The Makiav3llian Enchantment…

Well, we are in the process of rehiring my nanny who took care of me 12 years ago. We’ve decided that we needed somebody to take care of my little Isa and help in cleaning the house. We should have things settled by the first week of June, this isn’t really the main issue but the topic of discussion is actually with regards to a new proposal by our government for visit visa holders going to Dubai. According to reports I’ve heard, POEA has planned to implement a 30000PhP deposit for people planning to go to Dubai. This amount is refundable provided that you will return after your visit. Should you not return, the 30000PhP is property of POEA for our government’s "good use" in "improving" facilities in the Philippines. What a load of crap!
Actually, they said the amount was used to cover the costs of Tourism agencies in the Philippines  paying POEA for their type of business. WHAT? I understand that tourism agencies in the Philippines are struggling and they do pay their dues to the government, but why take it out on the people who want to look for better opportunities overseas. Oh yeah, they give you the crap that this is just to make sure these people come back to the Philippines to claim the 30000PhP back. This is the lamest thing I’ve heard and another way to extort money from would be OFWs. Crazy people, they can’t extort money from OFWs directly, though they are doing it slowly through airport charges and the freaking POEA counter. Anyways, these are freaking rumors and they said that would implement this thing either this June or on November.
My message to whoever is trying to implement this, you can’t stop the OFW engine, but the more you put restrictions, the more they’d like to leave the Philippines. You keep forcing involuntary expenses to discourage them, you have no idea how difficult life is here. Instead of charging them, you should provide better financial support with the taxes and amount you get from OFWs.

Along with my purchase of the Iiyama LCD, I also bought the Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic. This is my very first Sound Blaster card that I bought, my first Sound Blaster was a throw away which I never really had a use for. Words of wisdom always come to mind when purchasing a sound card and that is "your sound card is only good as it’s speakers." Basic concept, if you have the best sound card in the world and you have generic desktop speakers, forget about about it. It is relevant that you should spend close to 10000PhP or even more to get the best out of your system, which has a 5.1 speaker setup and a sound card. You don’t really need to spend that much at all but your initial investments should always point out to your speakers and since I have that, you can have the luxury of spending for the sound card. Unlike before, during, 1995 to 1998, the sound card community was only for the elite, Sound Blasters came with 2x CDROMs, but now most motherboard now have 5.1 to 7.1 integrated sound cards, even Sound Blaster chips integrated to some of them. If so, why get an additional sound card? Enthusiasts will answer you with loads of things but let me just make things simple. First, to decrease the load of the CPU since there is a dedicated system in processing the audio and secondly, some people are not fully satisfied with the built-in Audio Processing Unit and have opted to have a dedicated one with a different APU (if there is such a thing).
So it does sound good for me, but why does it look bad? well, its because THE FRIGGIN’ THING WON"T FIT A DELL GX520 CASING!!! Yes, I am pretty pissed off about it, what the hell can you put in that casing even a modem won’t fit, I know its a business PC but everyone should be given an option to upgrade. I was so anxious to try it out so that I can see what it can do. Lady luck unfortunately deserted me and what do you know, the X-Fi is a pretty large piece of technology. I couldn’t blame myself though, I did my research well, and the card itself was up to the standards of a PCI slot but it was the Dell’s small form factor screwing with me. Oh well, looks like another brand new PC part is going to be connected to my sister’s PC, which already includes my Enermax PSU and my Benq DVD Writer. Despite this, I am glad to commemorate that my rig is just a few months away to completion, and the fact that I can already build my rig at any given time right now, makes it all the sweeter… or does it?

It (PAYS/PAINS) to be patient… -> You choose the the verb best applicable…

After hearing New Jersey losing out to the Heat, I just felt I needed to build up a rig that will play NBA Live 2007 in the future and bring the guys (VC, JKidd, Nenad and RJ) to the promised land. Well, at least I had the consolation of knowing that I will be buying new computer parts today since the 15th has past. After finally getting my credit card from the First Gulf Bank, I was even pleased to hear about their "Easy Buy" scheme which allows me to pay for things in a deferred payments with an interest of around 0.99% provided that your purchase is more than 500Dhs. This is not bad at all, Commercial bank of Dubai is giving me 0.85% but they seem to be taking their time.
Anyways, the Credit Card is not the focus of the story and though I usually deter anyone from getting their CC, as long as you pay on time and clear your debts then having a credit card is not such a tedious responsibility. I was having a very difficult choice on the purchase since I had a full 9000Dhs at my disposal and could have very well created my rig. Believe me, the yearning is strong and I could have easily given way. Fortunately for me I have good control because Conroe has not shown itself here. This is where the second half of my waiting game begins.
After thinking things through, decided to get either the 2 x 80GB SATA II HDD and the Creative X-Fi or the LCD and the Creative X-Fi. Just my luck, I could not find lower capacity SATA II HDD, so I had to push with Plan B, LCD X-Fi combo. I actually loathe looking for LCDs and my main plan was a 21" CRT screen but after careful thought, i said even a 19" will do which is similar to my sisters HP HPv19x LCD. She has me in envy but the response time is around 12ms. Anyways, while lazily hopping around from one store to another I decided to give up and try the fancy stores of Al Ain Center. Along the way, I met with an Acer Ferrari 17" LCD the price was attractive enough to entice me, 1540Dhs but the shop just didn’t have the CC facility to support my purchase. After 30 minutes of searching I was lucky to land into a shop who showed a Multimedia LCD, 21.3 " in size and 20ms in response time. It was hilarious because I prepared for the worst, this huge beast of a display device was a dream and well, I just wanted to hear the price so that I would just have something for reference. Was expecting around 1800Dhs for it or even more and then the weird 950Dhs in an Indian accent came in ringing. Of course, then I tried bargaining and was able to bring it down to 925Dhs. So without further adieu, I introduce to you my Iiyama 21.3" LCD with:

a. built-in 1W speakers
b. 5-port USB hub (1 Input, 4 Output)
c. Dual DVI Input
d. 20ms Response Time
e. Pivoting and Tilting screen

Though the likeliness of my next purchase may not be a hard disk, I am still caught in a dilemma. Its funny because I completely scraped the idea of going for them Raptors. Then when you think all is alright you suddenly get attacked by a craving to purchase one of them. One of my credit cards have been approved and it has the deferred payment schemes on it. Though the card hasn’t come in yet, the mind tends to think in advance aka "counting them chickens before hatching." And then the big question comes in, I can get them Raptors after all, but having to pay a premium of 750Dhs is a big deal and during my search for affordable high speed storage I began thinking and another idea struck me. This is where I suddenly began thinking about the Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks aka RAID. I think this is a brilliant idea for me since I can finally put into training my MCP skills for real and get the added boost at the same time. There are already confirmed reports that RAID-0 on Raptors don’t really give a significant increase in performance, besides, RAID was suppose to be on my list involving two 36GB Raptors but due to shortage, I could not do this locally. I never did like the 72GB Raptor in the first place
So the big plan now is to get into RAID using two 80GB SATAII hard disks and despite not being in the same league as most uber users or even a single Raptor, the whole thing should help me out since I will be working on a lot of file transfers and data, along with 2GB of RAM, I don’t think there is a reason to fret. Of course I am treading a course of drawbacks since I have a potential for 160GB which is being halved by RAID-0. I am a believer for Blu-Ray and after year or so, I should be getting my own which will mean that 25GB or 50GB media will hold my garbage, my practicality getting the better of me. Another thing is one problem on one disk drive will mean the end of me. Again, I am vouching for Blu-Ray to back up my data or even my DVD Writer along with Norton Ghost, if this doesn’t cover my back, nothing will. So you see, I should be able to get the storage device within June 16 and this should allow me to think things out. Let’s hope I make the right choice… As for now, I have no worries with storage, I have my 40GB Hitachi working and my 40GB Seagate waiting for a SATA connector. So its an R&R match… Raptor vs RAID… we’ll see on the eve of Jun 16.

You’ve heard the news from INQ7 that the Filipinos are beginning to suck at English…

So are we hitting the rock bottom of our proficiency. Once the thriving capital of Americanism, we are slowly moving backwards and becoming slaves to our own dependency and laziness. You look at the big picture and you see call centers to your left and right but that does not paint the big picture that there is a problem with our English these days. Is it because of the "makabayan" or support Tagalog movement? It is great to have your own language since it plays a historical part of your culture, but culture doesn’t put food on your table to send you children to school. So why am I ranting (?), someone who despises call centers, well, as much as I hate to say it, I would hate to see all call centers jobs land in India. My experience in the call center has fed my family so I am thankful and this is why I encourage my country to learn. In times like these, better to use your brains and your communication skills than being patriotic or inviting your own weirdo jeerdo lingo with Carabao English, s2pid txt spk ispeling and all other forms of language degrading muck. The only thing people these days can spell and speak fluently is "GLORIA RESIGN!" The vicious circle of poor education has greatly affected our once solid English structure.

Summer is just popping it’s silly little head and this maybe the last time we’ll be conducting a meeting of minds during May to August, after this, we may meet up in malls and restaurants. By now, you know that I have been a member of TipidPC for around 3 years now, though not a pioneer of this forum, I am a long time member, buyer and seller of this forum/website. Basically, I stopped my pirating ways since joining TipidPC and of course got into PC business. It has always been a buy and sell relationship, nothing more, nothing less.
But after having plans of moving the UAE, I just decided to create a bigger community by getting other members in the Middle East involved. Thankfully, I am not alone and with more and more people coming the UAE, I’ve been trying my hardest to support and spread TPC love, not to mention the problems and heartaches being here overseas.
In typical fashion the Dubai Chapter indulged in its very first summer EB and it was a welcome site seeing other members of TPC namely Angie04_babe (my wife), Mackhyzz, Mondz, Sauvecito and Tazy_Chelly. There are more member in the UAE but geographical location plays a major role here. Oh well, maybe next time even the Abu Dhabi people will drop by. As for the whole event, it was a success, importantly getting to know the members of TPC in the UAE and of course, swimming and beaches.
It just touches me right here in the button since I never thought I would have loads of friends and even though I don’t have a very big number right now, I am just glad that there are people here who are willing to spend time with me and my family…

For full coverage of the 1st Summer EB of TPC members and friends, CLICK HERE…