Random Thoughts

The Dave Hill Look

2009-07-19T03:27:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone it's been quite awhile since I blogged as I've been quite busy and now is the only time that I'm free so here goes....

I recently stumbled on what they call the "Dave Hill Look" and I've gotten interested in it that I've decided to try and attempt to create that look. I researched on how it is done and hoping I would come close to the "look" Here is my first attempt at it, feel free to comment and critique on it.

The picture on the left is the original one and the one on the right is the supposedly dave hill look. I'm not sure if i got it or even close to it, I did follow the tutorial I guess it takes lots of practice for a novice like me hehehe. Here's the steps in achieving the "Dave Hill Look" which i found in the DIYPhotography.net website:

The first thing is to duplicate the image layer (CTRL + J) and run a High Pass filter on the duplicate layer. Then choose 4.0 as filter radius.
The next step is to select "vivid light" as the layer blending mode. Now flatten the layers (CTRL + SHIFT + E).
Again, duplicate the layer, and do a High Pass filter on the dup. This time select 6.9 as radius and color as blending mode.
Now choose layer opacity 40% and flattened again.
Now again - duplicate the layer. Now call on the Gaussian Blur (Filter-> Blur-> Gaussian Blur) filter and set it to 9.5. Still using the dup layer, call on the noise filter (Filter -> Noise -> Add Noise) and apply 3% noise.
Now add a layer mask (Layer -> Add Layer Mask -> Hide All), and select the eyes using the lasso tool (L is the short cut for this). Now invert the selection (Shift + Control + I).
Now take the brush tool (B) set the opacity to 30% and paint over the entire image. TADA! Eyes are a bit sharper then the rest of the image. Flatten again.
The final step is to apply some unsharp mask filter (Filter -> Sharpen -> Unsharp Mask). Use the following values: Amount 100%, Radius 30.0 Pixels, Threshold 0.

Lakbay Tour: Batangas

2008-10-24T21:38:00.000-07:00

I got a taste of my first experience being around a group of photographers when my good friend Henry encouraged me to go and referred me to Denmark fondly called "Mac" by the group. I called him up at the insistence of Henry as he knows i have a tendency to back out. I'm glad i didn't and went through with it. The people were warm and nice to me although i was very quiet all throughout the trip with occasional chat with Karen about what setting i should use and all. She was very accomodating. We started taking photos at Taal Batangas in the morning then had lunch at Taal Bistro then headed to Anilao for the much awaited sunset at Aguila Resort. Looking forward again for another EB with this group, they're fun just wish Henry would be able to come next time hehehe. Here is a shot I took and my first group hug.....

Group Hug at Taal Batangas (pic courtesy of Dave V.)

Sunset in Anilao Batangas

Birthday Celebration at Gerry's Grill

2008-07-26T06:40:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to Gerry's Grill at Trinoma with my officemates and our boss to celebrate my two officemate's long overdue birthday treat lol. One of the highlight of the festivity is when the celebrants were greeted or rather sang the birthday song to both of them and was given a cake courtesy of our boss and another colleague. We had a blast at how Nino (one of the celebrant) reacted to it. All in all it was a fun-filled night, it's always nice to dine out with friends since this doesn't happen often :)

My Nikon D60

2008-04-06T04:51:00.000-07:00

Yes! Finally I now own a Nikon D60 and I hope that I would be able to take good pictures like my friend who got me into buying this camera coz he knows I love to take pictures and I really do ever since I was a kid :) Now that I have my own DSLR i would be able to bring it with me and take pics of nature. I'm not much into portraiture so expect to see nature photos from me soon. That's all for now until then...

mIRC

2008-03-22T06:24:00.000-07:00

Remember this familiar logo? Well that my friend is the enhanced logo of mIRC, pretty cute huh? Let me tell you a little bit about mIRC for those who are just starting to get into it.

What is mIRC?

mIRC is a shareware Internet Relay Chat client for Microsoft Windows, created and developed by Khaled Mardam-Bey. It is unknown though if the 'm" in mIRC stands for anything. A lot of people are using mIRC to meet new online friends and i was one of those people who got addicted to chatting on mIRC.

The mIRC Life

I started using the mIRC to meet new online friends. The channels i knew then were the ones listed under "Favorites" so I got to talk to different people from all over the world. Soon I came to learn of other channels and went there, the latest was the "lesbian" channels. I took a break from mIRC and I never thought I'd come back again but my friend got bored at home and she asked me where she can chat and I told her mIRC so i taught her the basics she only needs to know to get her started and then I just found myself being drawn back to mIRC again but this time i didn't stick to the "Favorites" I went to the "lesbian" channels to see what they talk about too. There I met this person, an sOP in that channel where I went, at first I thought she was just like the others coz they did something that offended me a little so I left the channel but she pm (private message) me and asked me why I left and she did thought that they may have offended me I didn't comment on it and she asked me to come back with her. I thought she was different and a very nice person afterall :D Everthing went smoothly with us until one day I felt something different, something was wrong coz I felt this person I came to like so much distancing or avoiding me, needless to say our friendship fell apart I won't go into details of that incident as the last time we spoke I promised and agreed that if we're both in a certain channel I have to leave. I guess you could say my experience with some of the lesbians weren't so good but I'm not generalizing coz I still have some good lesbian people I talk to up to now....if only that person I first met would give me another chance at our friendship I would be glad to have her as my friend again :)

The Season of Lent

2008-03-21T06:26:00.000-07:00

Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent is a forty day period before Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday. In most churches the decorations is purple, the royal color, to prepare for the King.

Lent has been practiced for over two thousand years, since the earliest days of the Church. Today Christians vow to give up something of temporal significance in lieu of actual fasting. In Roman Catholic tradition, meat and chicken are not eaten during Lent. Commitment to prayer particularly repentance are also traditions being observed during Lent.

I'm back!!!

2008-03-21T05:30:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone and yes I'm back after a long hiatus from blogging. I must admit that I kinda neglected my blogging for quite sometime now. Let me see....there's been a lot that has happened to me of late good and bad experiences. I'll be starting with the good ones first, the bad ones maybe later or never at all lol (laugh out loud). First I better eat dinner then I'll come back and start writing so don't go away....I'll be right back :)

I've been Tagged!!!

2007-11-10T06:09:00.000-08:00

I don't usually respond to tags but since it's my good friend Henry who tagged me I shall do this once. So here goes my desktop.

Yup what you see is my desktop with my yahoo messenger as i was chatting while doing this. Now who am i suppose to tag since the requirement is to tag 5 people.... Wil , Bianca , Anton , Rene and Rey . Okay, now for the rules:

Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a scree capture of your desktop. It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun.
Post the picture in your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop just below it if you want. You can explain why you preferred such look or why is it full of icons, things like that.
Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a free view of their desktop as well.

Remembering Our Departed Loved Ones

2007-11-02T19:07:00.000-07:00

All Souls Day is here again and we take time from whatever we are doing to remember our departed loved ones. All Souls Day is not necessarily about remembering how our loved ones have died but rather how they lived. We don't only think of them on this occasion because they're dead but we also think of them when they were alive and the good things they've done for us.

My mom passed away 3 years ago so every year we celebrate this day and visit her, actually not just today but everyday by giving her flowers, saying our prayers and offering mass for her and all our departed relatives too. I'm glad we have All Souls Day coz with our busy schedules we tend to forget......it's a good way to set aside time for honoring and remembering our loved ones who have passed on from this life.

A Day at the Mall

2007-10-28T20:24:00.001-07:00

Yesterday my nephew came by at the house with his parents of course to oversee how their part of the house is doing and this nephew of mine barged into my room asking me if I'm going out. I swear this boy seems to have ESP when it concerns me going out hahaha. He always manage to be at the right place and time whenever I'm planning to go out. So I told him I am going out to pay some bills and do some errands.

Next thing I know he's already with me and very much excited coz he likes it when he goes out with me coz he gets to do the things he does which I don't think he'd be able to do if it's his parents that he's with. So off we went to the mall then we ate at Cerealicious hope i spelled that right lol. Then we proceeded to the other side of the mall called "Trinoma" just to take a peek at what's brewing at the newly opened department store "Landmark". Nothing much there really same old thing except that it's more spacious and we got to appreciate the christmas tree that were set up there hehehe. We went to shop for some clothes and Matt that's my nephew's name feasted his eyes on the toys that he saw there. Thanks the heavens he got hungry or we'll never get out of there forever coz he can just spend endless time there roaming around looking at what he will have for christmas, he already told me what i should be giving him for christmas hahaha. Well what do you expect he is after all still a kid.

So after eating lunch which is KFC since he's very fond of chicken, we headed home and the hyper in him he didn't sleep instead he went straight to the computer shop where he played games his favorite being GTA San Andreas. I went to sleep coz I got tired trailing behind him hahaha. Well that's how my day went yesterday and tomorrow is another day. If only I had leave credits still I wouldn't go to work and spend a great week long vacation but sadly I don't so I have to go to work for the next two more days and off for the holidays again. Well that's it for now till my next blog.

Norway: Into the Fjord

2007-10-23T18:26:00.000-07:00

You might be wondering why I've taken interest in Norway's Fjord, well I've read that the National Geographic Travel Magazine has voted the fjord in Norway "the best unspoiled travel destination in the world", and the respected American newspaper Chicago Tribune included Norway’s fjords on its list of the "Seven Wonders of Nature". The fjords of Western Norway recently emerged as the winner in a survey of the most popular World Heritage sites in competition with other prestigious UNESCO sites, such as the Great Wall of China, Galapagos, the Pyramids of Egypt, Grand Canyon and Zambia’s Victoria Falls. I thought to myself why not look it up in the internet to see and find out more about the Fjords of Norway.

Let's start with what a Fjord is shall we. Well according to the information I gathered on the internet, a Fjord is formed when a glacier retreats, after carving its typical U-shaped valley, and the sea fills the resulting valley floor. You will find the Fjords in Norway particularly in Western Norway where you will see the longest, deepest, narrowest and most beautiful fjords in the world. I also read that the longest fjord in Western Norway are Sognefjord with a length of 204 km, followed by Hardangerfjord with 179 km, Storfjord with 110km, Nordfjord with 106 km and Romsdalsfjord with 88 km.

Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country bordered by Sweden, Finland, and Russia. The Country's extensive coastline along the North Atlantic Ocean is home to its famous fjords.

Norway is also known as "The Land of the Midnight Sun", coming from a friend who is from Bergen he said that Norway has a delightfully long summer days, pleasantly low-key cities, unspoiled fishing villages and rich historic sites that include Viking ships and medieval stave churches.

I wonder what else is there to do in Norway aside from their famous fjords? Well let's go take a look shall we as to what are some of the popular tourist attractions here.

The Pulpit Rock

My friend says this is probably one of the best tourist attraction in Rogaland. Now I know why. The plateau towers 604 meters above sea level. He says a lot of people visit the place during the four summer months. I would be one of those people, look how amazing it is. From the plateau you'll be able to see the magnificent view of Lysefjord and the surrounding mountain scenery.

Kjerag Boulder

On the western side of the plateau, a 5 cubic meter boulder is wedged in a crevice 1000 meters above Lysefjord. Likewise the Kjerag plateau is located on the southern side of Lysefjord also in Rogaland and is a well-known regional tourist destination too. It's a popular exit point for base jumpers.

Well Norway does deserve to be visited coz I think they have a lot to offer tourists. Indeed their fjords are very beautiful and I for one would definitely go there someday.

Car Insurance - Do We Really Need One?

2007-10-17T04:36:00.002-07:00

Good question you might say! Whenever you buy a brand new car it usually comes with a comprehensive insurance package or if it's a second hand car you get a Third Party Liability (TPL) insurance. They say having a car insurance is protection not only for the owner/driver but for the car itself because we all know that accidents do happen even to the most conscientious motorist like what happened to my uncle.

My Uncle bought a second hand car excluding insurance. He didn't avail of one since he thinks that he won't be needing it. When the unexpected happened to him he regret not having one. When my Uncle and his family left for the US a few years ago I received a call from him asking me to help him find a good insurance company coz he's planning to buy a car again. I've been told by a friend who's been living in the United States that penalties for not purchasing auto insurance vary by state but often involve a substantial fine, license and/or registration suspension or revocation as well as possible jail time in some states. Selecting the best and affordable car insurance company can be a daunting task with hundreds of companies competing so I told him I'd help so I started searching the internet and I came across this site Advantage Auto Quotes. Here's the link if you wish to check it out http://www.advantageautoquotes.com/

According to Advantage Auto Quotes they offer the best rates and the cheapest most affordable auto insurance policies anywhere for all types of drivers including senior and teenage drivers. Another thing is if you have an excellent driving record with no accidents or points they say you will qualify for the lowest and most affordable plans. Of course the cost of insurance will also vary depending on the amount of coverage you request and the deductibles you apply for on your policy. There's a lot more you can get your quote by filling out just one form online and in minutes get the best possible rates instead of hundreds of request forms from different companies. I gave the link to the site and told my Uncle to check it out. He might like it you might too, so go check it out who knows Advantage Auto Quotes might be the one you're looking for.

Letting go of a friend....

2007-09-19T22:16:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in our life there will come a time when we have to let go of certain people no matter how important they are to you. It is even harder when it is a friend who is so dear to you. It's been just over 5 months now since I've become good friends with this person. The thing is I'm extremely a private person. I'm not one to trust easily and open up to a person on certain issues. It takes time to win my trust and for me to open up to someone.

I met this friend online in one of the sites I've joined. I've grown deeply fond and close to this person along the way. We've both felt that instant connection the moment we started our conversations. I know you're thinking nothing beats face to face conversations but I don't see how it is any different to having conversations in real life? I mean I can just talk to this person about anything and everything that i can randomly think of which we probably already did, having random and sometimes no nonsense conversations. I think I've opened up more to this person than anyone else. It wouldn't have been possible if the internet never existed and I wouldn't have met this wonderful person who brought smiles into my days every time I see her online. I guess we've both helped each other in different ways, we shared the joys, sadness, fears and sometimes give each other advice. I think that's what happens in true friendship...there's openness and no shyness. Friendship is about giving and taking, not just taking and not just giving. Like any other relationships friendship takes time to grow, you have to work hard at it if it's meant to last.

Well it's not all roses for us, we do have our moments and we did have a lot of that. Recently we had a falling out, one day during one of our conversations we had an argument and she decided right there and then to end our friendship. I didn't want it to end and I so wanted to tell her that we could work it out but I didn't argue anymore for I felt from her words that she has made up her mind.

I know some of you might think I'm crazy coz I have so much admiration for this person who I mainly talk to online. I've only heard her lovely voice but have never seen even a picture of her and yet by her mere presence online I feel happy and content. This is a once in a lifetime connection that doesn't happen with just anyone and if you find it, you're very lucky. I wasn't as lucky for I not only lost a beautiful friendship, I've lost the person and believe me it hurts every single bit inside of me coz this person meant everything to me. The candidness, openness is one thing that you can get from an online relationship and you rarely find this in real life relationship because of people's insecurities and hang ups. I don't know if I'm making sense or not. I guess when you invest a huge part of you into something or someone it almost seems as if a part of them belongs to you even though realistically we do know that we belong to ourselves. All we can do is care for someone and then eventually have to let go. Sometimes I begin to ponder why bother in the first place. What we don't realize is that we've made a difference in someone's life and that is something money can't buy.

To my dearest friend Meg, although we've now started to be apart from each other it doesn't mean I've forgotten you or stopped caring about you, I still do and you will always be in my thoughts for you are the only girl who has captured my heart and someone I will never ever forget.

What is a friend?

2007-09-05T00:29:00.000-07:00

Friendship is a very special kind of relationship too. Most of us can name several people whom we call friends, others would name quite a few. We can have a lot of acquaintances but only a few will become our best friends....

To me a true friend is someone who is loyal, trustworthy, and always there for you. Someone who will help you see the truth and say the truth even if it hurts, it means being up front with friends about issues, raising questions with tact and love, never putting them down to others behind their backs. I have met quite a lot of acquaintances from all walks of life but only a chosen few I can truly call my friends. Some of my few friends I've met at work others thru online chatting and OurChart. Meet the people I call my friends...

Lourdes or "Des" as we her friends fondly call her with the exception of Grace who sometimes call her "Ilordes" is quite a happy person to talk to, everyone in the office seems to like her a lot. Fate would have it that she sits in front of me and when she has nothing to do she turns around and face me then would start to field in her no-nonsense question as she was trying to make conversation with me and silly me kept answering all her question lol. Needless to say we kinda hit it off well and everyone was surprised coz she was the only one I allowed to enter my steel wall which shields me from those officemates of mine who says are also my friends but i know better. When I left the division Des and I still communicate thru endless conversations at the phone about almost everything we could possibly talk about ha ha. When she left BIR we still communicate and sometimes go to the malls either to go shopping or window shopping, go bowling and sometimes people watching lol.

Grace I came to know thru Des as she and Des go way back in high school. She's very upfront, she would always say what's on her mind about something and never waver especially if she knows she's right. She seems to also have the ability of knowing if a person has a good heart or personality just by looking at them or by just describing to her that person and she always seems to be right about it. Grace and I sometimes argue but it's not really arguing more so like showing our affection for one another as when we go bowling we tease each other when she or I is the one up to strike the pins so as to distract the other from having a high score and Des just laughs at us coz we're like children in there lol. Grace is now somewhere in the San Francisco area of the USA trying to find her nich there ha ha ha.

Sharina better known as "Shash" also from OurChart is the first person ever that I've chatted with on IM and she's from Aruba. She's cool, fun, business minded that's why she's taking up business course in school he he he. I don't chat often with Shash but when I do get to chat with her it's all fun and smiles :)

Becca I came to know also on OurChart. I stumbled on her profile while browsing on OurChart and her beautiful picture and smile caught my attention. Needless to say I started messaging her and to my luck she also replied to my messages until I decided that if ever she has IM maybe we could chat from there and chat we did on Yahoo Messenger. I find that she is a very grounded individual, easy and fun to talk with, and a responsible, loving and caring partner to Kelly the love of her life of 4 years now. I was also fortunate to chat with Kelly once when "B" as I fondly call her went to take a shower. At first I was kinda shy to talk to Kelly as I was feeling my way around her and I came to discover that she too is a very nice person to talk to even though we chatted for just a short time that night. I've grown fond of these two and wished we could chat more often but I know they're also busy as B who's a pastry chef has a shop to run and Kelly who's a teacher is busy in school, added to that is our time difference (e.g. when it's morning there it's evening here). Wish I were living closer to them I know I'd have fun with these two ha ha ha.

Lee Michelle or "Lee" as what she likes to be called at least I think that's what she likes to be called lol I also found on OurChart and yes she's also a chef and living in New York just like B. I know that's not Lee that's her car but it's white not red I couldn't find a white mustang. I kinda hit it off well with Lee, coz of her I created an account on AIM to be able to chat with her. Lee's a night owl so i get to chat with her almost everyday so let's just say that we're kinda getting to know each other quite well. One thing we have in common is our zodiac sign and birth month. We're both born on September , mine just passed already hers is coming up hahaha. Advance Happy Birthday Lee!!!

Tagaytay Trip

2007-08-20T05:17:00.001-07:00

A volcano within a lake

Yesterday morning I went with my friend and her sister plus her niece to Tagaytay, destination--Pink Sisters Convent. There's a tradition there that people fill up pieces of paper with prayer request and drop them off at the nave at the side of the chapel. My friend, her sister and niece did just that while I was contented with praying directly. Afterwards my friend and I went to walk around the grounds of the convent taking shots of us at every corner haha.

After that we proceeded to eat lunch at Carlos Pizza where you can see a breathtaking view of the lake as seen above. That's one of my better shots, I just wished I had my digital camera it would've been much better, I only used my cellphone camera on that.

Training at IBM

2007-08-18T08:37:00.000-07:00

Hello people, I'm back from a grueling 3 day training at IBM. The course I attended along with 9 other officemates of mine is titled "Mastering Rational Clearquest Administration". To my opinion this training is not for us systems analyst or programmers but for the Helpdesk people coz this software product is an enhanced version of our existing paradigm which Helpdesk staff is using. This is where you log issues and sent to different service/dept/division for proper correspondence to resolve such issues that may arise from taxpayers. Although I feel this training is not suited for me I thank the company for giving me training. I only hope that I would be given training in line with my current work as a programmer/analyst such as java, oracle, sas training. Goodnight everyone.

OurChart

2007-08-13T00:48:00.000-07:00

Ahhh yes Our Chart, I do believe I've mentioned this in my first blog. Well OurChart was inspired from the TV series The L Word season one episode one which has Alice's chart of hookups seen on her wall, only in Alice chart you make it there if you've slept with someone. On this chart you connect yourself via friendships and relationships with people from all walks of life. You share your favorite stuffs, innermost thoughts. The chart will form a visual one and it would be dynamic and interactive. Just join the chart and build your profile then add your friends if they're there already and make new ones as well. I did that and now I have a growing network of friends some of whom I've chatted with on IMs. So c'mon and join us, it's fun!

Just another weekend

2007-08-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

Good evening bloggers and readers alike. I'm new to blogging so please bear with me. I'm open to comments and suggestions to better improve my blogging skills. Ok here goes my blogging...

Well my weekend is just the same as any other weekend like doing my laundry and cleaning my room afterwards going to the mall...pretty boring huh? except this time aside from doing all that which I have mentioned I went to the mall yesterday to see my friend and meet her new found love, yes finally she has met the love of her life or so she says lol. They were quite a pair, the guy (his name is Eugene or "Jinn") is tall and my friend is big hahaha. Anyways after strolling at the Greenhils Shopping Center's "tiangge" or better known as a bargain center where you can find an assortment of items such as clothes, shoes, bags, accessories, etc. at a lower price compared to the malls, we proceeded to Greenwich Pizza to eat and these two ordered a big pizza and large drinks plus 2 orders of garlic sticks hahaha wow I tell you they are hearty eaters especially my friend Lourdes or whom we her friends and family fondly calls her "Des" ummm except for Grace who calls her "Ilordes" hahahaha. I think Jinn was shy to eat too much coz I was there, he didn't eat much hehehe. Today I was chatting with my friends from OurChart! I'll tell you more about it on my next blog. I went to sleep for awhile and now did my first blog. Well that's all for now folks until my next blog.....