“As Samia came down the stretch in her 200-meter heat, she realized that the Somalian Olympic federation had chosen to place her in the wrong event. The 200 wasn’t nearly the best event for a middle distance runner. But the federation believed the dash would serve as a “good experience” for her. Now she was coming down the stretch alone, pumping her arms and tilting her head to the side with a look of despair.

Suddenly, the half-empty stadium realized there was still a runner on the track, still pushing to get across the finish line almost eight seconds behind the seven women who had already completed the race. In the last 50 meters, much of the stadium rose to its feet, flooding the track below with cheers of encouragement. A few competitors who had left Samia behind turned and watched it unfold.”

After reading her story, I couldn’t help but realize that we Filipinos are still blessed in so many ways. Yes, we are poor, but probably not as poor as most Somalis. Yes, there is still a war in Mindanao, but it’s not as bad as the wars in other countries.

This is not to say that we should be content with being poor or that we should do nothing about the war in our own backyard. This is to say that we should stop yapping about how poor we are and start doing something about it.

We complain that we lack opportunities in the country. This is may be true; but I’ve seen some of us standing still when opportunities come. My own sister, a registered nurse, was offered a chance to work abroad. On the day she was supposed to meet with her potential employer, she didn’t show up. She probably didn’t take that opportunity seriously, thinking that there would be other better opportunities to follow. She forgot that almost every other person in the Philippines is a nurse or is studying to become a nurse. Even doctors go back to school to study nursing so they could work abroad as nurses. By the time my sister realized that it was a rare opportunity that she should not pass up on, the opportunity was gone, taken probably by someone more desperate, someone more deserving. Now, my sister is jobless. A registered nurse, true. But a jobless registered nurse.

My sister’s story is not a unique Filipino story. All too often, we Filipinos are afraid to try, probably because we’ve failed too many times before as a nation. But just because we have not succeeded as a nation doesn’t mean that we cannot succeed as Filipinos, albeit individual Filipinos.

We cannot control how our government is run because we’re not the ones who put our government officials in office. You think we do, but we don’t. Remember “Hello, Garci“? Oh, we forget too soon. Our collective amnesia makes us forget our ugly history time and again. From Marcos to Erap to Nano.

Our national history is rich with political and cultural lessons that we need to learn and remember. But what is it that makes remembering impossible for us to do? Is it the water that we drink or the food that we eat? Or is it our culture that stops us from trying harder to better ourselves? Is it our culture that foments lethargy, indifference, and forgetfulness?

If we can learn to remember the ugly lessons of our nation’s collective past, maybe, just maybe, we can also learn how to run like Samia.

For example, one evening last week, my girlfriend and I were getting into bed. Well, the passion starts to heat up, and she eventually says, “I don’t feel like it, I just want you to hold me.”

I said, “WHAT?! What was that?!”

So she says the words that every boyfriend on the planet dreads to hear…

“You’re just not in touch with my emotional needs as a woman enough for me to satisfy your physical needs as a man.”

She responded to my puzzled look by saying, “Can’t you just love me for who I am and not what I do for you in the bedroom?”

Realizing that nothing was going to happen that night, I went to sleep.

The very next day I opted to take the day off of work to spend time with her. We went out to a nice lunch and then went shopping at a big, big unnamed department store. I walked around with her while she tried on several different very expensive outfits. She couldn’t decide which one to take, so I told her we’d just buy them all. She wanted new shoes to compliment her new clothes, so I said, “Lets get a pair for each outfit.”

We went on to the jewelry department where she picked out a pair of diamond earrings. Let me tell you… she was so excited. She must have thought I was one wave short of a shipwreck. I started to think she was testing me because she asked for a tennis bracelet when she doesn’t even know how to play tennis.

I think I threw her for a loop when I said, “That’s fine, honey.” She was almost nearing sexual satisfaction from all of the excitement. Smiling with excited anticipation, she finally said, “I think this is all
dear, let’s go to the cashier.”

I could hardly contain myself when I blurted out, “No honey, I don’t feel like it.”

Her face just went completely blank as her jaw dropped with a baffled, “WHAT?”

I then said, “Honey! I just want you to HOLD this stuff for a while. You’re just not in touch with my financial needs as a man enough for me to satisfy your shopping needs as a woman.”

And just when she had this look like she was going to kill me, I added, “Why can’t you just love me for who I am and not for the things I buy you?”

Apparently I’m not having sex tonight either… but at least that bitch knows I’m smarter than her.

Note: I stumbled into this anecdote on a forum that I don’t even remember, and I thought it would be a great filler. I hope you enjoyed it!

A couple of weeks passed and I didn’t hear any update from Sedo. Then I started thinking, “What happens if the buyer doesn’t pay?”. I’ve had encounters with time wasters on some of the domaining forums, but there are no formal or legally binding contracts for domain transactions on those forums, so there’s really not much that you can do. You get to scratch your head and mutter curses to an unresponsive screen — that’s the closest thing to compensation that you could get. But this was Sedo, possibly the biggest domain auction house on the Internet!

I decided to contact Sedo — surely a thousand bucks is worth more than one email message. I didn’t get any reply though. They usually reply within a day or two, but not this time. I checked the Sedo contract again, but it didn’t say anything about what happens if the buyer does not pay — whether Sedo will twist his arm and make him cough up the money that he promised to pay when he placed his bid. Nothing. The only clause that was remotely related was this:

Payment must be remmited (sic) to Sedo with five (5) business days from the creation of the payment request.

It didn’t say what happens if the buyer doesn’t pay within five business days. Maybe Sedo doesn’t want to think about that part.

Anyway, I needed confirmation if I was still legally bound to sell considering that the buyer had obviously defaulted on his payment. Since I wasn’t getting any reply from Sedo, I decided to contact a Sedo employee who lurks on one of the domaining forums that I frequent. I got a reply within an hour. He wrote:

The buyer has five days to confirm payment has been sent and then the seller can choose to cancel.

That was my way out of the contract. I wasn’t happy that my domain didn’t sell as I thought it did, but I was glad to have found closure on this issue. A few hours after I got the answer from the Sedo guy on the forum, I finally received an official reply from Sedo:

Unfortunately we have had no choice but to cancel the transfer for this domain name. Despite repeated emails and contact attempts the buyer has failed to make payment for this domain.

The contract in place for this transaction is legally binding. Should you wish to pursue legal action, the buyer's applicable contact details have been made available for your viewing. You will now find them on the contract for this transaction within your Sedo account.

I’d wasted enough time on this buyer, so I didn’t even think about whether I should pursue legal action. It was a lesson learned: A domain isn’t sold until you actually receive the payment, regardless of where you sell it.

One week after this all happened, I received an email message from a guy who made an offer on the same domain a few months back. He was asked if I had decided on the selling price for the domain. I said yes and asked for 150% of the winning bid on Sedo, plus Escrow.com fee. He agreed. So I was able to sell the domain for more and all is well.

I went straight back to what I was doing before — updating a not-so-usable user guide using Adobe FrameMaker. When I tried to update the cross-references in the user guide, I got an error message that the book could not be updated because Arial Black was missing. (Yes, we’re using Arial Black in our template. At least it’s not Comic Sans.) Arial Black is part of the default font pack that is installed with Windows, so I was pretty sure I had it on my computer. Wanting to be sure, I checked C:\WINDOWS\Fonts and verified that the Arial Black font file (ariblk.ttf) was indeed there.

It could only be SP3 that caused this, I thought, so I did some digging. True enough, a few other people were encountering the same issue and were posting on the Microsoft forums. Apparently, SP3 installs new versions of some of the font files, including Arial Black, Impact, and Tahoma. The new version of the Arial Black font file has some problems, which is why I and some other people were getting error messages on the various applications that we were using. Some people reported that Arial Black looked “weird” in Microsoft Word, while others who were working with Web pages said that Arial Black bold appeared as italicized.

Regardless of the symptoms, there is only one quick fix — replace the problem font file. Get a copy of the old Arial Black font file and replace the one that is currently in C:\WINDOWS\Fonts. Here are the steps:

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Go to C:\WINDOWS\$NtServicePackUninstall$.
3. Look for ariblk.ttf (with the timestamp 8/4/2004 6:00 PM).
4. Copy it, and then paste it in C:\WINDOWS\Fonts. This will replace the new Arial Black font file (with timestamp 1/2/2007 8:00 PM).

That’s it. Problem solved. Arial Black should now appear as it should — ugly.

The old Arial Black font file has the timestamp 8/4/2004 6:00 PM.

It’s getting boring to explain the steps again and again. And telling them to go to www.justfuckinggoogleit.com for instructions doesn’t work (one guy actually came back to me and said, “I couldn’t find any information on www.justfuckinggoogleit.com). So I’ve decided to just post the instructions here.

NOTE: The easiest way to create a Go Daddy account is to purchase a domain name from them. Before you can check out and pay, the domain registration process will prompt you for your personal information and create an account for you.

To create a Go Daddy account

1. Open your Web browser, and then go to GoDaddy.com.
2. On the right side of the page, click the Create a New Account link (right below the logon box). The Create A New Customer Account page appears. Too lazy? Just click here then.
3. Under Enter Your Contact Information, fill in the text boxes that are marked with an asterisk (*). The asterisk indicates required information.
4. Under Stay Informed, indicate whether you want to receive promo and announcement email messages from Go Daddy. If you do not want to receive these types of email messages, click No for all the options in this box.
5. Click Create a New Account.

The form refreshes and automatically logs you on to the GoDaddy.com Web site. You may now start purchasing Go Daddy products.

You should also receive an email confirmation from Go Daddy (at the email address you specified when you created your account), with your Go Daddy customer number. Record this number and keep it in a safe place. You can use your customer number (as an alternative to your logon name) to log on to the Go Daddy Web site.

Before, I didn’t really think much about how much PayPal charges for every transaction that I process through them. However, after a year or so of doing business online, I realized that I’ve already paid PayPal a few thousand bucks. It’s not that PayPal doesn’t deserve the transaction fee that I am paying them to receive money — it’s just that I’d be happier if I am paying less. If you feel the same, then today is a happy day for both of us because I just found a way to receive money via PayPal for free. It’s called PayPal Mass Payment.

What is Mass Payment?
Mass Payment allows a PayPal account holder to send payments to multiple recipients payments instantly. It’s primarily designed for ‘non-sales’ related payments, such as affiliate commissions, rebates, prizes, and incentives.

What’s so good about Mass Payment?
If you’re the recipient, you pay no fees. That’s right, it’s free. Compare that with the regular PayPal payment method where you — the recipient — has to shoulder the transaction fee.

If the recipient doesn’t pay the transaction fee, who does?
The sender does. The transaction fee is very low for Mass Payment. It’s 2.0% of the payment amount, with a cap (maximum fee) of $1.00.

I bought a domain name for $335 and used Mass Payment to send my payment. Yes, I had to pay $1.00 for transaction fee, but it saved my seller around $13.00, which made him quite happy.

What do I need to use Mass Payment?
If you’re the sender, you need a Premier or Business PayPal account to be able to use Mass Payment. You also need an ounce of patience as sending payment using this method requires some work.

Is there anything else that I need to know?
There’s just one downside to using Mass Payment — no buyer (sender) protection. Unlike the regular payment method in which the buyer can reverse the payment or do a chargeback (after, for example, receiving a faulty product), Mass Payment offers no protection for the sending party. No worries though if you are sending the payment to a trustworthy recipient.

To learn more about the steps for sending Mass Payment, visit the PayPal Web site.

This email is to confirm the recent change of registrant of the following domain name(s):

SOME-DOMAIN-NAME.COM

The change has been completed and the available information has been recorded in our system. If for any reason this information is incorrect or you feel this change of registrant request was made in error, please contact us within 15 days at undo@godaddy.com.

Sincerely,

GoDaddy.com, Inc.

Take note of the sentence that I underlined in the email message, especially the “If for any reason…” part. This particular clause, and the sentence in its entirety, sort of gave me an assurance that if something goes wrong with my domain transaction, I can easily reverse the domain transfer and get my domain back. By “wrong”, I am referring to, for example, the domain buyer reversing the PayPal payment. Because of this “assurance”, I transferred domain names to buyers even before they sent payment, confident that I would get my domain back if they don’t pay.

One day, a guy bought a few domains from me for a couple of hundred bucks. I transferred the domain names to his account as soon as I received confirmation that he had sent his payment via PayPal. Ten minutes after he completed the domain transfer, I received an email message from PayPal informing me that the buyer had reversed the payment. Bah, I said to myself. No problem; I’ll explain the situation to good old Go Daddy and I was sure I’d get my domains back.

So I emailed undo@godaddy.com and explained the situation. Six hours later, I received the following reply:

Hello,

Your emails have been received and forwarded to us for review. After investigating the domain name(s) SOME-DOMAIN-NAME.COM we have determined that the changes were made by an authorized party (a party that had access to the customer account). As such, we cannot assist you with the changes made to the domains.

Any disputes over the ownership or wording of the domain name(s) itself will need to be sent either to the registrant, through an arbitration forum such as World Intellectual Property Organization (http://www.wipo.int), or the local court system. Per ICANN regulations, domain registrars are prohibited from becoming involved in domain ownership disputes. Should you decide to proceed and initiate a legal dispute against the registrant of the domain(s), please send a copy of the filed and stamped complaint to domaindisputes@godaddy.com.

Thank you,
Undo Department

So what the frack happened to “If for any reason this information is incorrect or you feel this change of registrant request was made in error…”? I strongly felt that this was made in error because the buyer reversed the payment!

I emailed them back and suggested that they remove that particular clause or the entire sentence from their transfer confirmation email — because it gives the false impression that we still can get out domains back if something goes wrong with the transaction. Guess what they said… NOTHING. The same sentence is still in the transfer confirmation email, still giving domainers the same false assurance.

So is it possible to undo a Go Daddy transfer after the transfer process is completed? Yes, of course — in your dreams.

So what does this mean to users? As with almost everything else, there are two things - benefits and drawbacks.

Benefits: The new process makes the entire transfer process faster and eliminates the need for the new registrant to provide personal details to the current registrant so that the latter could initiate the domain transfer. Now all the current registrant needs to provide are the Go Daddy customer number or login name and the email address that is associated with account.

Drawback: The new registrant needs to create a GoDaddy.com account first before the current registrant can initiate the transfer. Previously, if you do not have a Go Daddy account when a domain is transferred to you, the transfer process will automatically create an account for you.

So is it better than the previous process? You be the judge. Here are the steps for initiating a domain transfer using the new Go Daddy process:

1. Visit GoDaddy.com, and then log on to your account.
2. On the menu, click Domains > My Domains. The Domain Manager screen appears and displays the domain names in your Go Daddy account.
3. Find the domain name that you want to transfer, and then select the check box next to it. If you have more than 100 domain names in your account, you may need to use the Search function to find the domain that you want to transfer.
4. After you select the check box for the domain, click Account Change. The Initiate Account Change screen appears.
5. In New registrant’s Customer # or login name, type the Go Daddy customer number or login name of the person to whom you want to transfer the domain (new registrant).
6. In New registrant’s email, type the new registrant’s email address. This email address must be currently associated with the new registrant’s Go Daddy account.
7. In Confirm email, type the same email address that you typed in the previous step.
8. Click Next.
   
9. On the page that appears, select the two check boxes. One check box is for the Domain Name Change of Registrant Agreement and the other is for the (nonsensical and controversial) 60-day non-transfer agreement.
10. Click Next, and then click Finish.

You have completed initiating a domain name transfer. You will receive an email from Go Daddy shortly with the subject “Change of Registrant Initiated”. The new registrant will also receive an email from Go Daddy with instructions on how to complete the transfer.

There is a thought that comes to me sometimes as I sit by my window in the evening, listening to the young men’s guitars, and watching the shadows deepen on the long hills, the hills of my native land.

You know, we are a remarkably poor people; poor not only in material goods, but even in the riches of the spirit. I doubt we can claim to possess a truly national literature. No Shakespeare, no Cervantes has yet been born among us to touch with immortality that which is in our landscape, in our customs, in our story, that which is most original, most ourselves. If we must give currency to our thoughts, we are forced to mint them in the coinage of a foreign tongue, for we do not even have a common language.

But poor as we are, we yet have something. This pauper among the nations of the earth hides two jewels in her rags. One of them is our music. We are sundered one from another by eighty-seven dialects; we are one people when we sing. The kundimans of Bulacan awaken an answering chord in the lutes of Leyte. Somewhere in the rugged north, a peasant woman croons her child to sleep; and the Visayan listening remembers the cane fields of his childhood, and his mother singing the self-same song.

We are again one people when we pray. This is our other treasure; our Faith. It gives somehow, to our little uneventful days, a kind of splendor; as though they had been touched by a king. And did you ever notice how they are always mingling, our religion and our music? All the basic rites of human life – the harvest and the seed time, the wedding, birth and death – are among us, drenched with the fragrance and the coolness of music.

These are the bonds that bind us together; these are the souls that make us one. And as long as there remains in these islands one mother to sing Nena’s lullaby, one boat to put out to sea with the immemorial rowing song, one priest to stand at the altar and offer God to God, the nation may be conquered, trampled upon, enslaved, but it cannot perish. Like the sun that dies every evening it will rise again from the dead.

———-

While I’m still in the process of setting up shop, I thought I’d post something for the few who stumble upon this site while it’s still a mess. The following is an essay written by a Jesuit priest named Horacio V. De la Costa. “Of the Society of Jesus,” that we had to say whenever we delivered this as an oratorical piece. Yes, we had to memorize this back in high school, courtesy of Fr. Rene Repole, S.J.

Despite the fact that I hated doing things for academic rewards, I actually enjoyed memorizing this one. This is one of several pieces of prose and poetry that survived my prodigal university days and that I still remember after more than twenty years.

To Father Pops, thank you for being my John Keating in high school. I’ll see you when I’m back home. It’s been too long. And this piece only makes the memory of Inang Bayan more poignant.

Alam mo, maraming lumapit sa akin, nagkagusto, naakit. Sikat ka sa lahat, virgin eh! Tinanggap ko naman silang tao, bakit kaya nila ako ginago? Masakit alalahanin, iniisip ko na lang na kase di sila taga rito, siguro talagang ganoon. Tatlong malilibog na foreigners ang namyesta sa katawan ko, na-rape daw ako?

Sa tatlong beses akong nagahasa, ang pinakahuli ang di ko makakalimutan. Parang maski di ko ginusto ang mga nangyari, hinahanap-hanap ko siya. Tinulungan nya kasi akong makalimutan yung mga sadistang Hapon at Kastilaloy. Kase, ibang-iba ang hagod niya. Umiikot ang mundo ko sa tuwing ginagamit niya ako. Ibang klase siya mag-sorry, lalo pa at kinupkop niya ako at ang mga naging anak ko.

Parating ang dami naming regalo - may chocolates, yosi, at ano ka… may datung pa! Nakakabaliw siya, alam kong ginagamit nya lang ako pero pagamit naman ako nang pagamit. Sa kanya namin natutunan mag-Ingles, di lang magsulat ha! Magbasa pa! Hanggang ngayon, sa tuwing mabigat ang problema ko, siya ang tinatakbuhan ko. ‘Yun nga lang, lahat ng bagay may kapalit. Nung kinasama ko siya, guminhawa buhay namin. Sosyal na sosyal kami. Ewan ko nga ba, akala ko napapamahal na ako sa kanya. Akala ko tuloy-tuloy na kaligayahan namin, yun pala unti-unti niya akong pinapatay. P*** ng I**!

Sa dami ng lason na sinaksak niya sa katawan ko, muntik na akong malaspag. Ang daming nagsabi na ang tanga tanga ko. Patalsikin ko na daw. Sa tulong ng mga anak ko, napalayas ko ang animal pero ang hirap magsimula.

Masyado na kaming nasanay sa sarap ng buhay na naranasan namin sa kanya. Lubog na lubog pa kami sa utang, kulang ata pati kaluluwa namin para ibayad sa mga inutang namin. Sinikap naming lahat maging maganda ang buhay namin. Ayun, mga nasa Japan, Hong Kong, Saudi ang mga anak ko. Yung iba nag-US, Europe. Yung iba ayaw umalis sa akin. Halos lahat, wala naman silbi, masaya daw sa piling ko, maski amoy usok ako.

Sa dami ng mga anak ko na nagsisikap na tulungan ang kalagayan namin, siya din ang dami ng mga anak ko na nananamantala sa kabuhayan at kayaman na itinatabi ko para sa punyetang kinabukasan naming lahat. Dumating ang panahon na di na kami halos makaahon sa hirap ng buhay. Napakahirap dahil nasanay na kami sa ginhawa at sarap.

Ang di ko inaakala ay mismong mga anak ko, ang tuluyang sisira sa akin. Napakasakit tanggapin na malinlang. Akala ko ay makakakita ako ng magiging kasama sa buhay sa mga ahas na ipinakilala ng mga anak ko. Hindi pala. Ang tanga ko talaga. Binugaw ako ng sarili kong mga anak kapalit ng kwarta at pansamantalang ginhawa na nais nilang matamasa. Wala na akong nagawa dahil sa sobrang pagmamahal ko sa aking mga anak. Wala akong ibang yaman kundi ganda ko. Pinagamit ko na lang ng pinagamit ang sarili ko, basta maginhawa lang ang mga anak ko.

Usap-usapan ako ng mga kapitbahay ko. May nanghihinayang, namumuhi at naaawa. Puta na kase ang isang magandang tulad ko.

Alam mo, gusto ko na sanang tumigil sa pagpuputa kaso ang laki talaga ng letseng utang ko eh. Palaki pa ng palaki. Kulang na kulang. Paano na lang ang mga anak ko naiwan sa aking punyetang puder? Baka di na ako balikan o bisitahin ng mga nag-abroad kong mga anak. Hindi na importante kung laspagin man ang ganda ko, madama ko lang ang pagmamahal ng mga anak ko. Malaman nila na gagawin ko ang lahat para sa kanila.

Sa tuwing titingin ako sa salamin, alam ko maganda pa rin ako. Meron pa din ang bilib sa akin. Napapag usapan pa din. Sa tuwing nakikita ko ang mukha ko sa salamin, nakikita ko ang mga anak ko. Tutulo na lang ang mga luha ko ng di ko namamalayan. Ang gagaling nga ng mga anak ko, namamayagpag kahit saan sila pumunta. Mahusay sa kahit anong gawin. Tama man o mali. Proud ako sa kanila. Kaso sila, kabaligtaran ang nararamdaman para sa akin.

Sa dami ng mga anak ko, iilan lang ang may malasakit sa akin. May malasakit man, nahihilaw. Ni di nga ako kinikilalang ina. Halos lahat sila galit sa isa’t isa. Walang gusto magtulungan, naghihilahan pa. Ang dami ko ng pasakit na tiniis pero walang sasakit pa nung sarili kong mga anak ang nagbugaw sa akin. Kinapital ang laspag na ganda ko. Masyado silang nasanay sa sarap ng buhay. Minsan sa pagtingin ko sa salamin, ni hindi ko na nga kilala ang sarili ko.

Dadating na naman ang pasko, sana maalala naman ako ng mga anak ko. Ilang buwan pa, magbabagong taon na. Natatakot ako sa taong darating. Ngayon pa lang usap usapan na ang susunod na pagbubugaw ng ilan sa mga anak ko. Sana may magtanggol naman sa akin, ipaglaban naman nila ako. Gusto kong isigaw, “Ina ninyo ako! Mahalin nyo naman ako!”

Salamat ha at pinakinggan mo ako.

Ay sorry, di ko pala nasabi… Pilipinas nga pala ang pangalan ko.

———

This was forwarded to me via email. I don’t know who wrote this piece. If you are the author, you deserve an award (or at least a bottle of beer). Get in touch, drinks are on me. Sky Flakes is the limit.