February 2009 – Page 2 – Marcus Can Blog

Tumbled Upon Tumblr

Not all simple things are created equal and tumblr.com is an example. This is a blog site I discovered several months back after reading it on a newspaper article. It’s one of those lazy Sundays when the moment I see a link, I immediately give it a shot.

At first I find it so simple that I was wondering what was going inside the mind of its developer when he made it. Maybe he’s trying to be among the dot.com millionaires like the people behind Facebook, YouTube or even the fading Friendster. Well, I don’t know if he made the mark but to be fair, I think he or she somehow made a good start. Of course, I already signed up.

Trying to experiment what this site brings got me into starting my own, everythingpetty.tumblr.com. I find tumblr’s dashboard very basic. It requires little experience from its users and one doesn’t even need to be good at writing since in here anything can be posted. Users may post photos, text, quotes, audio and links. Consider this as some sort of repository of drafts of wild ideas.

The large icons make it so highly recommended for bloggers with vision problems. Please tell your grandma about it.

Don’t get me wrong though. This site has some good following from a various talented people. From what I’ve seen, most people like to publish photos and drawings. I’ve seen one member post drawing blogs about his daily life in his cubicle and I was entertained and awed at the skillful depiction of the boxed working environment. I feel him.

The simplicity of tumblr is so enticing that anyone with lots of time to kill inside the cube would likely post something, anything, anytime, any day. Hmm, I think I’ll have to consider this one later in the day. Something to keep me busy during the whole 8-hour period. Hahahaha. Just kidding, IT admin guys.

***

My bad. I actually forgot all about this tumblr account but one of my recent visitor’s comment reminded me all about it. Thanks, Mariam. I already posted a new entry. Please check it out every now and then.

Visit also Mariam’s site because so far she’s got the perfect header for a recession-related blog. And incidentally, just like me, she’s also keeping track of those posting the same tags. See it for yourself.

***

Mood: 3/10 Honks!

Kids and Lyrics

Just as I have anticipated when we got married (wifey and I waits for a few more months before we become a decade-old married couple this coming June), I have eventually become an overprotective and strict father. Our 9- month old son’s presence confirmed all traits that since then I knew I would be or would like to be when fatherhood comes in.

I really don’t know if I’m doing a good job, but deep inside I feel that I’m at least meeting expectation. Wait, that last two words remind me of work. Maybe it’s because the absence of work, or at least its regular routine, that my missing the attendance tracking of my staff, conducting shiftly hud- dles, checking with my persistent upstream and downstream customers and everything else about work has made me more aware of everything about baby stuffs. Worries about work has been replaced with which nipples goes to which bottle, if milk scoops are exact to the brim, if formula ratio has been properly mixed, which baby DVD has been played already…and this is just to mention a few (trust me). Did I just mention DVD?

One of those baby things that I’ve actually been keeping tab is the baby music’s lyrics which I’ve been hearing so often again and again that the last regular “adult” LSS I can remember is the Journey’s Only the Young Can Sing. Now my ears have been attuned to Barney’s Mr. Sun and I can very well remember the video of Flying in an Airplane that I’m now beginning to think that it’s the Barney videos that are unconsciously encouraging gay- hood or lesbianism. But maybe it’s just me and besides it would require a long separate blog for that topic. By the way, don’t get me wrong and let me make these two things clear:

I love the songs but I hate the video.
I personally have nothing against members of the third sex…and Barney.

Ok now? So let me continue, but still the following maybe as thought- provoking as questions like who is capitalizing from all these recession and layoffs? Will Vietnam’s Intel factory perform just like the Philppines (pun intended)? And so many other questions currently and continuously bothering me.

Having an LSS of music for babies does seem to trouble me more than hav- ing Usher’s Trading Places lyrics play over and over again inside my head. This is because I’m now very careful with what our baby boy might be hearing and if the message it sends isn’t something that will plant harmful ideas to his innocent memory ready to break loose anytime during his ado- lescence. I don’t know if it’s paranoia on my part but I’m not taking any chances. And besides, remember the word “subliminal”? Scary, huh!

Let me start checking some of it now. Here’s the first, titled Ice cream Sun- day. Isn’t this a call to obesity? I wonder if Ronald McDonald composed this lyrics:

Ice cream Sunday it’s my number one day… Monday is not a fun day, mom makes broccoli… Thursday is the worst day, there’s liver on that dish Friday is a cry day, ‘coz then we all get fish…

How about this one, Fiddle-de-dee? This one reminds me of anything but children song. If I remember it right I saw one Body Snatchers episode in the Discovery channel about a bee or wasp planting its eggs inside a fly:

Fiddle-de-dee, Fiddle-de-dee,

The Fly has married the Bumble Bee, Says the fly, says he,

“Will you marry me?

And live with me, sweet Bumble Bee?” Fiddle-de-dee, Fiddle-de-dee,

Oh, I love you, and you love me!

How about a song that teaches our kids to stereotype? There’s probably one, it’s titled There Was a Crooked Man:

There was a crooked man, And he walked a crooked mile, He found a crooked sixpence Upon a crooked stile:

He bought a crooked cat,

Which caught a crooked mouse, And they all lived together

In a crooked little house.

How about one that suggests animal cruelty? Now I find that the famous idiom, “curiosity killed the cat” is after all missing a word before it. The complete could be, “Kid’s curiosity killed the cat.” And we parents should not wonder why in the first place, because of the song The Cat Came Back:

Old Mister Johnson had troubles of his own

He had a yellow cat which wouldn’t leave its home; He tried and he tried to give the cat away,

He gave it to a man goin’ far, far away.

But the cat came back the very next day,

The cat came back, we thought he was a goner But the cat came back; it just couldn’t stay away

Thankfully, there’s one song that would give hope to those cat lovers and this happens to be one of my favorite kiddie songs. I heard this when I was a kindergarten and 30 years after I was surprised that I can actually remember the tune. What’s more surprising was that after I googled and saw the lyrics I was able to sing it with pride in front of our baby. But, I’m still wondering if this one has some hidden message in it…like love and death? Well here’s the full lyrics of the song Senor Don Gato. You go figure.

Oh Senor Don Gato was a cat On a high red roof Don Gato sat He went there to read a letter, Meow, meow, meow

Where the reading light was better,

Meow, meow, meow

‘Twas a love note for Don Gato

I adore you wrote the lady cat

Who was fluffy, white and nice and fat There was not a sweeter kitty,

Meow, meow, meow

In the country or the city, Meow, meow, meow

And she said she’d wed Don Gato

Oh, Don Gato jumped so happily

He fell off the roof and broke his knee Broke his ribs and all his whiskers, Meow, meow, meow

And his little solar plexus, Meow, meow, meow

Ay Caramba cried Don Gato

Then the doctors all came on the run Just to see if something could be done And they held a consultation,

Meow, meow, meow

About how to save their patient, Meow, meow, meow

How to save Senor Don Gato

But in spite of everything they tried Poor Senor Don Gato up and died And it wasn’t very merry,

Meow, meow, meow Going to the cemetery, Meow, meow, meow

For the ending of Don Gato

When the funeral passed the market square Such a smell of fish was in the air

Though his burial was slated, Meow, meow, meow

He became reanimated, Meow, meow, meow

He came back to life, Don Gato

Oh by the way, if you’re wondering how on earth Don Gato sounds, you may check dizzler.com. And if you’re a bit disappointed (like I was last December) after hearing every available version, please tell me and that would be my cue to record and release my own. Hahaha.

***

Mood: 3/10 Honks!

Layoffs Around the World

Last night I was checking WordPress after wondering if there are others like me who wrote about layoffs during this recession period. After clicking my layoff tag, the answer became clear—there’s just a lot of us. Here are the URLs that I’ve visited and some excerpts of their blog. (The last two aren’t from authors who directly experienced it but still the reason I captured them is because the emotions and the message are so well written despite being brief. Please check them out.)

http://opentosuggestions.wordpress.com – Les, Oklahoma

When I pulled up to the house tonight, my wife met me at the curbside with a smile and helped me carry my 3 boxes in eco-friendly Walmart bags into the house. We’re a team in everything we do. It’s great to have her by my side. I go to bed tonight ready to meet tomorrow.

http://gotlaidoff.wordpress.com – Anonymous, San Francisco

was just laid off from Accenture, and I have to admit I felt betrayed. The emotions you go through are similar to the grieving process, except depres- sion comes first. I was determined not to dwell on it for too long, so I booked it to Vegas. Yup, good old fashioned denial was what I needed to keep my wits about the situation. When I got back, I was angry, but that got me to stage four in the grieving process- bargaining.

http://passingperiod.wordpress.com – Jacksonhmills

I’m mad that I was laid off, and I think it’s a shitty situation, but I’m not going to cry a river. In fact, I didn’t give anyone the benefit of seeing any tears. You know, except for a few people on the street, when it finally hit me.

I worked at the company for 19 months. I assumed my job was safe because I was busy. In hindsight, the work I was doing was not up to par of someone with four years’ experience copywriting

http://chipdesignart.wordpress.com – From a chip design engineer

how do i get busy, and what i do today, how do i spend my time?

Do i partition a day to cry, get depressed, eat and sleep or i schedule in a different way…

Huge transition when my outlook calendar gets overlapped to no entry in my calendar… what next??

http://sensoryreplays.wordpress.com – Rob, Middle East

four of my co-workers just got removed from our rig crew, they were sent to our base camp in dammam this morning without any advance notice and i really am not sure what the personnel department will decide for them, either they get transferred to another rig or sent straight to the house. it’s just saddening.

http://careeradventure.wordpress.com – Kristi Daeda

Everywhere you go nowadays, it seems someone has lost their job. Your brother, your cousin, your dry cleaner’s daughter… The bright side for the unemployed? The stigma of job loss is dissolving. Chances are if someone hasn’t experienced it personally, they’ve either known someone, or watched competent peers go through it in their own companies.

***

This morning after waking up from a long night sleep due to a sudden headache – probably due to reading about layoffs or the hot choco I had before dinner – I read a reply coming from Les (the first blogger):

Crisn

It’s like were all sailing along on the same ship, but it’s hairy because we’re sailing in low water. I’m finding it helpful to think of all humankind as a big family, all in this together. As far as I’ve seen in my 52 years, everything eventually works out. Most of us manage to still keep a roof over our heads and have food to put in our mouths. We at least cover the basics. We may not always get what we want, but that’s a lesson so many of us, including myself, still need to learn anyway. I hope you stay employed through these thin waters. However, If you run aground, come back here and we’ll help each other get through these hard times. Les

That’s just well said and my point exactly why I think that keeping our network open during these hard times is a good idea so we can express what we think, help other people in some ways and show that indeed no man is an island.

***

Mood: 3/10 Honks!

Kids Do Say the Darndest Things

I remember several years ago, one of the TV programs I enjoy the most is the one hosted by Bill Cosby, Kids Say the Darndest Things. Several American kids appear as guest and are all seated side by side in front of the camera with the comedian host and they are asked about their opinions on mostly adult matters. The answers are often funny and sometimes so interesting that I’d wonder how at that early age they would have had learned such things. Well, I’m hearing the kids speak once again, this time they’re thinking out loud about the recession.

This morning during our staff meeting our boss started with the usual ice breaker when he flashed through the electronic projector someone else’s doodling. Soon after the bulb warmed up, the intensity of the projection revealed a comics strip personally drawn by his daughter who was just a 3rd grader.

The strip has six frames of colorful drawings telling a short story of their family and their plans during this recession period. Surprisingly, the innocence of his small kid did not fail to capture what has been blasted on TV over and over again in the news reports since our company’s closure was delivered to all of its Philippine manufacturing plant’s employees. His kid even drew a close resemblance of the company’s logo.

Although this is my first time to see a kid’s personal expression of what is currently going on, this isn’t my first time to hear stories coming from colleagues and friends about what their young children said when they learned that their mom or dad will be out of work in the next few months.

One peer told us that when she called her parents to inform them about the retrenchment her young son grabbed the phone and blurted, ”Lola, mawawalan na ng trabaho si mommy at daddy, tulungan mo po kami ha (grandma, mommy and daddy will lose their jobs, please help us)!”

Another heard a different tone from his children, “Tehey, lagi na kaming makakapaglaro kay daddy (We will be able to play a lot with daddy now)!” This joyful welcome of the bad news must have been the most common I’ve heard from other co-employees’ stories. And I can’t blame their kids, really.

Intel’s working environment is so competitive that raising the bar to be at par if not exceed the level of performance (and indicators) of the rest of Intel plants worldwide requires each of its employees to be at their best almost all the time. And to be able to meet that expectation, every employee is at least expected to be at work and leave work on schedule. During the busy years, rendering overtime was often a must. Unfortunately, this is when someone at every employee’s home is deprioritized or worse, ignored – kids. Some will say wives, but that’s a different story.

Therefore it’s really not that impossible if during this recession and global financial crisis, while every parent is worrying about almost everything, there will be innocent kids smiling and rejoicing that sooner or later this year they’ll be one happy family again with their jobless mom or dad just around them ready for 24X7 playtimes.

***

Mood: 3/10 Honks!

Review: Free Blog Providers

One of my goals this year, other than driving better than the last year, is to monetize my blog. To achieve that, I realized that getting more traffic or subscribers to my site should be on top of the to-do list. It’s a no-brainer that no one pays for a deserted blog site.

Of course, traffic doesn’t come that easy. Some finger-tapping, networking and a lot of thinking on how to improve the content of the blog site are just some factors that will dictate if who and how many get to be attracted to check the blog out. And after all the countless moments composing posts that at times seem to even interfere with my daily driving, I learned that more factors still have to be considered. Among these are the services from free blog providers.

Free blog providers are to bloggers as point-and-shoot cameras are to photographers. Simply put, both the free blog provider and the point-and-shoot camera are tools that offer beginners of each field the opportunity to experiment and learn the ins and outs of the process. And since I’m still trying to get rid of the urge to dig deeper into the world of photography, I decided that it would be best if I stick to my trusty keyboard, alcohol-enchanced thinking, and try reviewing other free blog providers to see which one fits for me to achieve getting payments thru PayPal once I pursue monetizing my blog.

I first got this idea when I revisited my often-ignored multiply.com account. While checking it out some time in December, I saw that cross-posting blogs is allowed. I learned that multiply blog allows feed from different blog providers which I really find convenient if I want to stay updated with both blogs and photos coming from my contacts without having to leave the multiply network. And these providers are what I have actually reviewed since the start of this year.

Note: I rated these free blog providers by comparing it to WordPress, my current provider. Likewise, I did my best (just within my kill-time periods) to test these blog sites and I’d appreciate comments if I did the right review or not.

***

Yahoo 360!

Basics:

Appearance. Not so catchy. If you love text this is your dream site, but if you’re a graphics guy forget getting serious with this service.

Dashboard. WordPress need not worry. This service will need more bright minds to even match half of WordPress’ features.

New post. Fair.

Image uploading. Remember, text yes, graphics no — that is, there’s no point loading images here. Though I wonder if I missed the feature that would enable it to load directly from flickr.com.

Categories. Yahoo! does not categorize post. It only has Tags.

Tags. Yes.

Widget. Get WordPress. Period.

Ads. No. period.

Others: Poll. No.

Blogroll. Yes.

URL easy to remember? No.

Members. There could be a lot mainly due to its connection with Yahoo! but I haven’t seen any serious blogger here.

Recommendation: Does saying “Go get WordPress” deliver the message?

***

Blogger Basics

Appearance. I find this somewhere near WordPress’ depending on the capability of the user to design his own theme. However, if the available themes are to be selected and applied to blogs, I’d be very biased to word- press’ appearance.

Dashboard. Blogger is affiliated to Google but it appears that they copied dashboard features from Yahoo!

New post. Fair enough.

Image uploading. 1 GB maximum space. Can be done thru direct uploading or by linking to a URL.

Categories. No categories, only tags.

Widget. I’ve read that there are available widgets, but I find it hard to use it on mine.

Ads. If there’s one thing that will make me leave WordPress, this is it. Blogger.com allows one blogger to get paid thru Adsense.

Others:

Blogroll. Yes, it is available. Your contacts will love you for this.

URL easy to remember? Yes. Just the same with WordPress, except for the domain (duh!).

Members. There’s a lot of good bloggers here.

Recommendation: If you want to monetize your blog then this is the place to be. And if you can come up with better themes than the available ones, then WordPress might be a thing of the past.

***

WordPress Basics

Appearance. There’s a lot of great themes to choose from and most of it appears quite cool enough. Graphic-illiterate bloggers like me need not worry about having a boring blog site as there’s almost one theme that will match everyone’s taste.

Dashboard. Constantly getting better than the previous one.

New post. With the dashboard improving, posting a new blog has gotten easier every time (Although, I publish drafts and post thru MS Word 2007′s publish blog feature).

Image uploading. 3 GB maximum space. Images may be uploaded directly, by using a URL or by getting it thru the media library.

Categories. The parent category feature made blogging more organized. WordPress also has a converter from categories to tags and vice-versa.

Widget. Lots of cool widgets available.

Ads. Unfortunately, no. WordPress doesn’t allow its members to get paid.

Others:

Poll. Yes, thru polldaddy.com. I find this a very cool feature.

Blogroll. Yes.

URL easy to remember? Yes.

Members. Most of its members are prolific bloggers. And there was once a WordPress group for Filipinos. Unfortunately, it went out of service for reasons that I still don’t know.

Recommendation: I’m biased, but I think most will agree that this is among the best if not the only best free blog provider. Sign up to word- press if you don’t care about being paid at all.

***

Windows Live Space Basics

Appearance. Yahoo! people can smile now. This is the least of my fa- vorites.

Dashboard. The appearance is a reflection of the dashboard. Need I say more?

New post. Fair.

Image uploading. Direct uploading only. I even cannot edit the image once I have my blog posted (I could be wrong, though).

Categories. Yes.

Tags. No? Widget. No. Ads. No.

Others:

URL easy to remember? I have so much hate with this blog provider and one reason for that is because I can’t even remember my own URL after I’ve subscribed and posted my first blog.

Members. Most likely many, but that’s because each one is probably sign- ing up for a new blog name after forgetting what their first URL was.

Recommendation: Good for spammers and bloggers with multiple personality.

***

LiveJournal Basics

Appearance and Dashboard. A bit closer to WordPress.

New post. Fair. There’s also a feature to insert mood options right below the blog. Hopefully, they can come up with a honk-mood rating just like I use in my blogs.

Image uploading. This one has the most options. It can upload image directly or coming from a URL, scrapbook or photobucket.

Categories. No.

Tags. Yes. Ads. No. Others:

URL easy to remember? Yes.

Members. There’s also a lot.

Recommendation: As the name implies, most of the users here post articles in a manner like most journals are written. And upon browsing/lurking thru most of the post, I saw that this is the site if you want to let lose some rants and hot air. Paging all bosses, you might find your names here right after you have delivered some tough messages. Hahaha.

***

Mood: 3/10 Honks!