A $35 Computer anyone?

I just discovered Raspberry Pi, a tiny one board computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. The computer cost a startling $35!

According to the the Rasberry Pi:

"The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It’s a capable little PC which can be used for many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video. We want to see it being used by kids all over the world to learn programming."


This product is so hot that the first batch of availability was sold out in just one day. Back order will take as much as 2-3 months. I just ordered mine and I won't get it till July. 


Oh and of course it runs Linux! I can just imagine how the Open Source Community will take this little Gizmo to the max. For me am thinking one RaspBerry Pi per kids.

Home Alone

My 2 Kids are back to college, spring break is over. Nadire though has another week to burn and she's spending her last free week in L.A.

I just did a prank on one of my tech co-worker by sending an email/text that some of our servers are experiencing BSD after he did a patch. After a few emails/text back and forth i finally told him I was just messing up with him. Poor guy had a huge panic attack. Did i mention he just join our team 3 months ago?

After the excitement and being home alone  I feel like taking off the old record off the shelf (Nadire warned me not to do this). or maybe just trash the place like this.

Happy 1st!

Jessica who?

Last week as I was driving Nadire to school, she suddenly asked me if I know Jessica. I was a bit startled (I was half awake as it was early in the morning). "Jessica who?", I asked.

"Jessica Sanchez, the Filipino finalist from American Idol, she said". I turned to her and asked sleepily, "did you ever see me watched American Idol?". "No!", she answered back. "Then I don't know her", I answered.

"well am just asking because she's from here (Chula Vista) and she's the cousin of my classmate", she said smiling. I looked at her in disbelief.

That night I decided to look her up as I was curious. There was a couple of videos of her but I picked the video with her singing "I will always love you" (check out the ending!). This girl really hit every notes.

Well what do you know, a star in our own "back yard". Too bad she listed her hometown as San Diego CA. Jessica should be proud of her hometown. After all it's a great place to live...

Aemes at 17

Today marks Veronica Aemes Nicolle Bringas' 17th death anniversary. I am reviving my blog to keep her alive in this world.

I miss you Aemes...

Plain Donuts

Today is the start of a long and complex system testing for our next major upgrade. The upgrade is an important component to make our system MU (Meaningful Use) Compliant.

It is so critical that I was asked not to leave for the Philippines this April to support the technical side of things.  My only consolation, unlimited supply of plain donuts.

Configure Linux Bind to Answer Active Directory Services

Ever wonder how to mix and match Linux and Windows in the same network environment? Here's a quick DNS entry using BIND (DNS Server) on Linux to interact with Microsoft's Active Directory. Works like a charm. Following needs to be added on your zone file:

_ldap._tcp.DOMAIN.COM. SRV 0 0 389 DCHOSTNAME.DOMAIN.COM.
_kerberos._tcp.DOMAIN.COM. SRV 0 0 88 DCHOSTNAME.DOMAIN.COM.
_ldap._tcp.dc._msdcs.DOMAIN.COM. SRV 0 0 389 DCHOSTNAME.DOMAIN.COM.
_kerberos._tcp.dc._msdcs.DOMAIN.COM. SRV 0 0 88 DCHOSTNAME.DOMAIN.COM.

Do schools kill creativity?

Ever since I heard Sir Ken Robinson spoke during our Company's Staff Assembly, his words stucked in my head. Aside from having a great sense o humor, he speak very eloquently. He said "the reason why we don't get the best out of people, is because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers.

In his thoughts about Bringing on the Learning Revolution he said:

Current systems of education are based on the manufacturing principles of linearity, conformity and standardization. The evidence is everywhere that they are failing too many students and teachers alike. A primary reason is that human development is not linear and standardized, it is organic and diverse. People, as opposed to products, have hopes and aspirations, feelings and purposes. Education is a personal process. What and how young people are taught have to engage their energies, imaginations and their different ways of learning.

I myself hates standardization and rigid rules which I think stifles innovation. Watch it for your self and you may agree.

Patient Care

I spent my weekend working to improve patient care through the use of technology in a foreign land. I hope I would have a chance to make it useful where it needed the most...back home.

My NBA starters and De Niro

Though it was raining at times, it's a great weekend after all.  Met with Maya (after 30 years) and her friend, caught up with my laundry, clean the house (just some parts of it). But my weekend was mostly spent watching the NBA All Stars (wearing my Dwight Howard jerseys) with the kids. We love basketball (it's ironic we are in a city without an NBA team). Of course I provided the food and Deirdre provided interesting NBA trivia.

One question Deirdre asked me, "If you get a chance to pick for starting line up, who would it be?". I said, Dwight Howard definitely would be patrolling the center. Charles Barkley will be a strong presence at the block, Larry Bird will be raining those threes,  Michael Jordan taking the one on one situation and finally Steve Nash dishing pin point passes and playing the pick-and-roll with either Barkley or Howard for the Jam!

Of course it's just a fantasy... now back to reality, the game is over, the West won over the East. Though I voted for Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant got his 4th All Star MVP award.  It's back to work tomorrow, but before i turned off the TV, I chanced upon this classic scene from Robert De Niro pretending to shoot the TV (with Jackson Browne's Late for the sky song) in the movie Taxi Driver.

Song for Adam

I could not understand why today, I was just listening to Song For Adam over and over as I was driving to work.

The song spoke of death (suicide) of a Jackson Browne's friend.  Quite an irony on valentine's day. I finally realize that the song is a metaphor or even an allegory of love that was lost.