.20 a minute for quality advice on your computer, networking, web development, tweaking wordpress and photoshop! San ka pa?!

Seriously, people who can communicate well and who have skills in Astrology and Spiritual, Business and Finance, Creative Services (?), Coaching and Tutoring, Relationships, Sports and Others should maybe look into this. Kinda like a single person, work at home, DIY call - center.

Yep, tailor made for Pinoys. Cool.

skype id: ghmercado

At any rate, further investigation (highly recommended everytime a new release of anything - drupal, phpbb, etc., comes out), has shown an easier way.

It's all, as always, on the WP Blog. Apparently most of the hullabaloo has to do with, to quote, an "XML-RPC implementation such that a specially crafted request would allow a user to edit posts of other users on that blog", assuming you allow registration. Ergo, merely replacing the xmlprc.php file will suffice! Here's the link to that.

Like most open source software, WordPress updates by increments and releases pending the severity of the issue. Hence, investigating the reason for the upgrade is important. In this case, I only allow registration on one of my blogs, so this upgrade is waay important to that one but not so much to the others.

There are 3 other less serious upgrades, listed here. Ticket 3780 has to do with a gettext issue on 64bit systems using php5.2.1. I'm neither using a 64bit system nor php5.2.1 (i'm using 5.2.5). Ticket 5273 has to do with a registration email callout issue, and Ticket 5090 deals with a mysql table call from config.php, an issue on a plugin I've never heard of.

So all's well as long as I deal with the xmlrpc file. Yes, I know what I'm doing. I think.

UPDATE!!

Ok so it turns out the above-mentioned announcement post at the WP-Blog was waaay incomplete. As per the WordPress' own Forum Announcement, there are five files that have been changed, namely:

wp-includes/version.php
wp-includes/pluggable.php
wp-includes/gettext.php
wp-admin/install-helper.php

as well as the file I mentioned above:

xmlrpc.php

And so because I'm feeling up to it after a day's rest (got sick yesterday), here's a quick picture guide to replacing these files.

First, here's how it looks when WordPress says your files need updating:

View from WordPress' Dashboard

Here's how these files look after I downloaded and unzipped them on my Desktop from WordPress.org:

/wp-includes

/wp-admin

root wordpress folder

I use the FileZilla FTP Client, but you can use any.

Just drag from the left to right.

Upon discovering that there are already similarly named files existing in the same directory, all FTP programs will ask if you want to overwrite them. In this case, we're saying yes because we've got backups. But if you don't have a backup, you can rename the files about to be written over to another name (ex. xmlrpc.php-bak). That way if you screw things up, you can just delete the new file, rename the old file to its orig name and you should be back from where you started.

Here's how it looks all updated:

Voila!

what used to be

http://kikay.exchange.ph/2006/10/30/kikay-cams/

became:

http://kikay.exchange.ph/index.php/2006/10/30/kikay-cams/

The problem was that I was using a wp-plugin called ClickCounter which is attractive because if you mouse over a link, a little message will popup showing how many times it's been clicked, like this:

It's not completely reliable (it doesn't count right-click 'open in a new window', for example), but it at least gives a fairly good representation of how popular a link is. A good guess, I suppose, is that it misses approximately 20% more clicks.

At any rate, another thing that plugin can do is come up with a 'Most Clicked Links' list. It saves it all in MySQL making it a terrific database hog, but hey I don't care, that's what I pay my host for. So anyway, ever since the permalinks issue, it obviously completely screwed up the internal links count (it didn't affect external links), and aside from that, 'Most Clicked Links', which I display on the sidebar, was showing off internal links that lead to 404 pages!

The obvious response was to reset Permalinks which I tried over and over, to no avail. I kept trying to remove 'index.php' and revert it back to before, but it wouldn't go. And in the meantime, precious links were getting counted in the new Permalink structure, so if I reset it, I was gonna lose those.

In other words - I had a disaster.

So today, I decided I wouldn't quit until I licked it. I installed the plugin last year so it took me awhile, but after reading the HowTo I realized it relied on a MySQL table called wp_linkclicks. After I downloaded it in sql format, I saw the culprits right here:

There it was. Internal URLs without the index.php appended to them. I was actually thinking of just changing the URLs of the popular links, like the 'kikay cams' link above and some others, but I realized what the heck, let's change all the internal links. So I replaced all the 2006 posts here:

and all the 2007 posts here:

I then dropped (deleted) the wp-linkclicks table (making sure to save a fresh backup of course. Kids don't try this at home unless you know what you're doing), and then uploaded my new, appended one with the 'index.php':

and VOILA! My Most Clicked Links is counting again, starting where it left off so that I wouldn't have to reset the damn thing and lose all of those precious 'This post has been viewed xxx times' stats, some of which are almost in the thousands by now.

Whew. Now there is another issue about fixing it so that old links that have been posted outside of Kikay, when clicked, need to go to the proper page. I'm sure htaccess will be the one to address this, and I'll try to post here the results of that.

Anyway, I think I wasted a few braincells fixing that up, so I'll go eat something now.

All my 2.1.3 wordpress sites, which had been around since wp 1.5, used to use the structure:

%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/

ever since a recent server host move, the sites have started to insist on the ff. structure:

/index.php/%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/

Appending the 'index.php' to all my URLs is a complete disaster as I use the Click Counter by Ozh plugin to count my most clicked links. These all now go to 404 pages. I really wanna keep using this as it has been recording my hits since forever.

I tried putting it back to without the index.php but it doesn't work out, resulting in errors.

PLease help!?

I finally got this:

Which led to this:

so I can finally relax, and drink this:

YAHOOOOO!!!!

Ok I know you don't know what I'm talking about. Well, it's about [tag]ISPCONFIG[/tag], but it's far too boring to discuss that. Instead, I'll just give you purty pikchurs like above. Yess. Success.

At any rate, am following up on a great deal of backlog work, starting with enhancements to Pwit, trying to put a new template at movie ex (which was unsuccessful, so i left it at state for the moment as it is too big a job to undertake for now. Also, whilst searching for templates, I found this one, hence the change), and hopefully by tomorrow, updates to Kikay Ex and some very very long awaited improvements to a client's site and some new ones.

These, along with immediate plans to make PLDT own up to the lack of service (from feb 17 to yest, mar 2) by faxing them a letter telling them not to bill me, an article I wanna work on but can't (explain later), and a myriad other things, including a big Nike sale at Megamall (!!!).

Whew. Gets me tired just thinking about it. Lots of stuff going on. Will be back to chat later. Laterz.

Have shoes, will travel. But then, who said you needed shoes to see the world? Change that to: have book, will see the world! Reading affords one the opportunity of being to so many places in the world, of going through vicarious experiences, and of feeling a gamut of emotions. The problem begins though when you can’t even afford to buy books. The good news is, a group of volunteers, headed by librarian Troy Lacsamana opened a children’s library in Barangay Paltok, Quezon City and they conduct storytelling sessions on Saturdays. This library is giving the chance to children in the neighborhood to their right to learn, have fun, and truly be children!

Congrats to Troy, head honcho of Aklatangpambata.org, one of my earliest Free Websites for NGOs projects and no doubt the most successful one.

There have been many NGOs who've approached me and proclaimed interest, but for some reason or other just disappear or change their minds. I can't understand why this happens, given that it's already FREE for God's sake, and Aklatan has shown that the synergy of using mutiple media to promote their cause is worth it. I regularly read about individuals and even whole companies signing up for time to help them out now, all unlikely to have happened without their website. Youd think that if their cause was any worth it it'd be worth pursuing.

At any rate, congrats again to Troy and Aklatan!

Whilst I would look forward to such activity at the early stages of my learning several years ago, and consequently look fondly back to those days today, I am wont to install these things at present time because a. they are a hassle to install and b. I'd rather work on the live version I've uploaded on my hosted webserver, and c. I've got a bajillion things to do other than f$#%!@cking set these things up. Things like, look for clients, prepare ad campaigns, strategize with the ballex, kikays and momex people, climb every mountain, forge every stream, etc. etc.

Why then would I do this now? Simply because the goddam pldtdsl service is once again acting up, and there would be long (5-10 minute) delays where there is absolutely no connection whatsoever to the outside world. Not even DNS. Nothing. I know what you're thinking. Yes I've checked the router. Yes I've checked the cables. They're all ok. Trust me, it's the service.

So just let me say $#@*!)%*!)@(*)!(*#)%(*!)($)@(#*!!!!!!!!!!!#@@!!#!!!!.

Whew. Ok the downloads are finished. Back to work.

It's only been up since the night of Friday the 18th, so that's just two and a half days. Since then it's gotten 15 comments, 5 new members (other than me and Jill), and 15 posts about girl things like bag sales and makeup (mostly makeup). The categories are varied from sales announcements, food (health stuff type. Girls like that.), accessories, fashion, bazaars, clothes, malls, skin care - the works.

I've Googled ads and Feedburned it yesterday morning. The template from Italian lady designer Dandyland looks great and is working ok, and she's got some nifty ready made Del.icio.us functions I'm figuring out, and will be activating soon. The ads seem to be cooperating, although only sometimes. The word 'blog' always seems to be the heaviest and therefore, blog ads keep #@*(%$#*!!! showing up. I insist that's a WordPress glitch, since that doesn't happen with Drupal, Phpbb or any other installation I've made.

Anyway we're still looking out for members. Recently I managed to hook my shimmering PDI editor & flipflop freak Pam, so that takes care of the Havaiianas issue. Rosa, if you're reading this, your shoe expertise is needed, although we'll wait till after the Bar. And finally Chelle, soon as I catch you on YM, you're on my list too :)

To be really honest though, the PR should read 'Jill gets Gary on the Straight & Narrow', because really, that's what it is. She's always optimistic, always keeping my hopes up when I'm all dark and gloomy. And now, we look like we've got a winner, all due to her efforts. What else can you ask of someone? As long as I'm with her, everything just works.

Technorati Tags: beauty, makeup, clothes, bags, health, malls, skin care

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1. Backup your database and Drupal directory - especially your configuration file in 'sites/default/settings.php'.
2. Log on as the user with user ID 1.
3. Remove all the old Drupal files then unpack the new Drupal files into the directory that you run Drupal from.
4. Modify the new configuration file to make sure it has the latest and correct information.
5. Run update.php by visiting http://www.example.com/update.php.

But everyone knows things aren't usually as they seem, so I went ahead and made a whole drupal howto on my own with pictures and everything. Here goes:

First a few important notes.

• I use Windows.
• The site I'm about to update is Pinoywritersonline.com.
• Drupal 4.7.3, released early August, is a maintenance release + one security fix. It does not have any new features so it's not a major upgrade or anything, so most of the settings will remain the same plus you don't have to learn anything new.
• The pinoywriters installation like most drupal installations uses a theme other than the default one, which also happens to be compatible with both 4.7.2 and 4.7.3. This is important to know later on during the guide, where you might wonder why I did not write over or delete the /THEMES folder. I didn't delete it even when the instructions say I should, because I do not want to install it again.
• Like most people, I rent space on a webhosting service, which like most webhosting services, run Cpanel.
• Cpanel in turn uses Phpmyadmin, a powerful graphical MySQL editing tool. This is important to note since Drupal first time users are often confused with the included HOWTOS which assume terminal / root access to the webserver, hence commands like WGET -zxvf and MV. So to qualify: if you have terminal access and linux / unix skillz, follow the default HOWTO. If you prefer the more common graphical method and use Windows, follow below. (hence why i named this 'for the rest of us')
• Obviously, I use MySQL, provided by my webserver.
• Finally, for FTP I use Filezilla, but you can use any other.

Ok, ready? Let's go:

1. First, download Drupal 4.7.3 here. It's compressed using the .tar.gz format, which Windows XP does not recognize. Why its not available in .zip I do not know. Anyway, you can use Winrar to deal with that.
2. Now, login to your website, using the primary account (the very first account you created).
3. Now let's do that database backup. Create a folder and name it appropriately such as my ingenious, "aug122006_database_dump" on the folder where you usually put your project files on.

4. Now, login to your host's Cpanel area, and go to SITE MANAGEMENT > PHPMYADMIN.

5. Go to the database in question, and to it's EXPORT area. You'll want to select all your database's tables to back up, so click SELECT ALL. Click SAVE AS FILE and then press GO.

6. Your browser will start downloading your .sql file. Save it in the folder we created in step 1. You have now backed up your database.

7. Now to backup the 'sites/default/settings.php' file. Use your FTP software (I use Filezilla). Go to it, and copy it to a folder on your PC just like you did above.

8. As a habit I keep an exact copy of what's on the webserver on my hard disk. Doing so, it's a simple matter of dragging the 'live' settings.php file to the copy on my hard disk. Most FTP software will warn you that they're about to copy over a file, and a window like the one below will popup. Notice the same date and time, which means they're the same exact file. Go ahead and overwrite it anyway, just so you're assured you've got the same exact copy.

   Congratulations! You have now done a backup of your database and settings.php file, the two important files you'll need to recreate your website should you need to. You can now proceed recklessly along knowing that if you screw things up, you have these anyway. Just kidding. Follow these steps strictly.


9. Now, delete all the files about to be replaced, EXCEPT FOR THE /SITES and /THEMES folder. /SITES contains the settings.php file, which you don't want to change, and /THEMES contains the current theme you're using (provided you're using a theme other than the default one).

   If you delete /THEMES, you'll have to install your theme again.


10. Here's how it should look. Highlight ONLY the ones you're about to delete, leaving /THEMES and /SITES then rightclick > Delete.

11. A few minutes later, after deleting everything, here's how it looks. The only folders left are /CGI-BIN (which is not deletable as per the webserver's settings), /THEMES and /SITES.

12. Now drag and drop the new drupal files in there, like so. Again, no need to include the /THEMES and /SITES directories. It's only around 2.12mb, so it will take around a minute or two on a standard DSL connection.

13. Time to run the update file. On your browser, enter /UPDATE.PHP after the domain name and press enter.

14. This page will appear, with a link saying 'run the database update script'. Click it.

15. Two more pages. This one:

16. And this one. I know these are vague, but Drupal likes it that way, so who am I to argue.

..aaand that's it!

Honestly, this How To wouldn't have been necessary if a. the Drupal group would write friendlier howtos, allowing for people who don't have terminal access,. and b., remember that not all users are linux sysads, such as allowing the download in .tar.gz format only for example.

Imo they should check out WordPress, whose easy to understand '5 minute installs' have surely helped mainstream adoption.

Anyway, if you're confused, Email or comment below!

Technorati Tags: drupal, phpmysql, cpanel, php, mysql, drupal 4.7.2, drupal 4.7.3, filezilla,

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Technorati Tags: gabriel flash elorde, flash elorde, philippine boxing

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We've compiled every basketball related event calendar into one Super Calendar! This means you can get all UAAP, NCAA, PBA, NBA and World Championship schedules into one calendar, so you won't have to check several every time.

Subscribe to this calendar!

Use the XML Feed to subscribe this Calendar onto your RSS feed reader, such as Mozilla Thunderbird, Google Reader, My Yahoo, etc.

Use the ICal format to import the schedule onto your MS Outlook, Calendar equipped Cellphone or PDA, Google Calendar, Yahoo Calendar, Windows Calendar, etc.

You can refer to the HTML page as well:

We'll make updates and adjustments if and when available, and make no guarantees. Yet another pioneering effort by the Basketball Exchange!

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I had to as there have been many queries about it. You can also click the orange image (I like orange) on the right to go to it. I also finally finished the small 125x67 gifs that recipient websites can choose from:

I like them. They remind me of gumdrops :D

Technorati Tags: volunteerism, free websites

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The ad sizes are patterned after Google Adsense formats, and there are four so far, namely 468x60 banner, 125x125 button, 120x600 skyscraper and 160x600 wide skyscraper. I'll be adding a few more soon.

Here they are!:

Paste the ff. code for the 468x60 banner: <a href="http://aklatangpambata.org" target="new"><img src="http://aklatangpambata.org/banners/468x60.jpg" border="0"></a>

Paste the ff. code for the 125x125 banner: <a href="http://aklatangpambata.org" target="new"><img src="http://aklatangpambata.org/banners/125x125.jpg" border="0"></a>

Paste the ff. code for the 120x600 banner above: <a href="http://aklatangpambata.org" target="new"><img src="http://aklatangpambata.org/banners/120x600.jpg" border="0"></a>

Paste the ff. code for the 160x600 banner above: <a href="http://aklatangpambata.org" target="new"><img src="http://aklatangpambata.org/banners/160x600.jpg" border="0"></a>

Tip: If you're already using Google ads of the same size, you can choose Aklatangpambata.org ads to display instead of generic public service ads.

Just login to your Adsense account, click Adsense Setup > Adsense for content. In the “More Options” area below, click “Show ads from another URL”, and enter the appropriate URL of corresponding ad size above.

The next time Google adsense gets confused as to what ad to show, the Aklatangpambata ads will be displayed.

Technorati Tags: volunteerism, ad banners, ngo, teaching kids to read

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1. update all blogs (movie, basketball, Portia, aklatangpambata, upwinlaw, and this site to WordPress 2.0.3).
2. updated Pinoywritersonline to Drupal 4.7.2 (from whatever ancient version it was)
3. updated my photo gallery to Coppermine 1.4.8, again from whatever ancient version previous.
4. uploaded the excellent Aklatangpambata pics to my photo gallery and to Flickr (ill explain later), thanks very much to Mr. Chris Lagman, btw.
5. uploaded a whole boatload of gadget pics as well, and I'll be adding a few more as soon as I dig them up off my PC.
6. Found a way to display these pics from my Coppermine photo gallery onto the site, as shown below

.

7. still trying to find a way to display the Aklatangpambata pics onto the Aklatangpambata.org website. Problem is, the coppermineSC plugin requires it connect to the localhost db, and I haven't managed to make it connect across different hosts (it's hosted elsewhere). I've tried mysql.myhost.ph, myhost.ph:mysql, mysql:myhost.ph, and even my IP address, but no go. I've sent an email to mobilehive.com, my host, asking how that's done. In the meantime, will have to do with Flickr, which is great of course, but I like hosting my own stuff.
8. wrote a review of Take The Lead on Movie Exchange.
9. wrote a review on Possession: A Romance, by A.S. Byatt, the book I just finished reading. Will write another review of American Gods by Neil Gaiman, the book I read before that.
10. Activated Akismet across most of my blogs except this one (which already uses bot-check), and so far I'm starting to not like it, primarily because I have to 'train' it to tell which is spam and which isn't. I've to admit performancing for firefox has spoiled me, I hardly logon to any of my blog's admin page anymore because of how easy it is to use firefox blogging interface, but akismet requires that I login from time to time, and me no like that. Bot-Check has proven to be (so far) 100% effective after almost a year in use, which means if I get a comment alert, i'm 100% sure it isn't spam. I may revert to that instead.
11. installed a book review module on the Pinoywritersonline.com drupal site. Planning to add a job search module soon, except it requires a lot of modifications of critical files so I'm somewhat dubious. Aileen (website owner and chief pinoywriters ygroups queen) and I are excited about Pinoywritersonline so there'll be a lot of new stuff there soon.
12. tried to install batch categories plugin, which promises to help improve messed up categories - a BIG frustration of mine with this blog. I want to fix up my categories for better classifications. I've got stupid categories like 'tech' which are way too off-tangent to mean anything. Plugin didn't work though, and I think the girl who first did it isn't interested anymore from the lack of replies to her comments all asking for a WP 2.0 version. MUST find something equivalent.

whew.

what can I say I work better when the weather's cool. Also, I've gotten sick, so I'm stuck at home for the meantime (not sick enough not to work though). Need to call my editors and ask for writing assignments while I'm hot.

Technorati Tags: coppermine, drupal, wordpress, pinoywriters, as byatt, neil gaiman

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Some notes:

1. Layering calendars is cool. Google Calendar allows you to create new calendars within your existing calendar account, so you can create stuff like Village Basketball League Schedule or Office People Birthdays, and elect to display or 'layer' it on top of your ordinary schedule (I use the word layer to steal a term from Photoshop, because that's what it reminds me of). This lets you share that schedule that (and that alone) with a select few people or the whole world, without bothering them with superflous info such as the basketball team championships weekend.
2. Unfortunately I came onto a venue prob. The Cinema One schedule I put up (for June 21-25, check the link), has two venues, SM Manila and SM Megamall, showing two movies on the same date and time simultaneously. Therefore the schedule has conflicting entries, with movie 1 showing 11am, June 21 at Megamall and movie 2 (or sometimes movie 1 too) showing at SM Manila at the same time and date. The default view does not differentiate by venue, so until I can figure that out, it'll have to do as is.
3. The Calendar can be displayed three different ways! First is an XML version, then there's a downloadable ICAL version, which lets you sink it into desktop calendars like Outlook, Palm, Lotus Notes or your cellphone scheduler, then finally a HTML version, which is a basic HTML output of what you entered.
4. My fave part of course, is the "Embeddable" version, which is a basic frame of the calendar. Here's the link again to the Movie Exchange post where I used it (I know I can paste it onto this blog but I really want you to visit the site. Pretty please?). Anyway, iframes are ok, but like I said before, I wish they'd just give us a basic feed Feedreader style, so I can use CSS and stuff to prettify it.

I wouldn't be surprised if Google wasn't first with this as this is hardly edgy stuff, and if I look hard and long enough I might find some other calendar app out there that does even more, but here's where Google's name comes in. Google allows other people to subscribe to your calendar, meaning of course they have to start their own Google calendar / account, and since that's Google, they most likely have one already or at least was planning to. That lead gives them the edge.

Technorati Tags: google, google calendar, google applications, online calendar, movie exchange

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Google Calendar recently launched the ability to display itself on any website.

This means you can create a calendar of activities on your Google Calendar, (don't forget to activate sharing), then run the process which will produce code that you can slap onto your blog or any site.

My reaction? FANTABULISTICMARVELOUSIZATIONYIPPEEYEHEY!!

It will produce any size box from 800x600 to 220x200 and display stuff in Month (like a calendar) or Agenda (a simple list) mode.

What I'm gonna do with it:

1. Show Filmfest skeds on Movie Exchange such as the French Filmfest (ALREADY DONE!)
2. Make a UAAP, PBA, PBL, NBA, FIBA Sked page for Basketball Exchange.
3. Make a Sked page for Aklatangpambata.

..among other things.

Rock Bands, large organizations, school groups and other people who can organize themselves or promote themselves by use of Online Calendars should pay attention to this.

I myself have always wanted to make Sked Pages for my sites, especially for the Basketball Exchange since I'm sure that by itself will generate visits. From my installation on Movie Exchange though, I've noticed the 220x220 size is still too large for a sidebar (although you can always cheat and change it on the code itself.). It also uses iframes, which I've no problem with, although a pure text feed would be nice so you can implement CSS.

But who's complaining? I was starting to think of coding one myself for lack of options. And until they manage to get the scantily clad versions online I'm happy with this one. :D

Another thought: Hey you guys at Yahoo Calendar! I've been using Yahoo Calendar for at least five years now, and the only innovation I can barely remember are those pictures of lakes and nice themes on a small box on the left. Talk about getting left behind! Dang.

Technorati Tags: google calendar, google, calendar sharing, online calendar

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Anyway, I made them a simple WordPress blog and apparently it's served them very well. The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (a group of true modern day heroes imo), has picked up on their efforts to help teach the value of reading to the kids of Barangay Paltok, Quezon City.

Here's the PCIJ article on Aklatangpambata, where they also discuss the story of the 80+ year old house they conduct their activities in, and also mention Troy Lacsamana, the award winning librarian who I'm working with and who started it all.

Here's an article on Troy when he was chosen amongst HSBC's top 5 Faces On Volunteerism by Hands On Manila, and another one on Filipinolibrarian.blogspot.com.

Here's a Sept., 2005 Inquirer article about the project as well.

If you've got time, why not volunteer to bring along your friends or officemates to help in their cause? Here's their June and July 2006 schedule, and you can email them about your interest.

Just remember, it's not a walk in the park, as kids are naturally excitable and sometimes difficult to deal with. You have to really want to do this and take it seriously if you want to do it right. Watch Troy to learn how.

Technorati Tags: pcij, librarian, philippine librarian, volunteerism, teaching kids to read

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Hello there!

I'm ... from Cejogua Sports Corporation, a.k.a BOTAK. If you're not familiar with the brand, we've been providing quality made-to-order jerseys for the PBA, UAAP, NCAA, etc. I came across Basketball Exchange via net search and was wondering if we can do a tie-up or exchange of links?

We are currently formalizing a new business unit - Botak Going Global - catering Pinoys abroad. We already have dealers and resellers in Norway, Washington and Toronto. I'm wondering if we can submit an article to you re the jerseys and uniforms that we make and be pulished in your site.

This will offer exposure, internationally to your site.
Thank you very much! Hoping to hear from you.

Sincerely yours,
CEJOGUA SPORTS CORPORATION
131 Kamuning Road, Quezon City Philippines, 1103

I removed the name of the sender just in case. Boyoboy we're getting noticed! I'm so proud of everything we've done, and there's so much still left to do.

Technorati Tags: basketball exchange philippines, basketball, botak, jersey, uaap, ncaa, pba, pbl

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AklatangPambata.org, a Quezon City based NGO whose goal it is to establish libraries across the country, is run by Troy Lacsamana, a multi-awarded librarian and among the recipients of the top 5 HSBC Volunteers in Person last October 2005 by Hands on Manila.

He first contacted me last March 5 as a respondent to my Free Websites program after it was posted on the Portia UP sorority maillist, which I also did as part of that program.

Technically it was fairly simple affair of registering the domain, setting up wordpress and transferring the contents of their previous blogspot address to the .org site, which version 2 thankfully allowed.

Here it is now in default Regulus theme trim, pending alterations:

The good news is, visitors have started coming, with at least 40 real people a day. I know that's low, but considering we've not really done much to promote it, that's not bad.

It also adds credence to a theory of mine, that most people really want to volunteer for things like these and are just looking for ways to, hence my decision to start the Free Website program (ok ok I'll make a page on this website for it soon). Healthrightsforall.org is another example, although its been impeded by the lack of time the owners have to work with me on it.

Anyway, you can help spread word of Aklatangpambata's efforts by promoting it via your blog or site if you have one. Here's the Feedburner Buzzboost link. Paste this on your blog's sidebar and it'll show the latest 5 or so posts with a link:

<script src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/AklatangPambataOnline?format=sigpro" type="text/javascript" ></script><noscript><p>Subscribe to RSS headline updates from: <a href=" http://feeds.feedburner.com/AklatangPambataOnline"></a><br />Powered by FeedBurner</p></noscript>

Other than that, a good 'ol blogroll link will do as well.

That is, of course, unless you'd really wanna help, by donating cash or your time. Here's how to get involved.

Seriously, I've been dilatory in my duties as administrator and chief poster, so I'm making up for lost time, especially since the NBA Playoffs are way into the midst of their proceedings.

So First off, I'M LOOKING FOR MORE WRITERS. If you're like me, and you do imaginary lay-ups walking down the street, then you probably should seek professional help. However, if you can write about it as well, then GODDAMIT, VOLUNTEER NOW. Email at ghmercado at gmail dot com posthaste.

Secondly, I got myself a fancy new layout, settling on the 3 column Relaxation based WordPress Theme after my initial 3 column preference called Tricolumn bombed. As it happens, 3 column Relaxation turned out to be Pinoytechblog's base as well. It's kinda ugly at the moment, and I hate the colors, but I'll get back to it soon enough.

Thirdly I got Feedburner to work and put two Google ads, one at the rightmost column and the other to show up during comments. Was working on a nice 468_15 text only setup for the header portion but it skewed things up so I'll leave it at that for the moment.

Finally, welcome Wilfred Gabriel of NBAaddict.blogspot.com as my first victim writer, and freshly grad Phillip Kimpo Jr. of Crimson Crux as my second. Well at least he's indicated he's interested, as he's yet to make a post yet.

So that's it. Get your game on, ball up, pass the rock, let's get the ball rollin' and all that crap.

Okay?! Okay. Now back to work :P.

One would surmise such a lengthy undertaking as a trip back to the big city, specifically Makati, would entail an early head start. But nooooo.. it's 8am and still here I am, blogging.

At any rate, best to keep this short, so I'll go ahead and introduce my latest pro bono project:

Healthrightsforall.org is the website of the Medical Action Group, Incorporated, a Cubao based Human Rights NGO involved specifically in helping human rights victims during the Marcos regime.

I met them when a friend took her practicum there, and they were the first people whom I offered the idea of making a free website for.

But before you think too well of me, making this site has taken me far too long. There was a period when I didn't hear from them for a long time, leading me to believe they weren't interested anymore. In fact, I had gone off and finished two other pro bono projects since then.

Also, I had decided to not use a CMS such as WordPress, my usual weapon of choice, and gone the old school hand-coded php way - which of course took way longer.

Then of course, we recently started emailing again, said absence having turned out to be caused by the fact that they were too busy to reply to email messages as they were usually out of town.

So finally, I worked on it all day yesterday and some parts of late last week, and there's probably 60% left to be done, but mostly minor stuff. I'll finish it this week.

If there's anything special about it, I wanted the sign up form and downloadables available at every page, hence that constant yellow signage at the right. Also, each and every detail from that 7 page website came from just one back to back grayscale brochure, sent to me in pdf. It's a 1.4mb download you can get by clicking here.

I think it's neat I managed to make a site out of that :). I was also left pretty much to myself to design it, so I hope they like it.

Anyway that's it, off I go onto the big city. BTW, if you also know of an NGO, charity, or any group that you feel needs a website and can't afford it (there are lots of NGOs who are pretty well off it turns out. Didn't know that at first.), gimme a holler, and we'll talk.

Everyone have a safe Holy Week!

Truth is, we had no idea a blog format would've done ok for our purpose. The initial sample I made was mostly static with a link to a forum. Also, I kept insisting we get them a proper .org domain, but again that didn't work out, mostly because of a measure of unsurety of authority (it's pro bono work by Jill), and its maintenance after she graduates. As a matter of fact that question is still up in the air, but someone should be able to take up the cudgels by that time.

At any rate, the Portia site is inline with a project of mine - to setup up blogs and other services for non - profit organizations in exchange for marketing my services, or at least the ad rights. I was hoping to market that project a little better, but I haven't had the time, so I'll just make an announcement right here, hopefully people will pass it around:

NGOs such as (but not limited to) Fraternities, Sororities, Religious Groups, Schools, Hobby groups, Medical groups, Music Groups, Unsigned Bands, Car afficionados, Sports Fans, Family Orgs, etc. are invited. The only thing I'm looking for is weekly content. That's all. Spread it around.

Interested? I'm sure you got questions. Don't worry about it, just email me at ghmercado at gmail dotcom and let's get your site going.

Henceforth - the Portia Blog! Rising in all its blue and white (yes blue and white. gasp.) glory, from the efforts of Jill, and myself.

Tech wise, it's your basic WordPress v1.52 installation, along with a Coppermine 1.44 and the ff. standard enhancements, which I will discuss with some length so as to provide some link love as well:

• The amazing Coppermine SC Plugin, from Frenchman Brad of blog 55RuePlumet.com. He made his version from (American?) Matthias Jell, who in turn got the original from German Lennart Groetzbach, to enhance our Philippine Sorority blog with pictures hosted on the Portia Coppermine Photo Gallery.
• The Most Commented Plugin and the Recent Comments, from Nick Momrik of Saginaw Michigan, US. He's got a ton of mysql-counting plugins, from the interesting / useful (Last Modified and Comment Plugger), to the very interesting Comments Posted Elsewhere, and the over the top Card Converter and obsessive compulsive Comment Word Count.
• Then there's the Top Ten Plugin, from Californian Johnathan, who's got tons of other WordPress stuff as well.
• Then there's the good lookin' Hari Prasad Nadiq, from whom I got the three column "Blue Radiant" design at his WordPress Themes Download page. Centered, three (or more) columns designs are my personal fave as they display a lot of pertinent information without having to scroll, although I initially had some difficulty with my first attempt. A quick email to Nadiq brought about the response:
  

  You've been using an older version of the theme, my dear fellow. Grab the latest here. cheers, - h.p.

  Quite the proper gentleman, our Mr. Nadiq he is. I'm planning to tweak his theme a little more for another project.

I know what you're thinking, yes it's wondrous how the spirit of sharing code on the web works. I was thinking of naming this blogpost "Portia Blog Rises From International Campaign!", but I wanted to concentrate on announcing the launch than get cute title points.

At any rate, the Portia blog was done under my company's Free Website Initiative, where I'm hoping to help out orgs and other groups to get on the 'net. Interesting since I've yet to make a site announcing it yet. Ack back to the 'todo' list.

Next up is the super-delayed Healthrightsforall.org (cant link that on yet no sir. It's not yet finished.), for a Human rights organization. Updates soon!

Update: I've added Counterize as well, by cool dude Anders Holte Nielsen from Denmark.

Again he's got a bunch of cool sql counters that do stuff like count words, characters, comments, and yes, once again for the OC, the number of different people who have made comments - pretty useful for busy blogs with lots of members and readers.

He also seems to be heavily into "embedded communication computers" whatever those (no doubt very cool) things are :).

Update Still:
Always wondered how quick Google's spiders are, apparently not too bad. Checking for Portia Sorority almost gets the first spot, after Aussie Portia de Rossi though, but that's not too bad.

Update June 26, 2007: I have disabled the website today since they do not seem to be using it and it is taking up resources on my webserver. I maintain a working archive of everything however. Please let me know if you want it.

So now I know it also works for the Large Rectangle (336x280) size. Thing is, the suspense of whether it'll show up on my other client's sites is killing me, as Google Adsense's control panel doesn't let you choose which sites it'll show up on, and just has a global setting:

Heck it doesn't even let you choose which designs, which sizes of ads, and which pages.

uhoh.

They're cute and all, but I hope I don't end up regretting this.

What are themed ad units?

As part of our ongoing effort to provide ad designs that will improve results for both advertisers and publishers, we now offer themed ad units - ad units that display themed colors and graphics during holidays and special events. You can view examples of themed ad units by visiting our Ad Formats page.

Whenever themed ad units are available, we'll display them only to users in the appropriate locations, as determined by user IP address. For example, Fourth of July-themed ads would be visible only to users located in the U.S., while users throughout the world might see ads with a New Year's Eve theme.

You can enable or disable themed ad units by following these steps:

• Log in to your account at www.google.com/adsense.
• Go to the My Account tab.
• On the Account Settings page, scroll down to the 'Ad Type Preferences' section and click 'Edit.'
• Depending on your preference, check or uncheck the box next to 'Enable themed ad units when available.'
• Click 'Save changes.' Your selection will apply to all your AdSense ad units.

yada yada yada bla bla bla.. what I really wanna know is, How Do I Get My Theme Ads?! Along with some other questions:

Yuga of Yugatech.com blogged about Sassylawyer's ongoing backup woes recently, and Ms. Connie has written about it as well (that link is bound to change as her blog isn't fully online yet and she put up a static page for the moment).

While there certainly isn't going to be a hundred dead bodies in a heap of burning airplane parts anytime soon, the stress of wondering whether your work has been laid to waste forever can reduce anyone to a distorted, weeping mass.

This was somewhat the case when my lawfirm client's mailserver broke down the other week, and I had to put in a weekend plus pull a favor from the chief to get another machine running again.

The stress was partly due to the fact that the senior lawyers (aka moneybags), will not understand such a thing, and ergo not understand what one has to go through to get it going. All they know is that there's no internet (it's also a gateway / router), there's no email and hence, their work is unduly disturbed. To be honest, it has crossed my mind as to how to explain to them how difficult that was, but that makes me feel like tooting my own horn really. For the moment I'm just glad the thing is working again.

Another thought is the eventual need to become a "mysql wrangler" so to speak, to complement one's abilities to handle mysql - dependent applications like blogs, forums and the like. Like many web developers I've only rudimentary abilities in this (read: just enough to get by), surely not enough come disaster time.

I'm fairly sure Sassylawyer's problems can be fixed by getting the current backup to work with the new schema, which means mysql work plain and simple. At that point, I'd need help. However, everytime I take time to learn mysql, I tend to forget it as I would need to work on something more timely at that moment.

Anyway, here's hoping Sassy's blog gets going soon. As of the moment there's one nervous lawyer somewhere in Antipolo.

Above is a portion of my desktop as I chopped away at the image around 1030 last night, cut short by the fact my eyelids were getting heavy, but quickly made up for this morning, and uploaded just a few minutes ago, in time for when the issue hits the newstands this afternoon.

Now off to the bank to pay for a domain transfer from domains.ph to another registrar (to keep from having to pay two years instead of one as this month is the two year deadline for exchange.ph. P1,650 is still money I can use elsewhere).

Then to my client to setup a spare server we just bought with Centos and other goodies (I'm hoping to try out that Ajax mail client), while trying to arrange for a messenger to pick up a check from Makati and maybe Quezon City (have to confirm first), then try to ask an extension from Speed Magazine re the article they're supposed to expect today but I can't make heads or tails of what I'm supposed to write from the research material they gave me. I'll ask for just one more day.

All the while, try to finish by 4:30 so I can hitch a ride with my sis going back home, to avoid the usually jampacked bus. In the meantime, I resurrected this:

from its box where I put it away, to keep me company as it has a radio and a bunch of mp3s into its 256mb Transflash memory I remember I've yet to delete. Hmm, interesting that I chose that above all the other stuff I have here. Maybe fodder for yet another article?

Well, we'll see. Anyway I'm late, booya!

It took me three days to make (mostly think up). Unfortunately it's very late as I think the new issue should be coming out soon so this'll say byebye before you know it. The yellow icon for this post is the spiral I used for the background of the blog header, originally sized 1000 x 1000 px.

At any rate, I gave the tutorial where I found how to make spirals the proper kudos and mucho gratitude by sending her an email saying so. I didn't follow it exactly, but it surely helped send me on my way. Maybe I'll make a howto on that particular header soon myself. Hey with enough coffee and time, who nows?

Anyway, the author, a Ms. Janee, has a ton of other useful stuff, here. Really, I know a bunch of Photoshop folk who can do just as well. But the ability to write it all down, arrange it and put up a site? Only a few special folk can do that, the rest, like myself, just make excuses.

BTW please do join my fledgling Philippine Photoshop group. Who knows we might learn from each other.

Hello Google Analytics User,

This is a quick update to address some issues you may be seeing in your Google Analytics account and what we're doing to respond.

First, due to extremely high demand, we've temporarily limited the number of new signups as we increase capacity. This allows us to focus on our primary objective--to provide a great user experience for our existing users.

Next, here is current information on the most common questions we're receiving:

• 1. The 'Check Status' button is being reworked to check for properly installed tracking code. This should be fixed by the end of November.
• 2. The '+Add Profile' link has been temporarily removed until we increase capacity. We'll alert all current users when the feature is restored.
• 3. While we increase capacity, you may see longer than normal delays in data showing up in your reports. All data continues to be collected and no data has been lost.

For additional help with your Google Analytics account, we encourage you to browse or search our online Help Center at http://www.google.com/support/analytics?hl=en.

Thanks for your patience as we improve Google Analytics and add
resources to ensure a high-quality service.

Sincerely,

The Google Analytics Team

I'm almost convinced that the Analytics service was previously only for paying Adwords customers, which Google then decided to give for free to everyone else, unfortunately as indicated by above, rather prematurely.

We'll see what happens, but really, I'm willing to wait. Experience has taught me that when it comes to web statistics, the longer you wait the better and more sensible the results will be.

So I'd give Google Analytics the time they need, since the results for the sites I've already entered have yet to produce anything really important yet.

Although one thing: I wish I could at least waitlist a few more sites.