Happy New Year

Just half an hour into 2011.  Happy New Year to all.  2010 was a good year for me, except for the unfortunate year-ender -- my gmail account got hacked.  It was partly due to my stupidity, but that's past.  To the guy who hacked my account, I've forgiven you but I'll not forget the incident.  You'll have your karma, I promise you that.

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Jegs, who is right now with her family in Calamba, just called to inform me that she might not be able to drive back home tonight because the car of Ruby, her sister, got hit by a fire cracker at the height of the celebrations at midnight.  Ruby's rear windshield, Jegs said, was broken to pieces.  She has to bring Ruby and her daughter, Danyelle, home to Sta. Rosa.  I told her not to drive home anymore tonight.  She can come home early tomorrow, instead. 

The police have been reminding people not to explode firecrackers because they can cause accidents.  Well, people simply don't listen.

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A few days ago, Jegs and I were at a computer shop at the Festival Mall in Alabang.  We went there to have a new OS installed in my new laptop.  While I was talking to Gerald, one of the sales persons in the shop, who I was asking to install the software on my LAPTOP, some one came in and, without  saying "excuse me," he started asking questions to Gerald, who also entertained his questions.  I did not say anything.  Instead, I just stood still waiting for this guy to finish his business.  I thought they were simply completing an unfinished transaction.

After about a couple of minutes, he left and I resumed my discussion with Gerald.  Then, after about five minutes, the guy was suddenly back and started talking to Gerald again.  At that time, I was a bit pissed off so I told him in no uncertain terms, "excuse me, I'm talking to him, okey?"  Then I looked at him with a stare of a vampire.  The guy probably realized it was rude of him to simply bat in unnecessarily in someone else's transaction.  He apologized and left.

Point is, some people simply don't have good manners anymore.

***

The Christmas break gave me time to finish two chores.  I completed a chapter of a book being prepared by AMIC.  This book deals with some kind of a revisit of devcom as a basis for trying to track its new trajectory.  In other words, what has happened with devcom over the years, and where is it heading?  I was requested by Dr. Srinivas Melkote of Bowling Green State University in the US, who is editing the book, to write a chapter about how devcom was in Los Banos.  I accepted the challenge.  I completed that chapter during December 2010. 

Also completed was a paper on plagiarism that I'm being asked to speak on in a seminar being organized by graduate students of environmental science at UPLB.  The paper, as well as the accompanying power point presentation are done.

If anything, this could mean that I might be a bit busier this 2011.  If that means I'd be busier in 2011 than I was in 2010, then I'm looking at a very tight schedule for 2011.

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Again, Happy New Year to all.