Electric Itlog

An archive of what was and what will be...

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Electric Itlog: Now Even Stickier

After almost ten hours of mind-numbing coding and design, it's finally finished. Yes, I'm proud to present to you the new edition of my blog. Welcome to Electric Itlog, Oh-Sooo-Sticky Edition.

Yeah, I know that it's almost a month late (me and my press-releases), but I've been so buried with my client work that I didn't have the time to actually finish my design. I spent quite some time trying to figure out how this new edition will look, trying out new ideas and techniques I have learned through my past projects. In fact, I had to go through three design ideas before finally settling for this one.. And it's good cause I'm happy.. Hehehe..

As the name suggests, this edition of Electric Itlog is inspired by stickers. Thus, the "stickish" design and the fancy wallpaper background. I chose a light powder blue as the highlight color and blended it with hues of rich gray (which, accidentally, I worship and adore.)..

Anyhow, this is still a work in progress. I'm just excited to see it working, so I didn't plug-in all the things that I want. There are still some elements that I'll add in the near future, including nifty ajax functions and javascript effects. So don't be suprised if it suddenly breaks or goes down every now and then.. As I said, it's a work in progress.

There are also some things to take note:

  • This theme will look different depending on whether or not you're using Internet Explorer. If you are, you'd probably see the next best thing. There will be no semi-transparent backgrounds and great PNG based overlays (due to the lack of PNG transparency in IE6 and below). I had to hack my way (in several different places) just to be able to showcase something in IE. I even got to the point that I wanted to not include IE support. But knowing that most people are still stubborn enough to use it, I just did my best.
  • If you're using Firefox, Opera or Safari (or any other browser, except IE or derivatives of IE), then congratulations! You're browser doesn't suck!
  • Javascript and CSS will make the experience better.. But they're not really required..

Well, here it is: the seventh reincarnation of my blog. I thank every one who cares to drop by every now--you are the reason I love doing these things.. ^_^

Don't forget to drop a comment if you have suggestions, questions or plain comments..

Labels: ,

Friday, October 19, 2007

It Could Have Been Me

I guess you've all heard about the Glorietta Blast. Let me just say one thing: I am so grateful that by some force of heaven, things didn't go the other way.

Let me explain for a second. I am a Glorietta Person. Ever since I could remember, I have always thought of Makati—and Glorietta in particular—as my sanctuary. You'll often find me lurking around the shops at Glorietta, looking at books or buying clothes. This mall is like my third home.

The blast happened at Glorietta 2 at Luk Yuen. Near this resto is a branch of Starbucks where I usually buy a cup of coffee before going home. A few steps further are branches of CD-R King and Booksale, two other stores were I frequently hangout to buy stuff from.

Thinking about it, it could have been me. I could have been one of over seventy people injured in the blast. Or worst, I could be one of the unfortunate few who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I could have been just a few meters from the blast. I could have been ordering a cafe americano. I could have been buying DVDs or thumb-drives. I could have been browsing through books. I could be lying in a hospital right now. Or the scariest thought of them all, I could have been a lump of meating flying all over the curb.

But I'm not.

It's really an eye-opener when something like this happens. Had my theater org's event fallen on another day, or had I been hard-headed and decided that I will not catch-up when they left me (because I was late), or had I been impulsive enough to go to Glorietta today, you might not be reading this post.

But you are.

It's weird when I think about all the possible things that could have happened. It really makes me wonder how great the circumstances were that place me away from the things could have happened.

You might think of me as too cliched, but I really believed that the Higher Powers are still keeping me here because they have a plan. As John's mom reminded me, this is the second time that I dodged a Makati incident--it was also luck that kept me away from the blast that happened on a bus under the Ayala MRT station a few years ago (I get my ride home from there). I feel so lucky that some possibilities turned out to be impossible and that I am still here, still alive, still kicking.

Glorietta is closed for now, and will remain closed to the public until all things have been sorted out. In my estimate, it'll take more than a few weeks to clean out the mess and to finish the investigation. The long time it'll take for them to rebuild and resecure the place will be the amount of time I have to wait for until my sanctuary becomes a safe place once more.

Until then, I guess I'll just have to live my life to the fullest. Because even if it could have been me, it turned out that wasn't me--and that's all that really matters.

Labels:

Saturday, October 06, 2007

[WWYD] What Would You Do?

A set of interesting case scenarios. When in a tight spot, what would you do?

One of the most interesting aspects of creating websites for clients is the use of case scenarios. This is where you create scenes for potential users and try to see how they work it out.

I find it interesting because it helps me understand what people are most likely to do and why they do it. It gives a glimpse of the minds of my users, helping me understand them better.

This time, I'm trying something new. Instead of me blabbering about stuff, I'll let you, my readers, do the blabbering. I'm presenting you with three case scenarios. All you have to do is post a comment on how you would react on these case scenarios. Feel free to explain or elaborate. There are no right or wrong answers of course, so feel free to think and experiment..

Case Scenario 1

You're walking down an alley one morning. It's so early that no one's even walking with you. It's cold and a bit foggy, but you somehow catch a glimpse of a big black thing sitting on the sidewalk.

You come closer and you realize that it's actually a small black bag. Feeling curious, you picked it up and after a closer examination, you decided that it's safe to open the thing. Inside the bag are ten rings of cash, each (to your estimate), is worth around a hundred thousand pesos.

You notice a small note that says "It's for you." Puzzled, you try and look for any name or any other indirect-object on the note. Nothing. Of course, being logical and a little more knowledgeable in grammar that others, you quickly thought that "Hey, you can refer to anyone--even a monkey." But there's no one else in the alley. So you examine the bag. Still, no identification whatsoever. It's almost six o'clock and you're pretty sure that you emptied your stored-value MRT card last night. It's now or never. What would you do?

Case Scenario 2

Your bestfriend fancies someone both of you know. Wait, fancy is the wrong word--your bestfriend is madly in-love with someone you both know. Unknown to him or to anybody else, you also fancy that person. Of course, you never plan of telling your friend, since he doesn't really need to know. And besides, you just fancy the person right?

One Saturday morning, while eating breakfast at a small cafe in Tomas Morato, the person you and your bestfriend likes passes by. You notice him, you call him out and he waves at you, giving you a smile that you swear just melted the foam atop your hot cappuccino. You invited him for some breakfast and he agreed to sit with you for a while. He ordered some Cafe Americano (ooh, so strong and manly) and the small talk started.

Of course, being such a good friend, you decided to build-up your bestfriend and you started talking about how cool, great and uber-fascinating your bestfriend is. You both laugh and exchange great stories. He remarks, "Your bestfriend is really interesting.." and you mentally do your victory dance. Your bestfriend will finally get the man he wants.

At around 8, he excused himself and waved you goodbye--he was off to this charity event to teach some poor kids to read and write. You gave him a nice wave (just so he'd remember all your great remarks about your bestfriend) and he takes off. He's gone, and you start finishing off the cold coffee you ordered. You realize that if it wasn't for your bestfriend, you'd be with that guy to that charity event. But oh well, friendship can sometimes be a bummer...

As you were standing up, you notice a small tissue with something written on it. You dismiss it as some doddle the guy just dropped but then you realize that it's a note, written in his beautiful handwriting: "You're bestfriend is interesting, but I like you more. Go out with me." Your jaws just dropped. What would you do?

Case Scenario 3

You had this highly-publicized scuffle with someone from work. You don't know how it really started, but it seems that you have become quite unpopular with his peers (who form a larger group than yours).

A few days before your Christmas party, you were tasked to prepare the food for the party--which unfortunately meant you coming earlier than usual to your office and sharing the kitchen with the other person tasked with the food preparation: your arch-nemesis.

On that morning, you woke-up, feeling a little gloomy. You got dressed and went to the office. You saw your archnemesis already there, preparing his famous carbonara (so last year). You set-up your workcamp a few meters from him, on the table closer to the sink and started working on your new sushi recipe.

While you were deboning the fish you were to serve (in perfect Martha Stewart hand movements), your idiot archnemesis suddenly tries to hold the hot steaming pasta bowl with his bare hands, causing his ugly fingers to swell-up and burn. As the smell of burning flesh slowly rises around the room, your archnemesis quickly tries to run towards the sink, stepping on the small chamois you dropped--causing him to slip. He bumps to you hard, hitting you on the knees and sends the small (yet deadly) fillet knife you were holding straight into the air.

Almost like a prayer answered by God with choirs of angels, the knife lands directly on your co-worker's nape and severs his spinal cord. Shaken and disoriented, you stand up and see your archnemesis on the floor, now but a mere vegetable. You approach him and examine the knife sticking out of his nape. You look up and see five of his friends at the door, holding plastic bags filled with ingredients your archnemesis asked them to bring and looking at you nastily.

Shit. What would you do?

Labels: