situation calls for it. I've learned a lot of stuff...perhaps 99.9% of it useless and trivial. Am tired of learning. Am tired of existing. I want to live! Perhaps I already forgotten how. I'm tired of being there for everyone. ...