The Chain Game

I’ve always talked about the benefits we’ve been getting with the continuous improvement of how we communicate with one another through the Internet and computers. Everything from the basic things we’ve done before has its own evolution nowadays.Each though has its own pros and cons. And with the split second rate of how we get in contact with each other, the exchange of information gets quickly across the globe and more often than not it gets immediate reactions. To the gullible it is a life changing moment.

Today I’m talking about the pesky chain letters. Just like an everlasting terrorist threat, this one affects everyone. No one is free from it. It is on how you deal with it that makes the difference.

I really don’t know the exact reason behind these mails - why it was created by the originator in the first place. It could have been sent in good faith and purpose. That is to inspire, motivate or spread good news. Or it could have been created just as plain pranks. The latter might be more true with the advent of prank reality shows such as Punk’d and Jackass.

Anyway, this hasn’t stopped. Until now I still get it regularly in my inbox and most of it was neither from susiexxx@horny.com nor from pass2survive@faithinme.net but majority are from my friends whom I knew very well. And it always surprises me every time when one who has been sending me pornographic pictures would later on send me an email requesting me to pass on to every contacts a slide show with the Immaculate Concepcion’s picture on it just because some celebrity died after ignoring it. Ti abi. I believe in change and conversion, but believe me this one is not about it.

The reasons behind this instantaneous forwarding – pass this to 5 people in 30 seconds and you’ll see your life change – in my opinion may be the following:
• Very shallow faith. Ever wondered if some one from the heavens did actually track if you send the religious email to everyone?
• Lack of logic. Who in his right mind from Microsoft or Intel will give you $10000 cash or the latest computer just by forwarding an email.
• Getting even. “Damn, I got scared with that. Might as well send it to others”.
• 10GPBS office internet connection. Kung sabagay, why not. Very naughty.

I’m not a quick “deleter”. I normally read emails especially if it does come from the persons I know. I’m not even saying that all chain letters are bad. Most of it actually makes sense. So what I always do is to read the mail and if I think it is good enough, I “share” it to my friends but without the part that I know might get someone anxious (or worse, scared) knowing that he’s been asked by someone from the high heavens to pass it to others or get ran over by a truck on his next trip to work. OR that perhaps a CEO from Nokia is shaking his head for a recipient’s stupidity of passing off a good deal by ignoring the request to forward the enticing free N90 email to friends.

Wait. I got an email from Paris Hilton…Hey, that’s an indecent proposal but it just needs me to forward to 3 friends in 10 seconds.

“Dear Mo, Mojo and Andi, please forward this to picture and you’ll get the time of your life…..”

My Blog Machine 2.0

“Every new beginning comes from other beginning’s end…” (Closing Time by Semisonic).

Finally, my old Blog Machine has to go. The 5+ year old Pentium III 800 MHz PC had to end his throne in our bedroom and give way to what I’d call my Blog Machine 2.0 powered with one of the latest Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13 GHz PC.

The old machine had been a part of our life since it was given to us for free. During its early days it has opened our eyes to the wonderful world of the Internet. It has helped us appreciate the then famous (or infamous) Napster. Despite enduring the dragging speed of dial-up connection, I had endured over the night downloading of what I’ve known before as just free music (It’s now technically known as piracy). I still can recall one person begging me to keep my connection open just to download Midge Ure’s Dear God - which happens to be one of my most coveted songs even until know (hint: 80’s fan).

Of course the old Intel machine introduced me likewise to one of the wonders of Web 2.0 – web blogging or just blog. Since I’ve got this frustration of being a writer, I finally found one medium to share my thoughts and practice my writing skills, if I may call it (or worse, if I actually got it). It was in this machine, where I drafted and published my first blog.

As everything will come to an end, the old guy was laid to rest. Some of its parts were taken out (i.e. cannibalized) for the new guy. Some were given away, to maybe meet other old PC’s that hopefully start other people to learn the basics and be awed by the World Wide Web. If there’s a PC heaven, I know his soul will be there.

For the new guy, he still has got a lot to prove. It’s been with us for just 2 days but so far the promises of an Intel Dual Core processor haven’t failed and continue to amaze me with its power. I’ve already made it to download applications from the Internet, rip music and capture videos from our Sony handycam. All of which were done simultaneously (multitasked). The result was just great. No glitch. Just pure performance. Yet. If only writing skills improve together with the upgrade of a PC.

Oh, before I forget. I’m now playing a new game in this PC. It’s the modern, action packed, adrenaline pumping, graphics-unforgiving game of….Spider Solitaire. LOL. I’m growing old. Ti abi.

Internet for Oldies

This year’s Christmas vacation, we’re introducing (if not intimidating) our parents to the modern world of computers. It has been a week already and most of it were spent on buying a new pc, setting it up for internet use and an almost never ending tutorial for our mother on how it will be used to connect to the internet.

I can still remember that more than a couple of years ago, my wife and I gave my mother a cellphone for her to join the SMS generation. I can still picture her laughing out loud upon discovering that she had just sent a text message to herself. Luckily after some patient sessions with my wife (with the unnecessary texting even when they are a couple of feet apart) she learned the basics slowly and was able to send us messages while we are at the airport on our way back by the end of our holiday vacation.

Now is her time to transition to the more complex world wide web.

Fortunately with some organizational and training skills I acquired from work, I got to somehow manage and make the sessions less stressful by labeling almost every wires on the back panel, capturing actual hardware pictures and screenshots. All of which were then transferred to a Word document as a training material, printed and had it available for her to refer from it while doing the start-up from the very beginning - from plugging the AC cord, powering up the UPS, powering the CPU, logging into Windows XP and then connecting to the internet via dial up.

And it doesn’t stop there yet. Once connected, more questions poured in. “What is an icon? What’s a double click? Why double click on some and single click on the others? What’s a domain? Why’s there an @ character? What’s a shortcut? Why’s the Window’s Start button got the Turn Off computer option? Why did the message turned to Read (status) when she hasn’t even finished reading it?”. And these, are just a few of the long list of “WH” and “How” questions that I never knew would come.

Despite all that, I think my patience is paying off. She’s already sent a couple of emails to my sister abroad and some to a family friend. She’s already started surfing the web and had already filed some of her Favorites which she checked a couple of times if it is still there. Just to make sure, I guess. I think my “relocating building” analogy is a bad one.

Though seeing the progress happening, today I checked some books in our local bookstore expecting to see some computer self-help book applicable for people like my mother. Well I saw Basic C++, How to Upgrade your PC, Do-It-Yourself: Fixing a PC and other books with Fundamentals written on it which when I opened contained a lot of computer jargons that would only reassure me that the new PC at home will never be opened again once we leave home back to work.

I come near a book from local authors “Internet Fundamentals” but lacked the basics on the PC’s operation. If I would have expanded my self-authored material, I could have made some bucks out of it. It’s so frustrating, but so far I haven’t seen a book with a direct approach to Internet for Oldies. Hopefully, I’ll chance upon on it at Powerbooks once I get back to Manila.

I’ve got few more days here in Bacolod. Tomorrow I’ll be teaching my father. Fingers crossed.

My Blog Machine is Up!

Other than not having time to compose (properly or not) my blogs, my Blog Machine bogged down due to a defective UPS. This is what I’m now calling my HP VL400 Desktop which runs on Intel Pentium III 800Mhz, 128MB SDRAM 133Mhz bus speed. More than 5 years ago, this could have put me on the bragging rights level if you compare it to other computers of its time.

Sadly though, technology is cruel. This week your fast, the next couple of weeks your slower than slow. In this world of F1-like “Giga” CPUs, mine is that one car that would have retired sooner even before the other cars have settled in their pole positions prior to the race start.

But fear not! The Blog machine is at least still good for word processing, which is all I need to do my blogs. And btw, it is still good for the adrenalin pumping, heart stopping, mind boggling game of…Solitaire! At least I’ve got something to do while waiting for the next blog page to load – i.e on my 56Kbps internet connection (actually, it has never or rarely reached that speed! Sucker!). ti abi!