Some of you surely still remember about the first launching of my Blog-O-Holics site. It was a BLOG TOPSITES project and it was actually doing fine until the day I started getting hundreds of spam registrations. I had been trying to find a better spam fighter but to no avail. The software developer was not really communicative and there was no support available. So I decided to remove the topsites publishing system from my server and stopped blog-o-holics temporarily til I find something better.

Now my dear friends, blog-O-holics is finally back again. Not as Topsites List but as Blogging Community – using the famous Worpdress MU. This newly put up blogging community is exclusive for Pinoy/Pinay bloggers only.

Blog-O-Holics is no WordPress.Com. Meaning to say, registration is limited. I can only host eight selected wannabe blogoholics member. So now, if you are a non-complicated blogger, lukring and kikay like me, has a great sense of humor and nice. Then you are welcome to join. This is a first come first serve basis, kaya send me your details bilisssss!
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Alam ko, long time no post and no blog hopping but well…time has not been on my side lately, so I am so very sorry. The real student life has now begun. Classes from 8:00 to 3:00, exam dito project doon, at super dami ng manuals na dapat pag-aralan kaya para na akong patay everytime I came home. I have to get up at 5:30 A.M, fix our lunchboxes, make breakfast, then get ready myself and Gillian. Off to Kindergarten at 7:15 A.M, tapos diretso na ako niyan papuntang school. Late afternoon, pagkatapos ng klase ko, I have to drive back home very quick to pick up the little bogoy. Pagdating ng bahay, di pa nga nakapagpahinga…kailangan ko ng maggayak ng hapunan. In between cooking, I check/reply my clients emails or make a project study and or working on client’s site…just like today. Wow what a stress! I know I have promised Tina na mag slow down ako, pero mukhang impossibleng mangyari ito sa ngayon. But at least kahit papaano, may desiplina na akong matulog ng maaga on weekdays. Di ko na kailangan pang pilitin na ipikit ang aking mga mata dahil half way tulog na ako habang kumakain.

Oh well anyway, I am only mentioning my activities and schedules lately para magkaroon ng idea ang ibang tao diyan how busy and tired I am at present. They seem not to believe me kasi kaya heto sinulat ko na para doble.

Okay, the first part of this entry is not relevant to the title, but worth mentioning (para sa akin). I have chosen the title “Over Reacting” with question mark. Dahil gusto kong malaman o marinig sa inyo kong nag over react nga ako? This is again related to the Kindergarten. You remember I posted about “The Tagesstaette” or day care, right? Hindi pa tapos ang problemang yon but we are planning to transfer Gillian to the Catholic Kindergarten. Nag inquire na kami pero yon nga lang, wala pang bakante, so kailangan na naman naming maghintay. Buti nalang in a couple of months pa mag take effect ang bagong schedule, so at least may time pa kaming maghanap ng solusyon.
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I have written so many things about this and that in the past, and mentioned very little about my children. It is not that I don’t like to write about them, I simply want to protect their privacy. Now, being proud of my eldest son’s achievements, Kathleen’s good grades in Gymnasium and Gillian’s positive progress in Kindergarten. I felt an urge to write something nice, but not about them personally. It is a poem I found somewhere, a very meaningful one and it’s about how to take a child.

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The trouble when you are living abroad is – you have no relatives within your reach. Kong meron man, nakatira naman ito sa malayo kaya hindi rin posibling hingian ng tulong na kailangan mo. Haay naku, bakit nga ba ang buhay ay napakomplikado. Before I started going to school, everything was settled perfectly. Gillian started going to Kindergarten from morning til noon and I don’t have to worry about his lunchbreak and lunch dahil ang Kindergarten na pinapasukan niya ay may Tagesstätte day care din. We are paying €380.00 a month for both KG and day care. It’s quite expensive, but NRW Nordhein-Westfalia region has a very different computation compared to all other regions here in Germany. The monthly fee is based on the gross income of the primary breadwinner. Here in this region, the Kindergarten is free of charge if one earns less or don’t earn a penny at all. Nice huh? But then, the institution will get the money from the big earner. Sounds unfair, but we have no other choice because we are living in a welfare state. Well, Germany is in general a welfare state, but this particular Kindergarten Fee regulation is not practiced in a richer regions. Oh, medyo napalayo ako sa topic but I have to mention it because it’s part of this issue.

Okay, so we thought everything is settled what Gillian concerns. Until yesterday evening, there was a meeting in Kindergarten, and the major discussion was about the closing of the day care due to lack of personnel and that the government is saving therefore they can’t hire addiditonal staff. Whoa! I just can’t believe it. The head staff has given us the new schedule which I find impossible. This matter does not only concerns me but also to all other working mothers. How can I possibly pick up my son at 1:00 P.M when infact my classes is until 3:00 P.M? I felt so helpless about this. Buti sana kong sana Pilipinas ako, I can immediately hire someone. Or I can ask a relative to do this for me. We simply have no one to ask a favor here and I don’t feel comfortable of the idea of hiring a person who is completely a stranger to us. What a shit!

Now, we are thinking of inviting my mother to come here and stay with us ’til I’m done with my studies. It’s not final yet…but I can’t think of another solution.

It was simply a matter of time. This site got hacked. I don’t exactly know at what time it occured because I was still able to visit here early this morning before I left to school.

Thanks to Cheh. If not because of her, I wouldn’t be able to notice it that soon. She called me few minutes after I arrived home. Sounded very upset, she asked me if I know that my site got hacked. I immediately turn on my pc and went to my site to see what’s going on. Gee, the site was really hacked by an airheaded person from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I don’t know how he managed to get my FTP password, but he was able to login there and changed my index file (see image on the top left), so only the front page got hacked. I started to think, all in all, I’ve been pretty lucky over the years. This site has been up for over 2 years without a major hacking. Not too bad I figured. But still a pain in the ass though.Well, getting hacked is never fun but it keeps us on our toes.

And to you dear hacker, whenever you read this (I don’t care if you don’t). I want you to know that I am a very particular person. So next time you hack my site, better find or design a better looking index file. The one you used to overwrite my own simply looks so awful and disgusting. It just shows you have no taste at all. Oh dear, are you aware that it reflects to your poor personality? Du armer Armleuchter, du tust mir richtig leid . I know you are craving for attention. So here I am, writing some words just for you. Here is my hand, also reaching out for you. Hold it, and let me walk you and guide you to the mental hospital where you ought to be…

Die Qual der Wahl – The Agony of Choice!

I am currently using the very nice Gallery2 of Menalto. It is a great open source web based photo album organizer and there is even a WordPress plugin available called WPG2, it embeds Gallery2 within WordPress. Gallery2 has a bunch of great features, but I am not really using most of them.

I was quite happy and contented using Gallery2 the whole time until one day, I found ZenPhoto. Compared to G2, Zenphoto is a ‘feather-light weight’ application. Here is a quote of how the developer described his work.

Zenphoto is an answer to lots of calls for an online gallery solution that just makes sense. After years of bloated software that does everything and your dishes, zenphoto just shows your photos, simply. It’s got all the functionality and “features” you need, and nothing you don’t. Where the old guys put in a bunch of modules and junk, we put a lot of thought. We hope you agree with our philosopy: simpler is better.

Don’t get us wrong though – zenphoto really does have everything you need for your online gallery, and you’ll even stare in awe at some of the innovative innovations we innovated upon. Here are some of the wonderful things about it: Continue reading here.

I installed it on my server for testing and learning purposes at first. Besides of that, I have waited until Zenpressed was finally released. Zenpressed is also a WordPress plugin similar to WPG2. It has the function of adding random or latest photos/albums on the sidebar and blog entries and most of all, site integration. Months had passed and due to my busy schedule, I have completely forgotten this plugin. If not because of one of my clients who asked me about a user friendly gallery software, I wouldn’t be able to remember about it again or not soon again.

Finally, I got everything what I want and what I need to run a very simple yet dynamic photo gallery. Everything works perfectly fine and I am glad to say that there is software developer like Tristan Harward who is so innovative to create something like Zenpress on his own.

Now fellow bloggers, if you are looking for gallery software that just make sense without bunch of modules and junks. I highly recommend you ZenPhoto. Not convinced yet? I advise you to visit their site and or see my gallery here.