Category: General

Pinay Rape Victim in Qatar

This incident is quite new. I haven’t heard of it before until today, when I was given a copy of the affidavit supposedly filed by the complainant in the Philippines. Why the victim filed a complaint in Manila already and not in Qatar? Well, it appears that it’s because of negligence of duty in the offices of the Philippine Embassy here in Qatar and OWWA.

I wanted to verify the authenticity of this affidavit. If this case really happened, there should already have been discussions all over the net. So I tried googling for her name (the victim). And I found this one at the Pinoy Exchange. It’s going to be a long read, but please read the whole story.

I really can’t imagine we have such kind of Embassy and OWWA office here in Qatar. I would like to believe that it’s not true. Because if it is, WHAT IF? I can’t imagine!

Back to Back Concert in Qatar

Now, another reason to relax. Right the day after the Hearts from Home Concert, Regine and company will be in Qatar Sports Club for Smart Pinoy Goes to Middle East (Qatar).

Just an update, we’ve already secured tickets for the Hearts from Home Concert, and planning to attend also this one! However, the sad news is that my EF 85mm f/1.8 USM lens is still in Salam for repair (because of faulty autofocus). Darn, I hate that Salam! My lens is with them already for almost a month, and right now they’re still waiting for the parts from Dubai.

I’ll just have to try my best to take good pictures out of my EFS 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM.

New Iloilo International Airport

The Iloilo international airport will be open to commercial flights in April and is expected to boost the tourism industry and economy in Western Visayas.

    The P8.759-billion project is 97-percent complete and the first commercial flight will land there on April 18, according to Senator Franklin Drilon, who inspected the site with Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza on Friday.

Read News: Inquirer.net, NewsToday

Does this mean I can now take a direct flight to and from Qatar and Iloilo?

Equipped with modern equipment, the NIADP which will be operational 24 hours a day could accommodate bigger aircrafts like Airbus 330 and Airbus 340 and even Boeing 747.

Let’s see.

Construction of the Iloilo international airport started in 2004 and will be completed on March 18. The airport is being built on a 188-hectare area straddling Sta. Barbara and Cabatuan towns, 24 kilometers west of here.

I’m not sure yet how far will the terminal be from the city, and from Tigbauan. I haven’t seen the area yet.

MyBlogLog Another Social Network

Mybloglog, just like friendster and myspace, is a social network or community website basically for bloggers and readers alike. What better way to describe it than by its about page.

MyBlogLog is launching this new Communities service to empower authors and readers to operate at the same level. For the first time, everyone who reads a web site or blog can learn about and engage with one another, and in the process take the conversation to a whole new level.

Readers can become friends with other people who read your favorite blogs. See what else they’re reading. Check out their MySpace and Friendster profiles and view their Flickr photostreams. Authors can learn more about their readers individually and as a group. What do they like and what are they ignoring? What are they reading elsewhere on the Web?

Sounds interesting? Well, actually, Mybloglog has been a talk in the blogosphere in the past month or so (although it has been in existence for almost 2 years now) including news of it being acquired by Yahoo! Yet, I just actually signed up for it 2 weeks ago. And so far I had a great use for it.

    For one thing, it provides me information on who visits my site. You might have already seen on the lower-right sidebar the pictures of my visitors. You need to have a MyBloglog account though in order for your picture to appear there.

Another thing, the statistics analytics tool within Mybloglog comes very handy. It provided interesting info about my visitors, like where did they come from (how did they come here), which pages did they view, and what outside links from my site did they click.

So, what did I find interesting from all these stats?

What Might Have Been

guest-post-iconThis is a guest post from Marky.

What might have been, it’s most probably the hardest question you’ll ever ask yourself. To live in utter regret and confusion, as memories of lost opportunities seep through your inner spirit. As you see your dreams go down the drain even before you plunge in and give it a go. A question perhaps you’ll never know the answer, not even when the opportunity, no matter how rarely it may seem, comes knocking at your door the second time around.

As time passes by, circumstances change. Nothing is the same. No matter how hard you convince yourself that you are better off with the way you are now. There will always be a point in your journey where you stop and ask this improbable question. And would you call it malcontent, irreverence towards where God led you, or is it just part of our human nature to question our frailty in standing up to our decisions? I don’t know.

Sometimes I feel that maybe it is God’s way of showing us that we are free beings, beings who make decisions out of the desires of his heart, out of the fleeting emotions one feels at a certain point in time? Yes, free beings, and no matter how free we are, we are however not free from the consequences of our decisions. We could either, live in shame, sulk in regret or move on hoping that the next decision we make won’t create the same amount of disarray in our system.

In my 23 something years of existence, I have asked this question a tad too much. Is it my lack of confidence in my own capacities? Is it my overtly eager spirit? Truth is, I don’t have answers. What I do know is that when I made my decisions, Christ was with me, and as I go along, either regretting my decision or rejoicing in utmost glee, he would still be with me. I may not have sought Christ’s counsel in some of the decisions I’ve made, but I know that he was with me and continues to be with me, for he said in his word, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”, and that ought to be enough comfort to any disgruntled mind asking the question of “what might have been?”.

Latest in deuts.net

There are the recent news that I want to share:

  1. It is yet 25th of the month, and deuts.net has already breached the 1 gigabyte monthly bandwidth usage for the month of January 2007.

    This is actually according to my control panel. Statistics shows that this month is the highest bandwidth usage since May last year, considering that I’ve not even made any major back door editing of the site (and other subdomains and parked domain under it), and thus burn some bandwidth.

  2. Deuts.net achieved a PR of 4 in Google’s Pagerank during this month.
  3. Recently, I received an email from Link Text Ads (LTA) notifying me that they have already approved of my application.

    Needless to say this, but during the inauguration of this site, simultaneous to my application with google adsense, I also applied with TLA. That time the latter denied my application citing that there was not enough traffic in my site. So, I sticked to adsense.

    I haven’t made any follow-up with TLA since then regarding my application. But, lately, they emailed saying I can now be one of the publishers. It must be because of the PR of 4, huh?

    I haven’t figured out yet, though, how to publish their ads here in my wordpress site, and where exactly to show it. It can wait, anyway.

  4. I completed my first 50 posts in igb.net forums. Thus, I availed of their free hosting.

    igb.net is a webhost that offers free hosting to their members. It only requires a member to post at least 50 responses in their forum to avail of the free hosting. If you also wish to avail of their free hosting, you can visit their site here.

    Now, since I have a spare domain, which is jotuvillo.com, I used it for my igb.net host. What I plan with that site is maintain a more personal blog, and also post pictures of my everyday life. I’m also planning to create a photo gallery in that host. Just watch out for it.

  5. Just this week, the latest version of wordpress was released. It’s version 2.1.

    I still have to prepare deuts.net to upgrade to wordpress 2.1, though. Updating all the plugins, backing up the database and the files, and preparing the theme requires a lot of work (I guess) and of course, time. It can wait, anyway (again!).

So, to my regular visitors, enjoy browsing deuts.net! 🙂

Don’t Lose Your Balance

guest-post-iconThis is a guest post from Cliff.

Have you ever been caught in a situation staring at your reflection in front of a pail of water, remembering all your life’s flashbacks starting from the day you’ve learned to remember something..? Ever experienced gesturing a Mona Lisa’s smile by yourself and end up laughing like you’re with Mr. Bean to those situations of your life, questioning why they’d only happened to you and not to others? These are but just few questions you might be thinking when you’re in a situation you didn’t expect to be happening in the first place. It’s what they call nostalgic, wistful, longing, homesickness or what ever they might call it.

It is a funny feeling that this regretful case in point paved the way to evaluate levels of experience reflecting the most desirable events that could happen in your life then comparing them with what you’ve already experienced. Too many disparities isn’t it. At a certain point, you might wish of having an extrasensory perception that could possibly help predict the remaining future so you would be able to anticipate your actions on them. Others say that one possibility of accessing the future is through dreaming. Dreams don’t just happen without any cause and they are just but ‘theoretical’ experiences that happen in our illusionary world, a database of our past and future ‘us’. You can’t just have them if you want them at an instant. And it is consistent with the reality that one is bound to prove that you’re worthy having something. A glimpse of the future you is alterable by your acts of free will and acceptance. Have you ever thought that your perception of the future ‘you’ can cause your past? How confusing this might be, right?

justiceThink of a weighing scale, the one that is commonly used for measuring golds and diamonds, or just think of the weighing scale in the Justice Dept’s logo. On the left is maybe your past while the future is on the other side. Both sides are affected by the weight laid on each side. The lever in between represents your acts of free will. Without it, there would be no weighing scale, and there would be no past or future you in a brighter sense. You might be puzzled already on what you’ve become, on who and what you are now and what might be next in line. The real you is something worth discovering, a proof that life is not just about what others see or perceive about you, it’s how you comprehend yourself. Stay calm and take full control…

Author: Cliff

Tigbauan and the Feast of Sto. Niño

Yeah I know, I almost forgot it until Franz in his comment reminded me today.

Anyway, on Sunday, the 21st of January 2007, Tigbaun, Iloilo will be celebrating the feast of Sr. Sto. Niño. You are invited to come to our house, which is at Tupan St., Barangay 3. Lunch will be served at around 12 noon. Just look for me there! Bwehehehe.

Or if you want, you can come to Franz’ house at Leonardia St. Barangay 9, Tigbauan Iloilo! (LOL!)

Pictures of Tigbauan:

The Superhero Inside

In my friendster account, I indicated there that one of my favorite books is “The Encyclopedia of Superheroes”. Well, I just can’t actually think of anything and also would like to sound less corny, you know.

Anyway, found this site that evaluates which Superhero you should be based on your personality. You just have to answer some questions that better describe your characters. And here are my results:

superhero

Huh, I am more of a “Robin” than “Superman”? How can that happen? It means I don’t have superpowers. Instead, I have skills.

And I won’t mind stepping aside to give someone else glory? Is that the personality of Robin? Well, maybe stepping aside to give Batman the glory…

Anyway, what about you, which Superhero are you?

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz