Dynamic

[UPDATE]



The Blogger team just updated the new blogger allowing dynamic views to be your blog's default template when visitors view your site. Blogger also added two new dynamic views: classic and magazine. See the full post on Blogger buzz here.

Magazine

Classic

I personally love the new magazine dynamic view but sadly DISQUS won't work because dynamic views will not recognize your plugins. We'll just have to wait on Blogger to revamp the comments section as well.

How To Activate

If you're already on Blogger's new interface simply go to template and choose dynamic view, then apply to blog.

Dynamic Views on the New Blogger Inteface

If you're still on the old interface simply go to design then go to template designer.

Dynamic Views on the Old Blogger Interface

How To Revert

I was in a slight panic when I couldn't find button the revert button. Lesson, always back-up your template before making any modifications. I was so excited to see the new dynamic views that I just hit the "apply to blog" button. There is a revert button though, simply go back template designer and click on "revert to previous template" and your template before you used a dynamic view will be back. Still, you should back up your template before making changes.

Revert to Previous Template

Using Dynamic Views

I don't know if a bloggers will incorporate a dynamic view default template on their blogs. Personally, I will still stick to this template but I should probably place a menu or links on how to view my blog in dynamic view.

What do you think of this new feature from Blogger?

Fruitcake

Forever, Erma: Best-Loved Writing from America's Favorite Humorist

I never like to make generalities about people, but let's face it: People who love fruitcakes are "different."

I have never met a fruitcake baker in my life who didn't want to convert me to all that baked fruit. I can be standing in the baker's kitchen and announce without a trace of humor, "I do not like fruitcake. I have never liked fruitcake. I have sampled more than 10,000 species of fruitcake in my time, and it is my dream that I never have to sample it again," only to have someone put a slice in front of me and say, "Try it. This one is different."

Traditional Fruitcake - Photo by Wikipedia

Fruitcakes are not different. They all tend to be the same, each having an assortment of incompatible fruits and the distinction of weighing more than the stove they were cooked in. They defy all the culinary rules in the book. No one ever says, "This fruitcake is so light you don't know you're eating it." That is because the heavier the fruitcake, the better.

Another thing I hate about fruitcake lovers is they smile when their cake is rejected. I don't like people who do that. It's unnatural. I'd be more comfortable if they would just say, "Who asked you to eat this cake? It cost me forty-five bucks to make, and if it were up to me, I'd drop it on your ungrateful foot!" You can have respect for a person like that. But no, fruitcake lovers will stand by and watch you spit out the sample in your hand and say, "But isn't it moist?"

Equilibrium

The following article is taken from a part of the book The Lost Cause Series (What Are You Fighting About?:  Birth Control) by James W. Knox.  I believe this article is in line with the much debated RH Bill here in the Philippines.  I believe both parties are right in some aspects and wrong in some.  Thus, we seek to find a balance through the scriptures since most of the grounds of the debate are covered in this area or somewhat related. Permission to re-post the article can be found here.

The Lost Cause Series by James W. Knox

WHAT ARE YOU FIGHTING ABOUT?:  BIRTH CONTROL

Turn to Hebrews 13 and 1 Corinthians 7.  The matter of the beard may not touch your home, but if you have a family, it won't be long until someone is going to come along and tell you that if you are trusting God and living by faith, you won't take your life into your own hands and practice birth control.  You will have babies as often as your wife can conceive.

For such people, the number of babies you produce is the means of determining the extent of your spirituality.  Again, the Pharisees want a visible, outward symbol of sanctification in order to proclaim themselves spiritual, regardless of the condition of the heart.

If you believe in your heart that it is God's will for you to have a baby every ten months, and He enables you to perform such a feat, then by all means do so.  But do not come into the church house and tell someone that God commanded him or her to do the same, when He did not.

If having a baby every year is a mark that your are spiritual and right with God, then how do you explain the fact that God made some saved women incapable of  bearing children?  Did God condemn someone to a life of disobedience to the scripture?  He wouldn't do that.

You may say, "Why did you kill that man?"  "I couldn't help it.  God made me a murderer."  Well, God did not make you a murderer.  God said, Thou shalt not kill.  You are a murderer by choice.  You willingly transgressed God's commandment.

Someone says, "I couldn't help it.  I committed adultery because God made me commit adultery."  No, God said, Thou shalt not commit adultery.  If you commit adultery, you are guilty of willfully transgressing God's word.

If it is sin for a man and woman not to have a baby every time the calendar changes, then God is guilty of sin, for He made some women unable to bear children every year and, in fact, some never.

The reverse argument is also true.  Are there unsaved Hindus, Muslims, Roman Catholics and Mormons who turn out babies every year?  Of course.  Is this an advent testimony of their sanctification?  Of course not.  Production of children and a right relationship to God have nothing in common.

Now if you want to have twenty-two kids, praise God.  Rear them all in church.  Rear them all to live for Jesus Christ and to turn the world upside down for Jesus.  But don't walk in to church with your twenty-two kids , look down your nose at that woman who is broken-hearted because she can't have a baby, and open your Pharisaical mouth and tell her that if she was right with God, she would have as many kids as you.  That  is not scriptural.

MMDA

A couple of days ago the MMDA (Metropolitan Manila Development Authority) released the MMDA iOS app.  The app is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later and is iOS 4.0 tested.  Currently, it has a rating of ★★★★ 53 ratings in the app store.  For this post, we'll try to breeze through the features of MMDA's iOS app.  This is my first app review, by the way.

Icon and Splash Page

I think that this is a very good move for the MMDA to finally give smartphone users an official application when it comes to traffic.  Before the release of this app, Manila Traffic Live! was the alternative for smartphone users to get traffic information.  MMDA already has launched the Metro Manila Traffic Navigator earlier this year but the web application is not suitable for people who are on the go. Don't raise your hands up Android, Blackberry and Nokia fanboys and girls. iOS is just the beginning. They said the app will be coming to every smartphone platform. It's just that the iOS is the best among the rest - ra! ra! ra!

So let's take a look at the app, shall we?

Sections

The app has 5 sections and we'll go through the sections one by one and showcase it's designated features.  The sections are:  System View, Map View, Line View, FAQs and the About Section.  These sections are located at the bottom part of the app and you will be automatically taken to the system view section if you used it for the first time.  The app has a pretty easy navigation design and has a metro-ish feel with the towers at the background.

System View

System View

The System View gives you the traffic of the whole system in a larger picture of the system by comparing the color codes. Tap on the "i" button and a panel will show on the right side of the screen with the legends that you need to know.  This is a good view to map out your direction for your final destination.  The "Legends" have two sections:  one for traffic marked with colors and the other for lines marked with numbers.

Gelateria!

Gelateria Milano

Last night we were bored, no not to death, we were just bored.  There were no brownies and chewies left.  Mum's Pineapple Upside Down Cake was wiped out eons ago.  There was also no trace of Lace's Black Sambo.  All four of us were staring at our computer screens.  I was waiting for our parents to show up on Skype but it seems they were also out somewhere in Singapore.  There was only one thing left to do!  Sleep!  "Let's go to Gelateria!", I screamed!

If you ever come visit to Bohol and you're staying in Tagbilaran City, you should try Gelateria Milano!  It's one of Bohol's newest coffee and ice cream house serving hand made Italian ice cream and fine Danesi Italian coffee blends and brews!  We were only there for the ice cream though.  All the ingredients and the machines used in making the ice cream and coffee are imported from Europe so you can enjoy Italian authenticity!  The price?  Regular ice cream starts at 50 Php with two flavors of your choice - not really bad.  In fact, it is really good.

Choose yar flavors!

Gelateria Milano is located at the La Vista, 5th Floor, BQ Mall. For more information visit and "like" their Facebook page here.

Family

We're a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another’s desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.

Surfing with the Cowboy

I've been reading a lot of Erma Bombeck books lately and here are some nuggets I found here. I love the way she brings out the humor especially when it comes to the family. Enjoy.

The Family

“When your mother asks, "Do you want a piece of advice?" it is a mere formality. It doesn't matter if you answer yes or no. You're going to get it anyway.”

“Marriage has no guarantees. If that's what you're looking for, go live with a car battery.”

“One thing they never tell you about child raising is that for the rest of your life, at the drop of a hat, you are expected to know your child's name and how old he or she is.”

“Never have more children than you have car windows.”

“Have you any idea how many kids it takes to turn off one light in the kitchen? Three. It takes one to say, "What light?" and two more to say, "I didn't turn it on."”

“In general my children refuse to eat anything that hasn't danced on television.”

“What's with you men? Would hair stop growing on your chest if you asked directions somewhere?”

“Like religion, politics, and family planning, cereal is not a topic to be brought up in public. It's too controversial.”

“I'm trying very hard to understand this generation. They have adjusted the timetable for childbearing so that menopause and teaching a sixteen-year-old how to drive a car will occur in the same week.”

Punctilious

Publishing a blog post takes only 10-15 minutes.  Proofreading it may also take the same time or less.  Inserting  HTML tags, adjusting image relative size, drop caps, lighbox - half an hour!  I must say I enjoy tinkering my posts and my blog layout that's why I spent the whole day tweaking Cake Garden yesterday.

Updated Cake Garden Site

While I was coding away, Dad and I are also chatting on Skype at the same time. He was like, "why do we need two blogs for Cake Garden?" "Well this one is not really the blog, it's the main site with the gallery and all they need to know about Cake Garden. It's just that we're using Blogger to host our site and blog. Cake Garden Blog is the blog, this one is the main site. Give your readers this link." I replied - a bit annoyed. "I'm confused", he said. "Don't be, just give them this link and not the blog. They'll come around eventually", I fired back. "Aiyoh! So confusing lah!"

Well that's not really the whole transcript but it pretty look much like that. The thing is, you can make great websites using Blogger. I was bored at WordPress. It's too easy. That is why I came back here on Blogger for my personal stuff. Now, more details on the tweaked Cake Garden site.

Price and  Try

This is the major change I made yesterday. I basically re-edited all the image on the entries on Photoshop and attached the designated price on each product.  Rounded Pricing & Info Callouts PSD from 365psd.  The ones that has the Try tag on are custom orders. They're not really part of the streamlined products but if customers with to try it out, we'll give them a quote on the said item. I re-posted every entry from the ground up. It took decades.

Simplicity

It is quite ironic that we have all these powerful tools in our hands yet our problems are getting complicated the moment we try to advance. Looking back 15 years, life was simpler. Our family lived a simple life in the suburbs of Iligan City. I grew up in a typical Pinoy childhood. We played real games and have real friends and get punched real bad and laughed real hard. The virtual world back then was still in the realm of the impossibility though I already saw advancements during those days.

Lenny

As I am going through this post, I'm in my room connected to our private WIFI network and Lenny on my lap as I try to type away my thoughts. My sister is in the living room watching YouTube videos and my other sister is in the other living room watching TV and my brother is on his iPhone, checked in at KFC. You see, scenarios like this is commonplace nowadays. The sad reality of this complexity is we're more disconnected than playing Monopoly together for 4 hours.

"Life was much simpler when Apple and Blackberry were just fruits."

It was perfectly fine for us back then to be not to be up to date with all this tech. All I had before was a 486 machine with no hard disk! I use the now extinct micro floppy disc to boot up my system and enter notepad on MS-DOS. Yep, I'm very much of an MS-DOS kid. My computing days started with the very basic of windows. Sometimes I still prefer renaming, deleting, searching for files using MS-DOS than the Windows Explorer. I did not cheat on our typing subject, so my typing skill of 70-90 words per minute gives me the edge to type faster than clicking and analyzing. Then finally my 486 machine was replaced with an another 486 machine but this time it now runs Windows 3.1. The world back then was already at Windows 98 and I'm still stuck with Windows 3.1, still I did not complain. I play classic games like Prince of Persia, got to play with MS-DOS simple programs like choice and batch files. I get to set my PC back then to make me either to choose to proceed to Windows or stay on MS-DOS.

For years until high school that was the setup. Even when I get to experience the internet, it did not really matter because personal internet access before was a hassle and quite expensive compared today. It was much slower too. We were never really in sync with the latest trends and updates.

It is not that I am complaining, it's just a realization that what we look forward to when we were kids is now finally here, there is confusion. The tools that were supposed to make our lives simpler, easier and to help us with our daily task are becoming a hassle to maintain. Cellphones were simple back then. It was just plain SMS and voice calls. Now we have smartphones with different brands and models. These phones also depreciate very fast too. Once my iPhone 3Gs was dubbed as the fastest iPhone today in one of Singapore's highways, now with the coming of the iPhone 5 next month, I feel that I really need to catch up with the current model. Do you know how it's like to own an Apple product?

Thessalonica

Our Sunday service today was on 1 Thessalonians.  It's a book full of history, comfort and hope.  As we were breezing through the verses of chapter 1, I remembered Project Thessalonica.  The said project is to bring back the gospel to one of the places where the early churches and saints were established.  As the sermon went on I read on through chapter 2 and 3 and imagined what things were like during the time of Paul.  Though this city was a pagan city, after Paul founded the church but briefly left for Corinth because of persecution, the new Thessalonian believers were steadfast and continued in the faith.

Bringing the Church Back to Thessalonica

As a Christian, reading the pages of 1 Thessalonians and comparing it to its present state - it's like nostalgia.  It's like you've been in Thessalonica before where the early Christians lived, worked and pressed forward just like some us today.  Sure, they don't have the technology before but I believe the problems they face before are still kind of the same we are facing today.

This is such a place full of history found in the Bible and the letters to the Thessalonians are very encouraging as well. 1 Thessalonians is a book of comfort. Read the whole book (King James Bible) and count the number how many times the word "comfort" is mentioned. Also, this is where Paul detailed and nailed the rapture. Contrary to popular belief the rapture is not equal to doomsday or the end of the world. Get your facts right. Topics like this will be discussed in detail on Sixteen Eleven.

Chewies

Here's another very simple bar recipe that also predates college days together with Brownies.  Butternut Chewies is much more simpler yet the taste is so exquisite that you think it requires supercalifragilisticexpialidocious baking power!

Butternut Chewies

You're going to need:

• 2 eggs
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup margarine, melted
• 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup cashew nuts, finely chopped

Yep, that's it!  Now some very simple directions.

• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• Grease a 13"x9"x2" rectangular pan.  Set aside.
• Combine flour with baking powder and salt.  Set aside.
• Beat eggs until light and foamy.
• Beat in sugar, vanilla and margarine until creamy.
• Add flour mixture to egg mixture.  Mix until well-blended. (Fold!)
• Stir in nuts.
• Spread evenly in the prepared pan.
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until top is light brown.
• Cool then cut into squares.

That simple?  Yes simple as that!  Oh yeah?  Yeah oh yeah!  Here's some shots lest ye stray away from the directions.

Brownies

Way back in college I sell brownies to friends, classmates and teachers even as a source of extra income at mom's expense.  Sometimes I work so late up night just to finish three layers of these brown goodies and completely forgot I still have my nursing care plan to do.  She provided all the ingredients but every time I make a sale, I constantly forgot to give her back her share.  Sorry mom but I am still thankful for teaching me your recipes on at a time.  Fudge Brownies is a simple recipe and thus today tonight I'll share this simple yet good-for-starters recipe.

The Adventures of Domo-Kun

Let the baking begin after the jump.

Epipheo

An epipheo is a video that creates a sharable epiphany. In this sense an ephiphany means, "a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience".

Homeward

Migriño, not Migrino

I will be flying back home to Bohol on the 3rd! I miss home, our dogs, our kitchen and my family. I made a short list that I need to accomplish in two weeks time. I'll be flying with Airphil Express (see my revamp of the Airphil Express blog here) from Iloilo to Cebu then Cebu to Tagbilaran via fast craft.

I made this list so that I'll have reachable goals when I get home and not just stare at this, whole day!

All things bright and beautiful!

I'm going to enjoy breakfast again with this in front of me. Read my bible and have coffee the usual but this list will help me to be more productive since I have more resources at home like: a much faster internet connection, a camera and my sister Scarlet as my personal slave assistant.

Cadet

Talupad, ang init!

I had my fair share on being a cadet. My younger siblings never get to experience the thrill and the horror of being one every week. I know probably most of the kids in my generation get to experience CAT. A private or an officer, you know how it feels to be soaked in the sun for almost 8 hours. Back then I really didn't know what's the purpose of all that training. But somehow I realize the training we had back then helped a lot in terms of attitude, manners and tolerance. I could now officially tolerate heat exposure for more than 8 hours - an official beach bum and do not care to what shade of color I might end up with. Anyway, CAT in high school was unforgettable. I was an S4 (a staff) - you know the four decorative officers behind the commandant. Decorative in the sense we do mostly paper work and we're just practically decorations in the field. Except of course if there's a tactical inspection but on given ordinary formation we're celebrities. Ha! Squad Captains usually do all the work and the Adjutant too (I wonder if he still has a throat). My best friend in high school was a Squad Captain and he made a remark that we Staff Officers are no more than decorations in the field. I smiled and said, "could you please give 20 then?" We were still friends of course after the formation, but I was laughed so hard that day. It was only 20 push-ups and he was the superman in class - so no biggie.