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Archive for April, 2006

Moving to J2EE’s Direction

Posted in Techno Stuffs on April 30th, 2006

Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) is the industry standard for developing portable, robust, scalable and secure server-side Java applications. Building on the solid foundation of Java SE, Java EE provides web services, component model, management, and communications APIs that make it the industry standard for implementing enterprise class service-oriented architecture (SOA) and web 2.0 applications. - From Sun Java website

Through Googling around, or visiting Java forums and Java related websites, I suddenly realized that I should seriously start looking into J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition). Sad to say that it isn’t something that I would be doing sometime soon in my current job since I am currently working on a J2ME project, but I believe that it’s something that every Java programmer should start adding competence with. So work related or not I am determined to be good on J2EE. Besides, they don’t call me “a jack of all trade, a master of none.” for nothing. :D

It seems like nowadays, most of Java companies are making use of J2EE on building powerful business applications. I believe they have a point in doing so, since J2EE offers a robust development arsenal for creating enterprise web services and communication based applications. Moreover there are also some useful technologies that comes along with J2EE, such as EJB, Struts, XML/XSL, XHTML, etc. This is pretty cool, and as someone that is more comfortable with large scale applications and server-side coding, I think I shouldn’t miss on this one and start stepping up on my learning curve.

For now I have some basic knowledge of J2EE and had tried some simple pet projects using it, but it’s time to get serious now. I can only do this on the side of my day job, but since I’m more or less very proficient with Java, learning J2EE wouldn’t be that difficult. Then again, as my previous post on my weakness on READING, this may be a good time to start building my reading habit by reading books and online tutorials on J2EE. Talk about hitting 2 birds with 1 stone. ;)

My Greatest Weakness

Posted in Techno Stuffs on April 29th, 2006

I hate to admit it but my believe it or not, my greatest weakness is …. (drum roll please..) .. READING!!! :D

I’m not really fond of reading books, newspapers or any reading material with long articles and stuffs like that. It’s quite akward I know since as a programmer or let’s say an IT geek, reading should be one important hobby that I should have. For most people like me it’s only through reading tech books, e-books, or online tutorials that you can cope up with the fast technology shifts in the IT world. Besides, how you can build competence fast if you don’t read. Even during my school days, I hate writing book reports. I oftentimes just buy a book that is used as a reference for creating a book report for another book. In short this contains all the necessary book report information you’ll need such as summary, characters, moral lessons, etc. It’s the easiest way out I can find, instead of reading a thick book. For me back then, there are far more important things I can do with my time than reading books.

When I started working, I learned programming languages and OS administration through finding short articles that gets directly to the point. I must admit that I learned Java without reading a Java book or tutorial cover to cover. I also learned Linux only through Googling the specific topic I need. It’s more of a hands-on learning experience for me with all the things I know right now about computers and programming.

Right now, I realized that it’s about time I do something with my reading habit. Instead of just finding out what I specifically need, I guess I should start reading more on stuffs I’m interested in. It’s not too late I know. I’m still young and there’s still so much I can do with my life and significant changes I can make with myself. ;)

Slow PLDT

Posted in Techno Stuffs on April 28th, 2006

We are supposed to be moving to our new office location next week but part of the problem that hinders us in doing so is PLDT (Philippine Long Distance Telephone) company’s slowness in installing our landline and DSL connection. X(

Would you believe, we applied for the new business landline and Biz DSL connection last March 29, 2006 and until now, we still don’t have what we applied for? Last thing I heard from our admin officer was that the telephone line was already installed but they are having some problems since only outgoing calls are working and not incoming calls. What’s better is that the technical team that installed the telephone line said that this kind of problem is not their responsibility anymore so they need to forward the job to another department. Huh!?! What is this excuse? I mean, what on earth is this kind of system? I don’t get the rationale behind the scenario wherein a group of tech people installs the line and if a problem occurs, they need to pass it on to another group of people to fix it. Can’t they bring along everything and everyone they need in one go so as not to waste precious time?

Another thing that pisses me off, is that the account manager of PLDT that handles our application informed us that after a successful installation of the telephone line, they still need to forward our DSL application to another department and it might take another week for it to be processed and a work order for installation released. Huh!?! Are they kidding us? Around 1 month of telephone line installation and then 1 week for processing the DSL connection, then what? Don’t tell me another 1 month for the DSL installation? Where on earth have you seen more than 2 months of telephone line and DSL connection application processing and installation? #-o

I’m not sure what’s the best thing for us to do. Some of my colleagues who used to work for PLDT said that this is really how it goes there. Even with their own people, they act slowly on installation of telephone lines and value added services. One even commented that sometimes they need to report the problem to a high ranking officer of PLDT so that their request would be attended to, since if they don’t do this then it would take ages before someone gives them the attention they need.

Geesh! I can’t believe this kind of scenario, considering that we are a business plan subscriber. How about those residential plans subscribers? Would it take them 2 years to process and install their services to them? X(

Funny Facts

Posted in Daily Living on April 27th, 2006

Just something to ease things a little bit .. ;)

I got this from an email .. enjoy! :D

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If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

(Hardly seems worth it)

If you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.

(Now that’s more like it!)

The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.

(O.M.G.!)

A pig’s orgasm lasts 30 minutes.

(In my next life, I want to be a pig)

A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death. (Creepy.)

(I’m still not over the pig.)

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories a hour

(Don’t try this at home,maybe at work)

The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male’s head off.

(”Honey, I’m home. What the…?!”)

The flea can jump 350 times its body length. It’s like a human jumping the length of a football field.

(30 minutes..lucky pig! Can you imagine?)

The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds.

(What could be so tasty on the bottom of a pond? )

Some lions mate over 50 times a day.

(I still want to be a pig in my next life…quality over quantity)

Butterflies taste with their feet.

(Something I always wanted to know.)

The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.

(Hmmmmmm……)

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people.

(If you’re ambidextrous, do you split the difference?)

Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump.

(okay, so that would be a good thing)

A cat’s urine glows under a black light.

(I wonder who was paid to figure that out? )

An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.
( I know some people like that.)

Starfish have no brains

(I know some people like that too.)

Polar bears are left-handed.

(If they switch, they’ll live a lot longer)

Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.

(What about that pig??)

Now that you’ve smiled at least once, it’s your turn to spread these crazy facts and send this to someone you want to bring a smile to (maybe even a chuckle)…In other words, send it to everyone!

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Busy Morning

Posted in Techno Stuffs on April 27th, 2006

I had one hell of a morning today. #-o

When I arrived in the office, the smell of paint and varnish filled the air due to some table and furniture repair done last night in preparation of our company to move to a new office location. Geesh! I was like high on solvent just after a few minutes of sniffing around. (:|

Well, after I had settled down for a few minutes I started setting up my laptop to start working. It was then I realized that there’s no network connectivity in one of the office area. I can’t help but wonder how could this happen when everything seems to be ok yesterday when I left. I initially checked our DHCP server to make sure that it’s up and running and able to assign our workstations their designated IP addresses. Then I turned to all the network switches and routers and there I found the problem. Someone, connected a network cable to a reserved port in one of the switches. The switch is uplinked to another switch so the last port should be left vacant since this is how most switches are designed. You can only use either the last port or the uplink port. So I removed the network cable from the last port and so the problematic area’s network connectivity was fine again.

When I was about to continue my work with my current project, I heard one UPS beeping. I checked the UPS and it seems to be alarming due to overload. I was surprised since only 2 PCs are supposed to be connected to it. When I checked the cables that run to the UPS, I discovered that someone connected an extension cable to the UPS and then connected 2 UPS on this extension cable. Well, I removed the extension cable and connected it to one main socket so the overloaded UPS stopped beeping at last.

Whew! What a way to start my morning. It’s nothing less of a quick start, ei? 8-}

This Kid Rocks!!!

Posted in Arts and Music on April 26th, 2006

Damn! I’m really impressed with this kid. He really knows how to play the guitar and at a young age, I must admit that he plays really well. :D

Hmmm.. this video made me remember my good ‘ol high school and college days when I used to play lead guitars for several bands. Sad t say, when I started working I didn’t have that much time anymore to play. But when I saw this video, I somehow realized that maybe it’s about time I bring back my good old guitar playing days and catch up with all the things I missed. ;)