Echo Binary

In my latest blog update, I added some usefull plugins including Auto Links, Moose Candy and WordPress Hashcash. I also included some Google Ads to make this blog somewhat profitable. I also added some promotional micro buttons. AFAIK, there’s no official Animesuki promotional button so I created my own.

My favorite plugin right now is Auto Links because it’s really cool… for instance, it links Harry Potter with my Amazon associate ID… so I get credits when you purchase any Harry Potter books. LOL. Unlike other auto link plugins, it never repeats linkage so it only hyperlinks one instance of the keyword. It’s very good in personal blogs; using it in e-commerce blogs is better.

I can safely say that my last dining in Tropical Hut Burgers was a decade ago… yeah, that should be quite “accurate” because I’m still a youngster back then, and the only Tropical Hut branch I knew was the Alabang Branch in front of Muntinlupa public market. During that time, I come with my mother to the public market to carry stuffs; she treats in Tropical Hut later. That’s my faint memory of the old Tropical Hut… of course I have already forgotten the taste of their burgers so I cannot make comparison between the old and new taste.

I’m just glad that I dinned in to Tropical Hut again; I was not disappointed with their burgers. The taste is just right. What really surprised me is the stricking similarities of their chicken to Mcdo; and their french fries to Pizza Hut in terms of taste and preparation.

Anyway, the reason why I ate there is because of my friends. We had our late dinner break in Tropical Hut. Somebody suggested to eat there, and so we did.

It was Wednesday morning when our DSL suddenly disconnected. Then, I noticed… the LED indicator for “DSL” of our DSL modem was not lit. I suspected immediately that the DSL service was down… but wait, I lifted the telephone and to my surprise, there was no dial tone too! How could this happen?!

I told my father to report to 173 as soon as possible. I badly needed the internet to finish my work… then before I could even go back home from school, my father informed me that the dial tone has been not restored yet. It was already late afternoon. I called 173 on my way back home. The automated telephone service prompted me to one of PLDT customer service representatives. The PLDT customer service representative was chatting with her colleague when I was connected to her line, and she didn’t realize I’m already online. I listened for a moment, waiting for the representative to take notice of my presence on the line. (Isn’t it really idiotic to always turn the mic on?) Geezzz… after a while, the representative had come back to earth and responded to my call. Of course, as a typical customer service representative, she had promised to let the repair crew know of the present situation. I hope she really did.

I learned at home that the PLDT telephone cables were actually cut by thieves so most blocks of our subdivision did not have telephone and internet services. The scrap cables and wirings that the thieves took are profitable because the wirings are gold plated, as one of the repair crew confessed. It has been their problem ever since the oppressed community learned these facts. People want to turn these scrap cables and wirings into cash by selling them in junk shops. Easy money, eh? It didn’t happen once. In fact, they told me that it happened the 6th times already. Someone has already pointed who the culprit is, but there is no concrete evidence so the people cannot just point fingers. On the contrary, I asked the repair crew why this kind of incidents cannot be prevented easily… they told me that PLDT has no direct responsibility to watch every cablings they install, so the community should help them catch these thieves in order to protect the services offered to our community.

The next day, I had to check my emails badly; I went to my gf’s house shamelessly to use her computer. I had no better choice. The dial tone was not yet back but I received good news from our neighbor — the wires were already set. The repair crew just needed a little more time to replace the wires.

At last, on the 3rd day, our dial tone was restored and our DSL was finally operational. I thought that the repair will stretch between 1 - 4 weeks. I’m thankful that the worse case didn’t happen.

It started as a rumor. Now, the so-called Google-IM is finally online — Google Talk!

Google Talk features a free computer-to-computer call. It’s like Yahoo Messenger with voice albeit it looks simplistic. It gives you a basic interface for instant messaging or call with very good sound quality comparable to Skype’s. However Google Talk uses the Jabber protocol, an open standard protocol which is really promising compared to other existing protocols that is kept privately.

Gmail is integrated with Google Talk. You use your Gmail username and passoword to login and once logged in, you can precisely control who you want to block and who can see your online status, much like the stealth setting inYahoo! Messenger.

The first beta release of Google Talk lacks standard features that is already available in other IMs like file transfer, group conference, video conference, and more… Despite these lacking features, Google Talk is a solid piece of instant messenger. More features will be added soon, and the Google team guarantees that they are doing their best to improve Google Talk in future release.

Website: http://talk.google.com

I’m very fond of donuts lately… I’m not sure why. (lol, a fanciful image of Homer Simpson suddenly flashed in my head!) I just like donuts because they are sweet and tasty, especially chocolate-coated donuts. (I’m a chocoholic after all…)

I either buy from Mister Donuts or Dunkin Donuts. I really can’t figure out which is better in taste; however, I am more inclined to Dunkin Donuts. I take out half dozen donuts most of the time on my way back home together with my girlfriend. Of course, I enjoy the donuts with her. Nothing’s lovelier than sharing it with your love ones.

Perhaps it is more interesting to know that my gf has discovered a better donut! According to her, she has tasted a donut more delectable than Mister Donuts or Dunkin Donut from a store located near her college. Unfortunately she cannot recall the name of that donut. Out of curiosity, I couldn’t contain my eagerness to taste that mysterious donut! I wonder… what is the name of that donut? How does it differ with other donuts? Is it really superior to other donuts that I have tasted before? Errrr… I have to find it soon. Grrr!