Trying out photoblogging...

http://gaiussensei-photos.blogspot.com/

Check it out guys~ New blog! I'm kindof busy right now, but since I'll be out and about a few places this month, I'll be capturing quite a bit of photos. It'll be low resolution since I currently don't own a DSLR, but I'll make sure to post my best shots.

Photos taken using: HTC Wildfire and the Vignette Camera App. ^^ Sayonara~

UPDATE: Ok, got tired of tweaking BlogSpot. This platform is NOT for photobloggers, so I'm moving to a better on: DeviantArt. See you guys there~

w00+! Btw, what's the opposite of writer's block?

Ok, so I said quite a few posts back that I'm pulling back on blog posts to focus on my new job at Isuzu Automotive. However, I'm quite inspired these past few days (maybe because of the thrill of educating again), and I'm currently writing 3 blog posts for you guys ^^ Yey!

Now, I'm about finished with the first one: Inherits Implements and Imports, so that'll go up approximately tomorrow evening. One of my superiors asked me about the difference between them, and I couldn't remember off the top of my head. So I decided to do some research and write about it here.

Next is a fun post, which will also be the first post on my new (!!) blog: FinalFantasy14.Philippines. I got a Beta Key for the Square-Enix's upcoming MMORPG: Final Fantasy 14, and I'll try to document what I learn and share the experience in a filipino player's perspective.

Lastly, I'm writing something about developing Android Applications. I brought an HTC Wildfire last week, and I'm kindof intrigued with the development of Android as an operating system.

Ok, that's it! I need to go write some more~ Sayonara, for now!

Faith & Prosperity

What a week. First, I attended my job's care group last Thursday (10729) and the topic was about prosperity. Then. my boss gave me and one of my coworkers a ticket to a financial seminar about debt, investment and setting up a business. The seminar was today, and it went well- all three of the speakers were both emotionally moving and very knowledgeable in their topics. After the seminar, I attended the Saturday mass with another coworker, and the homily was about, take a guess: wealth. See the pattern yet?

"Owe no one anything, except to love one another..." ~ Romans 13:8

Dr. Dan Lachica's talk about debt was very inspiring, and although I'm not in debt (except maybe from my parents) I still learned a lot from it. However, what really striked me was his short segue into how cheating somehow affects what happens to you in the future. Dr. Lachica's example was that, if he holds a scalding hot bottle of water, his hand will blister right away- therefore, he immidiately knows that the cause of the blisters is the hot bottle of water. However, if he holds the hot bottle now, and gets blisters after a few days, it would be harder to connect those two events.

Now, let me tell you what happened to me just last week. Yes, a week before my whole week of faith and prosperity-talk with practically everyone.

A week ago, Saturday, I was at the office working as usual with very little care about cash except saving enough for a copy of Final Fantasy 14 come late September. One of my friends asked me if I have time after work, since a new movie that looked interesting was in the theaters (No, not Eclipse, but Sorcerer's Apprentice w/ Nicolas Cage). Since I didn't have anything planned except my weekly Saturday mass at the nearby mall, I agreed. Turns out that the same mall had a screening of the movie we want, 30 mins. right after the mass (coincidence? I didn't think so then, but...)

I met with my friend after work, and we went to the mass together. Before the mass ended, the collection basket was passed for those who'd like to share their blessings with the church- I usually pass it on because... well, I don't really have an excuse. But until then, I don't remember ever putting any of my own money into the collection basket. However, my friend took out his wallet and drew some coins when the basket neared. Feeling a bit guilty, I also looked at my wallet and got some coins out- about six or seven pesos, I'm not sure. We dropped the coins into the basket and the mass continued.

We ate at a fast food, watched the movie (it was good, btw) then went home- a bus then a jeep. Here's when I first noticed something: I had the exact amount of coins left for my ride home, and since I don't like breaking my bills to coins, I decided not to stop at a convenience store for a quick bite.

The next work day, the same thing happened at my workplace's canteen- exact change. Nothing extra to spend on luxuries that I want, but don't need. The week trudged on, and the same things kept happening, up until the weekend came- which I normally spend some extra cash (I had quite a lot, to my surprise). I had quite a fun and I enjoyed hanging out with my friends, until I noticed that I left my jacket at a coffee shop (Town Center's Coffee Bean). It was a favorite of mine, and quite new too- I immediately sms'd my mom about it just in case I never get it back, since me and my friends are already a bit far from where I left it. An hour passed by, almost two hours, before we got back. Lo and behold, I got my jacket back. The shopkeeper's staff kept it for me, and I was really grateful that they did so.

It was an amazing string of "coincidences": starting with a guilty offering of only a few pesos, into saving some cash, into finding my lost jacket, and finally capped with a series of seminars that explained everything. It took me a while before I saw which caused what effect, but I'm sure- 100% sure, that my whole week was planned by Him. I really am blessed, and I'm writing this as way to spread these blessings, to inspire, or at least convince you, that the Lord, our God, is really a generous God.

I don't really like quoting from the bible (it almost always feels like its out of context somehow), but since I started with one, I'll end with another. Until next time, Sayonara!

"As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." ~ Genesis 8:22

Job @ Honda/Isuzu

At exactly 8:00am GMT+8 tomorrow (10619), I’ll officially be an employee of Ayala Motors under their Honda/Isuzu team :D It’s nice to have a permanent job instead of just jumping around with freelance and open-source development stuff~

Fun Facts: I was without a permanent job for approximately…

• 2 Months and 6 Days or
• 9 Weeks (rounded down) or
• 67 Days or
• 1,608 Hours or
• 96,480 Minutes or
• 5,788,800 Seconds o.0;

Of course I will still try to contribute to the Open Community, but in the meantime (at least while I’m still on probationary status) I will probably limit my posts here. I still have a lot to talk about, in fact: I have a post about the Difference between CS and the IT courses and another post about Careers and How to Make/Break one. I will post both of them ASAP, but I guess its sayonara for now~ See ya :P

Hadou 91: Senjyu Kouten Taihou

Limit of the thousand hands
Respectful hand, unable to touch the darkness
Shooting hand, unable to reflect the blue sky

The road that basks in light
The wind that ignites the embers
Time that gathers when both are together
There is no need to be hesitant, Obey my order

Light bullet -
Eight bodies -
Nine items -
Book of heavens -
Diseased treasure -
Great wheel -
Grey fortress tower

Aim far away,
Scatter brightly and cleanly when fired

Thousand Hands Bright Sky Cannon

~Urahara Kisuke, Bleach 402

Teaching Starcraft 2

Sometimes, we need to take a break. Enough programming, enough study, and just relax. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn anything while relaxing :D StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game currently under development by Blizzard Entertainment as a sequel to the award-winning 1998 video game StarCraft.

I am, and always have been, a Zerg player (“sspawn more overlordss”), and today’s little video will teach you some of the basics on playing starcraft 2, specifically a tactical play known as “Seven Pool” as well as some of the terms used in-game.

Btw, turn on the annotations ^^ So, a bit of a primer about the terms used in SC2:

1. X unit/building – This means that when you get to population X, build the unit or building eg. 7 Pool (build a spawning pool at 7 pop.) or 12 Rax (build a Barracks at 12 pop.)
2. Micro – Shorthand for ‘Micromanagement’, or selecting unit(s) and giving individual commands on each. This ranges from normal (Stalker blink, Zergling surround, Reaper evasion) to extreme (getting 3 harvesters on each resource)
3. Macro – Shorthand for “Macromanagement”. To most players, ‘macro-ing’ means getting the most resources out of multiple bases ex. Getting an early expansion is a Macro move, or ensuring that each of your bases are saturated with just-enough harvesters.
4. Tech, or Teching – Means getting upgrades, normally to get a certain unit eg. Teching to Hydras means getting gas and lair.

Ok, to recap, Zerg 7 Pool goes like this:

• Game starts with 6/10 Population
• 6 Drone
• 7 Pool
• 6 Queen (I made Lord+Drone here instead.. my mistake)
• 8 Gas (Didn’t have to do this since I have an extra Lord)
• 7,8,9 Lings
• Attack
• …
• Profit!

I didn’t really follow the optimal build for 7 pool, and my micro needs more work. But you get the general idea~! :P This works great vs Terran or Protoss, but not against zerg since there’s normally an early Queen (on most builds) which can delay your lings enough for them to recover.

So, I guess that’s it~ I’m planning to create a new blog where we’ll post our ramblings w/ Starcraft 2, and yes, I said we. Guess who’s with me on this one? ^^ Until then, sayonara~

Reformat

I’m planning to reformat my PC in a month or so (yes, I plan that far into the future) and I was collating the programs that I need to reinstall immediately. So far, Here’s the current list (In order of installation):

1. Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64
2. Microsoft Security Essentials
3. Google Chrome
4. Update EVERYTHING (Security Updates, Drivers, Virus Definitions, etc.)
• Install Microsoft Live Suite (Writer, Movie Maker, etc.)
5. Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus
6. Microsoft Visual C# 2010 Express
7. Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2010 Express
8. Microsoft Live Mesh
9. Microsoft Fixit Center
10. TortoiseSVN
11. Adobe Acrobat Reader
12. CutePdf
13. Adobe Photoshop CS5
14. Apple iTunes
15. SPlayer
16. BitTorrent
17. 7-Zip
18. Notepad++
19. Orbit Downloader
20. Wizards of the Coast Character Builder
21. Masterplan

That’s it. I don’t think I missed anything.. well, I guess except the games stuff (Magic Workstation, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Origins and PCSX2) =3

Favorite Author

I was trying out http://www.youtube.com/user/SearchStories and tried to create an online video-résumé that showcases my online presence- until I found out that i had none :( So instead, I change all of my names into my favorite author, tweaked it out a bit, and here’s the end result~! Enjoy :D

The quality sux though.. I hope they do something about it.. the original google search story looked so clean and high def~

Laid off

*sigh*

Just two days after I start this blog.. I am now officially unemployed. Tsk~

Well, I'll still continue my ongoing projects (even though I will no longer be paid for them now) and I'm hoping that I can find a better job in the future..

For my students, the teachers of the Colegio, and everyone from my life as a professor~ Sayonara =3 I will miss you.

Ohayo Gozaimasu!

No, I am not Japanese. But I am a teacher.

 

Welcome to my blog! I am Erik Gaius Capistrano, more known as Sir Erik, an IT/CS Professor of Colegio de San Juan de Letran – Calamba. Aside from teaching future programmers, I’m also an application developer specializing in .Net Technologies and Design Patterns.

 

Since this blog is supposed to be my professional blog, expect it to be filled mostly with topics concerning application development and teaching at the Colegio. I’ll occasionally post something personal, but if you really want to know about me, then I suggest you follow me on twitter.

 

Right now, I’ve got a LOT of free time since its summer vacation- however, I’m planning to write a book for the first semester and document the process here. Also, I have a pretty big side-project which I’ll reveal here soon (spoiler: It’s open source!) ^^

 

I guess that’s everything for my first post, I’m looking forward to writing and blogging again! Until next time, Oyasuminasai!