New design for Cotabato Exchange

Few days ago, I decided to change my cotabato exchange's layout into a simple yet appealing design. Since I am not that artistic when it comes to web designing, I downloaded from Styleshout a CSS template which i really think would fit to what i'm looking for. Simple yet appealing!

Here's the previous design of cotabato exchange.


For the info of readers, this project is basically cotabato's directory of offices, establishments and etc. Visitors are also allowed to register here to post for products they want to buy or sell..yah on-line trading. Being a Cotabato cititzen, i am also interested to have an on-line trading site like davaoexchange,gensanexchange that's why i made this site..

comments on cotabato exchange is welcome.

Opening Office 2007 files: On-line

Late this afternoon I was asked to print a document of one of our team leaders which will be use tomorrow. I was bit surprised that it was saved in office 2007. Since almost all of our units were installed with office 2003 and i know it's quite bothering situation for non-techie person. Actually, the first option for opening these files is installing FileConverter or Compatibility pack from Microsoft.

Being a Google fanatic, i decided first to upload it to Goole docs so that i can easily copy the content and have it paste to my MsWord 2003. Unfortunately Google docs does not allow .docx extension or files saved in office 2007.

So here's what i did, of course i Google with this keyword "online docx opener". As expected, you will have a lot of result and basically as Google searcher you will choose the first or second entry or in general the first few entries in first page of the result.

I chose this entry because of its tag "free docx opener". According to the site, you can use Thinkfree or Zoho to open Docx, Xlsx, Pptx, Ppsx files or saved in office 2007 version.

From the two, i preferred to use Zoho because of its GUI (grapics user interface), very user friendly and it really looks like a desktop word processor. Much user friendly than Google docs actually. =)
On the other hand, ThinkFree is also useful because upon uploading your file, you can immediately view and have it printed.


Think of it like an on-line PDF format but the option on copying the text in original version/format is very different. Based on my experience when i pasted it in word processor, it paste a series of character without even a space on it. Another thing, i once tried to edit a document file but it asks me first to verify a java application on my desktop. When i first saw the window, i felt like that application will be somehow slower compare to Zoho writer. That's make decide not to use ThinkFree.com (really sorry guys..)

So here's my recommendation, install a fileconverter/compatibility pack from Microsoft if you are frequently opening files from office 2007 to 2003. But if you have at least 376Kbps internet connection like mine, you can use webbased document processor like Zoho writer or Google docs.Somehow you will find that using webbased applications like Zoho or Google docs quite convenient.

Reminder: Google is not yet allowing office 2007 files.

Power outage in Cotabato : Time to buy a UPS

Last week until today, Cotabato City has experienced intermittent supply of electricity. As reported, the cause of brown out was bombed power lines in Kabacan, North Cotabato.

I am saddened by the news with the incident and afraid that another transmission line will be bombed again. As of today, we have experienced at least three brown outs. Fixing of the transmission lines is on-going so we would still experience some brown outs here in the city.

By tomorrow I am hoping that we won’t experience regular brown outs because my computer at home might be damaged since I am not using an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). Right now, I’m surfing the net to look for UPS that’s reliable enough for my PC and unfortunately I didn’t found anything at eBay.

We all know that electronic equipments or devices might be damaged by regular brown outs like we are experiencing right now. Here are some problems I’ve got from Wikipedia that we might have to our devices during brown outs.

---

1. Power failure — Total loss of utility power, with possibility of severe transient conditions upon failure and/or restoration: Causes electrical equipment to stop working (transients may cause permanent damage).
2. Voltage sag — Transient (short term) under-voltage: Causes flickering of lights.
3. Voltage spike — Transient (short term) over-voltage i.e. spike or peak: Causes wear or acute damage to electronic equipment.
4. Under-voltage (brownout) — Low line voltage for an extended period of time: Causes overheating in motors.
5. Over-voltage — Increased voltage for an extended period of time: Causes light bulbs to burnout.
6. Line noise — Distortions superimposed on the power waveform: Causes electromagnetic interference.
7. Frequency variation — Deviation from the nominal frequency (50 or 60 Hz): Causes motors to increase or decrease speed and line-driven clocks and timing devices to gain or lose time.
8. Switching transient — Instantaneous undervoltage (notch) in the range of milliseconds to seconds: May cause erratic behavior in some equipment, memory loss, data error, data loss and component stress.
9. Harmonic distortion — Multiples of power frequency superimposed on the power waveform: Causes excess heating in wiring and fuses.

So, I am suggesting that always use UPS to any of your electronic devices for your own benefits. In fact, the cost for repair of your devices maybe higher than the cost of a regular UPS =). Hope I’ll have my UPS too ASAP!!

Thumb sucking vs. Pacifier

Upon reading an article about Thumb sucking vs Pacifier i realized that my baby Izian is both thumb/fingers and pacifier sucker.

According to the article there are some good and bad effects about this habit.

The good thing about pacifier is, we are able to calm Izian every time he had his tantrum.

Izian was thumb/finger sucking only until he was 3 months old.

Now, my son is most of the time enjoying his pacifier and less on his thumb/finger. For me, I choose Pacifier because as I can see, he likes it more than his finger. As simple as that.

Lando - Gloc 9 & Francis M.

Got so touched by the performance of Gloc 9, Andrew and the rest of the band on Eat Bulaga's Francis M tribute edition. Been listening to some Francis M. stuff i have on my PC then decided to watch some videos from YouTube. Here's the video.



From this tribute performance, i would say that I was carried away with Gloc 9. I really felt so attached with the lost of Francis M.

Who's Francis M into my life anyway? Well, since i was a kid, i already grow up with his songs and taste of music. It started when i was still in grade school, the time when New wave hits are still in the air until i got into high school when rap metal started. I remember in some episode in his MTV show "Life's a beach" he would request their staff to play some Rage Against the Machine as their background. Then i thought of it as new type of rap music although Francis M has been collaborating with E-heads before and i didn't expect that new rap-metal artist like Slapshock, Cheese, Kamikazee and some others would evolved.

Francis M's music has been my influenced and until now. Some of his advocacies in life are laid down to his lyrics and that's one of the reasons i'm really a fan of him.

TO Francis M,

RIP. See you when i get there..

one of your biggest fan, ianemv

Schedule for blood donation---goodbye Francis M.

My schedule for blood donation was last August 2008 but I happened to skip since i've been so busy. It was also the month when my son Izian came to this world (August 18,2008).

If i get lucky to schedule for donation this month or next month then I will be donating again. Anyway, here are some quoted benefits from healthmad.

"Blood donation removes some of the excess iron which can cause free radical formation in the body. In fact, studies have shown that men who donate blood on a regular basis have a lower risk of heart disease. With heart disease being the number one cause of death in males, this is, indeed, an important health benefit of donating blood."

My very first donation was on college days and to be honest it wasn't the benefits that i really cared for. I don't know what really comes into my mind that i was encouraged to donate that time. All i remember is that they offer a lot of food and drinks hehe..

I was wishing that i got an opportunity to donate blood to the late Francis M. (well i'm "B" while F.M. is "O" hehe..shows that i really can't) who just passed away 12:20PM today. We really gonna miss you. With this, i encourage some folks to share some blood.

None other than NAN HW 2

Amazing milk caught my wife's attention.

March 4, 2009, I bought formula milk for my 6 months old son. Nothing's unusual with regards to the milk, same container and well-sealed. Since we still have a spare of milk left we did not open it immediately.

The following day March 5, my wife opened the sealed milk and to her surprise it was not the same content as we always have purchased. Seems like we've been tricked here, some un-Quality controlled system had happened or the container was just heavier compare to others.

I just hope that we won’t have the same next time we buy. There’s no formula in choosing the right item to know if it contains what it should be. All I can say is that, “pag minamalas ka nga naman” huhu..

Wordpress 2.7.1

I just introduced myself to Wordpress 2.7.0 yesterday and so far so good.

Still have to read about its extensions such as templates and plugins. I'm interested to learn how to create templates and plugins on this system. I've known WordPress way back 2007 but i haven't got the chance to learn how to use it. Yah i know it's so easy and I just realized it yesterday. Also, i found it exciting to use.

Really have to go before the rain falls.

Let me do the dishes

It's now march 2009 and the gap with the last post i have here is almost 5 months. Honestly, i admit that im not really a regular blogger that almost post everyday.

The last post i have was Loving Ajax which i really did because i even studied ExtJS for a month and learned a lot before the year 2009 starts. Anyway, what actually brought me again here was share what i really do when i got home from my day time job.

Here's my some kinda short story about me. Upon getting home I have to well greet my wife, say hello to my 6 months old baby boy and of course change my clothes. Immediately after some few chit chat with my wife and sharing my work the whole day I have to prepare our dinner and everything. Of course after eating I really have to smoke a little(that's one stick of Marlboro) and it's not good for babies, i know, that's why i smoke outside of the house . After getting done with the stick i have to...Yah right "do the dishes!". Though not that regular but most of the time i really do. Like right now, i still haven't washed the dishes because i decided to surf the net and i was reminded by my wife to do the dishes that's why i have this post. What really enjoy me washing dishes is removing some tallow using our Joy dishwashing liquid. I have been using Joy since i was still in college because of its great results in washing.

Anyway, I'm really getting somewhere here and i don't mean to sound like promoting dishwashing liquid hehe.. Actually I'm still on the process finalizing my personal web project which is Cotabato Exchange and hopefully launch it sooner. The site is of course developed using CakePHP framework with Scriptaculous and Prototype javascript frameworks. It's hosted on a freehosting site that i found in Google. Site's main purpose is an on-line directory for Cotabato City. Although i just add-on the on-line trading and forum that's why i extended my target day of launching it publicly to my friends and other contacts.

And, i really have to wash the dish. (lol)