Pinoy Pie

Goodbye Michael

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:47:00 +0000

One of my earliest memories was sitting in the attic (converted into a music room for my brothers) holding Michael Jackson’s Thriller album in vinyl. I remember it vividly, the stack of albums in front of me covered in dust, the jar of aluminum 1 centavo coins my mom collected, the shade of the wood floor and its smell. I didn’t know how to operate the turntable (I was six or seven), so I couldn’t play it. I wasn’t supposed to be there alone anyway, so making a ruckus by playing music would not have been a good idea. I just held it and admired the man in his white suit. And just like the replica of the Mona Lisa in our hallway, the eyes seemed to follow me at all angles.

Michael has been making music before I was born and I have been listening to him ever since I knew how to admire music. It’s weird to think that there will never be anything new.

Bye Michael. Remember your way home, second star to the right and straight on till morning.

Drive By Shootings #6: Humility

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:10:00 +0000

Well, I think this cab driver has got it made :)

What Me Worry?

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Sat, 30 May 2009 20:07:00 +0000

Here’s an article which I found through a friend. It’s about the poll automation this coming 2010 elections in the Philippines. Maybe it’s just me, but I found this article hilarious.

Poll machine short-circuits during testing

INQUIRER.net
First Posted 18:36:00 05/28/2009

MANILA, Philippines – A voting machine short-circuited and emitted smoke during testing at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday.

A representative for the lone bidder for the P11-billion election automation project, the Smartmatic-Total Information Management consortium, said the wrong cable was mistakenly used to plug the machine to an electrical outlet.

The precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machine shut down automatically after it short-circuited, protecting the machine from tampering, said Smartmatic-TIM. It also did not accept test ballots that were being fed to it.

Now, it would have been fine if the article ended there. It was their big day and they screwed-up. They could have just gone “Frak. Very anti-climactic. Not exactly putting our best foot forward. Let’s all go home and come back tomorrow with a new machine and the right cable and try this again. Let’s not embarrass ourselves a second time. They’ve got media people around for heaven sakes.” But no, that’s not what they did. Being from Smartmatic they had to be smart and save the day. So, the article continues:

“The machines will guard itself from the tampering once its features are tampered, in this case the power source,” the Smartmatic representative said.

And there you go. I’m sure Mr. Representative was very proud of himself. ‘I saved the day, hooray for me’. Thank you Mr. Representative. It’s very comforting to know that the voting machines that will determine our next president can guard itself against tampering the same way a microwave oven or desk lamp can protect itself – fry its circuits. Good save, dear sir. Someone give this man a raise, he just saved the company some bad press.

But it’s not over. It gets better. Apparently someone bought the bridge he was selling. The article goes on to finish with this gold nugget:

The “unintentional demonstration” of the security feature was “very helpful,” said Ferdinand Rafanan, chairman of the Comelec’s Special Bids and Awards Committee.

Very helpful indeed. Well, there you go. Looks like the 2010 presidential elections is in good hands. My faith in the Philippine election system is renewed. I’ll sleep soundly tonight.

Kudos to the writer for the subtle humor. Good stuff. And I’m being sincere this time, you know, unlike the previous hundred words.

So when I was thinking about blogging this, I wanted to find other news sources on the incident. Guess what? One article on the same news item has the headline “Smartmatic passes demo with flying colors”. It was the same event. Both articles were written on the same day. *shrug*. I guess disaster and/or success is also in the eyes of the beholder.

Philstar.com has an article with more details on the demo, you can read the full article here. Headline reads “Smartmatic hurdles initial tests”, which is somewhere in the middle of the two previously mentioned articles. It doesn’t mention the fried circuits, but there are some interesting things in there too. Here’s some excerpts:

“Everything is smooth. So far in the 26 criteria, the machines passed six of them,” Rafanan told reporters.

Ah, it’s the same guy who found the unintentional security feature demonstration helpful. Hello, Mr. Rafanan. Glad everything is going well, sir. Hope you’re having fun with that bridge you bought. Let’s read on:

But during the demonstration, Rafanan announced that electronic devices like cellular phones would be banned at the bidding room starting today because they could interfere with the transmission process. His announcement raised a howl of protest from the media and other observers.

Why would the reporters “howl”? Do they expect these tests to simulate ‘real world’ scenarios? That’s not what these tests are meant to do. Shame on you, you sensible logical thinking reporters you. Sense never did anyone any good. Remember that kid? What did his sense ever do for him? “I see dead people”, that’s what. No one wants that.

He noted that they wanted to be strict on electronic devices because “electronic interference” could ruin the preparations that they have been making to automate next year’s polls.

To which Mr. Rafanan later added “so don’t mess up our preparations. Besides, what kind of electric devices could people conceivably bring with them during the elections? You don’t expect them to come with their TV sets or audio systems strapped to their backs do you? You crazy reporters.”

Rafanan added that security against possible “electronic interference” is not included in the 26 criteria to be checked by SBAC.

When Mr. Rafanan was asked to elaborate, he responded with “we don’t test for that stuff. Besides, to ensure that the equipment does not suffer from electronic interferences, on election day voters will be asked to disrobe, wear a biohazard suits, and enter a hermetically sealed environment. The entire room will be surrounded by copper mesh that will absorb all radio interference. We will also have snipers ready to go. Why snipers you ask? So that you don’t try anything funny, some people might still try to sneak in their TVs sets. Plus snipers are cool. Don’t you want a cool election? An exercise of democracy doesn’t have to be boring you know. Plus it’ll draw the younger voters. How do you feel now you howling observers? I bet you feel stupid.

I don’t know about everyone else. But these people scare people. People who won the contract and the people on the government side. Based on these articles alone, they’re not exactly beaming with competence are they? Plus reports of irregularities don’t exactly help:

Daily Tribune (05/23/2009)

Smartmatic/TIM bid irregular —losing bidder

This developed as losing bidders started to question the credibility of Smartmatic/TIM consortium after it submitted an “outrageously low bid” even if it would only farm out to subcontractors in Taiwan the manufacture of the vote-counting machines it offered the Comelec.

…

…what could probably compromise the integrity of the 2010 national polls is the fact that Taiwan, which has been conducting its national polls manually, has not tested the strength and reliability of the PCOs being offered by Smartmatic/TIM.

…

In 2006, Smartmatic had also been the focus of federal investigation, one by the powerful Committee on Foreign Investment in the US and another by the US Justice Department, for security reasons arising for its acquisition of a US voting-machine company in 2005, for allegedly paying bribes to win the Venezuelan election contract a year earlier and for alleged tax evasion.

Here’s another one, which also mentions that ‘security feature’ demonstration:

GMANews.tv (05/29/2009)

Comelec exec, Smartmatic deny P2 million bribery

MANILA, Philippines – The chair of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Special Bid and Awards Committee (SBAC) on Friday categorically denied that he received a P2-million bribe from Smartmatic, the lone qualifier in the race to bag the P11.2 poll automation contract.

SBAC chief Ferdinand Rafanan cried foul and called his critics "liars" for accusing him of receiving a bribe, according to a report on Friday by Tina Panganiban-Perez of GMA News.

"I deny that categorically. I never received anything. I'm ready to face them anywhere, anytime. They are liars. They should come out," Rafanan said.

…

Both Rafanan and Smarmatic officials explained to Locsin that faulty wirings caused their machines to bog down. They said the reason behind the glitch was a mismatch of in the wires used to connect the machine to the battery.

There you go folks. Looks like Mr. Rafanan can afford to buy the bridge after all, with a little help from his friends. Of course, these are yet to be substantiated. But it looks like it’s going to be a normal election year. Strap in and enjoy the ride folks.

Oh yeah, hi blog. I missed you.

Cerebral Flatulence #3: World Domination

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:24:00 +0000

Came across this article on digg.com.

The next Pangea, "Pangea Ultima" will form as a result of the subduction of the ocean floor of the North and South Atlantic beneath eastern North America and South America. This supercontinent will have a small ocean basin trapped at its center.

*rubs hands together* Yes, yes, this fits perfectly with my world domination timeline. It will be much easier to govern my empire which I shall rule with an iron fist. Mwahahaha!

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 06:53:00 +0000

Welcome 2009!

Happy New Year! May this be a better year for everyone.

A little tidbit, first visit on this blog this year was to my first 2008 post. How poetic.

Drive By Shootings #5: Mindwerks

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 05:39:00 +0000

Happy Holidays everyone! This blog has been in hiatus for a while (not that I was ever a consistent poster) but I couldn't let the year end without a new post.

Saw this banner while driving pass Magallanes. A picture worthy of doingitwrong. I don't think this is the right way to solve Rubik's Cubes. But hey, I gotta hand it to their marketing team, with this method they would sell both a Rubik's Cube and a painting kit, very savvy.

Have a Happy New Year everyone! And for those yet to get me a gift this year, I would love a levitating Rubik's Cube myself. You know where to get it. Never mind the painting kit.

Lazy Blogger #2: Sigh

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:43:00 +0000

This must be the cutest pug ever (*sigh*). I think I'm going to the pet store this weekend.

I added the captions but the images were from this flicker account.

Maya Moments

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 13:44:00 +0000

First of all, Happy Father's Day to all the males of the species that have been able to pass on their genetic material and produce offspring! Kudos. If you're a male black widow spider, well, this day might also be your funeral, but I digress.

Since it's Father's Day, we spent the afternoon with my parents over a late lunch. My parents got there before the missus and I. When we got there, my dad introduced us to his friend that was by chance celebrating Father's Day with his family in the same restaurant. We said hello, exchanged polite smiles and sat at our table. Later, they stopped at our table on their way out and we were introduced to the rest of the group. My father introduced me to his friend's son, Mark. As we were shaking hands, my mother said 'Mark is with Rivermaya'. The statement caught me by surprise and the only response that I was able to put together was 'Talaga?' (Really?). He smiled back at me and I was embarrassed for myself. This was Mark Escueta. Although I'm no fanboy, I love Rivermaya's music and have been listening to them for more than a decade. They are definitely on the list of best and most respected groups the Philippines has ever spawned. The family were all nice and we waved goodbye as they left.

I have a few Rivermaya moments in my life, but I think that takes the cake. Let's countdown the other top 3:

Maya Moment #3: There was a week when I couldn't get one of their songs out of my head, You'll be Safe Here. I didn't have a copy of the album where the song was featured so I decided to ask one of my co-workers, who was a known Rivermaya fan, if she had a copy I could borrow. When I went up to her, she was chatting with a friend. I asked her if she had a copy of Rivermaya's latest album. She said she knows someone who does and asked if I was looking for a particular song. I said yeah, You'll be Safe Here. She and her friend looked at each other and giggled, 'That's been out around a year now and they have a new album'. I suddenly felt old and very un-cool. I know, petty and trivial.

Maya Moment #2: I have blogged about my singing abilities before, the gist of it is I have no talent for it and the world would be better off if I avoid it altogether. But there was one time that I was singing and the missus turned to me and said 'that actually wasn't all that bad'. That's probably the best compliment I'm ever going to get. I only sang a portion of it and quit while I was ahead. The song was Rivermaya's Bring Me Down.

Maya Moment #1: I played guitar back in high school. I never got good at it. I could never tune my guitar without an electronic tuner. I did get to a point where I could play the basic chords, and with a lot of practice, I might learn a whole song. There were people in our batch that were good and could play songs by ear. I, on the other hand, needed chords from Songhits or a similar magazine to be able to play. A group of them sometimes got together to jam during weekends. During our senior year, they were asked to perform at the last event for the seniors before graduation. They needed another person to play on guitar, for no other reason other than we were friends and I had the right equipment, they asked me to join. They certainly didn't asked me because of my talent. It was fun jamming with them and eventually playing in front of the batch. I sucked of course, but I had fun. One of the songs we played was Kisapmata by Rivermaya. One of the coolest things I have ever done.

Unexpected Results

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:15:00 +0000

What???!

How disturbing is it that I'm #4 in these search results. Well, good luck whoever you are. I hope you found what you were looking for. Be careful though, it is Friday the 13th, you never know what you're gonna get....uhm, like a box of chocolates....a male box of chocolates.

Cerebral Flatulence #2: Restrooms

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:31:00 +0000

It's important to have clean restrooms. No question about it. People will risk bursting a bladder rather than use vomit-invoking public restrooms. Sparkling tiles is a sign of a well maintained restroom. Although it might be too much if you can actually see the reflection of the person in the next cubicle. A less reflective ceramic flooring might be in order in such instances.

Hmmm...Spam

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Sun, 18 May 2008 16:05:00 +0000

I have one email address that I use to sign-up on sites that requires one. That email address gets hit by a thousand spam mails everyday. How great would life be if all Spam mails were genuine?

- I would win the lottery everyday!

- I would get paid hundreds of dollars for a single day's work...at home!

- Free vacations to everywhere, including accommodations!

- Free computers, phones, and all kinds of gadgets!

- All the ladies want to meet me for...ah...wholesome and intelligent conversations, I guess.

Seems like spammers are now sending their junk from the future, about 30 years from now. No wonder these guys never get caught. They haven't even been born yet. Somebody find their parents and take away their Viagra.

Unfortunately, there are draw backs. If spam was true, I would be overweight and depressed, which would explain the erectile dysfunction. I would be on anti-depressants, not to mention an addiction to a multitude of other prescription drugs. I would also be suffering from Alzheimer's and osteoporosis. I wouldn't be able to go on all those vacations and wouldn't be capable of anything other than intelligent conversations with the opposite sex. I would need all the money from the lottery winnings to pay for the medical bills and drug rehabilitation (or support the drug addiction). I would be stuck in the hospital in a dark room basking in the glow of my free computer, growing pale and wasting away. Well, as they say, to everything there is a balance.

Mother's Day

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:00:00 +0000

To all mothers, Happy Mother's Day!

First thing the wife and I did when we woke up this morning was call our mothers to greet them. We were going to visit my mom later in the day. We had her on speaker when we called her, here's how part of the call went:

Me: "Do you want us to pick-up anything on the way there?"

Her answer was quick, there was no pause and it seemed she was just waiting for me to ask. She pounced on the question and answered with a snap.

Mom: "Jollibee!"

She sounded a little too excited for junk food so it made me laugh. After we all recovered from chuckling, we asked her what she wanted us to get her.

Mom: "Fried chicken and that big burger they have."

Me: "Champ Burger?"

Mom: "No, not that one, the other one."

I looked at the missus puzzled.

Missus: "Aloha Burger ma'?"

Mom: "Yup, that's the one."

After chuckling a bit more (she was laughing too), we told her we would be there in an hour or so with the food. We later found that Jollibee no longer sold Aloha Burgers, so we just got her a Champ (aww). We also bought her a cake. When we got there, we had a nice junk food meal together, and then had cake and ice cream. It was a menu for a children's party. Dad was out of town on business so it was just the three of us. He probably would have something to say about the food we were eating. He regularly point's out that it wouldn't hurt the three of us to lose some weight. Of course, he does it out of love, or so he says. We spent the rest of the day talking and watched a couple of videos. The missus and I brought "Hairspray" and "The Bucket List" for us to watch. We all enjoyed both movies. Mom especially related to Hairspray, she used to style her hair the same way as the women in the movie. We really needed no convincing as both the missus and I have seen tons of her photographs during that time. In this post is one of those photographs. This was an old worn-out and damaged photograph which I scanned and did some restoration on, so if you see that she has six fingers on one hand, an extra pair of legs or eyes, that was my fault. Mom's perfectly normal and won't be joining the X-Men any time soon. Well, she does have high blood pressure, but I don't think that will qualify as a special ability.

She was also familiar with some of the dance moves in the film. Mom's a good dancer. If there are any researchers out there on the subject, I am definitive proof that dancing is not hereditary. I'd be happy to take part in any case study, especially if you're working on a cure for awkward dancing. That reminds me, even though I live and grew up in the Philippines, there are lots of foreigners who come to visit. I can offer first hand knowledge to the fact that white men can't dance. Not only can't they dance, they frequently inflict injuries to people unfortunate enough to be next to them on the dance floor. That fact should soon be in the science books. Hmmm, that seems to conflict with my earlier statement that dancing abilities are not hereditary, so much for consistency. Seems like we've digressed here, what was I talking about again? Oh yeah, Happy Mother's Day!

Drive By Shootings #5: RePhil

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:09:00 +0000

A gas station in the Philippines named "RePhil". Business owners must have put together a project team just to come up with this one. How do you think that meeting went?

Team Leader: We want something catchy, easy to remember. Something customers will relate to.

Team Member: How about "RePhil"? Get it? An abbreviation of "Republic of the Philippines" but also sounds like "Refill", like you do with your gas tank. Witty and patriotic.

Team Leader: Genius! Let's take a vote. Great, it's unanimous. Somebody give that man a cookie! Nice work people. Let's get out of here and pick-up our paychecks. Oh yeah, put down 8 hours for meeting duration.

The Missus Chronicles #3: 15 Minutes

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 15:43:00 +0000

I was listening to Mellow 94.7 and heard about this show they do, Desert Island Disc. Basically the idea is you send in a list of songs you would take with you if you were marooned on a desert island. If I was going to be a jerk about it, I would say - "If I knew I was going to be stuck in a desert island ahead of time, I would bring a satellite phone, a GPS homing device, a raft, etc." But I'm always game for hypothetical situations, so I sent them an email with my songs and a long with a brief message. It got picked and Chloe read it on their show April 15, 2008 with some side commentaries from her and Chris. They sent me back a message before the day so I had a chance to prepare and record the segment. Here's a recording of the show where I cut out all the songs and just left in the stuff where they were reading my email. And who else would I pick-on aside from the missus? No one really. Check it out:

You can also listen or download through this link (5.61 MB).

I was hoping this was going to be my big break. But it has been a week now and no one has stopped me on the street to ask for my autograph and Hugh Hefner hasn't called with an offer to pose for Playboy. I guess that 15 minutes of fame isn't what it used to be.

The Missus Chronicles #2: Mrs. Evil

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:00:00 +0000

I hate wires. So you can just imagine what nightmare computers are, especially if you have a few peripherals. Keyboard, mouse, power cords, external drives, network cables, etc they just drive me crazy when they get tangled. I go on a rant when the missus moves the laptop to another part of the house and the cables get tangled when I use it. Naturally she's annoyed by it. So yesterday when we had to move the laptop, she gave me all the cables and said "Here, you connect them, you're going to kill me again if I mess up.", which is a funny way of saying what she wanted to say. Having the juvenile mind that I do, I turn to her and said "I knew it! I suspected it all this time! You're my evil arch rival disguised as a woman and tricked me into marrying you! Ha! I have uncovered your evil and elaborate scheme for revenge! You shall not succeed! I have defeated you before and I can do it again!"

The Laws of Karaoke Dynamics

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:26:00 +0000

If you're planning to visit the Philippines and you have friends that live locally to take you on a night out, one of the likely places you'll end up in is a KTV Bar (Karaoke). In an effort to save you some grief, my unsuspecting friend, I present to you the basic laws of karaoke dynamics - heed them well.

The Basic Laws of Karaoke Dynamics

The amount of alcohol in one's system is:
- Inversely proportional to willingness to let go of the microphone.
- Directly proportional to the volume of the singing.

Enthusiasm has no direct relationship to talent.

For everyone to enjoy the night never state the obvious. Do not use the word 'bad', 'terrible', 'worst', etc in reference to anyone's singing. Expect the same courtesy.

In case you find yourself wanting to stab your ears with a rusty screwdriver, remember that alcohol also enhances the auditory senses much like it does the visual senses (i.e. Beer Goggles).

*sigh* Other people come up with the Theory of Relativity, Laws of Motions, Thermodynamics, but me I come up with junk like these.

Enjoy your night out, and no, you won't find Chocolate Rain in the song list.

Drive By Shootings #4: Discount Store

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:13:00 +0000

You know what, all I can say is that I appreciate the shop owner's honesty. If you're sharp enough to spot that this is a "discount store" and not a discount store, then you're okay. But if you miss it, well, he'll take your money. At least you had a chance, it's not an outright con.

Those unnecessary quotes, they're a killer.

Update (2/19/2008):

For more cases of unnecessary quotation marks, check out: The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks (thanks Ge!)

Drive By Shootings #3: Dirty Names

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:22:00 +0000

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present a contender for the Guinness Book of World Records title for the cheapest business sign in the world.

Get your business name out there with absolutely no cost. Just wait for the truck to get dirty as it goes about its daily business. I estimate that a trip around the metro during rush hour would do it. After you have a good layer of dirt and soot, take a piece of cloth (clean or dirty, doesn't matter) and start lettering. Wait, we might incur some cost with a piece of cloth, scratch that. Just take your finger, give it a good lick and start writing. You might have to re-lick that finger every now and then to keep it moist, feel free to use your other digits.

I say give Home Best Enterprises Furniture a perfect score on cost effectiveness and just forget about the other categories.

Drive By Shootings #2: Fight the Power

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:22:00 +0000

Somebody call the riot police! Chaos has broken out in the parking area of Anarchists Anonymous members!

In case you missed it, there's a sign on the wall that says "PARK FACING WALL". It might just be me, but I found this funny when I walked by it. Must have been some anti-establishment folks sticking it to the Man. "Hey parking sign, you're not the boss of me!"

Drive By Shootings #1: Asian Massage

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:59:00 +0000

New series! These will be pictures I took, mostly from my car, while driving around the metro. They won't be the best quality cause I usually use the camera on my mobile.

While I was driving home one night, this SUV pulled up beside me. My camera phone sucks at night shots, but you can still read most of the text. This really made me laugh when I read it, check it out (click photo for larger version):

If you can't read everything, here's what it says:

Asian Massage
Calming The Whole Nation
24 hour Massage Home Service & SPA (Php 250/HR)
STRICTLY MASSAGE ONLY! - GOD CAN SEE YOU!

I wish I could hear the recordings of the phone calls they received that lead them to put that in there.

Wow. Makes me kind of paranoid. Someone is watching all the time. I think I'm going to start wearing my swimming gear when I take a bath.

The Voices: That doesn't make a difference.
Me: Why?
The Voices: Well, if Superman has X-ray vision, don't you think HE will at least have that or more likely, something better?
Me: Lead underwear?
The Voices: If it helps you sleep at night.

Oh yeah. I think I found the perfect uniform for their masseuse:

Cerebral Flatulence #3: Science &Technology

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:47:00 +0000

Instant Messaging is revolutionary; it breaks down social barriers and connects people like never before. How else would you have a civilized conversation with anyone while in your stained underpants reeking of body odor and bad breath in your bedroom.

Science tells us that two bodies could not occupy the same space at the same time. Following the same thought, you would think that you would not be able close a car door when a human hand is in the way. Well, with the appropriate amount of force, you can apparently break the laws of physics. I also found that the by-product of such a process is a tremendous amount of pain.

Life Resilient

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:48:00 +0000

We have this little plant growing in a little hole between our garage floor and wall (pictured left). The floor is some type of marble and the wall is concrete, yet this plant found that little source of light and broke through the surface. I'm totally amazed by it every time I walk by it in the morning. The little seed that could, a show of how resilient life can be.

That little plant (we don't know what it is) reminded me of the Narra tree in front of my parent's house (pictured right). That tree was a project back when I was still in primary school. I think we were asked to bring different kinds of trees. Back then, it was still a sapling when I brought it to school. After we presented it in school, I brought it back home and forgot about it. No one really paid attention to it and it was not watered daily. One day, my mother came to visit, she noticed the tree. It was in an old tin can and most of the leaves had fallen off. The thing was sickly and looked dead. She took it home with her and planted it in an empty lot in front of her house. Amazingly, it recovered and after a couple of decades, it is huge and I would not be able to wrap my arms around it if I tried. It is a magnificent tree. A friend of my father who is reputed to have a third eye (e.g. paranormal sight) once came over to visit and paused in front of the tree. He told my father never to take it down as there are good spirits who live in the tree that watched over it and its surroundings, including their home. He said that this was one of the reasons why my parent's home has been safe in spite of the fact that their place is one of the oldest in the area and almost all of their neighbors houses have been burglarized.

Also, when the missus and I were driving along Pres. Quirino Avenue, we saw a tree that was planted in the partition that separated the north and south bound lanes of the traffic (pictured right). It must have gotten too big than what the partition could handle as it was cut down leaving only a stump. But growing from the stump was two fresh but thick green branches. It the middle of the Manila traffic where pollution was so bad that most of the other tree's branches had turned black this tree, that was cut down, is surviving and bursting with new life.

Serving The Engine #2: Pancit

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 17:11:00 +0000

Okay, here's an interesting one. One of my visits indicated this search:

Search Engine : search.yahoo.com
Search Words : putting up a panciteria in the philippines

So I guess someone needed help putting up a panciteria (in the Philipines specifically). I've never been in the pancit business. If someone came up to me and asked what would one need to put up a panciteria, I would probably say 'pancit?'. I guess the two most important things is a good location and good pancit. I can't help with the location, but let's talk about all things pancit. Oh yeah, in case you're wondering, I'm into this because mom just called and asked me to bring pancit for our New Year's Eve dinner. Have a Happy New Year everyone!

Pancit (pansit) actually has a Wikipedia entry. Listed there are the following kinds of pancit:

- Pancit Bíhon
- Pancit Cantón
- Pancit estacion
- Pancit Habhab
- Pancit Luglog (or Palabok)
- Pancit Malabón
- Pancit Mólo
- Pancit Míki
- Pancit Moròng
- Pancit Sotanghòn

You can click on each pancit style to get a recipe. So many, I don't think this is a complete list. Benetton should launch a new marketing campaign locally, "United Pancit Noodles of Benetton"(baduy!). Benetton, call me, we'll talk.

Did you know that Pancit Malabon has its own festival? You can go here for some information on the event and its activities.

Here is an excerpt from a PCIJ article, Pancit Republic:

Pancit, borrowed from the Chinese, then innovated and adopted into our cuisine, connects us to our Asian roots. But more importantly, it is a veritable Pinoy comfort food — easier to cook than rice, and more versatile and food combination-friendly. It is the faster fast food. In fact, “pancit” is derived from the Hokkien “pian i sit,” which means “something conveniently cooked fast.” (link to full article)

Here's a link to a Pancit Chart also from PCIJ. It has a list of Pancit noodles by:

- how they are cooked
- thickness
- make
- region

Let's top everything off with a cute blog post from rockersworld.com:

pancit, in terms of a romantic relationship, means that a certain party is under. It’s either the other party is the law while the other party is under the law. A statement from someone like, “Hindi ako pancit, ako ang batas!” would definitely mean that the person is indeed a pancit in denial especially if the person consumes enough alcohol to give him/her hallucinations that he/she is indeed the law. (link to full post)

Pancit is a regular part of my diet. Particularly pancit palabok from Jollibee, instant pancit canton (spicy) from Lucky Me, instant pancit palabok from Quickchow. But of course, my favorite of them all, which I rarely ever get, is my sister-in-law's pancit palabok cause she makes a lot of sauce and I can drown the noodles in them. (Update: Pictured right, me with the sister-in-law's pancit palabok, yum!!)

You know what, there's so many things pancit out there that I just gave up. If you guys have anything pancit to add, leave a comment.

Update (1/2/2008) more things pancit:

Following is a Sine Totoo Documentary on the different pancit in the Philippines. The first one deals with places in the south:

- Pancit Masyang ng San Pedro, Laguna
- Pancit Lukban ng Quezon
- Pancit ng Bato ng Camarines Sur

The second part of the documentary deals with areas north of the Philippines:

- Pancit Batil-Patong ng Tuguegarao
- Pancit Cabagan ng Isabela
- Pancit Luglog ng Orani, Bataan

Here's a video on how to make pancit canton. This one is by a group of Fil-Ams which seem to be a school project for their Filipino class. It must be, their Tagalog is so terrible I can't think of another reason why else they would be speaking in Filipino. It's both intentionally and unintentionally funny:

Here's a short film from Jim Libiran entitled "Pancit Canton". This short film was a predecessor to his full length feature entitled "Tribu", winner of the 2007 Cinemalaya Best Film and composed of a cast of real life Tondo gang members. Here's a link to an interview he did for that feature.

Cerebral Flatulence #2: What's the Upside?

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 07:38:00 +0000

I just spilled soda on my desk. While I was wiping it off, I thought to myself, look at the bright side: your mouse will have more traction. Then I remembered that I used an infrared mouse.

Lazy Blogger #1: IT Humor

noreply@blogger.com (echu) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:49:00 +0000

Well, didn't follow through on those blog posts I wanted to write this weekend. So I'm just going to dump stuff I stumbled upon on the interwebs. Click on the image to enlarge.