Vanity

Vanity, definitely my favorite sin.

                                  --  John Milton – “The Devil’s Advocate” (1997)

People who are known to be very vain either spend a lot of time looking at themselves in the mirror or talking about themselves non-stop in virtually every conversation they engage in.  I, on the other hand, like Googling for my name or nickname.

Believe it or not, I like searching for my name/nickname in search engines just to see what information I can find.  It all began a few months after I graduated from college and I suddenly remembered that I submitted an article to Manila Bulletin and totally forgot about it.  Luckily, the article was still available in their online archive so I was able to download it.  It was already at least a couple of months after it was published.  Since then, I started Googling for my name once in a while just to check if my articles are available somewhere, etc.

Today, I was very pleased because when I keyed in my first name, I found my blog and some of my articles on the first results page – in both Google and Yahoo.  Talk about high page rankings!  Hahaha! =p

What's New

Take the ULTIMATE JELAINEISMS ONLINE QUIZ BY |BadGirl`JeL| to see how well you know me or my blog!  (Or at  least how well you can navigate through it.)  Just click on the link or go to the By The Bitch & Of The Bitch Section.

Friendster Disaster

Don’t get me wrong… I’m all for Friendster.  In fact, Friendster is the only community site where I maintain an account – except for Downelink, of course but that’s only because it’s a specialized group site for the GLBT community.

However, I can’t help but notice that Friendster is becoming more and more of a disappointment over the years.  While Google is getting better and better with their new features and services including Gmail and Google Talk, not to mention their Blogger add-ons, Friendster doesn’t seem very aggressive in terms of improving their basic function – let alone adding new features and services that actually work.

In the earlier stages of Friendster, people have always been complaining about slow download times in spite of having fast internet connections (so just imagine how worse it is for people using dial-up).  But people understood that and took it as it is.  In fact, we even got used to testimonials magically disappearing, friends appearing both in your Pending Requests list and your Friends list, profiles with ZERO friends (you might think the person’s a loser!) or an alert saying you have a Message but when you go to the Inbox, there’s none.  (Just a short anecdote on missing testimonials:  A friend of a friend even posted a bulletin saying, “MY TESTIS ARE GONE!” Incidentally, that friend is a guy so that statement didn’t sound too nice.)  The list could go on and on.  Each and every Friendster member definitely has a story to tell about a system problem or two.  But again, we just got used to it.  

Recently, they finally gave in to what the general public might have been clamoring for for the longest time – profiles that support HTML and CSS codes.  In addition, they even added Friendster Groups, as well as a Who’s Viewed Me feature.  The weirdest thing about it though is they all stopped working!  I don’t know if it’s just me having issues, but my customized profile is not displaying (though I’ve already seen others which seem to be working fine, but they’re very few now), I don’t see any links leading to the groups and even the direct links I have aren’t working anymore and the Who’s Viewed Me feature isn’t available anymore as well.  Well, for this feature, it’s probably because everyone decided to browse anonymously, thus defeating the purpose of the feature all together so maybe they decided to remove it.

Bottom line, if Friendster wants to serve its users better, they don’t really have to be this fully-loaded site that no one can use.  I’m not a big fan of fancy websites.  I’d go for a SIMPLE YET USABLE website anytime.  After all, I love Friendster because of its basic function of connecting people.  Over the past 2 years or so of having a Friendster account, I’ve indeed found A LOT of my friends from as far back as grade school!  How can I complain?!  I just feel that with all the pressure and the new hype about HTML/CSS, audio-video crap, Friendster is compromising their usability.  But you know what? We don’t need those!  How can you want that if there are stupid users who don’t seem to have any background on the color wheel, practically using the same colors for their background and fonts?!?!? LOLZ

Now if you’re thinking of refuting my views by saying “Friendster is free, so don’t complain!” – Well, so are Yahoo! and Google and a lot of other mainstream websites that are free yet usable.  And besides, I bet that these websites get more profits from sponsors/advertisers the more users (as in visitors, not just members) they have.  It’s just like watching free TV, you know.  But if they drive their visitors away, they’d also have to kiss the big bucks goodbye.

Still on Taking Hints...

My big sister and I had some sort of heart-to-heart talk last week regarding doing more stuff and learning new things and taking risks once in a while – all those things that I’m so not good at and oh-so scared to even try.  I use to think that I’m a risk-taker.  Well, I think I am to a certain degree.  I don’t know why, but it seems like I’ve changed a lot since I resigned from The Cube.  I became more negative, got a bit too lazy and started feeling more scared than ever to fail, which might explain the negative vibes and the laziness.  By not doing anything, I could then avoid failure.

My big sister’s bottom line: If I truly like to take a plunge into web design and development, then I have to start somewhere, if possible, start now.  Planning to take a plunge is not good enough.  I have to make my plans more specific or I may never do it.

Yesterday, we dropped by National Bookstore because my big sister needs some supplies.  My wife said she’ll look around for Patricia Cornell books, while I said I’ll just check on some books on web design.  Well, I ended up going through bargain VCD’s and DVD’s.  When I saw my wife, I asked her if she found Trace, the latest book in Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta series.  She said she didn’t and that all she found was a 2-in-1 book of the first two books in the series among the SALE section.  While she was showing me the book, I looked down a second and noticed a big, hard-bound book with the name Mastering XHTML written across the cover on the lower shelf of the table where the on-sale books are.  I was thrilled.  I grabbed the book to check on the price.  It apparently comes with a CD.  The tag says Php1415.00.  Even if I’m oh-so broke and have been holding on to the very little money I have left, I didn’t care.  I’ve heard of other books at a much expensive price – I can’t let this pass.  I then went to ask a sales lady where the CD is and what the original price was.  The CD is in an inside pocket and the original price was Php3800 – but, believe it or not, the book is STILL on sale at 50% off.  She went to the nearest scanner to check on the price.  The screen said Php709.00.  I can’t believe my eyes.  I thanked the lady like I never thanked anyone before.  It felt like a miracle of some sort.

After the talk I had with my big sister last week, I’ve decided that she’s right and that I should indeed start somewhere, that’s why I began doing some reading online over the weekend.  Now, with the book practically falling on my lap, I knew it was another hint and as I’ve said, I can take hints.  And this is definitely one hint that I’m absolutely thankful for.

Take a Hint

We’ve seen or heard of people asking for “signs” from “God” or “angels” or whatever it is they believe in.  These signs apparently “guide” them in making decisions.  I’m assuming of course that they’re smart or at least sane enough to know when to follow these so-called signs.

But sometimes, I think life is about taking hints.  Whether you’re intentionally looking and waiting for a sign or simply living life one day at a time – taking things as they come, I guess the bottom line is be sensitive – learn to take hints.

A few months ago, my wife and I bought a pack of UNO cards.  That same afternoon, we went out with some friends for coffee.  The cards got soaked in coffee.  My best friend, Stargirl then decided to buy it from us out of courtesy.

Early this week, my wife and I, together with my big sister and another one of my best friends went to this small toy store in a mall.  We were delighted to see a few sets of UNO cards on sale (Php100 off).  They were obviously old because of the rather dirty packaging, but what the heck, it’s just the box.  My big sister got especially excited with the Disney princesses set (which of course have the love of her life, Aladdin), while I got thrilled with the Rugrats set.

Unfortunately, it was a very rainy afternoon and by the time we got home, our street got all flooded that we had to head back and went to the nearest Starbucks instead.  I thought of playing UNO cards to kill time, but my wife reminded me that UNO cards and coffee somehow don’t mix.  We then decided to play a little later.  When “later” came, I carefully opened the packaging, which was a bit different than the typical packaging.  It was only until I took a deck that I realized how different it was.  Horror of horrors!  Apart from being bigger than the usual UNO cards, the entire set only has 36 cards!  It was only then that I read all the other information in the box.  Needless to say, I got teased by everyone the rest of the day, and they still remind me about it once in a while.  The stupid set of Rugruts UNO cards is still in my bag, in its original packaging including the toy store’s plastic – as if it’ll ever turn into a normal set…

Will I ever buy another set of UNO cards?  I don’t know… I don’t think so.  I mean, I can take a hint.  As it turns out, it’s not coffee and UNO cards that don’t mix.  It’s me and UNO cards.

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Videomania

Since the launch of Friendster's new features (profile customization with CSS/HTML, embedded music and videos, etc), I've received a couple of messages asking me for some how-to's on customizing profile elements. It's funny because just a few months ago, I myself was asking people, spending a whole lot of time in Google, looking for tags and codes to beautify my blog and now, my own Friendster profile.

Today, I got a question about putting video in the profile and though I've been seeing a lot of that stuff in Downelink, I never really cared 'cause I know it'll only affect downloading time and stuff. Nonetheless, I did some research for my friends and learned a thing or two about it. Anyway, found the video code for Kelly Clarkson's Since U Been Gone. And since I'm so fond of the talented American Idol, I decided to post it here. (Let's just see if it'll work.)

For more how-to's for your blog or Friendster/Downelink profiles, leave me a message on my handy-dandy tag-board (please leave your email address) or email me at . Though I'm not promising you anything, I'll try my best to help you, ok?

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My bad... Putting a video here is not possible. (1)I've already embedded music. (2)The code is for the entire page, but not for a single posting.

That's ok. I've successfully embedded Meredith Brook's Bitch on my Friendster profile anyway. I'm all good. If you want to watch it and maybe add me as a friend, you may click on the Superfriends thingy I have placed in the sidebar. =)