Preparing for Bum Days

 

Every working day seems to be getting gloomier and gloomier. Don’t get me wrong but I’m quite sure I still exude a positive look to most people – to my colleagues, to my peers. In short I’m becoming a professional hypocrite. Ti abi. But that’s the way it should be right now. There’s no point in surrendering even if the fight seems worthless. Sooner or later I’d be a bum. But until that time comes I try to be positive. Remember: choose to be happy.

And what am I doing to prepare for these days? I make sure that I equip myself with “bum tools”. And what are these so far?

1.       Unpaid car. Nice to drive around with. Necessary to eliminate couch rashes.

2.       Books. Lots of it. I think I’d be able to read most of it while in career hibernation. I’d start to worry when I start re-reading my wife’s Archie comics.

3.       Cable TV and Internet subscription. Other than being certified bum tools, both may well be my connection to the outside world; which reminds me to check the schedule of the TV show Til Debt Do Us Part.

4.       DVDs. Got to have popcorns and beer to go along with these.

5.       Brother. Yes, a brother, a brother that can help me distribute my resume print outs while on a job hunt. It’s a Brother all in one printer. Nice tool.

6.       Rubik’s cube. I don’t know if the recent recession and attrition is the reason why this cube puzzle was revived. I’m seeing a conspiracy here.

I think I’ve got quite a stockpile already. I’m sure these could pretty well keep me occupied for days to come.

***

The Brother all-in-one printer that we got is the 150C model. Although, we’ve checked HP’s  and Canon’s model before finally purchasing it, I still consider it an impulsive buy. Hahaha. Anyway, as reckless as it appears, I think we got ourselves a good deal as I’ve been actually eyeing to have one since more than a year ago. A printer, scanner and copier in one package and at the price of nearly Php 4000 (<USD 100) is well spent. I guess.

This brand may not be as popular as Canon or HP when it comes to printers, but the features it has are competitive enough. Its interface is user friendly. And its overall case and parts appears sturdy. It actually reminds me of our Brother portable typewriter which I’ve done a good deal of torture but still remains in operation until now after more than 15 years. Hopefully this multi-printer will stay strong just like his brother (pun intended).

Scanned images and print outs appear better than expected as well. At first we got disappointed when the photo prints outs had lines in it, but then after reading the user’s manual (duh!) and following the instructions, a better print came out. I can’t say it’s perfect, but it’s like just any other photo I received from my sister who I know got a Canon photo printer and from some friends who developed their digital images thru professional developing centers. By the way, it has 4 ink cartridges (black, magenta, cyan and yellow) which makes it economical. Only the consumed color gets to be replaced. Needless to say, my resume will use up only the black one first.

Nothing is perfect though. So upon installation I saw some issues with it. The scanning software doesn’t have a preview(hopefully, I just missed it), unlike my Canon’s LiDE 20 which I find very useful as it lessens scanning time when doing small size papers such as paper bills which I used to test it. I later read in the manual that it’s illegal to scan money. Don’t worry I don’t intend to forge my 500 bill. Though I wish it will multiply just like that. Ti abi.

Lastly, I find the AC cord and USB connections weird. I expect the AC cord to be at the rear part and the USB port just somewhere visible. The port is hidden underneath the scanner bed which must be lifted in order to access and connect th cable. I’m still wondering why its designer decided to place it this way. I can’t see the reason why (I just don’t know if the other multi-printer brands are set up just like it).

 (AC Cord on lower left corner. Scanner bed is shown as lifted to access USB port)

(Red arrow pointing at USB port) 

Overall, this neat multi-printer will make the top brands a run for their money. It’s like David vs. Goliath. It’s like AMD vs. Intel…hmmm. It’s a stretch, but let’s not go there. It’s for another blog.

Part II: Ship is Sinking

Working for a multinational company which most people and its other employees consider as one of the most stable work place in the country then, I can’t help but compare it now to the Titanic. The day it was built and the very day of its maiden voyage, the Titanic was flaunted and described by its engineers and owners as the biggest and as the unsinkable. But they’d found out soon that it wasn’t meant to be. And so are we.

While I’m not about to dwell on what isn’t clear at this moment yet, I’ve been thinking  what if we are all in that gigantic ship from the moment it struck the iceberg. What type of passenger or crew will we be (in reference to the movie)?

Are we the night watch crew who trembled in fear when we realized we missed informing the bridge of the huge iceberg because we’re so busy watching Jack and Rose making out in the cold?

Are we the economy class passengers who remained clueless of what is going outside because we are located at the ships lower deck?

Are we one of the crews who readily handed out life jackets by prioritizing those in the business class and give the remainder to those in economy?

Are we the ones who surrendered our fate and preferred staying with our kids and love ones until the very end?

Are we the captain who tried to shrug off the crash like it was just a bad dream and later on decided to go down with the ship instead?

Are we the crew who in an attempt to control the passengers from stampede accidentally shot one of them and out of desperation and regret turned the gun on himself?

Are we the lucky ones who got hold of the life boats and turned a blind eye to those hopelessly trying to survive in the frigid waters?

Or are we the band that played on so as to make our very best to entertain those who might have shut their mind to the imminent reality?

In “our” part, I can’t directly relate to the above mentioned characters but if James Cameron could have had a camera zoom more on the people running around, we’d be seen just plainly walking around the ship’s deck, taking our time to enjoy the wonderful cold night sky and entering some of the food halls and ordering the most expensive food available (while wondering why the waiters seem pale). We may even be seen inside the car where Jack and Rose were before the tragedy. Hehe.

Tomorrow is D-day. But once again, Que sera sera.

 

  

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.