Farrah Fawcett died at 62 after a long time battle with cancer. She was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006. She passed away in a Santa Monica California hospital shortly before 9:30AM. A few days ago, Ryan O’Neal, her long time love even asked Farrah Fawcett to marry him, again, and she agreed. Unfortunately she passed away early.

I remember Farrah Fawcett as one of the Charlie’s Angels together with Jacklyn Smith and Kate Jackson. I was fond of watching the hit television show Charlie’s Angels then. I remember her being married to Lee Majors of Six Million Dollar Man which I also used to watch when I was still young.

Michael Jackson died at 50 after being rushed unconscious and not breathing to a Los Angeles hospital. It was reported that he passed away at 3:15PM. The cause of his death is still unknown as of this time although there were multiple reports that he had gone into cardiac arrest.

Michael Jackson was known as the legendary “King of Pop”. He was a great singer and entertainer but he also lived a very controversial life. His album “Thriller” was the biggest-selling album in the music industry. “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” were hits but the song that I really like among his songs were “Earth Song”, “You are not alone”, and “Heal the world”.

Join me in my prayers for Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Let us bow our heads for a few minutes and just say a prayer.

May their souls rest in peace! May God bless them and their families!

“Earth Hour” Music Video

“You are not alone” Music Video

Read more (updated after being posted for more news links):
‘Charlie’s Angels’ actress Farrah Fawcett dies from cancer at 62; Longtime love Ryan O’Neal at side
‘Charlie’s Angel’ Farrah Fawcett dies at 62
Hollywood Pays Tribute to Farrah Fawcett
Reports: Legendary ‘King of Pop’ Michael Jackson, 50, has died
Multiple reports: Michael Jackson dies at 50
Pop Legend Michael Jackson Dead at 50
Pop star Michael Jackson dead at 50
Michael Jackson dies at age 50

• Have a great Holy Week!
  He died and sacrificed for us on the cross just to save us from our sins and for our forgiveness.
• European Destination 2: Belgium
  It was April 17, 2007 when we went to Antwerp, Belgium. Travel time by train from Dordrecht, Netherlands to

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Michael Jackson died at 50, Farrah Fawcett died at 62

But before I write about the details of our vacation in Hong Kong, Philippines and Macau, I will try to finish first what I started about our Scotland Golf Vacation last year in July 2008. I know it is long overdue but I just thought that I still have a lot of photos to share with you. I still have to write about Inverness, Oban, and Hawick in Scotland as well as about Colchester and Leeds Castle in England. Then I might as well write about our trip in Salzburg, Austria in September 2008.

Surprise Google Gift

Anyway, I also mentioned at the title of this blog entry that I received a gift from Google. I was really surprised and I did not at all expect to receive any gift from Google despite receiving Christmas gift certificates in 2007 and 2008. Come to think of it, it is not even Christmas yet.

So, if you receive any, what would you do if you receive a gift from Google?

In my case, I just wrote a blog entry about it at Pro Blog it. You can read the details and see the photos of the Surprise Gift from Google at ProBlogit.com.

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  This spring season I went to the Philippines for a vacation. I left Switzerland on April 13, 2008 and
• Happy Valentine’s Day!
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  It was early in the morning on July 07, 2008 when we left Weggis, Switzerland for a summer golf vacation
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  Destination: Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan, Philippines Travel Date: January 02 - 05, 2001 Boracay is a tropical island on the
• I am back from the Philippines
  I am back from a month vacation in the Philippines. Yes, I was alone, Hub did not go with

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Back from HongKong-Philippines-Macau Vacation, Surprise Gift from Google

Read my post yesterday about the Manila Vocal Ensemble Switzerland Tour 2009.

The video clips were taken by Sofie Hofmann (www.sofiehofmann.com) during the concert of the Manila Vocal Ensemble at the Kapuzinerkloster in Schwyz, Switzerland on April 30, 2009 between 8:00PM and 10:00PM.

• Manila Vocal Ensemble Switzerland Tour 2009
  On April 30, 2009, Thursday last week, Cherry invited us to the Manila Vocal Ensemble concert held at the Kapuzinerkloster
• Dancing Stingray Video, SEA LIFE, Constance, Germany
  This is another attempt on videography. This is the first time that I use Mac's iMovie. The
• A baby’s infectious laughter
  This video clip is just great and I can't resist it. I have to post it here. I
• The Dancing Stingray of SEA.LIFE in Constance, Germany
  Have you seen a stingray dancing? I actually saw several stingrays dancing playfully last Saturday. The Swiss Sea-Angling
• A baby’s infectious laughter 2
  I just found another video of the baby's infectious laughter while surfing the website and blog of KC Concepcion at

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Manila Vocal Ensemble Switzerland Tour 2009 Video

I have seen the Manila Vocal Ensemble performed in Lucerne a few years ago. I even bought two of their CDs. Last year, they were also here but Hub and I were not able to watch any of their concerts as we learned about it late already. The other locations for their concerts were also too far from our place.

Manila Vocal Ensemble

I was actually not sure if we could watch the concert last Thursday but upon learning that May was also around I told Hub that we have to watch the concert. May is one of the members of the Manila Vocal Ensemble, a friend of one of my close friends, and I would like to meet her. She actually called me up last year, unfortunately we did not see each other.

Anyway, so last Thursday, we arrived just on time for the concert which started at 8:00PM. There were not too many people yet when I took some pictures. But before the concert started, the church was almost full. We sat in front so I was able to take some photos and videos while the Manila Vocal Ensemble performed.

I really liked the performance of the Manila Vocal Ensemble. They were good. They did not just sing, they also danced. The repertoire and the dance choreography were really good. It is not my habit to praise people just for the sake of praising but when I give my word like that, I really mean it. The audience even gave them a standing ovation. And I would like to say that they deserved the standing ovation that the audience gave them after their performance.

It was already after 10PM when the concert ended. After the show, Hub and I had the privilege meeting the members and the founder of the Manila Vocal Ensemble, Christopher, Ramy, Alex, May, Nazel, Hasmen, Maribel, Rhea, and Mr. Cabantac. We had a good time talking, chatting as well as drinking wine. We did not even notice the time, before we knew it was already past 12:30AM. So we decided to leave as they still have to perform the next day. We left Cherry’s place past 12:30AM already.

The Manila Vocal Ensemble is on tour in Switzerland until June 6, 2009. If you are residing in Switzerland, watch them perform if you can. I am sure you will enjoy the concert. Almost all the concerts are in Switzerland. So do not miss it. Entrance is normally free but donations are very much welcome after the concert.

Note: I will add a music video teaser tomorrow. I am still working on it. Kindly check out the video tomorrow.

Updated on May 06, 2009
The video is now available at Manila Vocal Ensemble Switzerland Tour 2009 Video.

For more information about the Manila Vocal Ensemble, please visit their site at www.manilavocalensemble.ch especially the schedule of the concerts, when and where are they performing.

Concerts 2009

M = Mass/Church Service
K = Full Concert, 2 hours
kK = Small Concert, 1 hour
P = Private Event

• Manila Vocal Ensemble Switzerland Tour 2009 Video
  This is another experimental video. It is not too polished yet with regard to changing scenes but I
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  I have been to Davao before, when I was assigned there for work. So when I heard that Beng
• Have a great Holy Week!
  He died and sacrificed for us on the cross just to save us from our sins and for our forgiveness.

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Manila Vocal Ensemble Switzerland Tour 2009

On April 2, 2009, as I have already written about it here a few weeks ago, I launched (without any champagne) my new problogging venture at ProBlogit.com, Problogging Tips and Ideas, Reviews and Opinions. I update this blog on a daily basis from Mondays to Fridays but I made Saturdays and Sundays optional days. I do need a break too.

If you would like to venture on making money online problogging or simply just blogging, come, join me at Pro Blog it. You might get some ideas from what I have written so far. You might be interested at these two blog entries, Problogging Summary Guide to Starting and Implementing a Blog, and Direct Ways to Make Money Online Problogging.

Two weeks after launching Pro Blog it, I finally finished revising two websites that I have created in 2000 and 2002, one was about the Semirara Dumpsite Issue in Semirara Island, Caluya, Antique, Philippines way back in 2000 to 2001, and the other one was about the Patria Diesel Power Plant Issue in Patria, Pandan, Antique, Philippines way back in 2002 to 2003. These two sites have been riding with other domain names before until I decided to transfer them to an appropriate domain name so it would be easier to remember them.

I converted the two websites from simple HTML to PHP using WordPress as CMS. These sites are additional two sites that I will be updating too. The updates may not be about the issues anymore but one way or another will still be related to power plants and garbage problems and other things related to the topics and the places.

Along the way, I have also been making some minor revisions at Weggis.net and Pandan.ph. I have never really updated Pandan.ph regularly before but it seems like I will be doing it now, maybe once a month just like how I update Weggis.net. Even if the updates will be just once a month, at least, there will be some movements at the website on a monthly basis.

Having been so busy for the past weeks got me into contemplating that I need to treat problogging as a job or business. I need a lot of commitment to survive the problogging business. The fact is, problogging everyday is not at all an easy task. I need to commit to myself so I will keep on blogging everyday. It is different from web designing which I really treat as a hobby. But no matter what, job or business or hobby, I will survive because I know that I have been loving web designing and blogging.

There is nothing wrong if I like making money online problogging. Is that really bad? I don’t think so, as long as I do not make money the center of my life. Money is just a perk in one’s life. It should not be the center of one’s existence. I can honestly say that it is never the core of my existence on this earth and in this universe.

• Web Design and Web Development
  Designing and developing websites is just a hobby of mine but I also design simple yet nicely and creatively done
• ProBlogit.com: My new Problogging Venture
  Hello everyone! Just a little bit of advertising on my part on my new venture. :) Have you ever
• About
  The about page is probably one of the most visited pages among the pages in a site. But I
• If I am not blogging…
  You're probably wondering where I am. Well, I am not on vacation but I've been very busy these past
• Three Things That I just love to do
  Another tag and I hope the last. :) I promised cheH that I will do this tag. CheH

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Problogging as a job or business, Web Designing as a hobby

The STORY about my photography experiment and its details…

I found the withered hyacinth flowers a very good subject ever since I saw them getting dry. I experimented on taking macro shots of the withered hyacinth flowers using Sony Cyber-shot DSC W100. It was on a Saturday on April 11, 2009 after 11:00 A.M. when I took some photographs of the withered flowers.

Photo EXIF Data Information
Size: 2.5 MB
Dimensions: 3264×2448
Device make: SONY
Device model: DCS-W100
Color space: RGB
Focal length: 7.9
FNumber: 5.6
Exposure time: 1/40

I took the shots from our kitchen using the white wall as the background. I experimented taking the photographs without using flash and with flash. The kitchen was a little bit dim, without so much sunlight from the outside.

The photos below are actually just one picture. I took the shot of this particular photo with flash, made the background a little bit blurred, just a little bit, and focused on the flowers.

The photos were saved using three different settings. I reduced the size of the photos to save some time for downloading and bandwidth purposes. I saved the photos as PSD and BMP. Then I used BMP and saved the photos as JPG using Photoshop’s “Save for Web” instead of directly saving them as “Save as” from PSD to JPG.

I have experimented on this a long time ago, compared the results and found my method of saving a photo is actually bandwidth and space saver, and still with a good result rather than reducing the JPG file and then saving the reduced size of JPG as again JPG. Because of this method, I could not post a lot photos all the time. The process is long but I find it very useful from my point of view.

The first photo is the original. The two other photos were enhanced a little bit. This is just to show you the difference when photos were enhanced. The difference is not that much because as I see it I took a real good shot at this one. I will also give you the details of each photo so you might get an idea on how to save pictures without really compromising its quality. With that, you can also save some storage space and bandwidth.

I am giving you a lot of tips now.

The photos were saved as BMP with file format OS/2 instead of Windows as I am not using Windows, and depth of 24 Bit using Photoshop. Then I saved the BMP as JPG, again using Photoshop with “Very High” quality setting instead of “Maximum” quality setting. The photos were saved with 80% quality rather than 100% maximum quality. The details are below why I saved the photos with 80% quality rather than 100%.

The original dimension of 3264×2448 was reduced to 480×360 and the size was reduced from 2.5 MB down to between 42 and 46 KB.

The first photo is the original and was not enhanced. Despite my way or process of saving the first photo, its quality was not really compromised. The second photo was enhanced using auto contrast. The third photo was enhanched using auto color correction.

ORIGINAL

Original

AUTO CONTRAST

Auto Contrast

AUTO COLOR CORRECTION

Auto Color Correction

If the photos were saved from PSD or BMP using Photoshop’s “Save as” instead of “Save for Web” the size would be just like when being saved with Maximum quality setting.

Well, that’s it. Let me remind you though that I am just a hobby photographer and do not even understand all the technical details about photography. I do not read a lot about photography, actually very rarely, I just experiment.

• Withered Hyacinth Flowers Photography
  Read the details at Withered Hyacinth Flowers Photography Experiment.
• Maple Tree Flowers, Buds, Leaves Photography
  As usual, we went to Golf Park Holzhaeusern last Sunday for a dessert and for a short walk. Watched
• Fruits, Flowers and Plants
  I was too busy for the past few days that I couldn't even bring myself to write something here.
• Spring Season
  Spring season in Switzerland officially started on March 21, 2006. Soon enough, the trees will have its leaves and
• Lovely Red Roses
  I wanted to write about some issues in the Philippines, about friendship, about blogs, about this and that, but I

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Withered Hyacinth Flowers Photography Experiment

• Withered Hyacinth Flowers Photography Experiment
  Hub already threw the hyacinth plant at the trash bin. The next day, he was surprised to see that
• Maple Tree Flowers, Buds, Leaves Photography
  As usual, we went to Golf Park Holzhaeusern last Sunday for a dessert and for a short walk. Watched
• Fruits, Flowers and Plants
  I was too busy for the past few days that I couldn't even bring myself to write something here.
• Spring Season
  Spring season in Switzerland officially started on March 21, 2006. Soon enough, the trees will have its leaves and
• Lovely Red Roses
  I wanted to write about some issues in the Philippines, about friendship, about blogs, about this and that, but I

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Withered Hyacinth Flowers Photography

The photos of the flowers, buds, and leaves were not manipulated just like the other photos that I have been posting in this site. I just reduced the size from 2.4MB-2.8MB down to 36KB-64KB and from 3264×2448 to 480×360 which I normally do for lower bandwidth usage and faster downloading of the page. I especially made the background (actually the golf course) blurred to emphasize the subject which were the flowers, the buds, and the young leaves.

I just used a point and shoot digital camera, a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W100, the camera that I have been using since February 2007. Before that, I was also just using a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P1. And before that, I was just using a cheap Kodak film camera. I actually love my Kodak camera only that it eventually gave up. Once in a while, I use my Sony Ericcson W810i cellphone’s camera.

I love the photos of the flowers, buds, and young leaves of the maple tree above. I just feel like patronizing myself for taking great pictures. So, who says that we could not take great photos using point and shoot digital camera with limited features like Sony Cyber-shot which is not even a semi-dSLR?

• Withered Hyacinth Flowers Photography
  Read the details at Withered Hyacinth Flowers Photography Experiment.
• Fruits, Flowers and Plants
  I was too busy for the past few days that I couldn't even bring myself to write something here.
• Spring Season
  Spring season in Switzerland officially started on March 21, 2006. Soon enough, the trees will have its leaves and
• Christmas Tree, Christmas Wishes
  It's just a day before Christmas and before we prepare for our Christmas Eve dinner, I thought of doing these
• Withered Hyacinth Flowers Photography Experiment
  Hub already threw the hyacinth plant at the trash bin. The next day, he was surprised to see that

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Maple Tree Flowers, Buds, Leaves Photography

Jesus Christ on the Cross

Enjoy your Easter holiday weekend break! Spend it with worth! Have a great Holy Week!

• Happy Valentine’s Day
  Happy Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! Have a great week! Enjoy and have fun! :)
• Maple Tree Flowers, Buds, Leaves Photography
  As usual, we went to Golf Park Holzhaeusern last Sunday for a dessert and for a short walk. Watched
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Have a great Holy Week!

Have you ever wonder if you will really earn from problogging? Well, I have and I thought I should start a new blog just dedicated to problogging. It has been intriguing me for quite some time now if there is really truth to what others have been experiencing. Imagine, earning a six figure US dollars per year! Wow, isn’t it amazing! And for me to find that out, I finally decided to join the problogging bandwagon.

So, if you also have the intention to join this problogging mania later on or maybe now, why don’t you join me at ProBlogit.com?

I encourage everyone to join and let us use the universal language, English, so other people will be able to understand if ever you are going to share something worth to share.

Let us have some fun making money problogging! Join me at ProBlogit.com!

• Problogging as a job or business, Web Designing as a hobby
  I was so busy for the past few months and for the past few weeks as I have updated my

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ProBlogit.com: My new Problogging Venture