The Man from Manila, dead at 44 YO

Francis Magalona, was pronounced dead at around 12 PM on Friday, March 6th 2009, after a brief, but nonetheless well fought, bout with Acute Myeloid Leukemia since it was diagnosed on August 8th 2008.

His passing has turned out mixed emotions from me. Personally, I wasn't always giving him high regards. I felt a little distressed when I first hear his single "Mga kababayan".

I mean, admittedly, the song has a catchy sort of spunk, but it just too darn right commercialized.

And personally, I wasn't really into the whole rap thing back then - I felt grown men singing nursery rhyme-ish tunes were just down right silly... just think of Vanilla Ice back in the days and you'll understand what I'm trying to get at here....

I thought that its another cheap stunt to save a then, childstar hasbeen's career from the dumpster.

Most of the time, that's how I always tag people in the commercial showbusiness industry --- just another wannabee jumping in the band wagon, think, Carlos Agassi (aka. Fag-in-skidz-clothing) during the height of his so called "rap career".

Anyway, the following interludes to Francis M's single however, finally caught my attention.

It is his commitment to a recurring theme in his compositions that made me realize that he might actually be the real deal...

It's the nationalistic message interlaced with his songs, and actual compositions that talks about something sensible, that changed my impression.

Throughout highschool, I remember listening to his songs (with the Jimmy Hendrix reminicent riffs on his other single "Kaleidoscope World"), courtesy of my younger brothers collection, and being moved (somewhat) by how cunningly his words reflect some of my thoughts at that time...

His "lyricism" served as the battlecry of the youth (at least to me and a couple of my friends), in the midst of the wave of punk, death, pop, and funk rock that plied the airwaves back then.

I guess that's how Francis M's songs appealled to many of our kababayans... He's one of those people who could influence you by merely mirroring what the world is to all of us... not unlike the late hip hop great Tupac....

The man from Manila, will surely be missed....

Securing your USB Flash Drives

The inventor of the USB Flash Drives should be accorded a Nobel Prize or something.

I can no longer imagine living life without it, frankly, I don't even remember how I lived when this trusted tool has not yet touched out lives...

I remember picking out my first cool 3.5" micro-floppy blue colored with yellow streaks Verbatim disk keeper back in highschool. I used to pride myself over the idea that I can carry around my data, like a true data warrior! I'd have an assortment of pre-apps on there - MS DOS, NAV, Turbo C, and even an installer copy of the then, rave of network gaming, Dune 2000.... Ha! Those were the days!

Going back to my point - today's data warriors are equipped with sleek looking devices which can sometimes be mistaken for a keychain or a pocket utility knife. They come in various shapes, sizes, and even functionalities - today, USB Flash Disks are not even limited to just data storage - they often come together with neat features like MP3/MP4 players, Utility functions like pocket lights or ball point pens...

Along with all these features and convinience though comes the sad fact that you might also be carrying around an assortment of viruses, malware, and what have you's, ignorantly spreading them around without the slightest clue...

Enter, one of the best solutions I've discovered so far... USB Firewall 1.1.3

This nifty software basically acts as your first line of defence over those baddies that catch a ride on them pocket drives,,,

It not only alerts you of intrusion from the USB Device, it also helps you identify the source of the virus/malware, stop it or otherwise delete it. You dont even have to update any virus definitions to get your rig up to date security.

The application itself is very compact and once installed it runs silently as a service in the background and only turns itself on once you insert the USB Drive.

USB Firewall is actually free, and if you want to get the link, you can just leave me your email/contact information and I'll PM you the link. Or email me directly here

One disadvantage though is that, although its virus detection is very good, it often misses on identifying pre-existing virus infection that may already be in your system. Meaning it's still a must to keep a full antivirus software to clean up whatever this software misses.

Here's a screenshot courtesy of one of our friends from the blogosphere:

Our own pad in PI

Sometimes, things happen for a reason. But as I learned the hard way - often times, you have to give a reason for things to actually take place.

We are planning to move to our own place by 3/15 and I'm still having mixed emotions about it. Although I know that it is the natural thing to do, like what we did not long ago - I feel uneasy about the idea.

Maybe its because we never really had a good enough experience to take whenever we decide to get a place of our own. We always end up either folding up too soon, because we can afford it. Or move out from the flat because we failed to manage our monthly finances.

I know that it will be another big adjustments for everyone in my family. I'm just hoping that this time, we could stick around longer.

I like the idea of having your own place. I mean, who wouldn't. But despite my enthusiasm, I cannot hide the fact that I am also mortified. Scared of the truth that we might end up repeating the same mistakes we did in the past. Scared shitless that this will be once again, another exercise in futility.

I beg to differ about everyone else's opinion of money matters and financial management. I feel that somehow, I should know better than they are since I've experienced these challenges several times over in the past.

Believe it or not, after everything that I've been through, I'm still clueless as to whether or not we'll be able to pull this off... but I got to do what I got to do...

This time around... I need to do a good job...

Exploding the mental fatigue myth

I've started reading another one of Dale Carnegie's books again...

I'm sure a lot of you have already read this one, but I've only gotten my hands on it as of late... the title of the book is "How to stay happy with your Life and Job"

Don't ask me why I bought it, I just somehow ended with a copy of the book at hand while I was queuing to pay for my eldest school supplies last week...

It was a curious read...

Well. okay, I admit it... I've always been a fan of the Dale Carnegie series, I've got most of his books, but this one.... so there...

Anyway, on one of the chapters of the book, the author was talking about fatigue... or what is properly known as, "diminished capacity to work" within medical circles...

What caught my attention is the passage which explains why sedentary workers, or professionals who sit on a desk all day, has no right to complain about being fatigued by the end of the day...

The author further explained that, a study was conducted to test for toxins in the blood confirmed that physical workers, whose basically involved with manual labour, does accumulate what they term as "fatigue toxins", which you feel whenever you engage in any form of physical exertion.

The study tested both sedentary workers and physical workers and found that at the end of the day, they both registered elevated levels of these "fatigue toxins". The question being pointed is, okay, we understand why a carpenter or laborer would feel tired after the day's shift but why would a sedentary worker show the same behaviour too?

Is it, mental fatigue?

No!

A conclusive study found out that the brain, does not give off "fatigue toxins", in fact it is the only organ in the human body which does not take a day off, not even when you sleep at night! Your brain is still hard at work monitoring vital body functions, while the rest of you "recharge" from the day's strenuous activities....

The study further elaborates that, great thinkers, like the ranks of Albert Einstein, and Carl Sagan, don't register any elevation of these "fatigue toxins" at the end of an 8-hour work day, even though their mental exertion could best any sedentary workers output in any day....

So what is the reason? Simple...

Sedentary workers register the same behaviour of elevated "fatigue toxins" as manual laborers because of muscular strain. Period!

The psychology behind the idea is mind boggling... actually, it's mind-freeing!

The fact is, that when ever professionals work, we strain or put our bodies into a condition which mimics physical strain... Simply reading your boss' correspondence, we squint our eyes, or curl up our brows.... this is because, it was how we evolved...

Human beings started as hunter-gatherers, and the skills involved necessary to survive back then only requires physical strength, dexterity, and maybe a little bit of ingenuity... a successful hunt means that we need to devote both energy and physical resources to the hunting effort itself...

Fast forward million of years, and little has changed... the office warrior, through a lifetime worth of habit formation, develops this auto-response of justifying good work with an "action of strain or exertion"....

That is why, we strain our eyes when we read/concentrate on reports, or lock our shoulders when we attend board meetings, or tighten up our necks when we do our taxes...

All that tension, anxiety and stress is what's causing the fatigue, much like the manual laborers when they go about with their daily duties...

Going back to the study... great thinkers, never had this problem.... why? because they've managed to develop the habit of relaxing while in the process of intense mental workout... and the author suggests that we could also adopt this habit....

The rewards of course, needs no further explanation, but obviously, you would expect an improvement in your efficiency, much like a well-timed engine, you'd blaze across anything which requires mental, physical work... your focus would also be enhanced since you're more relaxed and balanced, its an entire lifestyle change altogether....

One of the exercise suggested is taking time to pause and go through a minute to tell yourself to relax.... then get to the most comfortable position you could be in, which of course would mean that you won't be compromising anything that is essential to your task at hand... like, you can't be lying down why making a presentation to the board of directors... get the picture?

Anyway, go ahead and try the exercise... close your eyes.... then slowly tell yourself, relax... relax... relax.... relax eyes... relax.... in between deep breaths.... do this for the entire duration of a minute... then open your eyes...

Did you feel refreshed?

I hope it worked the same for you as it was for me when I first tried it... remember the saying... "The body often follow what the mind dictates"... this is a known fact that traditional eastern medicine, and yoga gurus have been exploiting for centuries now... in short, this stuff really works...

The book advises that you should do this as regular and as often as you can.... over time, this would become like a reflex... it becomes a habit... an automatic response that you can employ to boost not just your physical condition, but improve your life as well....

This part of the book made me realized that I've been wasting precious years in my life procrastinating and wasting my energy and time... I should have taken notice of this fact early on...

I mean, you don't need a book at all to tell you that stress + fatigue = bad health....

I mean why is it that a lot of sedentary workers die young? Proof? Well, just look into the Sunday paper's list of Obituaries and you'll see people on their 50's, early 60's dead.... People whose lifestyle is that of a sedentary worker, sometimes even esteemed professionals altogether... just because all they did was a accumulate a lifetime's worth of stress with their lives....

I vow to make a complete overhaul of my life based on this truth... I think you should also start too...

Panagbega 2009

Just got back from our weekend trip to Baguio to attend the Panagbega '09 festival.

I have for the most part been complaining about the entire trip... It was for me, a total waste of time, money and effort!

The stupid festival is so over-rated! I hate the hotel, I hate the hotel staff, hate the cabbies, hate the walking, hate the noise that doesn't let you sleep at night, hate over-charging morons, and most of all, I hate the fact that there were no hot water running on the stupid tap!

I guess, its not a total waste since my family got a kick from the whole ordeal...

much to my expenses though =(

I'll never attend one of this stupid events ever again!!!!