Echo Binary

Yesterday was our enrollment and it was very disorganized… as usual.

As early as Sunday, I already had my partial schedule. Initially my class would start at 10:30 am and ends at 4:30 pm. There wasn’t a break in between classes and I didn’t want to bypass my lunch so I decided to move my Cisco class on early morning at 7:30 am then have my lunch break between 10:30 am to 12:00 noon to resume classes after. I didn’t have my load on specialization yet. I just left it empty for the meantime because that was the case on our previous enrollment.

Some students had emailed the registrar in order to add the load to their current curriculum. I was not aware that the registrar actually does something responsible like this (since when???). Now, Tuesday evening and I emailed the registrar. I thought I was already late. Tomorrow would be our enrollment, so I was not hopeful at all that I would be able to add my load on Java, my specialization.

Now, Wednesday arrived and the enrollment was quite a rush in the beginning. I was just behind a few slots from my friends; I was surprised that the schedule on Saturday afternoon for Java was already filled up. There was a Friday morning schedule, but it conflicts my existing schedule on Cisco. Neither did I like the schedule on Saturday evening because it was too late! Therefore, I decided I would request to create a new section for Java.

A few moments later, I gathered some friends who didn’t have a load or schedule on Java yet. It was clear that there were more than a dozen students who didn’t have a schedule on Java. Hours passed and we hunted the Head of Java specialization in order to open a new section. There was very little chance to open a new section at a convenient schedule for all of us. Most probably the new section would conflict our schedules but in the end, the light of hope brightens as a new section on Monday evening was readied for reservation. That’s more convenient since all of us have several classes ahead of it.

Ironically, the section would only be activated after 1 pm, so we were ordered to wait until 1 pm to get reservations and finalize our subject load. And so I waited, together with 2 other friends. Take note that these friends I stayed with during the break didn’t eat lunch just to wait in front of the encoding center. I didn’t eat, too, so that I would be able to gatecrash the encoding center first.

It was 1 o’clock and the encoding center was already opened. The unfortunate events came next: Those who were scheduled on morning would not be entertained until those people scheduled on afternoon were done. Now, that was total BS! Last term, those people scheduled in the morning was prioritized before the students scheduled in afternoon. This term, the exact opposite happened. For instance, one of my friends who were scheduled on morning argued that he was summoned to come back after 1 pm, only to find out that he will be overtaken by people scheduled in the afternoon. It was really unfair because it was not his fault why he has not yet finalized his subject load.

Now, going back to my own problem — I was the one who initiated the new section, some people supported it, then in the end I was the one NOT benefiting from it! Come on, there’s only a limited number of slots per section. Some students would be taking the newly opened slots on Monday nights already. My friends and I couldn’t do anything because of the crappy security measures that was imposed. These guards were only dogs, doing only what was told by their master. Geez, I’m nearly at wits’ end.

Most of us who were scheduled on morning enrollment were all frustrated. Who wouldn’t? I tried to keep calm… but who cares? No one seems to care — even the registrars and administrators. They are just following orders and policies, and they never considered my effort to create that new section for Java. I was thankful that the Head of Java specialization sympathized on our situation and he excused the 3 of us to get into the encoding center, bypassing the imposed crappy security policies that were feed to the dogs.

I really appreciated that I made it inside the encoding center much earlier than my worst-case scenario; however, by the time I was revising my schedule, all the slots for Monday evening was already taken.

In the end, I paved the way for my friends to get a more convenient schedule yet I was the one left out. Perhaps I must be thankful. I didn’t have to suffer acute schedule conflicts. I also have enrolled all possible subject load this term, in other words, I am still regular. I should be blessed after all. My schedule just sucks on Saturday evening. (We don’t know, perhaps it’s just a blessing in disguise)

Sure, life is unfair… but the overly unnecessary security measures make our college life not only unfair, but also twisted.

I bumped to this website and found this cool Flash program that enables you to create art instantly. Look at my abstract painting below. That was finished in 5 minutes. You could probably paint some nice illustrations using that program or abstract painting in seconds. Try the brush tool and paint splash tool for different effects. There are different levels of brush thickness, splash volume and opacity. There’s also a text tool that adds funky writings on your artwork.

You can use the undo command whenever you want to make changes. That’s very useful when you accidentally clicked the wrong tool. Then you can send your art to you friend and let them watch the replay of your masterpiece.

To view the replay of my art, click here

Link: art.com’s Artpad

PLDT launched ID-DSL on September 15 featuring very low overseas calling rates. ID-DSL stands for International Dialing for DSL.

When using their proprietary dialing software Voicepad, you pay only 8 cents a minute for all Small Biz plans, plan 3000 and plan 2500. You pay 12 cents a minute when using plan 1995 and plan 999.

Otherwise when you are using your telephone you pay 10 cents a minute for all Small Biz plans, plan 3000 and plan 2500. You pay 15 cents a minute when using plan 1995 and plan 999.

Here’s the catch: there is a P50 monthly fee and lock-in period of 12 months. There’s a promo (I don’t know if it’s already over) that gives you free two monthly fee.

You may want to subscribe to this service if:

1. You don’t know how to use Skype or any other VoIP softwares
2. You don’t like the flactuating quality of VoIP that may happen from time to time
3. You want to use a phone instead of using headset with VoIP service
4. You’re a fan of PLDT services (you’re a rarity!)

You will probably bail out of ID-DSL if:

1. You discovered that Skype is cheaper
   You only pay only 2 US cents per minute for US calls, and there’s no service fees.
2. You prefer VoIP because you don’t trust PLDT’s bad reputation for customer support
3. You don’t like the lock-in period of one whole year
4. You don’t have a PLDT DSL subscription

Of course, this service is not for everyone. For more information, please visit the official PLDT DSL website.

Link: PLDT ID-DSL (note: 482.73 KB image)

The 24 Mbps broadband service is worth £24 (US $42.84) per month, and here are the benefits:

• Three (3) times faster than the closes competitor in the UK
• Allows 1.3 Mbps upstream, about 5 five times quicker than any other service provider in the UK.

I really envy other countries for state of the art technologies… imagine, UK is alredy deploying 24-megabit per second connection. Australia had already offered the same services, whereas in the Philippines — we are not even half-way yet!

If you review the prices, $42.84 is not that much… it’s about P2400 only. In contrast, PLDT’s Small Biz DSL, Sr. which is 1.5 Mbps or T1, the fastest consumer / enterprise broadband connection offered by PLDT that I know, costs a grand total of P14,500 per month. o_O

Source: The Guardian [ via Slashdot ]

Maxima enim, patientia virtus — that’s the Latin for Patience is the greatest virtue. In French, Patience est une grant vertu.

“Patience is a virtue. The ability to wait for something without excessive frustration is a valuable character trait.” This quotable quote was has been traced back to Piers Plowman (1377). It’s very true because it’s rare to find people who could contain and control their frustration to the minimum.

Hence, we all know this phrase today: Patience is a virtue.