]-[3ny0 R@nt5

Health Lessons from my dad

2010-07-26T23:11:00.000-07:00

This post documents in detail what happened to my dad(he passed away) and the lessons to be learned from our experience:

At the age of 60 and above, anything that is unusual or does not feel normal should be cause for alarm. Get immediate medical help if any body part is painful
Any sign of discoloration merits an immediate trip to the hospital. When a limb turns grayish to purple, it could mean blocked blood flow which could result to cell or tissue death(necrosis)
Blood flow should be restored immediately and in my dad's case, it was done with an emergency embolectomy where they had to surgically remove the blockage
Once blood flow is restored, the damaged to the tissues must be assessed ASAP. If tissue or cell death has occurred then the patient must be convinced and prepared to undergo amputation. My dad did not want to undergo amputation
If amputation is not done, the cells undergoing necrosis release harmful chemicals and toxins to the surrounding cells. This could trigger a chain reaction of further cell death.
In my dad's case, the toxins released by the cells undergoing necrosis triggered renal(kidney) failure. When kidneys fail to filter properly, waste accumulates in the blood and the body. My dad's kidneys were already weak to begin with so he had to undergo dialysis twice.
My dad also suffered from pneumonia which was most probably a complication from the failed kidneys and the toxins from his left foot

Please share this post with others as it really could save lives. Thanks.

My father passed away

2010-07-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

My father passed away at the age of 69 on the eve of my 33rd birthday.

It happened in Heart Center where he was confined from July 6 2010.

He was initially admitted because of blocked bloodflow to his left foot. Blood flow was restored by an operation but the foot did not recover. The doctors recommended immediate amputation but my father wouldn't have it. Gangrene set on, his kidneys failed and he went into cardiac arrest.

This is the first time that something like this happened to our family. I hope that others can take what happened to us as a very important lesson.

How your favorite super hero can help with the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill?

2010-05-28T00:27:00.000-07:00

In a lengthy discussion over lunch, a group of seasoned developers discussed what their favorite super heroes could do to help with the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill.

Gorge: Green Lantern can create a machine that cleans up oil.

Jess: Ironman will probably burn all the oil with some fancy lasers coupled with flashy explosions while taking a pose for the cameras.

Joven: Superman could use his breath to freeze the water then lift it up and throw it into space, plants and other sea life included.

If you have other ideas, feel free to comment and join in.

My issues with the AES 2010

2010-05-06T20:21:00.000-07:00

As the Philippine Election 2010 looms a few days from now, I wish to make public my view about the Automated Election System(AES) which will run this major election. You can check out the mind map above which I quickly wrote to capture visually what I think are the major issues that are still unresolved in the system.

As a long time IT practitioner with some background with security and Public key infrastructure, I believe I have an above average understanding of the implications of these issues.

Please feel free to comment or suggest major issues which I may have missed. I'll update this post with explanations in a bit.

Funny Iron Man Anecdote

2010-05-01T22:40:00.000-07:00

Jess: Do you want to come with us to watch Iron Man 2 today?
Gorge: Pass muna ako, magiging Iron Man naman ako mamaya after ko maging Laundry Man.
Jess: ROFL

iPhone experience week#1

2010-03-30T20:16:00.001-07:00

I just got my iPhone last Saturday from Globe. Here are some things to note:

- When the sales rep tells you that your sim will be activated in 24 hours, she actually meant that you should restart your iPhone after 24 hours. I almost went back to Globe to complain about the cellular service not being available after more than 48 hours. You just need to restart your iPhone.

- make sure you understand how to configure it so that you don't get charged 75,000 pesos in your next bill. If you are like me with a limited data plan, make sure you turn push settings off and disable 3G by default. You also need to change your APN to effectively disable mobile internet when you don't need it. If you have unlimited data in your plan then you don't have to go thru these steps

-installing applications from the appstore requires an itunes account. you can create one from your iPhone. Once you've created an account, a verification email will be sent to you. You can not use your iPhone to verify your email successfully, an error stating that the country is not supported will appear on your iPhone. You have to use a computer or a mac to log-in to your email and do the verification.

A week-long vacation in Makati Med

2010-02-05T20:43:00.000-08:00

Feb 1, 2010 Monday - It started the night before. The inner thigh area near my right groin felt like it was swollen. I thought it was due to me playing basketball that morning but the pain was of a different type. It wasn't muscle pain and I didn't feel any mass . When I woke up, I was already in pain from both the left and the right inner thigh area. We went to Makati Med where I consulted with my rheumatologist who referred me to an infectious disease specialist. When she saw me, she recommended that I be admitted so they can observe my condition and do some more tests. The rooms in Makati Med were all taken so we proceeded to the emergency room where they gave us a small room and bed. An IV was attached to my arms and a pain reliever was passed thru it. I was also given another pain reliever orally. The pain subsided somewhat as we waited for a room to become available. I wish I were somewhere else other than waiting inside the ER. Several vials of blood were taken from me so that they can do some tests: CBC and ESR.

Feb 2, 2010 - It was already 2:00am when we got to the room assigned to me. The doctor ordered a urinalysis

Feb 3, 2010 - The doctor ordered an ultrasound on my kidneys, urinary bladders and bilateral inner thighs

Feb 4, 2010 - No significant activity today except that the doctor did not visit me during the normal day. She did visit me after we complained about it to one of the nurse

Feb 5, 2010 - The doctor ordered CBC and a muscle enzyme test

Diagnosis: The condition is Cellulitis. What caused the condition is still a mystery even now.

Philippine Automated Election System for May 2010

2009-12-15T21:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I attended a private demonstration of the Automated Election System(AES) for the May 2010 election. The event was organized by The Asia Foundation in cooperation with Smartmatic.

Voters Perspective

The AES at its core is still a paper-based election which is not that different from the previous national elections. The paper ballot, which in past elections require voters to write the names of their chosen candidates, now only requires them to SHADE the ovals next to the names of their chosen candidates.

You must shade only one oval per position unless otherwise stated.
If you shade more than the stated number of ovals for a certain position, you ballot will NOT be counted for that particular position.

Steps to Vote:
1) Prepare your personal list of candidates to vote for before going to the voting precinct.

2) When you get to the precinct, register with the election officials and get your ballot

3) Check that the ballot is unused making sure that no ovals have been shaded

4) Sit down and proceed to shading the ovals next to the names of your chosen candidates. You will be asked to use markers with indelible ink so you can not make a mistake. You are only allotted ONE ballot so take your time.

5) When its your turn to use the voting machine, take note of the number of votes that the machine has recorded before feeding your ballot into it. Wait for the machine to confirm that your vote has been recorded. Take note that the number of votes that the machine has recorded should increase by one. If something goes wrong, bring it to the attention of election officials

I think this is as far as one needs to know with regards to voting.

The next section which I will update shortly will describe the things that SHOULD happen before voting opens and after voting opens as well as the security features of the system.

About the machine

The final firmware is reviewed and certified by all concerned parties
The machines are loaded with firmware in the presence of representatives from concerned parties to make sure that the firmware loaded is the one that was certified
The machines are tested and sealed with 10 test ballots each.
The package is then sent to the precinct. It should be in the precincts on the day before the election at the latest.
At the appropriate time, the election officials for each precinct will open the package together with concerned parties and test the machine using the test ballots.
Each machine is configured specifically for a precinct.
Each machine is configured only to record and count the votes up to the number of registered voters for the particular precinct where it will be used.
Each machine is configured to only accept ballots for the precinct where it will be used.
When the election is opened, the machine will print out copies of its totals for the review of the election officials as well as other concerned parties. The print out should indicate zero votes have been counted.
The machine is not connected to any network during election
When the election is closed, the machine will print out 8 copies of the Election Returns for audit purposes. A modem is then connected which will allow the machine to transmit the election returns to pre-configured servers. After transmission, the machine is disconnected from the network and prints out 22 copies of the election returns for audit purposes by concerned parties

About the ballots

Each ballot can be uniquely identified and has both visible and invisible ultraviolet prints as an additional security measure
Each precinct will be allocated a number of ballots exactly equal to the number of registered voters for the particular precinct
When the election is closed, unused ballots should be torn in half and placed inside the ballot boxes

About data transmission

The machine will transmit the election returns to three servers: municipal server, comelec backup server and a server for use by the media and other concerned parties

How to vote WISELY?

2009-12-12T02:40:00.000-08:00

I came across a couple of blogs the other day. They are all linked to by http://www.getrealphilippines.net/. They seem to be a bunch of out of the box thinkers. Some of what they say might be painful to hear but they make sense. Reading the postings on the different blogs, I've come to realise a few things which I will rant about in this and my next posts.

Ever since I can remember, people have always asked us to vote wisely but I can't, for the life of me, remember if voting wisely was taught in elementary or high school. I remember during high school, we had student elections for the members of the student council. I remember voting for the party that had the most catchy jingle and slogan. I paid very little attention to plans or platforms. I know now that what I did was wrong. Which leads to the quesion of:

How to evaluate candidates properly?
The answer can be summarized in the following comic strip taken from one of the above mentioned blog:

They should be teaching this in high school. The students should go thru the exercise of evaluating candidates every year even if they are not yet allowed to vote. They should also be made aware of the current situations and issues, the current position of our government as well as the actions being undertaken and their status.

Maybe we can start a sustained drive for voter education aimed at high school students manned by volunteers and funded by grants and donations.

Thoughts, comments and suggestions are welcome.

Renewing my Drivers License

2009-12-11T18:58:00.000-08:00

Day 1
I finally had enough motivation to renew my expired drivers license last last week. It's been expired since July but I couldn't find the time to renew it until the said week. I asked around what's required to renew my expired drivers license and I got the following answer:

Expired License card
Official Receipt
30 minutes to 1 hour of your precious time\
patience to go to the one of the renewal centers scattered across the metro

After much deliberation, I decided to go to the Ayala DLRC located in the Ayala MRT station on Dec 1 2009. As fate would have it, the technician that was in charge of doing the drug test had some sort of emergency and wasn't able to report to work. So for the whole day, that DLRC won't be able to process renewals since no one can do the drug test.
I think it's just lame that the operation of one whole center is dependent on one single person. I hope they learn from this and consider some redundancy.

I was advised to go to another DLRC and I chose to proceed to the DLRC located in the Guadalupe MRT station. When I got there, the line was already long since most of the people who went to the Ayala MRT Station DLRC went there. The process required that I fill up a form and I didn't have a pen with me. The desks at the DLRC didn't have pens so I had to purchase a pen from the counter for 10 pesos.

After filling up the form, I submitted it to the window but by that time, they had to break for lunch. I had no choice but wait and I had this sinking feeling that chances are, my whole day is going to be waisted. I took my lunch at a nearby KFC outlet and returned by 1pm. After form submission, the long wait now starts for my name to be called so that I can take the drug test and medical test.

At around 2:30 pm, my name was called. The drug test is basically a urine test. The medical test involved a Snellen chart and another image to test vision. Afterwards, I was asked a couple of medical questions to determine my fitness to actually drive.

At around 3:30pm, the results of the urine test came out negative for drugs so I submitted the forms to the next window. After a few minutes, my name was called for picture taking and signature. I told myseld, FINALLY, I'm nearing the end. After a few minutes, I guy came out and called my name. He told me they couldn't process my renewal since I had pending traffic violation tickets in the MMDA database. I knew of one ticket that I had which was for a coding violation. I already paid for the ticket last October at a Metrobank branch and I brought the receipt with me. The guy told me I had to go to MMDA to clear my record. He told me to hurry "para makahabol pa". Since the MMDA building is near Guadalupe, I decided to go and try to clear my record.

I got there around 4:00pm and the line was really long and the place was packed. The person at the door told me that they won't be able to accommodate me anymore and that I should just come back in the morning on the next day.

Day 2

I woke up early, skipped breakfast and got to the MMDA building by 8:30am. When I entered, I had to fall in line to get a verification form. The guy at the door told me I had to first get a photocopy my license, official receipt and the ticket payment receipt. I asked him where to do this and he pointed me to a nearby computer rental shop. When I got there, a girl approached me and offered to facilitate the clearing of my records. I figured it was still early and I was there already so I'll just go thru the correct process. When I got back, I was given form#94.

I then had to fall in line again to pay 30 pesos for the verification service. After payment, I sat down and wait for my number to be called. At about 10:00am, my name was called and I explained to them that I already paid for my ticket and ask why it wasn't reflected in their records. The girl just shrugged and told me that my name will be called for evaluation and assessment of fines/fees. I had a feeling that this is leading to another wasted day. I patiently waited and around 11:30am, I was assessed and charged a 500 peso fine for a ticket with a reckless driving violation. I paid the fine and decided to just come back for the clearance next day since I had a meeting that afternoon.

Day 3

Again, I woke up early, skipped breakfast and picked up the clearance. From MMDA, I went directly to the DLRC in Guadalupe Station. Alas, I was to early, I got there at 8:30am and they open at 9:00am. So I waited. At 9:00am, I was able to re-submit my papers including the clearance. The girl who accepted my paper warned me that the one to take my picture and signature will arrive at 9:30am. I waited till 10:00am for my name to be called for them to take my picture and signature again. Afterwards, I was called to the cashier to pay for the fees. Finally, at 10:30am, I was able to get my license.

Lessons to be learned

Bring Expired License card
Bring Official Receipt
Bring a pen
Photocopy License, Official Receipt and Ticket Receipts

Donate clothes to Typhoon Ondoy victims

2009-09-27T21:25:00.000-07:00

If you are able to read this then you are one of the fortunate ones who did not experience the full devastation brought about by ondoy.

Later, when you get back home, open your cabinet and take out the clothes that you haven't worn for the last two months. Someone else would wear them gladly and would really be grateful. You can bring them to:

Petron, Shell, Total Gas Stations
McDonalds outlets
Jollibee outlets

You can find other ways to help here

eLance disappoints

2009-09-21T05:37:00.000-07:00

I was disappointed by eLance , an online workplace where qualified professionals and businesses connect to get work done. I've heard about the site since way back but I never got around to seriously consider participating. With my current lack of sidejobs or alternative source of income, I finally decided to check it out.

When I got to the site, I immediately attempted to search for a job. I did this by clicking on the PROVIDE SERVICES link and I entered the keyword grails on the search form. The search turned up only one valid result. It seemed interesting and I think I'd be able to do it. I quickly registered and passed the Elance test. I did the phone verification thing and I prepared a very good proposal. When I was about to submit it, the eLance system didn't accept it since to submit, I had to have 4 connects and I only had 3. To get more connects, I have to upgrade my account to the non-free versions.

To earn money on eLance, I had to shell out money which I do not have in abundance thus defeating the whole point of joining eLance.

I guess it's now time to try oDesk .

What the f@ck is wrong with me?

2009-09-21T05:11:00.000-07:00

I just got a shot of antibiotic on my ass. The experience was rather painful. They first had to do a skin test so they injected a small amount of the stuff on my arm to make sure that I'm not overly allergic to it. After a few minutes, they asked me to lie on my stomach and expose my ass. They warned me that it will be painful as they had to use a large needle for the procedure. I courageously said go ahead and boy, was I foolish. The nurse proceeded to perform the procedure with a size 19 needle on the left cheek of my butt. It was painful but I had no choice but to endure it. As fate would have it, the needle was clogged so they couldn't administer the medicine and they had to replace the needle. I now had to endure another pricking this time on the right cheek of my ass. The nurse kept apologizing and I asked her if I did something wrong to her and if she was mad at me? She kept apologizing so I just told her that I'm ok and to just get it over with. This time, she was successful in administering the shot. It was really painful. They weren't kidding.

And I'm supposed to do this once a month for the next 12 months? Is this really necessary?

I'll be posting the medicines I've been asked to take and the lab results so hopefully, if you have friends who are qualified doctors, you could refer them to this post and they could suggest what's wrong with me or alternatives to this painful treatment.

Comelec seeks ideas for code review

2009-07-17T03:33:00.000-07:00

Inquirer.net reports that the Comelec is seeking ideas for efficient code review. Details can be read here.

My suggestion is to allow all universities with computer science departments to register as reviewers. The design documents and code is then released to valid registrants. They will also be provided with hardware test units. They will then provide on a scheduled basis, reports on their discoveries or suggestions. This exercise can become an avenue for a university to showcase the talent of its faculty and students.

Almost became an AOWA victim

2009-07-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

I was in Ortigas Home Depot earlier today around 2pm. We were intercepted by a girl who claims she will give us a free bag, we just had follow here to their store. When we got to their store located outside of the Home Depot at the farthest edge, they eagerly demonstrated an induction cooker. I was very interested at the cooker since I was actually in the market for one. They asked me to write my name and address just so they can release the free bags. When they saw my address, one of the sales rep exclaimed that it was our lucky day and that since I was from QC but first they had to see some identification that I was indeed from QC. So I gamely took out my Drivers License and gave it to them. When they verified that I was indeed from QC, they claimed they were going to give away several of their high priced items to us if I bought their high priced water purifier. All their items are priced above 40k:

Water Purifier
Induction Stove
Cooking Set
Pressure Cooker
Chopper

It was a circus, with almost all the sales rep in the store butting in,touting the features of their products most especially the induction stove. Sometime in the mayhem, they asked to see my credit card just to check if it had a special marking. It WAS foolish of me to hand it over but I did. They were all very insistent that I buy the Water Purifier to get all the freebies but I was quite hesitant:

1) I just had a major expense
2) I wasn't in the market for the other products, just the induction cooker

They continued to bombard me with information regarding the features of the induction cooker but I told them that it was way too expensive. Too bad for them, I was quite informed regarding the operation of the stove so I wasn't wowed by their demo and I knew the going rate for induction cookers. I told them I was only interested in the Induction Cooker and the Cooking Set and asked how much it costs? They told me that they might be able to get approval to sell the Induction Cooker to me for 15k with no freebie items. I told them it was still expensive and it was way out of my budget, I was only willing to pay a maximum of 5k. In the end, their plea was that this was such a good opportunity and that it would be such a waste if I let it pass. I told them, I would think about it and asked for my license and my credit card back. They warned me that the prizes/promo they were offering me was good only till today or till someone snatches up the items so I run the risk of losing out. I told them its fine and walked out of there with the free bags but with a lot of my time wasted.

When I got home a few minutes ago, I took the liberty of looking up AOWA and my gut feeling was correct. I found a lot of unsatisfied or should I say tricked/scammed consumers. You can find some of their stories here, here and here.

IMHO, to be strict about it, its not actually a scam since they will give you the products they say they'll give you, its just that their products are just way overpriced and their marketing tactics are just agressive, offensive and depends heavily on the customer being uninformed and easy to excite. Still, to all those reading this, in my humble opinion,

DO NOT BUY AOWA'S OVERPRICED PRODUCTS

I believe you can get better value for your money buying the products separately from other known brands.

No more heroes :(

2009-06-11T02:25:00.000-07:00

I was driving along Kalentong the other day on my way to work. I was pretty much stuck in traffic and quite bored when I noticed a commotion to my right, a policeman was chasing down some guy, probably in his early twenties - barefoot - dirty - unwashed long hair with gold streaks. They passed a lot of other people who could have easily stopped the fleeing fugitive. No one dared to help the policeman. Which brings me to the next questions. If I were given the chance, would I have done something to help him? And for that matter, would you?

Getting out of Fitness First is not easy

2009-05-23T19:20:00.001-07:00

Early this year, I had my account frozen as I was paying PHP2,500.00 per month when the last time I remember going to the gym was late last year. So I had my account frozen until July, I asked them to freeze my account indefinitely so that just in case I had more time, I could come back, but they told me that they could only freeze it for 3 months and I had to request them again to freeze it after. I also had to give them 30 days notice for them to freeze my account. A frozen account means that you still have to pay PHP500.00 every month, for what? I don't really know.

Fast forward to a few days ago, I decided to just cut the subscription. When I called up their office to inquire, they claimed that I can't cut it because my account was frozen. I had to make it active again before I can cut the subscription, I was like, WTF!!! Making it active would mean me paying them PHP2,500.00 again.

What kind of business practice is this? You freeze your account, you pay. You cancel your account, you pay dearly again. I just wish someone could setup a similar club with matching or better facilities and programs and does not have such a greedy practice. I can just see all the fitness first clients flocking to this new gym.

Anyway, am off to the forums to sell my fitness first membership. I've been a member for more than 2 years so there's no lock-up period anymore. Also, by buying this from me, the membership fee and administration fee is effectively waived. If you're interested, send me an email at rants.at.henyo.com

BDO - not really finding ways

2009-05-23T18:59:00.001-07:00

BDO ( Banco de Oro ) is one of the largest banks operating in the Philippines. Their tagline is simply "We find ways" but if you'll read my story, I doubt that you'll agree.

Last month, I decided to pay my credit card bill at the BDO branch located along J.P. Rizal in Makati. I went in and asked the guard if they accept Citibank Visa card payments and he answered yes. He also told me to fill-up the red form and so I did. I then had to fall in line for processing at their counters. Note that I said counters, they had 5 counters, but only one counter was actually processing stuff for clients. It took me more than an hour to reach the teller only to be told that they could NOT do an over the counter withdrawal and use the amount withdrawn to do a bills payment since I haven't used up the daily limit for ATM withdrawals. They asked me to go outside of the bank premises to withdraw PHP46,000.00 from their ATM in broad daylight. Since it was already my due date for the bill and it was way past the lunch break period, I decided to comply without too much fuss. I simply told the teller that yes, I will do as they say but I'm not going to fall in line again. She agreed and after a few minutes, I was back at the counter with 92 500-peso bills.

Fast forward to a few days ago, my credit card bill was due again which comes up to around PHP52,000.00 and I decided to pay it at the same BDO branch. Being a bit wiser, I first went to the ATM, made several withdrawals to gather PHP50,000.00. I then proceeded to filling out the forms, 2 forms - one for a withdrawal of PHP2,000.00 and the other one for the bills payment. I lined up and after about 45 minutes, I reached the counter. I confidently gave the teller the 2 slips together with the ATM transaction records showing that I already used up the ATM withdrawal daily limit. She then proceeded to tell me that since the account wasn't with the branch, I will be charged PHP100.00 for the withdrawal and also since it was a salary account and I didn't know the account number, it will take long because she still had to find the account number. I was fuming mad, I needed to use my money and they were going to charge me PHP100.00 for it. And how hard is it for a teller to find my account number since she already had my ATM card in her hand with a card number and an account name. What sort of online system do they have there anyway? To get it over with, I told the teller I'm going to use my other cards to get PHP2,000.00 but I'm definitely NOT lining up again.

I guess this is what you can expect from a third world bank in a third world country such as ours. I do hope I am wrong and the other big banks don't make their clients go thru something similarly idiotic.