Provencher's Mill by Alfred Sisley

I've always been drawn to impressionist paintings. The strokes are obvious. The themes are nature-centric. There are no fat naked ladies. That the style represented a break from conservative tradition only adds to the appeal.

For a time, this particular piece was on my desktop too. That should dismiss any notion that only half-naked babes make it to my list of wallpapers.

Ricco – Renzo Galleries

 

Located along Reposo, this is the coolest place.  Few people, old jazz, and live painting sessions.  Doesn't get any better than that.  ;-)

Mental Note

 

Jazz quartet on Sep. 1, Cinema 1 at Shang.  Get tickets!

If you're looking for a little entertainment, check out the Museum of Bad Art

 

http://www.museumofbadart.org/collection/index.html

Actual letter of resignation from an employee at Zantex Computers, USA to her boss, who apparently resigned very soon afterwards!

Dear Mr. Baker,

As an employee of an institution of higher education, I have a few very basic expectations. Chief among these is that my direct superiors have an intellect that ranges above the common ground squirrel. After your consistent and annoying harassment of my co-workers and myself during the commission of our duties, I can only surmise that you are one of the few true genetic wastes of our time.

Asking me, a network administrator, to explain every little nuance of everything I do each time you happen to stroll into my office is not only a  waste of time, but also a waste of precious oxygen. I was hired because I  know how to network computer systems, and you were apparently hired to provide amusement to myself and other employees, who watch you vainly attempt to understand the concept of "cut and paste" for the hundredth time.

You will never understand computers. Something as incredibly simple as binary still gives you too many options. You will also never understand why people hate you, but I am going to try and explain it to you,  even though I am sure this will be just as effective as telling you what an  IP is.

Your shiny new iMac has more personality than you ever will. You walk around the building all day, shiftlessly looking for fault in others. You have a sharp dressed useless look about you that may have worked for your interview, but now that you actually have responsibility,you pawn it off on  overworked staff, hoping their talent will cover for your glaring ineptitude. In a world of managerial evolution, you are the blue-green algae  that everyone else eats and laughs at. Managers like you are a sad proof of  the Dilbert principle.

Seeing as this situation is unlikely to change without you getting a full  frontal lobotomy reversal, I am forced to tender my resignation, however I   have a few parting thoughts.

1. When someone calls you in reference to employment, it is illegal for you to give me a bad recommendation. The most you can say to hurt me is "I prefer not to comment." I will have friends randomly call you over the next  couple of years to keep you honest, because I know you would be unable to do it on your own.

2. I have all the passwords to every account on the system, and I know every password you have used for the last five years. If you decide to get cute, I am going to publish your "favorites list", which I conveniently saved when you made me "back up" your useless files. I do believe that terms like "Lolita" are not usually viewed favorably by the administration.

3. When you borrowed the digital camera to "take pictures of your Mothers birthday", you neglected to mention that you were going to take pictures of  yourself in the mirror nude. Then you forgot to erase them like the  techno-moron you really are. Suffice it to say I have never seen such odd  acts with a sauce bottle, but I assure you that those have been copied and kept in safe places pending the authoring of a glowing letter of recommendation. (Try to use a spell check please, I hate having to correct your mistakes.)

Thank you for your time, and I expect the letter of recommendation on my desk by 8:00 am tomorrow. One word of this to anybody, and all of your little twisted repugnant obsessions will be open to the public.

Never f*** with your systems administrator. Why? Because they know what you do with all that free time!

Wishing you a grand and glorious day,

Cecelia

Babe Spotlight

And now, another highlight from my list of past wall papers, may I present Tea Leoni and those to die for legs! *applause*

Cheesy

 

I've always been passionate about songs that I like and don't like.  In some issues, such as food or companion preferences, I can appreciate a richly diverse number of opinions. For music though, if I'm not enamored with it, then I think it's bad music.  After all, my musical preferences span several genres from bossanova to metal rap.  My thinking is that if a particular musical piece is any good,  I can appreciate it.  While it may never make my list of favorites, I would still recognize it as a good song.

 

Now let me expand the discussion from a "me" standpoint to "us".  Don't we all know of some songs that we inexplicably like yet are embarrassed to admit?  Mentally, we can assess the lyrics as shallow or downright crappy, but for some reason the song makes a somewhat "emotional" connection.  In a continuum, these are not the downright cheesy songs; these are the borderline cheesy songs. 

 

Take for the example Hoobastank's "The Reason".  Months ago when it was introduced in the K-Lite playlist, I liked it instantly.  I looked for the lyrics and chords and sang my heart out in my room.  Months ago.  Now the group has decided to tour based on this one hit and I hear this song practically everywhere.  Just like that, I have begun reevaluating my perception of this song. 

 

And then there's "Someday We'll Know" by the New Radicals. I really liked this song.  I used to drum along when I listened to it every morning for several weeks.  I held the New Radicals in similar regard to Goo Goo Dolls or the Spin Doctors.  But then Mandy Moore sang it.  Heavens. Mandy Moore???  That triggered a paradigm shift.  The song's cheese factor increased exponentially.  All of a sudden, I can't sing it without disclaiming that I'm singing the New Radicals' version. 

 

Finally, there are the undeniably, unequivocally, undoubtedly cheese songs that I like.  Take for example Billy Vera's "At this Moment".  Consider these lyrics:

 

What do you think,
I would give at this moment,
If you stay I'd subtract twenty years from my life..
I'd fall down on my knees,
Kiss the ground that you walk on,
If I could just hold you again..

 

Isn't that pure unadulterated cheese?  Why do I like it?  Well, in one of the last Family Ties episode that I watched, this was the theme when Alex and Ellen were separating.  I was in grade 6 at the time, I think.  (when?  let's just say having cable was still an aspiration then, having a UHF channel was something to talk about, and watching NBA games was a privilege)  For some reason, the song just stayed with me.  Perhaps it was because I idolized Alex' witticisms. 

 

And that ends my spirited discussion on cheese.  Until next time.

My thanks to Buttercup for linking up. ;-) I hope you enjoy my blog.

Selection by Language

 

Text messaging, as we know, has effectively bastardized both the English and Filipino languages.  As I was driving earlier, it occurred to me that none of my favorite friends have succumbed to this phenomenon.  All of us seem to have an inherent love for written and spoken words.  Most of us text in complete sentences with words spelled correctly, regardless of the urgency. I looked at my saved messages.  Not one contained "w8" or "d2 na me".  Heaven forbid that I ever see one.  I guess this is a case of natural selection by language.

So many stars

 

Music by Sergio Mendes
Lyrics by Alan & Marilyn Bergman

The dawn is filled with dreams,
So many dreams.
Which one is mine?
One must be right for me.
Which dream of all the dreams,
When there's a dream for every star?
And there are oh, so many stars!
So many stars!
The wind  is filled with songs,
So many songs.
Which one is mine?
One must be right for me.
Which song of all the songs,
When there's a song for every star?
And there are oh, so many stars!
So many stars!
Alone the countless days,
The endless nights
That I have searched;
So many eyes, so many hearts, so many smiles!
Which one to choose?
Which way to go?
How can I tell?
How will I know?
Out of oh, so many stars,
So many stars!

Templates

 

A while back, I was chatting with someone.  I told her that it was curious that most of my friends do not maintain their own blogs.  In fact, most have not even heard of the concept.  Interestingly enough, three of them recently started their own journey into blog self expression.  For the benefit of brand new bloggers who are normal people (defined as non-techie or non-geek), here are a few tips:

 

1) Pictures - I used to rip off pictures from Geocities.  I uploaded pictures in my account there and then used the <IMG SRC> tag to retrieve the picture.  Geocities now doesn't allow non-Geocities sites to access these pictures.  Now, I use Hello, which is a partner of Blogger I think.  Look for it.  I keep forgetting how I stumbled upon it.  You may also find another picture server and use the <IMG SRC> tag.  Top of mind are Tripod, Freeservers and Virtualave, if they still exist. 

 

2) Sidebar - My Nakakawiling Sayts section is the example.  How do you pattern it after the template?  Well just look at the tags in the sidebar.  For example, the About, Search, and Previous sections are all enclosed in <h2> tags.  Therefore, you do the same for your new sidebar title.  Study your template though, because it differs for each one.  The items are enclosed in <li> tags for the bulleted effect.  If you want to indent and bullet, use <ul> before the <li> series.  Remember that the tag rule is Last in First Out (LIFO).  The latest tag you open is the first one you close like so: <ul><li><li></ul>.  I never close the <li> tags, however, because I'm not sure if it's necessary.

 

30 in 30: Rock Bottom

 

My diet program has hit rock bottom, that is, my bottom remains as heavy as a rock.  Argh.  Despite my scaled down eating exercises, that 11th pound has still eluded me. Perhaps I should change the name from 30 in 30 to 2/10 N30, which is of course not even mildly amusing if you're not an accountant.

Historical Babe

I remember this particular photo of Sherilyn Fenn gracing my desktop for about a year (and that's a long time!). She has that vintage temptress look hasn't she? So Coke people, if you find this photo, along with a hundred and one MP3s, circulating in the LAN, you know where it came from.

MBA Misadventures

A few people taking their written comprehensive exams (WCE) in the DLSU MBA program became upset when one of the examiners curtly announced that this particular exam will be Closed Notes! (CN)

CN, as those who are familiar with the DLSU MBA program would declare, is counter culture, much like failing students or shooting down bad reports and irrelevant arguments.

Personally, my objective preference is for CN exams. Why? Back in the day, we didn't even have the term CN. It was the norm. We could make a case for both open and closed notes exams, but my short discussion for the day will not go there.

Let's make a "fictional" Ethics case to define the issue at hand:

Mr. / Miss Ding (gender under suspect) has historically given Open Notes (ON) examinations both in his / her regular classes and in the WCE. He / she is in fact the poster boy / girl for method-heavy, insight-lacking, and technology-ignoring teaching. He / she is likewise perceived as vindictive and just downright bitchy. He / she is quite a character, speaking at bullet speed, having memorized his / her entire lecture for the sem.
Students of course must adapt his / her system in order to perform well.

For this WCE, students naturally expected more of the same. Mr. / Miss Ding after all, seems quite averse to change or criticism for that matter. Given this, students have every reason, but no right to expect that the status quo. Quite correctly, Mr. / Miss Ding points out that it is the students' obligation to prepare, and it is his / her right to expect such preparation from students regardless of what history dictates. Change, after all, must start from somewhere.

The clincher, however, is that Mr. / Miss Ding gave an ON exam to another class just two weeks before.

Thus, the issue shifts from historical consistency to seeming favoritism or even abuse of discretion. A benchmark for a single term should be consistent.

Where do you stand on this issue?

To this whole situation, my normal reaction would be to raise the issue with the proper authorities. I'm not happy with people bitching around, whining aimlessly. If something is not right, you correct it. Bring it to court, so to speak. If you don't trust or have faith in the "court", bring it to the "press". That's where I am I guess because I've brought things to "court" in the past, and I don't believe justice was served then.

Blog via Mail

 

Bloggers, did you know that you can just e-mail your blog entries instead of logging into blogger.com?  It's simple really.  Just go to Settings / Email and then choose your mail-to-blogger address.  After doing so, you can just e-mail your blog entries to that e-mail address.  A plus is that you can format your blog entries straight from your e-mail client.  I, for example, am using Outlook Express at the moment.  Cool feature huh?

 

My insight is that this feature is a convergence of the mailing list and website technologies.

30 in 30: Snag

 

I hit a snag.  Damn these chocolate covered Oreos.

30 in 30: Going on 3 losing 10

 

I'm up to three mixed rounds (running, walking and of course fishballing) having lost 10 pounds in all.

Coupling

 

This is the most hilarious show on television today. I advice everyone to watch it.  It's up there with Whose Line is it Anyway?