Marcus Can Blog

Why I Now Care More About Plagiarism

What a surprising way to welcome myself back to the online world after my self-imposed (trying to still be a good Catholic somehow) 3-day internet hiatus. As I slowly back-read tweets I began to see the a pattern of striking news from several tweeps I follow—tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan has offered to retire as ADMU’s chairman of the board of trustees after someone exposed his recent speech to the school’s graduates as having been copied from celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Conan O’Brien and J. K. Rowling. In short MVP was guilty of plagiarism. So what really is plagiarism?

Basically, plagiarism is a word commonly defined as copying someone else’s literary work and trying to pass it off as one’s own. Literary works among other things like movies, technical drawings and music become copyrighted as soon as its original author makes it; which means that the author assumes immediate ownership and thus when his writings (or any other work) are plagiarized by another person, makes the act alone technically, a form of stealing. The topic of plagiarism has been actually a topic of discussion and argument among authors and scholars for a very long time, and as a matter of fact, according to Answers.com plagiarism dates back from the 17th century. The site’s definition states that the word plagiarism has its roots from the Greek word plagion which means to ‘kidnap.’ Furthermore, Plagiarism.org has a list of things that constitutes plagiarism. Here are some of them:

“Changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit.” This may occur when someone paraphrases, or reword, a thought but still ending up with almost the same as what the original document contains. This is either a product of poor reconstruction OR a purposeful intent to deceive its readers.

“Copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not.” This instance would normally arise if one comes to a point when he wrongly decides to get as much facts as he can in order to support an argument, an analysis or a conclusion.

“Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks.” Many of today’s technology applications probably make everyone guilty of this no matter how well the intent. Case in point, one can easily find in social networking sites, such as Facebook, sharing of inspiring stories or quotes which without the mere quotation marks (and worse, the quote’s author) may make someone who is not aware of the quote think that it actually is his/her friend’s own thought. There’s also Twitter (and SMS) where limits in the allowable characters makes it easy for one to plagiarize.

So is plagiarism bad? Yes. But like any other wrongdoing, it would be ethical to listen and know why someone did it in the first place. Again, Plagiarism.org sums up two general reasons why the act.

Intentional

According to plagiarism.org, those considered to be intentional are reasons like ”everyone’s doing it”—so why can’t I? ”But there words are better”—and why the need to waste time thinking about when in fact there’s already one that has been done by one who’s an expert. And there’s of course, the need to ”make the grade” which may be arise from cramming after realizing that schedules cannot be met.

Unintentional

There are of course who despite their best effort to avoid plagiarism still fall to the trap of making the mistake of plagiarizing someone else’s work.

And also listed on Plagiarism.org are the following reasons students plagiarize:

There is “citation confusion.” According to this site, this is perhaps the most common reason students are caught plagiarizing. The question now is, “How should one make a citation?” Wikipedia.org has the answer. It says, ”While you should try to write citations correctly, what matters is that you add your source—provide enough information to identify the source, and others will improve the formatting if needed.” This simply implies that there is really no rule on how to cite a source as long as what is written to acknowledge it is correct and updated. Such rule may prove useful if a document or presentation will be for an informal setting (or if one is just preparing a draft) or if one is citing an online source as copying exactly the URL (or link) may be enough. Of course such isn’t always the case. Wikipedia.org explains further, ”Each article should use the same citation method throughout. If an article already has citations, adopt the method in use or seek consensus before changing it.” These statements refer to formal research, like in the Academe, where appropriate formats of citation are to be observed. Examples of recognized formats are the APA style, MLA style and The Chicago Manual of Style. For students and some individuals picking the choice of which citation format should be followed is just as confusing as the research itself. But at the end of the day, what counts the most is whether he recognized and acknowledged where he got his reference and giving credit to whom credit is due is very important to avoid or repeat such mistake.

Belief that “facts shouldn’t be quoted.” The availability of the internet and the thinking that what is being presented is common knowledge is one of the reasons many think that it is not necessary to cite what they have extracted. In order to avoid plagiarizing, the website suggests a short yet foolproof tip, ”when in doubt, cite sources.”

The existence of “cultural relativism.” It is quite noteworthy that not every culture actually recognizes the need to acknowledge literary works. It is not therefore surprising if expat students who come from different cultural backgrounds commit plagiarism as their awareness to giving credit to literary works may be different compared with the other local students.

Interestingly another site, Irving Hexham’s Homepage discusses specifically about Academic Plagiarism and defines it as ”the deliberate attempt to deceive the reader through the appropriation and representation as one’s own the work and words of others. Academic plagiarism occurs when a writer repeatedly uses more than four words from a printed source without the use of quotation marks and a precise reference to the original source in a work presented as the author’s own research and scholarship. Continuous paraphrasing without serious interaction with another person’s views, by way or argument or the addition of new material and insights is a form of plagiarism in academic work.”

“Deliberate attempt.” These two words from Irving Hexham’s definition is probably the best summary on how to identify whether one is really guilty of plagiarism or not. This definition complements the “unintentional” classification of plagiarism according to plagiarism.org.

After knowing why someone might commit plagiarism despite the best of intentions, the question that lingers is: How can we avoid plagiarism?

Personally, here are my 2 cents:

Follow the ”when in doubt, cite the sources” rule.
Check and re-check research paper if it follows proper citation.
Consult an expert or someone more knowledgeable, if needed.
Be more aware about how others expect their works to be cited.
If possible, as permission directly from the original owner of the material.
Understand Fair Use.
Make use of CC or CreativeCommons.org.

Now, after this lengthy blog, you readers might wonder why I waste precious Easter Sunday time explaining what plagiarism is all about. That’s because just months ago I was into this same embarrassing situation of being accused as plagiarizing a school paper. It was one unbelievable experience because for years after I presented my college thesis–and more especially when I started blogging–I always make sure that I never copy anyone’s work without proper citation. Unfortunately, due to technicalities of this complex subject matter, my stock knowledge of it eventually caught up on me. Since then, I learned from the hard lesson and became more sensitive of how to properly attribute back someone else’s work than before.

***

Mood: 2/10 Honks (F1 Sepang about to start)

What Unites Us Filipinos

That controversial podcast is SO wrong. There are more things that
unites the majority of us Filipinos. And they are:

EDSA 1
Manny Pacquiao’s fights
Cory’s burial
Typhoon Ondoy
It’s Showtime
Adam Carolla, Chip Tsao etc.

Agree or disagree?
***
Mood: 1/10 Honks! (Yakisoba time!)

Run Barefoot, Anyone?

I’m taking a break from a whole day of typing in my desperate (yet educational) dash to finish a research paper which is due for presentation this Thursday. So while checking my Twitter for updates, I stumbled upon this @TIME ‘s post: “Is running barefoot better for you?”

Out of curiosity if I’ll see the same post that was about how the Africans can run effectively and fast without any footwear, the one I saw was different but just as interesting. It is barefoot alright, but technically it’s not.

I don’t know when this Five-Finger will become a trend and make the current Nike shoes obsolete and cheap (to my delight), but right now I have mixed feelings about it. One part of me is excited to see it upfront while another part of me doubts that this is just another marketing ploy. It is just one of those things like when they’d like to sell green tea, they say that coffee is bad; when they’d like to sell a new coffee bean brand, they’d say that drinking coffee is good for one’s health. Well, make up your mind folks.

Anyway, my rant is a hopeless rant. It has worked time and again, despite having a poor product, businesses usually become better than ever. And so I know that this Vibram FiveFingers shoe will also pick up soon. It’s just all about good marketing and identifying gullible consumers who will get hooked to it like persistent leeches.

***

Mood: 3/10 Honks! (Last stretch of my research paper and I’ll be running the treadmill soon…using my Nike shoes. Not barefoot. Yet)

RockEd’s DJ Joint Session

Is it possible for a radio show intended to basically talk about nothing to end up being interesting? And more so, is it possible to cram six or more DJ’s coming from different stations in one booth at the same time? The answer is a big yes.

The show was conceptualized by one of the tweeps I follow, @gangbadoy, who herself is a DJ from NU107. Gang is one the most active tweeps who became one of the most recognizable aliases on Twitter during the typhoon Ondoy days. Since then, I’ve seen her become outspoken in politics and more especially after the infamous Ampatuan massacre in Maguindano (although I don’t necessarily agree with some of her opinions). The ruthless killing which included a number of press people became the inspiration for this year’s Rock The Riles (RTR) which also happens to be one of the projects by this very passionate DJ.

I don’t know when RTR actually started, but I was awed by the idea of holding a rock concert in different MRT stations and to think it got an approval considering the schedule was set during the peak hour of its operation. What made it even better and appropriate to this year’s theme of demanding for justice for those press people slain in the massacre is that @gangbadoy was able to get support from DJ’s from other radio stations to host in separate train stations. This I assume was when another light bulb moment came to Gang’s mind: get all those DJ’s who participated to have a joint session at NU107′s booth with an interesting agenda – talk about nothing.

Today is that day and I was so anxious of getting out of class, not that I hate it, just so I can fill my curiosity of what it’s like to have one radio show with different DJ’s at one time. Well, luck must be on my side, when 30 minutes before my alarm sets off to listen to the said show our professor concluded our session ahead of schedule.

I soon heard while starting to drive back home that RockEd’s joint session is indeed all-star cast. As I manage my way out of EDSA’s traffic coming from Rockwell, voices of personalities like Gang, CJ (89.9), Suzie (89.9), Jiggy Cruz (nephew of Noynoy), and KC Montero (MTV) fills void in the car. To my surprise and delight, I also heard the voice of the very opinionated and talkative DJ Mo Twister of the Good Times Show (89.9) fame. Mo expectedly dominated the discussions and was as articulate as if he was in his own 6-9 morning show. Just as planned the show was indeed all about nothing—i.e., anything goes. The topics ranged from the genitals, DJ’s vs. DJ’s confrontations, product endorsement wishlist, presidential candidate choices, ABS-CBN vs. GMA7, failed celebrity interviews and so on and so forth. It’s a shame I got home early and had to get out of the car with the show’s remaining 30 minutes. I’d say this is the most awesome radio show I’ve listened to, and I really wish for an encore. Good job Gang and team.

***

Mood: 2/10 Honks (One of those times I’d wish I got stuck in traffic.)

Cool Twitter tools

Even before I can catch up with what I’ve read from Janette Toral’s book, Blogging from Home, which I bought a couple of weeks ago, comes more info from her Twitter account (@digitalfilipino). This time, at least, I got “fresh” updates and was able to immediately try both of it. Janette Toral shared the following cool Twitter tools that tracks (or stalk?) a user’s Twitter activity.

Here’s one coming from http://www.twitteranalyzer.com which perfectly reflects the surge of my Twitter activity at the height of typhoon Ondoy. I was among those who felt hopeless and guilty about not being able to help the typhoon victims as news about them appear on TV and on Twitter-verse. For those stuck at home, like me who is lucky not to be affected by the flood, the only contribution is to spread via re-tweets (RT) the information coming from those on the field like media men, public officials, and celebrities whose network of tweeps help spread the critical info, updates and pleas for help. Re-twitting somehow lessened the guilt. Twitteranalyzer also shows indicators like who mentioned your tweets, who’s tweet you have RTed the most, trending topics, etc.

This next one is by http://www.tweepsinfo.com. It’s a little bit simpler than twitteranalyzer but shows informative data as well. What I find amusing though is that it indicates how social a user is. It say’s I’m 60% social. Hmm. What does it take to be 100%? Let’s see in the next days to come. Twitter, here I come.

***

Mood: 3/10 Honks! (Sun was up, food was great, had a couple of beers and the whole time I was with my family – that to me is what Sundays should be.)

An open letter to all car manufacturers

Dear car manufacturers,

Greetings from the Philippines! I’m one of those drivers whose daily commute has either brought me more wrinkles on my forehead (plus the accompanying white hairs) or, luckily, brilliant ideas about how I could help you decide on what to do for your next car models. I’m presenting here a list of those modifications that best fit the Filipinos’ driving styles and the country’s road conditions. Here are the parts that you should take out of the 2010 models as we really don’t find any use for each one:

Seat belts. We hate it. It restricts our movement and wrinkles our well-pressed working clothes. It also has this annoying vibrating sound whenever we pass by bumpy roads. Moreover, we use it only when we reach the toll gates or if we are apprehended by our professional policemen.

Side mirrors. The only people who find this useful are those outside our cars. It’s either they pick their noses when they pass by it or they pry it out for good just to be sold elsewhere and to unsuspecting buyers who may even be its original owner in the first place.

Rearview mirror. We drivers don’t care glancing at it every now and then when driving although our wives and kids love using it as a vanity mirror. (Well, in this case, retain it, but make it longer and wider so that my wife doesn’t have to lift her chin at a level where everyone outside will see her nose hairs.)

Turn lever and signal lights. This will result to a huge saving in cost and a significant weight reduction once pulled out. We change lanes here without even caring to switch it on accordingly. And while you’re at it, please take out the brake lights in the process. We don’t give a damn if its bulb is busted or not anyway. Lastly, do not forget to include the reverse lamp. At least, your designers will now have one less problem with the car’s rear part.

Speedometer. Other than being distracted by that illuminated needle or digital display, we don’t read it and if ever, we don’t understand it. Take it from our jeepney and bus drivers, they work every day and none of them ever look at it. Now, that’s one less dashboard instrument. Nice, right?

Of course, if I suggested removing the parts stated above, I would like, however, some additions or enhancements for the following:

Fenders & Bumpers. Back here, we need re-enforced versions of these as we need to compete with our beloved jeepney and bus drivers as they weave in and out in front of us. If you can add seven more layers to the paint, that will be a big plus.

Suspension. We need you to make those rally-grade suspensions built-in into our stock cars. With the way our beloved politicians and public officials build roads, we should expect more and more roads similar to what Neil Armstrong saw when he landed on the moon. Which reminds me, if you can manufacture one with several wheels like the lunar module, that might sell like hot cakes as well.

Brakes. We love stop-and-go traffic scheme. Yes, I know. You probably haven’t heard or even experienced such excellent idea. It’s hard to explain as even our traffic enforcers themselves are clueless of what they’re doing but they seem to enjoy it every time. We also love sudden stops whenever our jeepney and bus driver friends find it fit to make use of that tiny gap to change lane during bumper to bumper traffic. Of course, how can I forget our barefooted motorcycle drivers who find those narrow space a chance to practice their slalom skills. Now isn’t that compelling enough to improve the stopping distance of these current brakes?

Horn. This is actually my personal request. If you can put a lifetime warranty for my horn, then I’d be your customer forever. I love using my horn second to my brakes.

I’m presenting you an opportunity here. If you’ve made JDM or USDM cars before for the Japanese and American market, respectively, I guess this request to specially build one for the Philippine market, isn’t too hard to handle. You can then call it PDM – even if it might mean Poor Driving Manners. Consider this a win-win scenario even if it clearly looks more in favor for your business – you take out five (5) parts, you modify only four (4). Please contact me if you have questions about this proposal. I’d love to be of help if you need further explanations or in case you are wondering if I can actually suggest more things to be removed and modified. Let’s talk about it over the phone. You can call me even while I’m driving.

Best Regards,

Cris

***

Mood: 3/10 Honks! (My side mirror was hit by another car on my way home. Perfect!)

Fix the Road to Tagaytay First!

I’m beginning to appreciate nationalism especially after Ondoy struck the country. I’m proud that a lot of people extended their helping hands to the unprecedented number of unfortunate individuals who are devastated by the typhoon. And the video with Apl. De. Ap is one of those that helped somehow uplift the spirit of unity and hope within each Filipino.

While I appreciate the efforts that our Department of Tourism has made to tap one of Black Eyed Peas member to promote our country, I cannot seem to stop my head from shaking almost like our car’s bobhead whenever I drive by the 20-kilometer stretch of the Aguinaldo highway on my way to and from school. It makes me always think if foreigners wonder what is worth their while in Tagaytay that they have to suffer the bumpy ride going there which is made worse by occasional traffic.

Yes, you read it right—occasional. For some good reason, my recent trips have been shortened by about half of what it used to take. If what I heard from my drinking buddies are correct, then the opening of the newly built road somewhere in Bacoor did decongest traffic flow. I have travelled several times this week and volume of vehicles is not the main cause of traffic anymore but rather the existence of the ever cratered-roads—potholed is a weak adjective.

But do not rejoice yet, you Cavite politicians—you know who you are. Before you smile and raise a toast for having at least one blog site appreciate your Molino road project, you’re wrong. This project has been long overdue and you still have more things to do and patching up those craters of Aguinaldo Highway with thin layer of asphalt is not one of those. If you want to impress our foreign tourists, fix the road to Tagaytay first.

***

Another sad news for the tourism industry that I read today is about a couple of deadly crimes that occurred during the opening of the Masskara festival in Bacolod. What makes this news more disappointing is the fact that this actually isn’t the first time.

During every Masskara festival, the Bacolod plaza is basically a vast beer garden (among the other daily activities such as street dancing, etc.) and it therefore means one thing—lots of people are drunk, supposedly in the name of merrymaking, and they mingle with the sober public. When this happens, it’s like an accident or, more aptly, a crime waiting to happen.

It’s frustrating that Bacolod City’s public officials always fail to put controls to its annual event. To make it more frustrating, a large police station is just right in front of the Bacolod City plaza where the center of activity is. I don’t know what’s keeping them from ensuring a safe and a truly festive environment for both locals and tourists. So unless they get their acts together, they should expect only one mask expression in 2010—a pouty—and they can just forget about being called the City of Smiles. Ti abi.

***

Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Hope I can watch the ANC forum’s replay of its recent interview with the four presidentiables.)

How to Behave Online During a Disaster

Bombarded by a neighbor’s videoke session and a boring new Pinoy Big Brother season, I just realized that I was finally finishing off the last of the chocolate balls I’ve brought along with me from last Thursday’s group session at the Kho’s residence. Now, I’m back to having the regular Hany chocnut for dessert.

I’m also back to my regular Twitter and Facebook post personality because last week, due to the seriousness of what happened after typhoon Ondoy’s widespread destruction, I made the following commitment on how to behave online during a disaster.

Do something, anything, helpful for the typhoon victims

Other than sorting and donating some of our used clothing—including our baby’s—and some other stuffs, I was among those who made good use of Twitter to disseminate critical information coming from agencies such as the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), government officials and media personalities who are also on Twitter. I am fascinated by the fact that this microblog, meant initially for socialization, getting updated with what celebrities as well as ordinary folks are currently doing, can become a very helpful communication tool during a disaster such as typhoon Ondoy. It’s just a pity though, that while others are trying their best to extend help however they can, some didn’t spare the opportunity to send spam by latching into critical hashtags.

Stop re-tweeting allegations against anyone

The problem with technology nowadays is that the rate of how information is exchanged back and forth is so quick that it is easy to spread something like a gossip or false accusations within seconds. Take for example, the case of a particular Jacque Bermejo, who in the midst of the overflowing sympathy for those affected by typhoon Ondoy, allegedly posted a demeaning remark on her Facebook status. In a matter of hours, hundreds pounced in (unfortunately, I was among them) to give her their piece of mind—rough ones, mostly. A couple of days later, ANC Dubai interviewed Jacque Bermejo and according to her, it was a hacked account which she has already filed a complaint with the proper authorities abroad (and I’m assuming that includes Facebook admins).

Another victim of this split-second social network mobbing is the President’s son, Mikey Arroyo, whose hazy picture appeared posted in Facebook and Twitter showing him in a liquor section (according to report was in Rustan’s department store) at the height of typhoon Ondoy. If it was him or if it was taken while everyone’s busy helping out those impacted, I’ll let it pass, I give him the benefit of the doubt.

Lastly, even Gibo Teodoro, the Secretary of Department of National Defense and a 2010 presidential aspirant wasn’t spared. Some tweeps became furious when they discovered that Gibo isn’t the one behind his own Twitter account (@giboteodoro) but his staffs. Whether that’s the truth or not, I really don’t care. As long as he dictates those tweets and each are meant to communicate to as much individual as possible, that to me is still public service. (Feel my bias here?)

Quit sending inappropriate humor

I’m one who would readily type and send anything humorous as soon as it pops in my mind. Although I have limits to what I send (for one, I haven’t sent sexually explicit jokes), I realized that since I don’t personally know well all of my Facebook or Twitter contacts, whatever I’d send especially during a crisis might be misconstrued as insensitive or offending, thus until yesterday I refrained from doing such. In fact, I even skipped sending shoutouts of the ingredients I needed for my virtual Restaurant City game. Just imagine how one would feel when he opens his Facebook to check on relatives and all of a sudden he sees one of his best friends posting jokes or playing Mafia Wars or Resto City? Go figure.

***

I’m now looking at, finally, the much awaited draft of my Mandyn group’s presentation for Thursday. That means classes will resume this week starting tomorrow. It also means that life will be back to normal. Well, at least for those who weren’t affected by typhoon Ondoy or typhoon Pepeng. Sadly, while we all move on as if nothing happened, some even at this time haven’t even eaten regularly yet while others still try to accept that they’ve lost everything they used to have.

So wouldn’t it be nice if we all still spare a thought, pray, and share something more for the typhoon victims? I’ll try my best.

***

Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Bukas na!)

Glad to Wake Up Still At Home

It’s one of those days when I prayed like never before and this morning was proof somehow that God still answers fervent prayers. I woke up still on the same bed with my wifey and kid beside me and not somewhere else. Last night, I slept with an uneasy feeling thinking that a typhoon with a strength that was never heard of before in the Philippines will be passing by or worse, make landfall. Again thank God, he listened to us Filipinos who for sure don’t want a repeat typhoon Ondoy did and to think that another typhoon will happen just within the same week.

***

Another good thing this morning is the arrival of another set of bags of Tully’s and Peets coffee beans coming from a relative in the US via her friend in Bacolod. That domestic stopover added something more to the package which is a perfect match for a brewed coffee, piaya.

Thanks again Keren and Gary for filling my cravings for caffeine. I’m quite sure that I’d be Starbucks-free at least for a month or two.

***

Just a thought: Aren’t typhoon Ondoy and typhoon Pepeng God’s own warning shot for us to stop and think what we’ve been doing to our environment? Weren’t we taught that cleanliness is next to godliness?

Think about it my friends. Let’s make a lot more effort to take good care of the environment. It’s never too late.

***

It’s about time I promote another blog I maintain just to catch and record litterbugs and smoke belchers. This is my own way to help drive environmental consciousness. Please check and contribute to Planet Trash Can.

***

Mood: 4/5 Honks! (Sleepy and tired…and anxious.)

The Nokia 5800: A Perfect Bum Tool

This lovely piece of Finnish cellphone has been with me for more than a week already after I succumbed to my wife’s persistent request to replace my 3-year old Motorola L6. Besides, the old cellphone is becoming to be the cause of failure-to-communicate since its speaker conked out due to countless drops and misuse. And needless to say, in my current bum status, not clearly hearing an initial job interview over the phone is a no-no—justification, justification, justification.

So far since I bought it though, I haven’t had any job calls. But why should I care, this phone after all isn’t just a phone. If there’s one phone that will make one happy even while his much awaited calls seem unlikely to happen, it is the Nokia 5800. There’s just so much to this phone that job hunt frustrations can be easily forgotten and that killing time can become a habit.

The Nokia 5800’s touch pad meets expectations although I’ve read that upgrading the firmware version from V11 to V21 will improve its response. Right now I care less and might not care about it in the near future after learning from Nokia Care that it will take at least two hours to do the upgrade.

This model is part of Nokia’s ExpressMusic series and true enough it sounds crisp either through its earphones or its loudspeaker. I don’t recommend connecting it though as an input to the car’s stereo as the MP3 quality varies thus affecting the volume of each music file that other than watching out for potholes while driving, one would have to deal with adjusting the music volume all at the same time.

The Nokia 5800 comes with a 3.2 MP that is great for shots under bright light—e.g., daytime—and just like any other low quality/resolution cam, it doesn’t perform well under low light conditions. But you get what you paid for, right? Paying P14,900 for a phone one shouldn’t expect an SLR-like quality. Don’t get me wrong though, for a bum, for a blogger (both of which best describes me), this is more than enough. I just hate it though that there’s no option to turn the camera shutter sound totally off (there are 3 other settings but none that makes shooting discreet). It’s a skeuomorph and I don’t like it.

Shots of places in Manila taken using the Nokia 5800.

I love most of the videos (mp4 format) that comes along with this phone. The resolution is unbelievable. Even those I’ve shot came out almost on par with my Sony handheld video recorder. However, I discovered that the mp4 format has to be converted at least to wmw for it to be played once transferred to the PC. Good thing I was able to download a converter from Freewarehome.com.

Others raise their eyebrows at the guitar pick that comes along with the strap of the cellphone. But I don’t, as I prefer using it over the stylus, except when I’m in the mood to kill time by texting using the handwriting feature which I’m now starting to learn and appreciate.

With the hectic time I have right now both at school and at home where my favorite photo subjects are—my wife and kid, it might take me another week more to discover and learn the other features that this perfect bum tool has. I’m just wishing though that next time I’d hear another lovely HR voice saying, “…Mr. Nacionales, this is to inform you that you are scheduled for an interview…” When that time comes, I’m quite sure she’d hear me clearly say, “Yes…I’m coming”.

***

Mood: 3/10 Honks!