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i want to wish my son, Mistral Julian, a very Happy 8th Birthday today!!
Happy Birthday, son… please know that, though we haven’t seen each other for the past 3 years, you are always in my heart and my thoughts… always…
i love you, Ian…
Ciao, sweetie… 
Although my job here at
that was why i am now, for this week, at least, training them the essentials of running a Linux box… administration would probably come in later… we started last Monday, where i introduced them to the world of Linux [very vast], its different flavors [wow! so many!!], and what it can do for an environment like ours…
yesterday, we tackled simple installations, and today, my students will continue installation, this time, doing multi-boot environments, and so on… who knows? if my staff/students are willing enough, we might just continue this next week for advanced administration, eh?
anyway, i am now on my 2nd week at work, and i must say that i am enjoying this immensely… although my work hours are from 6am till about 4 or 5 in the afternoon, i am enjoying every bit of my stay here, so far… my co-workers are all nice [always smiling], the teachers treat me with utmost respect [everyone does, really], and my staff are all skilled and open to new ideas [like this Linux training]… i have high hopes… haayss… 
next week? start of classes again, that was why we are so busy preparing everything for the re-opeing of classes… and we hope to be finished by tomorrow… see ya again soon!!
Ciao, sweetie…
aside: if you are on the lookout for Value Hotels in the Philippines to stay in for a night or even three, look no further than Legend Hotels… Legend Hotels caters to a wide range of clientele - company executives, families, OFW’s, balikbayans, provincial business travelers, local and foreign tourists. be sure not to miss it!!
Ever since 1998, when i started working on an NOS [network operating system] aside from Microsoft, i have always maintained that anything not Microsoft is infitely better… infinitely… better…
and i will still maintain that stand wherever i go, whatever compnay i am in… i have come back to work for an academe very recently, and so far, everything is working well… at least, so far as the desktops are concerned… but working with Microsoft really gives me a pain in the ass [and not because i am biased towards Linux], and I have plans now of transfeerring some of them over to Linux… of course, i cannot readily transfer applications needed primarily by the Finance and the Admissions departments, but all others, i believe i can…
for one, we have Citrix servers and about 100+ thin clients which I need to run, not because I have to, but because we already paid for them… yep, they’re not working, or if they do run, only about 40 of the 100+ clients can run all at the same time… more than that? the 2 servers will start to go crazy, and the clients will freeze up one by one… in APC before, i was able to createone whole laboratory of about 40 clients using only 1 server using LTSP… of course, i have had problems with it, like it doesn’t support a particular network card or a particular graphics card… but all in all, once the server settled down and my students started using the thin clients, everything worked fine to my satisfaction… now, i am left with the problem of making the Citrix environment run… *darn*
second, i plan to teach my people Linux administration… from there, we’d be able to plan better our next steps, i.e. which servers to migrate… prolly, we’ll start with the websites [which are, incidentally, made in ASP and dotNET] so i am now in the process of researching how to make those run in Apache…
lastly, only PLDT have lines in our area?? i am actually considering putting a redundant connection for the school, but i was told that only PLDT have rights to our area… so, do i go wireless, then?? **double darn**
anyway, that’s all for now… more [as in really more] to follow soon…
Ciao, sweetie…
Yes!! i am back in the academe, and i am loving every minute of my **still** short stay here…
you see, i have been in the academe before, on and off for about 7 to 8 years, and the longest was with Asia Pacific College, where i spent 4 glorious years of the 8 years teaching college students there…
in APC, i was the system administrator for the 1st 2 years, then moved on to being the Open Source Laboratories Administrator, doing what i loved doing: research and development of open source products!!
since then, i have been an IT consultant for 8 years, project manager, applications development manager, IT operations manager, and now, an ICT Manager for a school of up to 15-16 year olds!! yey!!
my day starts at 7am and finishes by 4pm, but i am wont to stay far longer to finish up on things, so i expect to be doing the same thing here, too… what school? I cannot tell you that, or i’d have to kill you [Bond-style]… hehehe 
what can i say? i am just built for the academe, and i cannot stay away from it…
i will not be teaching, though [yebah!!]… i am part of the ICT support staff which i head, and i’ll be handling the IT needs of the whole school… i am also being asked to get at least 1 certification, and i am looking around for one… hmmmm… maybe, i can get a CCNA… hmmmm… or i can pursue my Linux studies, but the school is Microsoft-based, so i have to lean on them a bit to turn them around…
anyway, expect this blog to be technical again, from hereon, as i will be discussing all my actions here… [signing my contract as i am typing this, hahahaha]
Ciao, sweetie…
just about 2 weeks ago, i went in for an executive checkup at one of the high-end clinics in Robinson’s Galleria, and there, i was raped… thrice… that was an experience that i would like to, as much as possible, avoid in the very near future… possibly never…
but yesterday saw me going into another high-end clinic in Makati, this time, for another executive check up and you can just imagine my apprehensive mutterings when i checked in and handed over my filled up form to the nurse-in-charge… was i going to be raped once again? will i go through that harrowing experience one more time? is this what executives are going through year in and year out??
as you may well suspect, i had no answer to those questions myself… so, blindly, i went through all the procedures once again…
all i can say was that the experience was totally different from my last… a dedicated nurse saw me through all that i need… she was with me the whole time that i never lacked for a companion wherever i went: she took my BP (120/70), took my height (5′9″ or 175 cms), weight (65 kilos), took my blood, checked up my eyes [20/20 still], took me to the x-ray guy, was outside the door while a male (!) doctor was doing my physical exam [side note: this time, i was only made to bend over and looked at my arse hole... never did he look at my balls to examine them... ], took me up to the 2nd floor to have my drug test [side note again: never was i made to pee in front of the guy, with the guy looking at my pee to make sure it was mine... yes, he was there while i peed, but my back was to him giving me a little privacy], and finally, she was there for my dental check up… she even escorted me until the office’s door when i was leaving a little under 2 hours later…
now, that is how a check up should be… everything should be explained before doing anything to you, as one of my commenters said… it is your body and you have the right to refuse something done to you when you don’t want it… all in all, the air in that clinic was short of festive, with free juice or coffee, with lounge chairs in abundance and one can seat anywhere, magazines everywhere [though i still preferred reading my e-book], and all sorts of ammenities short of being a hotel lounge!!
i even saw a female badminton friend [hi Annie!!] undergoing the same procedures as i was, and she and I went to lunch together at a nearby restaurant…
basically, the whole affair was very engaging, and i can imagine myself eagerly going back there everytime i would need a check up… you guys are number 1!!
Ciao, sweetie…
