Manila Hobbies and Collectibles Convention 2018

Hey, waddup? Here's a quick post. Please follow me on my twitter for more updates (shameless plug lol)

Manila Hobbies and Collectibles Convention Banner

Okay! So we start the year right with a toy convention, the Manila Hobbies and Collectibles Convention 2018! The con took place at SM Megamall Mega Trade Hall 3. To be honest, the con wasn't the primary reason we went there. There was a Gundam Caravan on the event. (If you're not familiar, Gundam Caravan is an event where you register for free and build a gundam kit, then you take your built gundam home) 

Gundam Caravan Mechanics

New Found Hobby - PLAMO

Heyya! So, these past few months have been a little busy due to work - and I'm starting to appreciate my shifting/rotating schedule! I like how we have some day offs during the weekday, and the challenge of commuting. But work is not what we're talking about now, it's about my new found hobby!

Me at Gundam Caravan during GMKC 2017 @ SM North Edsa Annex 

New Year, New Life.

As we go through each phase in our life, there are things we must learn to let go of. In my case, choosing a good start in my career, meant leaving all of my loved ones behind. In as much as I would want to work in the province, I cannot find a good opportunity to start my career in the IT industry, and as any person who desires to be in the industry, I made a decision to move into the Metro.

I started passing resumes after Christmas. I did that in hopes that there will be no scheduled interview during the holiday seasons. And sure enough, after a handful of resumes sent, I was called for an interview at 2 IT companies in Mandaluyong, and Makati, respectively. 

One problem of leaving the comforts of your home is finding a place to stay in an alien environment, so it's always a good idea to contact someone you know from the place you're going to. In my case, it's my cousin. I find their boarded house (I don't how to express it in english, lol) perfect because it lies in the middle of the places I was called for. 

Pokémon Moon 🌙 + Nearing Alola Pokedex Completion!

Hey guys! So after the board exam, one of the things I bought was a Nintendo 2DS. I initially planned on buying a new phone, but I said to myself, "since the new Pokemon Games will be released a month after the review, why not invest on a game console instead? My phone is still fully functioning." So yeah, that's it. 

Poke-Moon

Assembling the Thousand Sunny Kit

Hey guys! So after the board exam, I went and treated my self to a couple of things. One of them was this model Thousand Sunny kit I bought from Bestoys in Greenhills. When I enter toy stores like these, the kid inside me glows with joy! I like toys, I mean, who doesn't? Miniatures makes my eyes go pop and my heart, lub. 

They have a huge collection of toys, and some model kits too. I personally like the Going Merry, but sadly, they had no stock so I went for the Thousand Sunny instead. Something about creating and building things make me so happy, so when I see one of these, I got excited. With stuff like these, waiting for the results of the board exam should be easy. 

Tips for Taking the Board Exams

Hi there! I recently passed my licensure exam last October 15-17, and I'm going to share my tips and experiences during our review and the examination period. Do take note that while these activities worked for me, it might not work for others. Read my other post for my "Journey" of becoming an engineer.

1. KNOW and UNDERSTAND YOUR SELF.

This is probably one of the most important tip, because it will be a factor in making your review routine. "Knowing oneself is basic to knowing others." haha. But seriously, you have to know your self, and know yourself well. What is your most efficient time to review? How do you review efficiently? Are you a fast learner or a slow learner? Do you prefer noisy or silent places? It all starts with knowing yourself. 

The Journey

Hey! I took a short vacay just after the exam because,

IT FEELS SO GOOD TO BE HOME! 😌 

So, let me tell you what I had to go through during the 5-month reviewing spree. It was May and I had no freaking idea what was going on with me. I was excited and anxious at the same time. I am about to embark on a journey that will potentially change my future.
WARNING: Long Post 😀

All of us in 1 photo. Yes, we did not have beds. We slept on the floor. Sad lyf. 😢

The Journey. It wasn't easy. It wasn't hard either. It just depends on yourself. It's whether you make it hard, or easy. LOL I don't know what I'm saying. Okay, so there were 5 of us in our dorm. 3 of us went to the same review center, while the other 2 went to another review center. This allowed us to share our materials and knowledge, and "tricks" learned from each respective review centers. Another advantage of sharing the room with friends is the teaching and learning process. Of course, no one person can know it all. There were times when one of us, at random, just begin shouting questions and the others, sometimes, will respond. It was fun, spontaneously answering questions. 

The Review Starts!

Hi guys! I apologize for the lack of content the past few months. I just graduated college. Yes! And not yes. Yes, because I am finally a degree holder. Not yes, because I think the knowledge and experience I gained in 5, 17 years of education is not yet enough to prepare me for the real life. 

My girlfriend is already preparing for her life as a professional, and it makes me think of mine. I will still be taking my licensure exam, so I will have to review for about 5 months. By then, Andrea will already have a career. 5 months is a long time to think for my career, because as of now, I am still wondering what field am I going to specialize in. 

As an ECE graduate, there are a couple of fields of specialization to choose from: telecommuncations, semicon industry, aviation, medicine, navigation, broadcasting, audio, and networking, among other fields. 

I am personally interested in computers, so I am thinking of joining the IT bandwagon. Specifically the in the Networking field. I have little to no experience about networking though, as we barely scratched the surface in our lectures and limited lab equipments. I am planning on taking a cadetship or any job that has a training before employment. I also plan on becoming a CCNA. (Cisco Certified Network Associate) And continue that path.

The ECE board exam has a lot of pressure in it. Our school had passing rates below the national passing rate I think for the last 3 years. I hope this batch will break this rating. In the previous April ECE Board Exam, only 2 out of 12 first timers passed. (8 failed, 2 conditional) 6 out of 14 repeaters passed. (7 failed, 1 conditional) with an overall performance of 8 out of 15 passed and 3 are conditional. Wow. Our board exam is dubbed as "One of the hardest board exams." and I accept this challenge!

Anyhow, I apologize for the lack of posts for the next few months. We will undergo rigorous training (loljk) to finally become a registered ECE.

To my friends who's also reviewing for their board, good luck to us and may God help us!

To my readers, thank you for understanding!

And to everyone else, cheers!

Arduino Robot Part 1: Wall Follower

Hey guys! It's been a really long while since my last post. And trust me, a lot has happened. Well, as promised, this is the "making" of our 'bot. It's a partial requirement for the subject Embedded Systems. 

The subject mainly focused on Arduino, which is an open source microcontroller. The first project was kind of a Maze Solver type robot, in which the robot needs to find it's way out of a maze. While searching for possible inspirations, I came across this little robot called a 'micromouse', which does the same thing, only better. The micromouse maps the maze until it reaches it's end point, which is usually the center of the maze. It then goes back to the starting point, and finds the shortest path to the center. The process of using the shortened path from the starting point to the center takes more or less 5 seconds. My jaw just dropped and I spent the next seconds pulling it back up. But that's a different story. The micromouse is a special robot. It uses complex algorithms to solve the maze.

I thought we didn't have enough time to study the algorithms and figure it out. So we just resorted to the wall follower algorithm, which is really really simple. It follows either the right wall, or the left wall. In real life, if you raise one of your arms: the left or the right, and touch a wall, eventually you will reach the end. That's the process of this algorithm, hence the name.

On-The-Job Training at RPN 9

Hey guys! Yes, it's been a while. Really. This first semester of AY 2015-2016 is our OJT, ECE200B. They recently moved it from 2nd semester, to the 1st semester. According to the department, placing the OJT in the 5th yr 2nd semester (final semester for graduating students) breaks their concentration on academics. I agree. I can attest to that. Going to OJT really breaks the academic concentration of a student. Mainly because he/she is now focusing on his/her work rather than his/her studies. And there is A LOT of leisure time which made the focus (on studies) really difficult. They did this because the passing rate of our licensure exam is quite low, and inter changing the 1st and 2nd semester subjects, hopefully, will help the students focus. 

Okay. We did our OJT at Radio Philippines Network Inc., Manila. We didn't really decide, though. A friend asked us if we want to hold our OJT at CNN Philippines. Since it's new, (it only came to the Philippines last March 2015) we said, "Yeah, why not?". I was really excited, to be working in CNN. But unfortunately, we were assigned to its transmitter in mega Manila, RPN. If you must know, working in an STL (Studio/Transmitter Link) or in a transmitter in general, is not really exciting. And as a young, future engineer, I would like to make the most of my OJT. The hunger for action, adventure, and excitement. The only action we get during our stay there was during emergencies: power interruptions and fluctuations, and signal losses. 

RPN Tower.
"Tower of Ispleketengteng"
-Jonathan Mina

Anti Virus?

Hi guys. I'm going to share why I stopped using Anti Virus softwares. We recently concluded our PIIC (Philippine Institute of Integrated Circuits) training, and just this afternoon I felt the urge to share to you why I stopped using AV (Antivirus) softwares. Earlier, when they inserted a flashdrive to the PC, the contents were all shortcut files (*.lnk), and I thought I saw the user clicked on it. :O He had quite a struggle restoring the files. I know because it was projected on a projection screen using a projector. Haha.

Okay, so first, where do viruses (mostly) come from? The number one culprit (according to my experiences) are flashdrives. Flashdrives carry CTD's (Computer Transmitted Diseases, lol) since they get inserted into so many PCs. Who knows what kind of malwares (malicious softwares), worms, and other creepy diseases it might have come into contact to? The second cause of viruses are from the internet - downloaded applications. I'm going to share some tips to you to avoid getting viruses and malwares.

Tip 1.

Familiarize yourself with file extensions of your files. For example, executable files has an extension of *.exe or *.msi. Video files have an extension of *.avi, *.flv, *.mp4, *.mkv, and so on and so forth.

Go here and here for a list of file extensions.

To show file extensions, open an explorer (Windows key + 'e', or just open My Computer), click Organize>Folder and Search Options and go to the View tab and uncheck Hide extension for known file types. Now you will be able to see what are the file extensions of your files.

For example, if you are downloading a video from the internet, and the download window shows an extension that is different from what you are downloading, cancel that immediately. It may contain malwares, PUP (Potentially Unwanted Programs), or worse, may infect your computer with viruses. Be vigilant.

Rejected!

Hey guys. A lot has happened since my last post. This one will specifically talk about the experience about creating our regulated power supply (Because I forgot some of the things that occurred so, blame my memory). So it has been two weeks. Two weeks that we didn't have class for ECE 136. The instructor discussed a regulated and an unregulated power supply before giving us the instructions of computing, designing, and building our own power supply. We had to gather and compile all our knowledge of electronics to analyze and compute for the resistance values. 

Schematic Diagram of the Split Power Supply
Note: The values in the diagram are different
from the values computed. However,
the same transistors and rectifier diodes were used.

Capturing the Milky Way

Photo Credits: YANXIN WANG

Hey guys! Next week will be our Finals, and our schedule is very hectic. So I'm going to post now before I forget, again. Last October 8, the "Blood Moon" phenomena occurred. I went outside to check it out. Ilocos Norte was one of the places that was lucky enough to have an unobstructed view of the celestial phenomenon. What I saw was more beautiful. The Moon was in the East (from where we are). I went outside to the west first. I noticed that there weren't any clouds present, and I could see more stars than I could see before. Then I went to look for the moon. There it was, in all of it's glory, disproving that it's made of cheese. Then I went back to look at the stars instead. I took time to just stare at the sky, because it's so beautiful. I can't help to think that I'm actually looking at the past! 

Radio-Active!

Hey guys! Haha. I can't believe my last post was 3 months ago! :O Time really flies, doesn't? Specially when you have so many things to do, you just lose track of time! Well, this past months have been really hectic. I'll just go over them really quick. 

In June, I was suggested by friends to be a video editor for the local Enactus Competition held last June 20. Pre-production began at around (if memory serves me well), June 2; that was creating the script. I believe almost all of the data that was needed was already collected. There were three groups, each with their respective projects and members. Ours was the "LUCKY THEO'S : A Potential Industry Giant." It was about a woman who is the first producer of dried mango in the province. The winners in the competition get to represent MMSU ENACTUS for the National Competitions, and the project was the conglomeration of the projects in the local competition. Also, the IT Experts (that's the video editors) are automatically a part of the team MMSU as well. So I had the opportunity to help represent the University in the National Competition. Working beside me was Jezar, a second year Marketing student.

La Virgen Milagrosa

Hey guys! Last Friday, (May 16,2014) we had our last class in our summer class. And last Saturday, we went out to La Virgen Milagrosa, Badoc, Ilocos Norte to have fun and celebrate because we can finally start our summer vacation!

La Virgen Milagrosa Chapel [Click image for larger view]

The story behind this saint is that there was a crate (or crates) that washed up on the sea. The fishermen found these crates along the boundary of Badoc and Sinait. In these crates were the Black Nazarene and the La Virgen Milagrosa statues.

Matlab Codes for Numerical Methods.

Hey guys! So I mentioned earlier that I will share the algorithms I programmed. The night before the deadline of checking, some of my friends came over to my house. But before that, we were working on a Fixed Point Iteration code in the afternoon when manong (term used to refer to a male that is older than you, manang for a female.) Karlo asked me to try a code for HIM (get it. lol) In there, it says the we must use an "inline" function. We didn't know both what it was so I searched it over the internets. Turns out it is one of the key in programming these solutions. The other one is the eval() function. I learned that while doing a False Position code.

(I apologize for the code. I couldn't use the blockquote tag because I can't get it to look right.)

First Summer Class: ☑

Hey guys! We can finally have our summer vacation because our classes has officially ended! Hurrah! Last Friday, May 16, 2014 we had our final practical examination in our Numericals, and last Thursday, (May 15) we had our last long exam for ElectroMag.

So how was our summer class? Exciting and partly boring. Exciting because in Numericals, you have to do a LOT of simple and repetitive arithmetic solutions. Sometimes the quiz/exam is solved (in earlier lectures, using different methods), there's this thrill and adrenaline when you push the equals button, crossing your fingers and hoping that you get the same answer. Otherwise you have to carefully inspect your solution and say, "Where the hell did I go wrong?" I said that many times; during seat works and exams. There was this one time that I finally arrived at the 'answer', and upon seeing the problem, I got one variable wrong. And that was 10 minutes before the exam was over. Lol. And boring because our ElectroMag (Electromagnetism) was a report type class. No further elaboration needed. 

What is Summer.

Hello fellas! This summer, we will have our first official summer class. Which is kind of a bummer because 3rd year 2nd sem. really takes a lot of a student, having a summer vacation before 4th yr (remember that part where almost all of the class failed in one subject?) would've been nice. I'll endure. It's only until May 19.

So, last April 8, my dad sent a surprise package! Yay! It contained the ice shaver (lol sounds weird), my mother's bangles, a tablet, and a camera. Whoa. Didn't expect those things. Thanks a lot, Dad! :D Since then, I reviewed the videos I downloaded almost a year ago (this is what I did last summer 2013, watched videos in photography lol excited much?) to refresh my knowledge. The camera is a Canon 600D and the tablet is a Lenovo IdeaTab A2107. The camera I asked, but not the tablet. If only I knew, I would've just got a Nintendo 2ds/3ds instead of a tablet. I already have a phone and I am very contented with it. So, with the new camera, I recently got into photography, while learning the basics. As of writing, I am still absorbing the core values.

3rd Year is.. Almoost Done!

Hey folks! How're you? How're the exams? I hope they were fine, and I hope that you passed all of your subjects. If you didn't, well at least you tried and gave it our all, that's what counts, isn't it? As Patel Piscine said, "And above all, don't lose hope." (Life of Pi, 2012)

As the 2nd semester of our 3rd year in college is coming to a close, all I can say is this has been the busiest semester.. Yet! Haha. To be honest, the first two years, I was relaxed and very petiks. It's only this year that I really experienced stress and exhaustion (physically and mentally), pulling out all-nighters, and confusion. It has it's own share of ups and downs. Fun and misery. You get the point. 

As of writing, I still haven't collected all of my class cards, and there's a slight problem. I still have a conditional grade (4.0), and we're having the removals next week and hopefully, pass it. There's a lot of confusions and problems why the instructor gave us a conditional grade. There are at least 25 of us who got a conditional grade. *Sigh. And we still have to get the illusive Mech 103 class card. >_<

Fortunately, those subjects weren't a pre/co-requisite for our summer classes, so we were still able to enroll without them. I got officially enrolled this afternoon, because our subjects weren't on their database this morning. -__- So we had to wait. 

Sorry if I took too long to post stuff. It's just that this has been the most stressed semester.. Yet! Haha! Brace our selves! Almost (or more than) 50% of the 4th year ECEs failed in their power amp. Whew! There are some lucky ones who had an Inc. grade. Frightening? I take that as a challenge! loljk. Again, sorry if I haven't been active lately. I'll try to post in between activities this summer. Let's all take a short vacation then return to school! Cheers! ✌

My Definition of A Busy Week.

Hey there! I have been really busy this past week. Busiest productive week ever! It started Saturday last week when we attended the YOUnique Conference at Victory Center, Batac. The next day (Sunday), there was a free Finance Seminar for the first 170 registrants of the conference. Luckily we met that condition. Since it's free, why not grab the opportunity? 

Monday, we had a long exam in one of our major subjects. Aaaand yeah.. Why? Haha. Tuesday, we made the circuit for the same subject which was supposed to be tested Thursday, but got postponed. Wednesday afternoon, we had no class but me and Melchor started to edit the video we were tasked to do, but it seems that there were some files missing so we just finished what we could. Thursday morning, we had no class because the circuit testing was postponed, but we did our take home exam/problem set for Math 60 (Probability and Statistics) which was due Friday! Friday, we only had ONE class, and we were supposed to pass the Math 60 problem set but again, it got postponed because it was too much to handle. (90+ problems). Saturday, today, we attended the Sirib Express 2nd Familiarization Tour. Sunday, since Melchor went home to his hometown, we weren't able to continue editing the video, instead I accepted a favor from a friend to add some opening and ending credits to their video. So there's the summary of the week.

I'll just leave this for now, since our Finals is coming in fast! I'll post the happenings when I have some free time. 'Till then, cheers! ✌