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I learned from Kuting’s Place about Pearl’s New Domain Celebration Contest.  And, I’m joining her contest.  Is it worth joining?  Let’s look at the prizes:

One winner:

• One-Year subscription of Good Housekeeping Magazine if the winner is from the Philippines or US$15.00 to be credited to Paypal Account for International winner
• 1,500 EC credits
• free one month 125x125 ads on her site

5 winners of free one month 125 x 125 ads on her site

100 EC credits to the first 30 participants.


And, the mechanics:

Required:

1. Add her blog (http://www.jejeizahfaye.com) to the contestant’s blogroll = 2 entries
2. Leave a comment at her blog = 2 entries

Optional:

1. Fave her in Technorati = 4 entries
2. Subscribe to her Feed = 4 entries
3. Write a blog post linking back to her contest = 3 entries
4. Do all of these for a total of 18 entries (3 bonus entries)!

The winners will be chosen using Random.Org. Deadline for submission of entries is up to midnight of October 5; and, the list of winners will be posted in her blog on 8 October.

CONGRATULATIONS PEARL ON YOUR NEW DOMAIN!

There’s no internet connection since I woke up yesterday morning.  My wife complained that she tried to go online at 3:00 AM but was unsuccessful.  I tried connecting several times but to no avail.  I checked and double checked the wirings, modem, router, and my lappy; and they’re all okay.

I called up BayanTel and reported the matter. The call center agent confirmed that their system for our area (Novaliches) was down.  After holding the line for few minutes, she politely told to me try again in an hour.  After an hour, the connection was not yet working.  Two, three, four hours and still no connection.  Meantime, I had no other recourse but to use my cellphone internet connection; and, that means, P10 per 30 minutes.  I used my cellphone internet connection for about 5 hours.

The Bayan DSL internet connection resumed this afternoon only.

Related story:

Our BayanDSL connections sucks

My son's a computer and video games geek.  He spends most of his free time playing computer or video games.  As his wireless headset for his Xbox 360 was accidentally damaged, he requested me to buy him a new one.  I do most of my shopping online.  And, this time, I went to several online stores to check on the prices and compare them.  Luckily, a friend came by and saw what I was doing.  Then, he advised me to shop at ShopWiki.

He explained that unlike other shopping sites, ShopWiki finds every store on the internet.  It has more than 30,000 stores compared to the usual 1,000 stores of the other shopping sites.  Hence, a shopper can find anything and everything for sale on the internet. With more products from more stores, a shopper can get better deals and savings.

Heeding his advice, I went to ShopWiki, searched, and easily found the Halo 3 Wireless Headsets.  On the page are several models of wireless headsets for Xbox 360.  Mousing over the product pops up a box showing the stores and their prices.  That’s cool, I thought.  Now, I don’t have to go to other shopping sites and compare prices.  This great shopping site did them for me.
 
The next I shop, I won’t go anywhere else but ShopWiki. Oh, my daughter is wishing for Playstation 3 for Christmas.

Typhoon Nina (Hagupit) just left the country.

But, my son was under the weather and we brought him to the hospital Tuesday night.  Yesterday (Thursday), the sun didn't show up and the sky was cloudy the whole morning and early part of the afternoon.
 
Later in the afternoon, the rain started to pour.  But, we're glad we're going home.

A friend opened and started his business - a gift shop. I was invited at the opening of his store, which is located in a big mall in the metropolis. He was very excited because this is his very first business venture and the mall has very good foot traffic. Almost all his savings has been invested in this business. I wished him “Good Luck.”

Three months has passed and I went to his store to buy a gift for my wifey. “How’s business?”, I asked him. “Just breaking even”, he replied gloomily. “Why not go online to get more customers?” was my rejoinder. He seemed very much interested; so, I gave him some basic e-commerce strategies.

With the internet, almost everybody is doing business online – from applying for a job to ordering food, products and services. The traffic at the mall may be heavy but it’s heavier online. I advised him to look for web hosting articles online to guide him on the whats and hows of online business. Then, select from the web hosting directory for the web hosting provider that could cater to his needs and fit his budget. I assured him not to worry because the provider would supply web hosting tutorials and 24/7 online support to make his online business a walk in the park. For the second time, I wished him “Good Luck”.

Oh, by the way, he gave me a big discount for my purchase.

One day, in the office, some office mates with phones under Smart Communications network were complaining that they couldn’t call nor they’re receiving calls while in their area.  However, a few steps from this area, their phones were working properly.

While passing by this area, they explained to me the situation and I was requested to call their phones. Using my Nokia E90, I called up their numbers and other numbers outside of this area.  The messages were “network busy”.  I went a little farther and called them up.  “The number you dialed is either unattended or out of coverage area” were the answers I received.  I called up the other numbers I called up earlier from their area and I got through.  Something, I thought, was not right. We tried to diagnose the problem.

In the office, there are ceiling signal domes of Globe and Sun scattered all over but nary from Smart.  It happened that this particular area has two ceiling signal domes (one from each network), which is just about a foot apart from each other.  In other areas, they are farther apart.

An office mate suspected that the signal domes were the culprits.  He opined that the proximity of these domes blocked Smart signal in that area.  Could it be the domes?  But, they have been there for almost a year now.  Since then, nary a complain had been made until that one day.

Also, we noticed that the affected phones were the latest models and high end phones only.  Phone of older models were working properly.

Nonetheless, we requested for the removal of the domes in the area or they be placed farther apart from each other.

Representatives from Sun came and diagnosed the problems.  They explained that the culprit wasn’t Globe or Sun or both but Smart itself.  The affected phones were the latest models, which were set to “Dual Mode”.  The area is a dead spot for Smart 3G signal at that time; but, it wasn’t caused by the domes.  We switched our latest model phones from "Dual Mode" to "GSM" and, voila!, they’re working properly.  The affected office mates stuck to the GSM mode; as, they are not using the 3G features anyway.

When I returned to my area, I switched back to Dual Mode to use the 3G features of my E90, particularly the video call.  And, in case I’m in 3G dead spot areas, I knew what to do.

Now, the Smart 3G signal in the area is already working.