Since I am also into sponsored posts it is important that I can find free blog hosting that will allow me to do so, and one that my sponsors will allow me to use. The days when my earnings from the net used to pay for my blog’s hosting are at an end, and finding a good free site that can be as flexible and customizable will be a boon.

I have shifted our photoblog Gallery on Gaerlan St. to wordpress.com free hosting, but I found that it imposes limitations on the kind of code that I can put into text widgets and that no javascript was allowed anywhere on the site. This posed problems for me since I am an Entrecard member and have had to give up Gaerlan St.’s Entrecard after the move. This was doubly frustrating since I had opted for their $10 a year hosting service without verifying the fact that I can use Javascript.

I am hoping to find a less limiting host soon.

*Note: This is a sponsored post.

There’s always something new to be learned, no matter how busy or hassled or plain pissed off I am. In the past week I’ve learned quite a few things professionally and personally, I feel I should write them down just so I won’t forget the next time I am busy or hassled or plain pissed off.

Good things. Microsoft Virtual PC. With Virtual PC 2007 SP1 I have managed to install Windows Vista Business Edition complete with Office 2007 as a virtual machine inside this laptop running on WinXp. This is in preparation for my two-week trip down to Masbate next month, to teach school teachers and a few select students how to use the desktops that they will be getting for free as part of our client’s corporate social responsibility project. I’m really looking forward to this trip: two weeks ago it was just a proposal, but now we’ve got the go-ahead and have started on the actual preparations.

I have also managed to setup Ubuntu 8.04 with Virtual PC on this same laptop, and after that the Xampp server so I can install my Joomla! test sites and have them working exactly the way they would be as on a live server. That is always useful for client presentations, tons faster than if I did it online. One thing I have discovered recently is most big companies have tons of restrictions when it comes to browsing. Having a few sample sites on the go can be quite useful when I need to make a presentation to such a company. Running Joomla! on Linux has the advantage of enabling SEF URLs, which is not possible on a Wamp Sever/Windows environment.

We’ve also found a replacement for the guy who left. While not a newbie to the game, this guy we found turned out to be a real fast learner and has managed to fit right into the group. Thank heavens for that. We’re looking into adding one more by the end of the year, on the assistant management side, because if my Masbate trip turns out to be a success other trips to other places may be in my schedule soon. I will need someone to mind the phone and answer fussy clients who wanted one thing yesterday and a completely different thing today.

Bad things. I just find it disappointing (for lack of a better word) that some people think it’s ok to ruin everyone else’s day just because theirs sucks. You probably know the type—guy who wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, maybe didn’t get to sleep on the bed at all, wakes up with a bad hair day and then proceeds to chop of everyone else’s head in the course of the day. I hear it actually makes them feel better to see people around them feeling more miserable than they do. Personally I don’t like miserable people around me. It makes one’s productivity suffer.

So when someone does something to eff up my day just because he effed up his own day, now that really pisses me off. I usually let out an expletive or two, usually in incoherent hanging clauses while I’m hidden behind my monitor. But these days I guess I’ve just grown too old to pick a fight. Instead of replying to a stupid email blaming me for inactivity, loss of business, the general traffic situation on EDSA and the deteriorating Philippine economy, I just take the last batch of instructions from this finicky clie

This is my new baby at work, the ThinkPad T61 Model 7664A24. It replaced the T43 you may have seen in my other blog. This baby’s got 2GB of RAM, 250GB HD, a 14.1″ WXGA+ display and three USB ports instead of the usual two on other older T-series laptops.

Of course it’s not really mine, it’s the company’s. But I get to use it. Yeah. Small pat on the back for working so hard, I’d like to think. A raise and a trip to Hong Kong Disneyland, now THAT’s a pat on the back that I’d really like, but I’ll settle for this one for now. I’ve had this one for a week now and it’s sleek and fast and can stand its share of rough handling. Just the kind of thing for the way I work.

There’s a lot of things I’m looking forward to these couple of months. There’s Season 7 of CSI:Miami which airs in the U.S. on the 22nd. Couple of days from then it should be available for download on my favorite torrent site. There’s my participation in the CSR program of one of our clients when I’ll be going to Masbate with 10 or so desktop computers for donation to the schools in that area, and teaching the teachers and students how to use them. There’s sem break for Kuya Maui and perhaps another visit from Kuya Pax, and maybe this time we can go somewhere nice.

This is not a sponsored post.

Our SmartBro was installed on April 14, 2007. During the first three months I admit there were problems. Slow, sometimes intermittent connections, but after the tech support guys ironed those out our connection went on without a hitch. There was that time when a typhoon knocked the canopy down, and the other time when the enormous neighborhood stray cats who run across our roofs like they were in Le Mans did the same thing. Both times, 24 hours after I made the call to SmartBro support the contractors came and brought it back up. The cat incident even damaged the antenna and they replaced it with no charge. That’s a pretty good coverage for circumstances beyond our control.

This is the speed test result I get from Speedtest.net, choosing the Makati Server (PLDT) as my testing point.

This is the result when I use the Quezon City server (BayanTel) as the testing point.

In my opinion, the results are not bad, if you are a personal user with a couple of kids, a yaya, and a husband who are all Internet junkies.

I have recommended SmartBro to my friends who live in places that are otherwise not reached by landline DSL’s. The wait time from application and initial payment to the day of installation is practically nil. I admit some of their call center agents need a bit more training on how to reply to network-savvy clients, those who will not be put off by gobbledygook they read off their standard replies sheet. But other than a couple of false alarms and one or two actual mistakes on my end, I have never had a problem with them.

So if you’ve arrived on this page while looking for advice on whether to get SmartBro or not, I’d suggest you do. Just make sure that you are in direct line of sight with the nearest Base Station (no trees or buildings in the way), and that you provide the installer guys with a solid platform on which to attach the canopy and you’ll be OK.

Add-ons enhance the power of Firefox and provides you with tools that allow you to browse the internet, save important bits of data and save you time while you do what you do on the ‘net. The following is a list of my favorite Firefox Add-ons (in random order) and why they continuously make me say “wow, there can’t be a faster way of doing that”.

1. Colorful Tabs – This is an indispensable plugin for me as it makes tab identification easier, adding a different color to each tab. It looks cute on multiple tabs too.

2. Password Exporter – essential if you maintain two (or more) computers and would like your saved passwords present on all of them.

3. Split browser – pretty nifty for keeping everything in sight without having to switch tabs or open another instance of Firefox. It can be a little confusing to use at first, but once you get the hang of it it’s almost indispensable.

4. Abduction! – screenshots have never been made easier. Extremely useful for making documentation that require snaps of entire web pages or a selection thereof. I used to hit PrtSc or Alt-PrtSc and then load up the clipboard into Photoshop or even MS Paint, but Abduction lets me bypass the photo editing and allows me to save either entire web pages or snippets directly into a file.

5. Entrecard Toolbar – If you are an avid Entrecarder you definitely will need this. Simplifies card dropping, switching from one linked account to another, enables you to purchase card advertising on the site you are currently on.

Those are my top 5 favorites. I have used quite a few more since I started using Firefox but some of them haven’t quite caught up with version 3.0.1. When they do, they will find their way back to my add-on’s list.

I’m sure there are a few Firefox add-ons for you and the way you browse the Interwebs. Head on over to the Firefox Add-ons page and see how it can make browsing with Firefox a breeze.