kyo's blog

It's ALIVE!

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:12:47 -0700

The all new BarangayAmerika.com site is now up!

Yipee!

-kyo-

Upcoming Site Upgrade

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 14:45:59 -0700

As mentioned sometime last year, we will be migrating to a new/improved version of our content management system.

The main goals for the upgrade are:

provide better integration with multimedia content (MP3s, Flash and Images) and take advantage of sites such as YouTube or Flickr;
improve management of spam/flood;
improve our search engine results position;
provide a more usable interface.

These new features will be gradually implemented and will be rolled out at www.barangayamerika.com. This older version of the site will remain here at home.barangayamerika.com.

Please let me know if you notice any weird or lost functionality and thank you for your patience in this transition.

-kyo-

NPR: Efren "Bata" Reyes

Sat, 03 Feb 2007 10:21:19 -0800

The man many consider to be the best pool player in the world, Efren "Bata" Reyes, is a skinny, almost toothless, 52-year-old Filipino with a slight paunch, an infectious grin and a legion of fans both at home and abroad.

Listen to the segment.

TESTDB.

Free Download: Nokia E62 Mobile Pack 1

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 15:20:07 -0800

Download Now!

In celebration of the New Year and a recent phone upgrade, I'm posting 35 photos from the archive formatted for the E62's 320x240 screen. I'm also releasing 2 new ringtones I created in mp3 format. »click here

-kyo-

Maligayang Pasko!

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 08:39:27 -0800

Paalam Sampaguita

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 18:25:39 -0800

Siyempre alam ng mga kabarkada ko noong college na paborito ko ang Eraserheads. Incidentally, isa sa mga kanta nila dati "Tindahan
ni Aling Nena" ay tungkol sa isang binata na napa-ibig sa isang dalagang lalakad ng Canada sa loob ng tatlong araw.

Noon namang high school, no doubt "The Dawn" ang paborito namin. Sobrang kaunti pa lang kasi ng mga banda noon di tulad ngayon. A few years later, siguro nasa college na rin kami, ni-release nila ang "Talaga Naman".

Isa ata sa mga pinaka-madalas na tema sa musika ng mga Pinoy ang pakikipag-sapalaran sa ibang bansa. Hindi nakakapagtaka na may sinulat rin ang Yano sa topic na ito. Coincidentally, wala na ata ako sa Pilipinas nang lumabas ang pangalawang album nila "Tara" so hindi ko alam kung sumikat ito (upbeat ang rhythm pero malungkot ang istorya) ...

Paalam Sampaguita
Yano

Chorus:

Two in One: Kamusta na Ayos Pa ba?

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 20:46:14 -0700

Natatawa ako kahapon at napakinggan ko ang isa sa mga paborito naming album noon sa college, ang debut album ng Yano. Hindi lang yun, Two albums in one pa at ni-redesign ng batikang si Arnold Arre ang cover. Napabili na rin tuloy ako ng Color it Red (Fool's Circle + Hand Painted Sky) atsaka FrancisM's (FreeMan + FreeMan 2). Ni-rip ko na rin agad sa iTunes Apple Lossless Format.

Solb na solb. Mabuhay ang Iskolar ng Bayan.

-----------------
KAMUSTA NA
written by Dong Abay and Eric Gancio

Kumusta na, ayos pa ba
Ang buhay natin, kaya pa ba
Eh kung hinde, paano na
Ewan mo ba, bahala na?

Napanood kita sa tibi, sumama ka sa rali
Kasama ang mga madre, pinigilan mga tangke
Umiiyak ka pa sa harap ng mga sundalo
Namigay ka pa ng rosas na nabili mo sa kanto.

Repeat Chorus

Dala-dala mo pa, estatwa ni Sto. Nino
Eskapularyo't Bibliya, sangkatutak na rosaryo
At sa gitna ng EDSA, lumuhod ka't nagdasal pa

What's UP, Los Banos?

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 09:23:47 -0700

Found this blog about my birthplace, hometown and alma mater:
http://whatsuplb.blogspot.com

Recent posting is on the aftermath of typhoon Milenyo.

-kyo-

Stanford-Portola Valley-Miyake Loop

Sat, 16 Sep 2006 11:49:47 -0700

September 9, Sand Hill Road

We found this "trail" in Foghorn Outdoors' "Northern California Biking". The 15 mile loop starts out at the mall parking lot in front of Nordstroms and was capped by a late lunch at our favorite Japanese joint on University Ave: Miyake. We were so proud of Kamille when we finished it.

The Miyake leg is not really in the book but since you're around the area, it's the perfect motivation to burn all those calories. Yum.

-kyo-

Third Batch of Angelfish Eggs!

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 18:06:05 -0700

I moved the 2nd batch of fries today to the 20gallon tank.

Batch 2 at 20 days old:

Batch 2 [spawned 2006.08.09]:

Batch 3 [spawned 2006.08.21]:

Day Zero

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 18:50:08 -0700

Last week I was surprised to find eggs on a leaf in our 55-gallon tank. Our koi angelfishes have spawned their first batch of eggs!

I immediately googled on what to expect during the first 7 days and moved the leaf into a smaller tank. Dropped some methylene blue and ran an airstone to circulate the water.

At day 7, the yolk sac is starting to shrink and the eyes and tail are well defined.:

To improve survival rate at fry stage, one of the recommendations was to feed baby brine shrimp but right now all I have is Hikari First Bites. We'll see how many will make it to 3 weeks!

-kyo-

I'm Always Drunk in San Francisco

Sun, 16 Jul 2006 20:54:28 -0700

Currently listening to "Jazz Vocalists: Hear & Now" (Concord Jazz, 2006) and there's this cute track by Tommy Wolf sung by Kitty Margolis "I'm Always Drunk in San Francisco". What can I say? I think you're going to agree. Here's the full lyrics:

------
I'm always drunk in San Francisco;
I always stay out of my mind.
But if you've been to San Francisco,
they say that things like this go on all the time.

It never happens nowhere else,
maybe it's the air;
Can't really seem to help myself;
And, what's more, I don't care.

I'm always drunk in San Francisco;
I'm never feeling any pain.
But tell me, why does San Francisco,
just like a lover's kiss, go straight to my brain?

I guess it's just the mood I'm in
that acts like al - co - hol;
Because I'm drunk in San Francisco,
and I don't drink at all.
------

It's a nice album by the way, featuring Ray Charles, Michael Buble, Diana Krall, Norah Jones, Linda Ronstadt, Madeleine Peyroux among many other great vocalists.

Fourth of July

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 09:08:27 -0700

I've just uploaded photos to my flickr account.

It was a great 4-day weekend.

Saturday, we went down to Half Moon Bay for a picnic, kite flying and a sidetrip to the plant nursery (where as usual, we were all overwhelmed by the thousands of vibrant plants to choose from). Sunday, we managed to rearrange the living room with a quick run to the nearby store (yep, that was "rest").

On Monday we headed out to the Mendocino headlands for the ultimate picnic: blade chops and tagalog fried chicken (yes, the kind you take along on field trips in elementary) with kamatis and itlog wrapped in banana leaves which mommy lovingly prepared at 3am. As if that wasn't good enough, we were lucky to find a public picnic area set underneath the redwood trees overlooking the rugged but scenic Pacific Ocean. This alone made the 3 hour drive from the Bay Area well worth it!

Pinoy Hospitality

Sat, 01 Jul 2006 09:49:04 -0700

Isa sa mga maipagmamalaki nating mga Pinoy ay ang ating hospitality. Mga ilang taon nakaraan ay bumisita kami sa bayan ng San Simeon, CA para silipin ang naiwang kayamanan ni ginoong Hearst at dahil linggo yun, nagsimba kami sa katabing bayan ng Cambria. Dahil probinsyang probinsya ang lugar na ito, kakaiba ang 'atmosphere' sa loob ng simbahan kung ikukumpara sa mga ibang simbahan sa California. Halos mga puti lahat ang tao (siguro, may tatatlong Asyano) at tila ba nagtataka sila kung bakit may ibang kulay na napadayo kapag napapatingin sila sa amin.

Ikumpara mo ito sa simbahan dito sa St Anne's ng Union City kung saan ay pagpasok mo pa lamang ay para ka bang 'tineleport' sa malaking simbahan ng isang subdibisyon sa Maynila (95 to 98% ng nagsisimba ay Filipino). Ang pari, deacon, choir at taga-basa ay Pinoy lahat. Bago mag-umpisa pa lamang ang misa ay pinatayo agad ng pari ang mga "bumibisita", tinanong kung saan sila galing at isa-isang binigyan ng welcome sabay masigabong palakpakan ng parokya. Hindi ako magtataka kung ganito rin ang iyong mararanasan sa Fremont, Daly City, Vallejo at iba pang Pinoy Communities dito sa Bay Area.

Tsinelas para sa beach?

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 21:42:57 -0700

"Ma'am, ser, mayroon na po ba kayong tsinelas para sa beach?"

Home video of our trip to Boracay in December of 2002.
[27mb, Flash 8 Player required]

-kyo-