"The Shadow Proves The Sunshine" December 26, 2007

So this is Christmas. We headed north to our province. The clouds are bluish gray, looks like rain is peeking. I can hardly see the sun unlike the other days which its rays directly touch my flesh. Feels like any other day, that i wake up wishing the class would be suspended because of the bad weather.

I should have known better.
Every time people thought of a class suspension, many people curses the nature which left them homeless and with so much grief.
We should have known better.

And so this is Christmas. Have we ever thought of little things that we wish? Little selfish things that once in a while bring pain and tears to others. Why don’t we stop thinking that the sun’s rays burn our skin and start seeing things in a perspective that the shadow it casts proves the sunshine?

That would be great, isn’t it?
Living is simple and we are just the one who makes it complicated. We have choices and decisions.
I guess it’s not too late to make the right one.

Who don’t? December 16, 2007

If i am not a student of politics right now, perhaps i would be in a world of confusion. When i was a kid, like all toddlers do, I play outside our house with my friends and sometimes we play mortal kombat in my SNES to satisfy our childly needs. As time flies, we gradually stopped and started to focus on what we like. In school, we keep on thinking about where will we be studying in college and what are we gonna be after 5 years or so. Today, I am not thinking about it anymore because probably i have already established my goal already. What I’m thinking now is the way I’m gonna live after a few years. Will i get a good job? Will i get a good education in graduate school or law? Will the country be developed enough to cope the problems of society?

Last Thursday, transport strike took place and the NCR almost ignored it and continued to do everyday routines. What’s so surprising is that, there is so much traffic everywhere. It makes me think that if we continue to be like this, travel slow and time wasting, our development as a country and nation would be interrupted and slowed. Imagine you are traveling for 2 hours already and guess what, you are not going to Taiwan or Cebu but you’re just heading to Manila! Thats a lot of money, energy, patience, time being wasted. I hated it. Who don’t?

I am thinking that probably if i am just an ordinary student of an ordinary school, I will not be aware of these things. As of now, I’m reading 3 books for my “Christmas Paper” and i have already learned a lot from them. I can say that with these petty problems like traffic, petty crimes, petty bribery and others can paralyze the development and make it stop.

I appeal to all citizens of the Philippines to be aware of the problems we are facing. In a highly complex world we live in, we can’t afford to be left in the shadow of darkness. Let’s be responsible and be an example to everybody. We all want clean streets free of mobs and thieves. We all want good transportation facilities without choosy taxi drivers. We all want cheap or competitive prices in the market. We all want to be developed and be rich so we don’t need to follow the trend, we will set it.

We all wanted it, who don’t?

The story behind the 3G December 11, 2007

Recently, just a month ago, I’ve encountered an untoward incident that almost changed my life. In this world of interconnectedness and information overload, having no communication at hand is very hard to deal with. In other words, my phone was mobbed in the streets of Manila, particularly in Espana. This incident made me think of an option of getting a new phone. I don’t know if I’m gonna get a new and recent phone, the hi-tech of course, or just a low-pro phone for the mean time.

Apparently, i have been ignoring one phone since it was released, though it was only a U.S. release, because of the lack of it’s 3G capabilities and the fear of untoward bugs that are normal for first line release. This was the iPhone. Even before it was released in the U.S., I am already thinking about getting one but not the first release. Months came and i just can’t resist looking at reviews and ratings about it and obviously it made me craving for it. There is just one thing that keeping me from buying one and that was the 3G. I was caught by a thread in Philmug.ph that says about “3G iPhone Update.. Read On…” and i posted a reply about it which i will clip in this entry. Here it goes:

Well for me, 3g is part of a highly advanced and connected world, a globalized world. It’s speeds allows us to connect to other 3g users in the country and all over the world, i.e. big bosses of multi national companies here and the developed countries.

Have you heard of Vietnam or Myanmar using 3g networks in every corner of its borders? That’s the very problem that we filipinos are encountering right now. We tend to get the best gadget there is in the market but we are keeping ourselves away from the fact that it’s just a dream for us to use the 3g technology here in the Country. I have some reasons why:

1. We are under vietnam when it comes to global competetiveness just yet, in other words, technology that is advanced like this would take years to proliferate here,
2. The cost of living in the country as I type is very high that ordinary people can’t videocall every other time. As regards to the internet capabilities, there’s much more cheaper way to get on line,
3. I think this is the most real, you cant videocall, browse the net while walking in the streets of NCR becasue you never know what would happen next. Im telling you, anytime of the day can be your worst nightmare with mobs and thiefs.

Let’s get real. Who needs 3g anyway? Telecom companies have their pockets more than 20M richer a day just by text fees. Say SMART, they’re 10,000,000 strong if I remember it right. If you would suppose that each of their users text an average of 20 or 10 a day, imagine how you would spend that. In fact, the GPRS, downloads, TV games, illegal acquiring of credits, Pasaload fees are not yet counted. How much more if all users use 3g? I’m not hitting the telecom companies about their income but rather, i am explaining how 3G is not that really relevant here in the Philippines.

Iphone having a 3G upgrade is great, but i suppose that the version today is already a great deal even if it has no 3G yet. If we are just one of the developed countries, perhaps i would really crave for that 3G capable iPhone. Unfortunately, i don’t even have one just yet. hehe.

Am i being political, economical or biased against 3G here in the country? Well, i just want this country of ours to get into that top 30 developed countries and eventually be part of the 7 strongest country in all aspects (i.e. G7). Im keeping my hopes high for that before i crave for 3G.

Thats my clip and i strongly suggest that 3G in our country might need at least 5 years more to proliferate.