One word, epic… It was simply epic.

I’ve not only enjoined company from fellow Davao Bloggers and fellow Bloggers from Mindanao, but have learned a lot from all the outstanding speakers at the event. I’ll speak more on that later on, though.

It was a perfect affair for me, it was also the first event that I have attended with my fellow Pinoy Teens colleague and girlfriend, Princess Salan. Making it even more special.

BlogFest 2.0 was definitely a special event for her, because it was her first ever major blogging event. Lucky, her debut in the blogging scene happened in General Santos City!

On Philippine Blog Awards – Mindanao

I’m very happy that Faust and Olan from GeekyFaust.info and TheTravelTeller.com have won in their respective categories at the Philippine Blog Awards – Mindanao. They truly deserve the recognition for all their hard work and dedication; this goes out to all other nominees and winners from Mindanao!

On Philippine Blog Awards – National

Pinoy Teens has been nominated in two categories, the Readers and Bloggers Choice category at the Philippine Blog Awards 2011 – National. It makes me feel happy and has definitely boosted my motivation. It doesn’t look though as if Pinoy Teens is going to win anything in the nationwide scene just yet, maybe next year or so… but still, I’m very happy about it that we’ve passed the screening and are one of the finalists in those categories.

Thanks to everyone who believes in Pinoy Teens and has voted for Pinoy Teens.

Paramihan ng Likes for Readers Choice Award?

One thing that I can’t understand is the mechanics to vote for your favorite blog in the Readers Choice Award. I know, I’m not the only one who’s going to react on this, but this certainly doesn’t seem right. This doesn’t count for only the PBA nomination but for various other contest that have been going on at Facebook in the past. In my experience, whoever gets away with the most number of likes isn’t the one who is most preferred by readers.. but the one who campaigns best among their friends.

Indeed, I’m also promoting my entry to all my friends and colleagues as well. But this criteria for future “Readers Choice Awards” needs to change.

I think it’s best if next time, it won’t be based on likes, but on some certain criteria, like who has the most active readership (based on comments) on their most recent articles or so, or maybe based on how often certain articles have been shared or on how active ones blog has been over all and the average comments per article from one set date to another (Jan 2011 – Dec 2011, to avoid giving established blogs with thousands of comments an advantage like mine would have then).

Of course I’ll go with the flow and play the game with the most likes no matter how it’ll end up, but like I said above, it won’t be the one with the most outstanding readership that’ll win, but the one who campaigns best among their friends.

Disclaimer: I’m aware that one of my friends has also been nominated for the Readers Choice Award. But I just have to get this word out, because it’s so wrong, I already wrote about this in other contest, too.

No doubt, Windows 7 is a great Operating System. But I just can’t stand it from some reasons. The main reason, like I mentioned above are the fans that are very noisy when I’m on my Laptop that, even for the lightest tasks. Example of that would be playing songs on iTunes.

It would get even more annoying (and hot) whenever I’d have 3-5 browser tabs open in Safari, Firefox or Chrome. It’s a real pain in the ass! Yet the question is…

How come I’m stuck with Windows?

Alright. There was this awesome app, that would help me undervolt my Macbook Pro. It enabled my laptop to be last longer when away from power source and also made it run cooler overall. Come OS Lion, I had to fiddle around with the Kernel to get the app working again. Indeed, it was no good idea and you can blame it all down to me, but still..

10.7.1 killed me.

Come the first update for Lion. Guess what? I immediately upgraded to it. The moment the Macbook Pro rebooted I was greeted with a Kernel Panic right away, even if I’d try to boot into safe mode.

To put me in a more complicated situation, my DVD Drive stopped working. Had to scratch the idea of reinstalling Snow Leopard with the CD that came along with my Mac.

That ain’t the end of my story yet.

I already tried Remote Install from my colleague’s Macbook Pro but still to no avail of having my problem fixed. I’ve really become hopeless about my case. So hopeless that I decided to ultimately kill off the stubborn OSX partition on my laptop and use it as a backup/media handler for my Windows life at the moment.

There’s one last method that I’ll try to do tomorrow. That would be attempting to access the DVD Drive of another Mac via firewire (Target Disk Mode). If that shall fail as well.. then, well.. Hello Windows! You’ve got me at last!

On top of all these woes I’m going through at the moment, another issue has found its way to me to make my special case even more worse.

I can’t use Powerpoint. Whenever I’d click any symbol on my keyboard it would exit. That’s it.

I have an upcoming Software Freedom Day talk about WordPress on the 17th of September. I need to get my presentation going and have found myself stuck with JoliCloud and Google Docs as I write this very post.

JoliCloud seems to be pretty neat but still cranks my fans up like hell… Ohwell, there you have it, my bitter sweet dilemma at the moment.

PS: Damn. I’m missing my sleek Snow Leopard / Lion system. </3

I’m very sleepy right now. I tis around 7:30 in the morning here in Davao, yet, there’s this one person who has already made my day before it even begun. Well, my day usually starts around 11:30 in the morning after I get some rest -which should actually be done during the night, I know-.

I went on adding spree last night, adding people specifically from Davao City Philippines, Muenster Germany and Rome Italy. Then, suddenly this little girl popped up on my notifications who has accept my add request, and therefore added me as one of her friends, too.

Now, I was in a decent, happy mood when I headed over to her wall and wrote a little note, thanking her for the add. Well, she did indeed add to one of her friends, didn’t she? Now, she gets back on me and says that I’m full of air, boastful or whatever you want to name it. It sounds very bad to my ear and it reads very bad in front of my eyes. Especially in this situation wherein all I wanted to do is show my appreciation to someone who accepted my friend request and therefore added me to one of her friends.

It makes me laugh and very sad at the same time. How can people be this dumb nowadays?

I’ll not be taking sides, but it’s very clear to see who is at fault. Basing ones blog quality just on statistics is very petty. Blog Stats is just one thing, readership another, earnings yet another story and there are yet many other factors and criteria that I could name that may be important for one blog, and less important for the other.

Yet they’ve chosen to base it on the Alexa Ranking System. And the article shows very favorable demographs in favor of their own site, I mean, who wants to put stats out that paves you out of the spotlight? If you’d take a second look at the stats, you’ll see the real deal and the naked truth behind the strong words.

So, let’s have a second look, shall we?

Daily Page Views

I’m sorry to burst someones bubble, (I just really hate to be misinformed), but it looks like the least popular blog is clearly seen with the daily page views statistics alone. Does your Pageviews per User helped you in garnering the MOST pageviews? I don’t think so.

Meaning, you may have more pageviews per user (well it’s a Group Blog, people!), it doesn’t means that you’ve got the most pageviews all in all.

Again something that wasn’t posted on the bashing blog. Their readers must be very misinformed, but after all, the headline says it that they are very biased. And the stats also show that for the second time in the row they don’t really favor the blog in question.

(good to see us climbing up the ladder by the way)

The Biggest Blow is Yet to Come

Now, where’s the blog again who called the runner up infamous?

I hope that bloggers, not only from Barrio Siete will take something from this article. Stats are just mere stats. And stats alone. But it doesn’t mean that you can skip some of them. If you analyze something, or say, compare something, please include the whole package. Okay, I leave it to them that they are biased, still, I’d expected more from them than just a trickery post.

I don’t mind stats, and I’m sure Mo doesn’t mind them too. But he’s way on top at a rank within the 100k zone.

Blogging isn’t about stats, nor is it about money or anything you benefit from. I’m seeing blogging from a perspective of just having fun. I used to be a stat-geek, but not anymore, I have learned my lessons from it that it can be pretty boring to base your position in the blogger world on stats alone.

Every blog has an advantage and disadvantage over another. And we cannot compare them by looking at numbers, especially when they are of vast difference. I wonder how come they call themselves bloggers when they didn’t realize this. And not to forget, when they don’t know how to use Alexa the right way.

ps: (by Princess) Mo’s blog got more comments. That, kung titingnan mong maigi ang mga nag-comment dun. Various people. On the other hand we have a blog in which the author is defending him/herself by almost every comment posted by others.

I can’t say that I enjoyed being an iPod Touch User if I did not jailbreak it. There are just too many restrictions on the device itself. You can’t do this, you can’t do that. You can’t run this and you can’t run that. Everything has to go throw Apple’s gate, and everything that they won’t really benefit something from – or may be to their disadvantage, will never land on any of these devices I’m talking about (iPhone/iPad/iPod).

Apple is going for the big fish with their iPad product. They want the mainstream consumer market who use their laptops/netbooks/desktops merely for personal entertainment or some other -not so geeky- stuff. The iPad is going to amaze them, for sure, and I bet a lot of people -including me before I thought about this and read an related article- were starting to put aside some money to get one of them.

I feel enlightened after reading the post I linked to above. It makes me feel very foolish to have believed that the iPad is going to be a awesome replacement for today’s netbooks in the near future -but it’s not.

It is just another money making machine for Apple. With the launch of the Online Book Store, the already established App Store and iTunes Store; Apple can make heck lot of money from the iPad and their future users, as you have to PAY for ANYTHING that is GOOD since crap applications are most of the time, free. I don’t want to be one of the people chained to Apple and their stupid Stores (Book/iTunes/App).

Do you?

I just can’t think of the digital world dominated by Apple and their stupid online stores from which only they benefit from. I’m very much happy how the internet and the digital world works at present, as I can say that at least, the MACs are able to run free software like any other operating system. But I fear the day will come, that the iPad will replace the freedom, and their users come to pay the price and look back…

Apple has indeed created a breakthrough product which has doomed the freedom of computing… forever.

Pinoy Teens indeed has been a shocker for me in the past couple of days, weeks almost extending to a month of very bad Search Engine Performance in all aspects for all its major keywords, but that shall not halt me me from continuing something that I really love doing, chasing people ahead of me and nailing them for whatever they think they’re great and good at. I believe that violence does not deal well with violence and that throwing stones at each other won’t be of great help either, let’s see if I still have to SEO guts and the inspiration to release post after post and earn money again, and most importantly, inform, educate and entertain.

I’ll be back blogging for ten reasons that I’ll be sharing with you below, and heck, you’ll gonna be shocked about the real truth behind them:

1. Get a blog with 5,000 visitors per day again from the poor 1,000 per day performance of Pinoy Teens
2. Improve Pinoy Teens further
3. Let Teen Philippines get exposed to the public at replace Pinoy Teens once and for all.
4. Earn money to support my mother in Cebu City
5. Earn money in order to purchase plane tickets to Germany where I’ll be heading to by the end of this year
6. To educate
7. To Entertain
8. To Inform
9. Because it’s my hobby
10. and because I love to blog.

I’ll see you soon in the SERPS.

Months back when I still had my old girl friend. I felt secure about my life. Assured that everything would go right. I felt the way that I have

On his way to school

 never felt since then, backed up by someone I know would never leave my side no matter what happens and no matter what state in life I’m in. She came when I needed someone the most. Not specifically love, but a shoulder to lean on. Her arrival was exactly when I was on the downside of my early years here in the Philippines, when my innocent mind has fooled around and led to my repition of a whole year in high school during my junior years. Yes, I repeated because of my addiction to computer games.

My longingness for something that I could not define nor find anywhere, until she, the bright shining star came along. She lived across bodies of water back in Metro Manila; while I resided and still breathe from Davao City, Philippines. It was merely impossible and despicable to continue such a relationship and have it going for almost two years.

The day came in late 2008 when I messed up our relationship. It came to a blurry ending with no official breakup. We parted ways because of my foolishness and the interferance of my friends. I didn’t know back then what I was doing, but only knew that I wanted to led go of her so badly that I just stopped communicating with her in a sudden, stopped thinking of her, stopped talking about her and stopped anything and everything in relation to her.

I found love with someone new then, someone from my town. I loved her more than I’ve used to love myself again. But I experienced something classified as a Karma. She fooled me not just once, not just twice, inclusive an in the face denial that she has a relationship with me. Or something considerably labled as “landian” act with one of my closest friends.

It’s just one of the many problems and things that are bugging my mind right now and driving me insane. I feel like I’m such a looser. I mistake the good with the bad and live a unfortunate life. I always draw the shorter in whatever aspect you’d like to take it. My real mother is far away from me, livining in Cebu. I haven’t met her since a couple of years now and talking to her is only applicable in my dreams, I’ve spent less than five minutes these past five years in talking with her on the phone. Could you imagine that? And I haven’t met her since 7 years or so.

My life is so loopsided that I always play the blacksheep, the unlucky pal, the one being abused. I have been passing this characteristics onward to the people that I love. I have hurt many, and it comes back to me in multiple forms. Even when I tried to place a good shot.

Not only does failure reigns in the department of love and relationships with the people around me, but like stated above in academic aspects as well. But have I mentioned already how abused I am by the people around me who only take, take and take, but never return a thing?

There are a lot of events that I could label that suggest that I’m destined to be always the second option in someone’s heart, always the second option when someone needs accompaniment, and always the first, when there’s no one else around. The only few persons in the whole wide world that make me feel special are my girl friend, a close friend of mine, a special friend and my best friend. I could include the names of parents as well but that is really common sense…to be continued..

I cannot agree with that idea that I have on my mind right now. But certain people would be pleased with that definition of love, defining love as something that blinds us from the truth. But what is that truth that I am talking about?

I might be talking too much for some, while for the other people, this is pretty self explanatory, an issue caused by a unhealthy relationship just like stated in my other blog might give you more insights about it. But who cares about this anyway? For all that I want to share here, is that I believe to a certain degree that love is blind.

I might not stand pro for that statement this very moment, since I have a healthy relationship with someone. But, sooner or later just like everybody else, the day will come that I can see with my eyes, the naked reality, of being fooled and left on track again.

For more insights about If Love is Blind, visit Pinoy Teens.

We have discussed a lot of aspects and have come to an uncertain conclusion with our small community on Plurk, but one thing is for sure, we cannot leave one thing out or the other, might one not be a rational reason for the Flash Flood, while the other might be a more scientific explanation why the water level rose to such unexpected height that it has caused a lot of damage to the people in Cagayan de Oro and it’s nearby locations.

Help was little, some people say, but I’m happy that some help was indeed present and that was made real by Chiq Montes and her dedicated Feeding Progam for the needy ones in, specifically, Cagayan de Oro.

The waters are drained and slowly backing off, the weather is looking good and it looks like there’s a rainbow after the rain. But again, it’s now time to find out, the Cagayan de Oro Flash Flood Causes.

People are searching about ME for a couple of days now, and yes, even I can’t believe it. But here’s the proof about it.

I was able to text with some of those who were searching the world wide web about me and eventually stumbled upon my mobile number on my not very informative Biography which I’ll edit soon.

It’s really crazy and stupid as well, I wonder how a teacher has come to the idea to task his students to look for more information about a Teen Blogger like me. Could it be the enormous success of reaching tenth among the new blogs in Ratified?

Or is it simply just the Main Blog itself? Whether I like it or not, I can’t savor those moments anymore because, just like I have said earlier, I’m not part of the writing crew anymore.

However, if this trend continues, I might get inspired and open up a blog for beginners to blogging and WordPress and have a brand new start from there. Even if that looks to be a lot more effort-costing than the transition from Pinoy Teens to Teen Philippines, which ended up nowhere.

If in case, one of those people searching about ME on the net right now is reading this, would you mind to leave some comments?