Mental Blabberings

So earlier in the year I resolved to write about something on a weekly basis. Unfortunately I have failed that particular resolution. I thought I would have been able to write about something once a week -- that I would be able to get time to write about something interesting to me for any given week. Unfortunately it's not the time that's the problem: it's the motivation. I have found that more and more I did not need to write about what I thought more now that I think and read more than I need to express myself. I have found that in the past two months I had little need to share my thoughts about the world. However though now I find myself writing about not writing which is a little bit of an oxymoron. Let me share with you a few reasons why.

Broadband over the air through HSDPA. I like this definitely. Maybe this is something I'll get myself for my birthday. CHill.

This is the week before my birthday and I still have no concrete plans. Right now I want to reach out to people (still) reading this blog for ideas as to what might be good to do on your 25th birthday that you will remember for a good long time. Things I've done for my birthday before are: Swimming Parties -- all nighters, over-nighters, and binge-drinking parties by the poolside. This still appeals to me, but it gets tired fast. House Parties -- having guests and family over at the house, binge eating and drinking, and then passing out one way or another. Not fun, not healthy, and not much to remember. Night Outs -- dinner with friends at a posh place, maybe Karaoke or Videoke before/after. Might do this again, but it does get a little tired as well. So if you have ideas, I have a few days to collect feedback and suggestions before I finally decide on what to do (or whether to do anything at all). CHill.

So now I'm having a hard time sleeping. Think of it this way: I get to sleep at 4 am, then wake up exactly 6 hours after that. I wouldn't call it lack of sleep entirely, but when after 6 hours of "sleep", you feel tired, it's as good as not sleeping at all. I'm getting cranky, impatient, and unproductive as ever. I'm running out of ideas as to how to deal with this in a better manner than blogging about it, so I'm trying that. As I'm writing this (offline, because I haven't dealt with the internet connection at home problem yet -- not too much a priority compared to all the other expenses moving to a new place entails) I'm watching CNBC to try and lull myself to sleep with business news. If you know me, it's hard for me to find anything on TV uninteresting: then maybe just listening to unending blabber would help my mind rest; which is highly unlikely. I'm going to give this a few minutes -- if I start yawning then it's done its...

I am an impulse buyer. Whenever I see something I like, the number cruncher in my head starts working overtime to check whether I can afford to acquire that something I like. Today, I made a step towards changing the way I buy things. My first response whenever I think I'd like ot buy something (that's not a necessity like food or clothing) is: some other day. I'll be doing this for the next six months, mainly because I want to be able to save enough to start investing in real estate (read: I want to own my own house someday). Hopefully the next time I feel like spending, I can really put it off for some other day. CHill.

The numbers are in and it's pretty evident. Experience plus smart thinking equates to amazing results. When we learn from what we've learned in the past and use that experience to "do the right thing" this time around we solve problems more systematically and with a clear plan of action. It pays to earn as much experience as you can. And when you've earned the experience (and while earning) we need to learn from the experience. I started C++ programming when I was on my senior year in high school -- now I look back and I see how far I've gone. I also see now where I want to go, and where I'm at, as well as what I need to do to get to where I want to get to. Now the question is when do I want to get to where I want to go. And now I think I'd like to go set a goal for the end of the year and it makes me want to look at my goals I've set when I was 14 (close to 10 years ago) whether I'm still on track or whether I still want to stick to these goa...

I've recently been re-reading Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People which makes me want to write my personal mission statement. I don't think I can do something like that right now, it seems that although I know what my life's passion is and that I have already found purpose, I still think I need to work on a concrete mission. Something that tells me and other people what I want to be about -- or what I am living for. A family is something that I've always wanted to have. Sure, I'm not great with relationships -- maybe because I choose partners that are at a different stage in life (even if we're the same age or what not) or maybe because I really cannot handle one yet -- but I do try my best to get better at it. I know I love to teach and share the knowledge. That I think is the reason why I tend to write a lot and at one point in time have started writing a book. I should follow through with this teaching and sharing knowledge gig but I ...

Apparently, Bloggers Take Weekends too. I'm subscribed to quite a number of blogs using Google Reader and I certainly feel odd having to look at an empty list... Maybe there's a blogger's creed that I'm missing? Some document which says that "Bloggers shall take weekends for themselves and not blog!". Maybe someone has to come up with that "Blogger's ten commandments" thingy... Something like this . CHill!

Of being alone. I just got back from Malaysia, and have I got stories to tell. Too many things going on in my mind though, I'm still in vacation mode... So I'll go ahead and write about the Malaysian Grand Prix (maybe post pictures as well) soon. But this post is just to let everyone know that I'm tired of being alone -- and I'm going to go out there and find that someone for me. I'm 23, working for Friendster, with a full life ahead of me: and I don't want to spend it alone. [contents removed based on a friend's advice] :D CHill!

I came in around 9 am into the Friendster office, and have been very productive since. We've squashed a couple of nasty bugs causing problems in the tests, and will be continuing to go ahead and hunt some more bugs pertaining especially to memory management issues. It's definitely something else being able to work on really interesting stuff. I'm learning a lot reading code and understanding legacy systems better. Though I'm a ground zero design/implement kind of guy, I'm getting the hang of working with other people's code and putting into practice some debugging and re-design/re-implementation techniques I've only been able to read about. Although a major re-design won't happen anytime soon, I'm definitely looking forward to being more productive as the days go by. Mental note: when modifying someone else's code, it's always a good idea to put yourself in another person's shoes and try to understand what he was thinking first *before* y...

It's really hard to stop spending. When you get started, it's like a disease. You don't stop until it hurts. It starts with a couple of books, then you go on to make bigger and bigger purchases, and you don't stop until it really hurts. And only when we've been burnt that we learn -- you don't know what hurts until you feel it. Now I mark the last day I keep spending. Starting tomorrow, I will track my spending and make sure I don't spend more than 100 pesos a day. That means I'll do my groceries during the start of the week and keep the food I eat per day under 100 pesos, stop eating the junk food, and start saving more money each month to put into an equity fund I already have money in. I vow to put in Php 1000 pesos a month to the equity fund. Starting Monday next week, I will only drink water, will take my daily vitamins, and eat at most 70 pesos per day (that's 20 pesos a meal plus 10 pesos for merienda). I'll put in 30 pesos a day for other...

I have been mulling around with this idea: what if people didn't have to buy powerful computers but instead just buy a computer good enough that connects to a powerful time sharing system which can pretty much be located somewhere else in the world? Will the concept fly? What changes will it bring to the PC consumer industry? What will it mean to software vendors who target the end-user market? First off, let's consider the proposition: what if you can have your data hosted in a data center which has all the failover and redundancy technology you can only dream about, with bandwidth that you can only wish you could have, and with the most powerful computers you can only wish will fit in your pocket. Now what if you can do that for a recurring cost like how you pay for your electricity, water, bandwidth? Personal computers are getting cheaper and cheaper, and it would certainly be very easy for some well-off companies/individuals to set up a cluster of computers from these perso...

After a conversation with Clair , I came to think about getting my own domain name for my other blog which is very centered on a simple topic: C++. I thought, if I will get a domain name and hosting services, I'd like to be able to make money out of it too somehow. Clair and I bounced some ideas around, and we came up with the following Sell some sort of service -- perhaps a newsletter, with content specifically targeted for C++ hobbyists, programmers, and user submitted content. Mugs! Soup Bowls! -- Great Idea Clair! Pens Shirts Recipes? Code snippets, articles, techniques, etc. Now to get people on board to actually help me out on this is another thing. I'm not a web design guru, and I don't pretend to be one. But I think investing time into blogging makes me want to write _and_ make money out of it somehow. I don't expect it to make me loads and loads of money, just enough to help me pay for the domain and hosting -- and maybe to help me have incredibly expensive co...