Ang Tunay na Lalake ay…

…isang meme na nalalaspag na.

(or for the 2 non-Tagalog speaking people out there reading this blog: A True Man is a meme that’s quickly getting old.)

I’ve seen the site and yes, I lol’ed too at first. But the site’s getting too popular too quickly, and it looks like it’s going to go the same way as similar memes.

click to view full size comic
click to view full size comic

Any bets on how long before the meme reaches mainstream death?

Financial Stability

Ever since my parents gave me my last allowance almost five years ago, I’ve always been a financially stable person.

The key word here is stable. I always say flat out that I am not a rich person because I know a lot of people are richer than me because my previous salary isn’t that high. But you will rarely see me complain about money problems. And you will never see me struggling with debt.

Just as losing weight can be simplified to four obvious words, my financial stability can be simplified to four similar obvious words:

Continue reading “Financial Stability”

DOMS – Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

Did a lot of stuff in the past 4 days. I’m tired, my body hurts like heck, and I still have to write a second Daily Entry.

After a couple of hours of fruitless thinking about what to write about next all the while trying to ignore the fact that my back and abs hurt every time I move, I finally decided to write about the type of pain I’m having now. :P

If you’re planning to undergo a full fitness regimen, you must be prepared for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), the muscle pain that occurs a day after performing an exercise.

The Wikipedia entry covers most of the stuff you need to know about DOMS. Heck, just the name alone should give you a good idea what to expect.

Some things you might want to take note about DOMS:

  • Know the difference between injury and DOMS. Pain from injuries are usually more localized to an area and the swelling can be visible. It’s also much more painful than the latter. If you’re not confident about the risk of having injuries, I’d suggest you perform your exercises with supervision.
  • I’m assuming that you have a job and not a bum like me. :P If that’s the case DOMS will kill your productivity at work so you must know how to deal with it. Know which painkillers work for your DOMS and keep a bunch of them within reach. You could also take note if stretching helps reduce DOMS in your current training regimen.
  • Ab DOMS is IMHO the most annoying type of DOMS because a lot of body movement requires the abs. Sit up straight? ow. Laugh? ow. ow. ow. Lie down? Ouch! Cough or sneeze? aw, fuck. Just something to keep in mind before doing those crunches. :D
  • Leg DOMS is also annoying but obviously it’s only a problem if you’re planning to walk a lot the day after you do your leg exercises.

Zed Shaw – The ACL is Dead

I wasn’t able to post one daily entry yesterday because the net connection was down at Lex and Flori’s place. Here’s the make up post.

Steak and strippers, baby!

I wasn’t able to post one daily entry yesterday because the net connection was down at Lex and Flori’s place. Here’s the make up post.



Zed Shaw
is (in)famous within online dev circles for two things: his rant on Rails (which didn’t even spare Dave Thomas :D ) and his talk at CUSEC about how the corporate world screws with developers. He has retracted the former so here’s the latter instead:


Zed Shaw – The ACL is Dead from CUSEC on Vimeo.

It’s funny, informative, and depressing. A definite “must watch” for every developer who works or plans to work in the corporate world.

Public Transportation and Trailblazing

Just came back from a product demo of a local distributor of computers in Eastwood, Libis. Will post my observations once I get the go signal for posting in Sugoi (which fyi, still has Philhosting problems :( ).

I also have to leave for Greenbelt at 6pm so this daily entry will not be as “well researched” as the previous posts.

It was my first time to go to Eastwood City. Unlike your average twenty-something yuppie though, I did not take a cab to the place.

I’m not a fan of taxis. Unless the destination is not reachable by other means of public transportation (e.g. jeepneys and buses are prohibited to take the optimal route to the place) or I have a reason to arrive at my destination ASAP, I always prefer to take the latter over the former.

I don’t really know why I don’t prefer taxis. Maybe it’s because the fare’s a lot higher than taking a jeepney or a bus and this conflicts with the indoctrination about my family’s lower class status that I received when I was young. But that doesn’t hold up to the fact that I don’t mind spending the same amount on random purchases of food and drinks.

I know it has nothing to do with annoying drivers. I personally don’t mind them. I even take the front seat instead of the back seat to increase the chance of getting to chat with the driver. If it’s a decent driver, even a short conversation would give me good insights on how the common Filipino perceives the issues in our nation. If it’s not a good driver, I could probably steer the conversation to gutter humor for the lulz.

The most likely reason why I don’t prefer taxis is because it’s not cool. Which is a cooler answer to “How did you get here?”: “I took a taxi”, or “I took a bus from xxx, then took a jeepney to xxx, then walked the rest of the way here. :D” Seriously though, the “appeal” thing still sticks. I’m a pragmatist, and riding a taxi instead of taking a jeepney or a bus is just too hedonistic for my tastes.

Anyway, back to going to Eastwood.

Ok, taxi’s out of the question, so how do I get to Eastwood using public transportation without a guide? Simple: I’ll just activate the “Trailblazing” skill I learned when I was a Boy Scout. :D

Trailblazing isn’t really that fancy, it’s basically just map reading, knowing your orientation (e.g. where’s the north), and some other things that will help you reach your destination. Ideally, if I would “trailblaze” a path to Eastwood from Cubao, I’d walk all the way to Eastwood and take note of the public transportation available along the way. I’ll just take public transportation on my subsequent trips.

Walk from Cubao (Farmer’s) to Eastwood? Srsly?

I’m not kidding. I’ve done this a lot of times before. Just ask my friends.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints (I have to be there by 9am) and the fact that I’m going to carry a freaking 20lbs bag to the place, walking was also not an option. So I had to find out how to reach the place by jeepney.

Fortunately, the first Google search hit was relevant to my interests (taga FTI ako… well, not technically but you get the picture). The best advice was to either take a jeepney from Cubao to Libis or jeepney from Ortigas to Rosario then Rosario to Eastwood.

I confirmed with my parents that both routes are ok. My mom gave an alternate route: go to Market-Market then take an FX to Eastwood. Unfortunately, I still haven’t gone to Market-Market yet and two trailblazing “quests” in a day would be too much for me. :P

And so I took the most convenient route, the FTI – Cubao – Eastwood route. I got to the place with only two hitches: I was a little late (due to traffic), and I didn’t expect that the loading/unloading area for Rosario jeepneys was really behind Ali Mall. That was a 900 meter walk with a 20lbs backpack. D:

On the plus side, I still got to use my map reading skills to be familiar with the place. The orientation was also a bit useful – even after a couple of right and left turns, I was still sure that I took the right jeepney because the shadows confirm that we were really going east.

That’s my post for today. Tomorrow’s Wii party day at Lex and Flori‘s so the next post will either be posted early afternoon or in the evening via laptop.

TODO: Change “between heaven and earth” tag to something less pretentious, but still conveys the ironies and contradictions happening in my life due to my nature as an unpredictable educated lower-class citizen.