The story behind the picture after the jump…

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For some reason, I can’t think of anything to write. I wrote something earlier about pushing ringtones, but I decided to post in on Mobile Philippines instead. I’m not sure if it’s up already there It’s up there already, but that’s not what’s important. What matters is that I have nothing to write on my personal blog.

What also matters is the reason for this mental block. I think I can blame this on Sango. I was there this afternoon and now, three hours later, I still feel stuffed. My brain has been starved of oxygen because all my blood is rushing to my gut.

Oh well. There are much better things to do than blog on a Sunday.

Tags: Mobile Philippines, m-ph, Sango, Our Awesome Planet

I used to pose lots of questions to my readers. You can find some examples in my polls section - you might have to scroll down quite a bit though. I miss those things - so I’m in an interrogative mood again. I also happen to be hungry, so if you think this whole line of questioning has a theme to it, you’ll know why.

Anyway, are you in the mood to answer questions? Read on…

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I’m looking for a feed reader that’ll display posts LiveJournal style. If you’re familiar with LJ, I’m talking about the friends page where all posts made by your friends are listed like they were all in one multi-user blog.

I’ve checked out Bloglines and NewsGator, but they sort everything by feed, and then by date. I’ve tried using Thunderbird to aggregate my feeds, but the load time frustrates me. I’ve thought of using some WordPress plugins to put all the feeds I read on one page, but that raises some other problems. For one thing, I don’t want that page to be indexed by search engines, lest I be accused of plagiarizing others to increase traffic to my own site.

So, does anybody have a suggestion? If you do, can you show me an example of that piece of software in action? I’ve got so many blogs to read, but I don’t want to load up a tab or window for every single page. Help me, please!

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In other feed related news, The Feedtext Blog featured one of my photos recently in an article about the Blog Parteeh! Yes, bloggers really brought the house down. We brought the elevator down too (then back up then back down), but that’s another story.

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While we’re still on the topic of feeding, I want somebody to help me gain weight. Heck, I want everybody to help me gain weight. I wrote about this before, and now I want to bring it up again - I’ve got a proposition for those who are trying to lose weight. I think we can help each other out.

Tags: feed reader, LiveJournal, Bloglines, NewsGator, Thunderbird, WordPress, Feedtext, feed aggregator, blogging

Steel
Originally uploaded by driver ng bayan.

I’m at it again - I’m posting yet another photo. It looks like this blog is turning into a photography blog - or at least something that leans that way. If you count this post, five or the last ten entries are about shots I’ve taken.

Well, what do you expect? I got myself a camera, so it makes sense for me to make use of it, right? Besides, those of you who know me are probably aware of my tendency to get lost behind the camera. If photography is what I spend most of my time on, it makes sense for me to devote more blog entries to it, right?

This brings me to a project I have in the works: a new blog. I’ve bored some people already with my endless talk about photography - it figures that I can focus that energy into writing about it, right?

I admit, I’m no expert on the topic, but I can learn. Besides, I think this will make the blog more interesting. On top of this, I’m starting with a camera, but little else in terms of equipment. You (if you actually end up reading) can see how I made-do, improvised, cheated, and basically did whatever I could think of to try and get that perfect shot.

Anyway, I have a name in mind already, but I’m still open to suggestions. I’m hoping some of you can give your two cents worth. I’d like the name to still be connected to driver ng bayan somehow, but don’t let that restrict you. Leave a comment if you have a name idea, if you want to make a suggestion, or if you just want to get a load off your chest. In other words, leave a comment. Why? Because I said so.

Wish me luck; and thanks!

Omakase Roll
Originally uploaded by driver ng bayan.

Considering I just recently got myself a new camera, it’s a bit strange that I haven’t been updating my deviantART. I’ve been shooting a lot, and consequently, I’ve been filling up my hard drives at an alarming rate. What I haven’t been doing much though is sharing my photos.

To break that trend, I’ve posted a handful of shots on my Flickr. Pictured here is the Omakase Roll from (where else?) Omakase. It’s basically a kani (plus something) maki wrapped in some salmon sashimi, and it’s one of my favorite dishes. I think it’s the salmon that does the trick for me.

There are five shots in the Omakase batch of pictures, but I think I’ll be adding a bunch of other food shots some time. Right now though, I’m feeling hungry.

I can honestly say I’ve had coffee that tastes like shit. The thing is, to me at least, it tastes pretty much like regular coffee. It smells like regular coffee too, but still, I can also honestly say it smells like shit. Then again, it really is shit.

Kopi Luwak beans come from the droppings of the Luwak (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), a small, tree-dwelling marsupial found in Indonesia. These nocturnal creatures, though primarily carnivorous, occasionally treat themselves to ripe coffee cherries. The coffee beans in the cherries somehow pass through the creature’s digestive system intact, but not before going through some significant changes. It seems that the beans ferment in the animals’s stomach and react with some enzymes, adding “something unique to the coffee’s flavor.” When the beans come out, they are carefully cleaned, roasted, and sold.

Mind you, this shit doesn’t come cheap. These excretions will set you back at least $5 a cup. A quarter of a pound will cost you some $75. Compare that to roughly $40 for a whole pound of Jamaican Blue Mountain - one of the more expensive types of coffee.

So, would you care for a cup of brewed shit?

The bulk of last weekend was spent on futsal and food. I’d like to think that I’ve gained a few pounds, thanks to the number of calories I ingested. On the other hand, because of my metabolism, not to mention the amount of exercise I got, I probably burned everything I ate anyway - leaving me barely an ounce heavier than before.

I’m tired of this. I used to keep hearing that when I got older, I’d finally gain some weight. Well, here’s some news for you all - I am older, and I’m still not gaining weight. Oh well… I guess it’s time for me to finally hit the gym again. Maybe then I can pack on a few more pounds.

This, of course, raises another problem. I eat a lot already now - how much more will I spend on food once I start lifting again?

Anyway, I’m heading off. I’m hungry. Ciao!