The Star Princess, LIVE!

I still cannot believe it! Eventhough I have seen her many times before this day, I will tell you, mark this one because it's different. I have a Star visitor in our house!

Yes, you've read it right! Pumunta si Aria, Star Princess ng Little Big Superstar, dito sa bahay namin right before I wrote this blog. Of course, para masulit, I invited a few of my relatives for them to see a star face-to-face.

"Ay! Talaga?! Wow! Astig!" This was the reaction of a friend of mine, whom I went with to ABS-CBN yesterday. As anyone would, I am proud of that! hehe. Actually, they fetched their laptop, which I was asked to reformat. I just told Aria's parents that my parent and relatives wanted to see Aria personally and have a picture with her.

Just to inform you, Aria is also from Malolos, Bulacan. And she is representing our province in the television program. Please watch her and the other kids every Saturday, 5PM, right after Abt Ur Luv. And don't forget to text vote for her! Just key in LITTLE ARIA to 2331 (Globe, TM, and Sun) or to 231 (Smart, Talk n Text, and Addict Mobile).

LBSS in SM Valenzuela

Habang mainit-init pa po ang mga pictures na ito, galing po kay Arlowne (Kuya Ron), post ko na po dahil nabalitaan ko na walang picture si Aria sa blogsite ng Little Big Superstar last mall show. Thanks po Kuya Ron!

And the Award Goes To... Us!

Yes, it's another data that will be written in the History of Bulacan State University, the Computer Engineering Department, and the Society of Computer Engineering Students!

We, have won the top prize for the 3rd SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards, a project of SMART Communications. Actually, it was the SMART PHONE GUARD group, headed by Mr. Rexcel Balatbat under the advisory of Engr. Ma. Magdalena Gatdula, that made the CoE proud!

This year’s SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards competition will carry the theme “Safety Through Connectivity.” Participating schools competed in developing the next wave of wireless applications that will benefit their communities through safe and reliable machine to machine communication systems. The event took place March 9 and 10, 2007, at the Music Hall of the SM Mall of Asia.

As I have read from their project brouchers, "the SMART Phone Guard (PG) can detect the new inserted SIM card of a stolen phone. If stolen, SMART PG will automatically reply to the registered buddy with the thief's phone number once the SIM card is changed. Then, the founder can be contatcted and may be reported to the National Telecommunications Commission to block the cellphone."

The team is composed of Mr. Balatbat, Ms. Jasmin Macalino, Ms. Carmelita Mendoza, Mr. Ferdinand Nicdao, and Mr. Reginald Payuran.

Aside from that, the other group, the SMART Lock Intercom, bagged the People's Choice Award for gathering the most number of text votes. The group is composed of Mr. Lyndon Cruz (team leader), Mr. Jonathan Donato, Mr. Roderick, Ms. Daisiree Angeles, and Ms. Mutya (sorry I don't know their whole names, hehe).

The other group, the SMART E-Spy, is composed of Mr. Rafael Bea (leader), Mr. Michael John Verano, Ms. Jennylyn Mendoza, Ms. Janessa Reyes, and Ms. Virginia Espineda.

The other schools who competed were Adamson University, Ateneo de Davao, Ateneo de Manila, Feati University, Fullbright College, Holy Angel University, Holy Name University, New Era University, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, System Plus College, Tarlac State University, Technological University of the Philippines, University of Cebu, University of San Carlos, University of Zamboanga, and Xavier University.

The SMART Phone Guard Team.

The SMART Lock Intercom Team.

The SMART E-Spy Team.

We Came, We Saw, We Conquered

Bulacan State University is proud to have 3 groups out of 10 finalists from the Computer Engineering Department that made it to the SMART Wireless Engineering Education Program (SWEEP). A yearly event under the Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program,the SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards is a nationwide search forthe most innovative wireless applications designed by student-facultyteams.

To this time, the winners are not yet announced. But the fact that the groups from BSU are really that good and are early favorites, especially of the crowd and judges, we are definitely sure to bag several awards.

Aside from that, the Pala-ECE-pan, a yearly quiz show participated by the Electronics and Electrical Engineering students, also happened at the SM Mall of Asia yesterday and will be continued and concluded today.

Anyway, let's stay away from serious talks. There were many CoE and ECE students not only in the Music Hall (venue of the SMART SWEEP) but also around the other parts of the mall.

The SM Mall of Asia is the largest shopping mall in the Philippines and the 6th largest mall in the world. In terms of gross floor size, it is next to the South Dongguan Mall(China), Golden Resources Mall(China), Central World Plaza(Thailand), Season Square(Thailand), and Runwal Arcade - Mumbai (India). It opened on May 21, 2006.

The Mall of Asia was constructed within the reclamation area, west of Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City, aptly nicknamed "Bay City". It is built on 19.5 hectares of reclaimed land and has a gross floor area of 386,224 square meters. The mall is located at the southmost tip of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue. A roundabout was constructed in the front of the mall with a huge bronze globe similar to Universal Studios.

I also met the makers of the "world-known music video", Purgalicious, headed by Lester, Ash, Madel, Bhing, Pardo, Mae and the rest of the CoE-4B. You may browse through the pictures I have in this page.

The Real Story Behind Aria's "True Colors"

"... And Ill see your true colors Shining through I see your true colors And thats why I love you So dont be afraid to let them show Your true colors True colors are beautiful, Like a rainbow... "

-True Colors by Phil Collins

During the airing of the VTR of Aria in Little Big Superstar, I knew that she will be singing a song for her bestfriend. I thought she wants to encourage her bestfriend, that she sees her true colors. Yes, that's the message she wants to convey with the song, True Colors. But far beyond that, it is really the experience of Aria, as a student from her former school, that brought her to the position she is right now.

To give you some insights, she has been a good elementary student since her first grade. It is not really that serious when it comes to the judgement of many. But there, she was brought down by the enviness of her former classmates, since the day she have had the opportunities in Little Big Star (then). She is like a lame sheep because of what other people are doing and saying about her. That even her bestfriend cannot really control and eventually became a part of her distractors.

But she never gave up - living a normal life with the guidance of her good parents. She moved to another school, where the treatment to all the students are fair and they are really taught of good teachings. There, she experienced the freedom she somewhat lost from the former school.

But then, FORGIVENESS is always in the heart of Aria. She have already forgotten all of that and is now growing to be a fine princess - ready to show the goodness inside her. Her bestfriend is still her bestfriend, and they are even chatting once in a while in the phone. Aria have already accepted the apologies of her former classmates.

With her song, True Colors, Aria have gained the hearts of many. She is really deserving to be our Little Big Superstar! Please give her a chance to capture more hearts by text voting on March 10 to 15, 2007.

Get to know Mary Heart

It is really overwhelming to see a newborn baby! What more if you are the baby's parents?

Actually, I have uploaded the videos of Mary Heart, the baby of Abeth and Mars, both are my friends, the day the baby was born. And it was a Valentine's Day! Mary Heart Medina was born on February 14, 2007, 6:30AM, at the Hagonoy Maternity Hospital.

I was with my friends, Menard and Nina, when we visited Abeth and see her baby. The child was supposed to be born early March. But it was a premature labor. We didn't see Mary Heart there because she had an infection due to her early birth. She was brought to a nearby hospital to be medicated and observed, apart from her mother. But not from her father, Mars is always beside the baby when we visited the hospital. The baby was small though.

To date, the baby is now on her third week, healthy, strong, and beautiful. Take a look on the pictures of Mary Heart! In the last image, she is with her father. Abeth is shy to give me some of her pictures. hehe, pero pumasok na siya nung Tuesday!

Harry, where's your insibile cloak?!

As I have mentioned something related to the Harry Potter story in my recent blog, I remembered a news I have seen from TV Patrol last week. It's about the daring character of the Harry Potter character of JK Rowling's story, Daniel Radcliffe, in the stage play, Equus.

I became curious how a 17-year-old-teenager can bare it all on stage not once, not twice, but seven times, so here are the pictures I have found.

To see more of his promotional pictures, scroll below.

I don't think it is righteous to put the "Full frontal" pictures of Daniel. Anyway, they are just adobe-photoshopped.

Defense... Against the Dark Arts (hehe)

Please note that I got the blog's title from the Harry Potter books, and does not meant to give negative impressions against whatsoever...

I don't know our grade, but I think I have defended our thesis, entitledPC Trouble-Aide, ver much well earlier this day. My groupmate, Cyndi Dumigpi (Ms. CoE 2005-2006), was assigned to introduce the system. After that, comes the implementation, wherein we have shown the panel the system, how to use it, and to whom it is beneficial. My other groupmates are Rosalyn de Leon and Janette Clemente. The panel, as they are only doing their work, asked many questions regarding our research design.

At last, I can lay down to sleep and complete a 10-hour complete rest. And I can do some gaming, I missed them so much. And of course do something else like more internet surfing, malling, maraming gala, maraming tulog, at kung anu-ano pa. And one thing more, papataba na rin ako kasi super payat ko na.

(New stamp? Argh! My old stamp got lost after I reformatted my hard drive!)