Oscar Paul

Free Computer Programming

2008-08-21T05:31:00.000-07:00

I've been busy for the last three months developing a point of sale (pos) application software (i've forgotten about my hydroponics project). The pay is not so good but i enjoyed the challenge.

Actually i am bored with my job (but i cant leave 'coz the salary is ok) so i accept computer programming projects just for the thrill of it.

I have no pending projects as of the moment so if you want me to develop a program for your company for FREE (yes its free) just email me (opbfortuna@yahoo.com). If you think my work has benefited your company, a small amount will do or you can hire me :-) or a java mobile programming book will do.

Actually you have nothing to lose. I will email the installer to you, install it in a stand alone computer and let it run for a certain period of time before installing it in your server. I can also do it for you if you want me to.

This is not a hoax or scam it just so happen that computer programming is my hobby.

Since it is free don't give me deadlines but i will try to finish it as fast as i can.

By the way web programming is not my thing.

Platform: Windows
Language: VB6.0 , VB2005
Database: MS SQL, SQLServer 2005 (free download)

Developed Applications:
Banking: Frontline Services (tellering, new accounts), Loans, Accounting
Payroll
Inventory
Point-of-Sale
Inquiry System (i used COBOL for this project)

Failure in System Design and Development

2008-02-11T05:22:00.000-08:00

I've been designing and developing business applications since 1992 and have successfully implemented all my projects until this latest project of mine.

Early January this year, a newly opened clinic asked me to develop a program to monitor the inventory of their stocks (sold and used), as well as the services offered and payments of their clients. During the interview i was taking the usual notes however, at the back of my mind i knew i already made this kind of program before. After the interview, i told the owner of the clinic to give me two weeks for the presentation and even the installation of the program.

Three days after the interview, I started to check my old projects to look for a similar transaction. Forgetting about the notes i took, i just modified the tables and user interface of my old project then confidently told myself that its ready.

After my presentation, the company's representative immediately told me that i wasn't listening to what they told me during our first meeting. Oh my gosh! was all i can say ... Using my charm :-) and some IT jargons (this is effective) i was able to convince them for a second presentation.

I left the clinic humbled by the experience.

The lesson i learned from this experience is not to be too confident even if you've been in this field for more than ten years and to always stick to the basics (sdlc, erd, uml, etc.) ...

How to earn money

2008-01-18T07:34:00.000-08:00

The Internet is famous for driving new and innovative ideas and technologies. Today I am pleased to announce one of the Internet’s newest innovations…

What if I told you it was possible to earn revenue on every single person that visits any of your websites, at any time?

A new innovative technology has been developed and it is geared to rival the Google AdSense program. Now there is a way for you to earn money on 100% of your web traffic without selling anything and without visitors having to click on anything.

As a matter of fact your website visitors don’t have to do anything at all and you get paid!

How is this possible?

Sound too good to be true?

I assure you that this is for real and it is here to stay…

To learn more about Pay Per Play Click Here

Customer Relationship Management

2008-01-05T00:18:00.000-08:00

Guys are you familiar with Customer Relationship Management(CRM)? If not, better ask your executives to consider CRM solutions as they make their strategic plan for the year.

By definition, CRM is the practice of intelligently finding, marketing to, selling to, and servicing customers. Enterprises usually build a database about its customers (detailed information) so that management and sales people could access the information to match customer needs with product plans and offerings, know what products a customer had purchased and a lot more.

I'm sure guys one of your company's objective is how to get loyal customers because if you have customers who are merely satisfied or transactional your company will be in trouble. Loyal customers go out of their way to recommend you to others. Word of mouth advertising costs you nothing but is one of the most effective means of advertisement. I am convinced that CRM solution is one of the best solution to meet that goal. There are several CRM packages available in the market just make sure to consider those that meet your company's need.

In choosing the right CRM solutions provider the most important thing to consider is their experience and satisfaction of their customers. Bright Blue (www.brightblue.com.au) definitely has those qualifications (10 years guys!) with satisfied major companies as their clients.

Life Insurance

2007-12-13T04:42:00.001-08:00

I want you to think about your family – your spouse and children.

Do you spend time with them? Do you take them to the movies, restaurants and parks? Can you feel the joy and love when you go out together as a family? How do you feel when they thank you for spending time with them and tell you that they love you so much? When you have small kids they sometimes tell you how they wish you are with them all the time – ahhhhh I really love those moments.

But what do you think will happen to them when you die? Are you going to leave them with happy memories and security for their future or you leave them with bills, mortgages, and overdue rent?

You might have heard this several times already but I really do believe that having a life insurance is as important as giving gifts to your family, as a matter of fact this for me is one of the best gifts I can give to them.

At some point you’ve probably considered purchasing an insurance policy but got turned off sorting through all of the insurance quotes and even finding a reputable insurance company. For your family’s sake please don’t make it as an excuse, insurance quoting services are available online making the decision process easier.

When insurance companies determine your insurance premium, they take into account several factors (risks). However, one way to lower your insurance premium is by living a healthy lifestyle and make sure to inform your agent about the extra things you do in maintaining a healthy and worry free life.

Blast in Congress

2007-11-14T20:18:00.000-08:00

The moment i heard the news that a bomb exploded at Congress, the first question that came in to my mind was - what happened to the security?

We have been made to believe that security at the Batasan complex was of the highest quality, what with all those armed security personnel, policemen, cameras installed in the right places to monitor the comings and goings of people, and the omni-present highly-trained, expensive bomb-sniffing dogs (K9s). With such security measures in place, how come the bomb planted in the building's south wing was not detected? Where were the security personnel at the time of the explosion? For that matter, where on earth were the expensive, highly-trained K9s?

The security personnel in Congress really fucked-up on this.

Sambawitan 2007

2007-11-05T05:53:00.000-08:00

We went to Ateneo de Davao around 2:30 in the afternoon for the sound check. Upon arriving, we saw and heard the other groups singing / practicing their songs. I immediately noticed that the seven groups (there were 8 competing groups) had at least 20 members. Since visual effects or choreography is part of the criteria, the number of members in a group matters. While waiting for our turn (sound check) our conductor and arranger informed us that we have to double our effort since we are outnumbered (the other groups are really good).

After the sound check we went to one of the rooms in Ateneo to vocalize, change outfit, and last minute instructions. We are the sixth contestant.

This event was organized by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart and one of the Judges is Mr. Ryan “The Masestro” Cayabyab.

Before announcing the winner, Mr. Cayabyab informed the participants that we should minimize the visual effects or choreography (deep inside I said to myself that it is not fair since it was part of the criteria!!!!!!!!) and to focus on the song especially the melody.

“Its now time to announce the winner” said the emcee…..

The second runner-up for the Sambawitan 2007 goes to Le Voix Chorale!!! (yehey!!!!).

The winning groups received the following:
Champion 100,000.00
1st runner-up 50,000.00
2nd runner-up 30,000.00

Personally I wasn’t expecting for our group to win but I guess we weren’t that bad :-)

To God be the glory!

Group Members: Sheila (S), Karen (A), Choy (A), Aishen (S), Elena (A), Jally (S), Daniel (B), Jelly (S), Gel (S), Jillian (A), Melvin (B), Francis (T), Jeffrey (T), Michael (T), David (B), Butch (B), Paul (T)

Rehearsal

2007-11-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

On November 4 we will be joining the Sambawitan Contest to be held at the Ateneo Covered court. For the past two weeks our group called Le Voix Chorale has been practicing daily (7-9 pm) to master the song and choreography. This is a different kind of contest because the organizers provided us with two "unarranged" songs. So basically aside from the interpretation by the group it is also a contest for the arrangers.

My younger brother David is our conductor, Alan Hioca is our choreographer and Greg Canceran the arranger.

I grew up singing in our church choir and has joined several regional and national competitions already. God has given our family the gift of music since all of us (including my parents, cousins, aunts, uncle) can sing and play instruments. But when we got married and had families of our own we kinda lost our passion for music except for my brothers David and Daniel. So when they invited me to join this contest I immediately said yes. This experience has rekindled my love for music and allowed my 12 year old son to witness this kind of event that i have been telling him since he was a little boy.

The pictures were taken in one of our rehearsals.

On my next post i will update you of the result ...

Advantage Auto Quotes

2007-10-28T01:27:00.000-07:00

Finding the best and lowest Automobile Insurance Policies has always been a tedious task for me. Just imagine listening to the presentation of each insurance agent (gosh they talk so fast J) and reading their proposals – it really gives me a headache at times.

The other day while surfing the Internet I happen to open the Advantage Auto Quotes web site. As I was browsing its content I found out that this is what I have been looking for all this time. They have this Advantage Insurance Quoting system which allows insurance companies to compete giving us the best car insurance rates. Usually we just contend ourselves with two to three quotes because we’re too busy listening or reading to all of those proposals. But with the service being provided by Advantage Auto Quotes they do all the research and provide us not just two or three but several options of those insurance companies having the best rates for our car.

So why not just spend your precious time with your family instead of listening to those insurance agents, filling out request-a-quote forms from hundreds of insurance companies. One of the things I like about their service is that you only have to fill-out one form.

Check out the web site guys and see it for yourself!

The Only Child

2007-10-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

I've been married for 12 years with one child.

Several days ago my parents went to our house with some relatives just to visit their eldest son. During the conversation my dad asked me and my wife of raising another child since according to him my son is lonely (i don't think he is). This was seconded by my mom and relatives. I told them to drop the topic since we've already decided to raise one child. Not convinced they wanted to know the reason and so i did.

1. We got married because we want to share the rest of our lives together (during that time having children was out of the equation)
2. We both share the same view that in a family the relationship of the parents is the cake and the children is JUST the icing on the cake.
3. Having several children is not a guarantee of a happy family. If the relationship of the parents is full of love and respect and they have no problems (major) then the family is happy.
4. Our country is already populated.
5. If you raise more than one child, parents have to work harder to support the financial, emotional, mental, physical needs of the children - meaning lesser time with your children.
6. I dont believe in spending "15 min quality time" with your kids. They need lots of quality time ...
7. Having more than one child is so stressful, so why should i do it.

I told them i still have a lot of reasons but i dont want to spoil their afternoon :-)

If you're reading this and you want to know the other reasons am sure glad to share it with you ...

Got to go ... my son is waiting for me ...

Badminton

2007-09-22T05:13:00.000-07:00

Last thursday was our championship game and we placed second in both mixed doubles and mens double.

Im not really good in badminton as a matter of fact i seldom play this game. However, this year our company decided to have an inter-color tournament. Although i hardly play this game but the athlete in me made it easy for me to play this game.

I was a baseball varsity player from high school to college - center field in high school and 2nd base in college. In high school we were the champion in our inter-school tournament.

Champion or not its the fun and excitement that matters. But it would have been better if we were the champion :-)

Durian Season

2007-09-14T16:35:00.000-07:00

Its one of my favorite time of year.

Durian is a fruit that only Mindaoans would love - well, there are others who doesnt like the smell of it. But the hell with the smell its the taste that matters.

The durian season starts at the end of July to November. In previous years, there were just a few varieties to choose from but now there a lot of varieties like: COB YELLOW (my favorite), COB WHITE, NATIVE, CHANEE, ARANCILLO (another favorite), PUYAT (another favorite), SWHARZCOF (i dont know how to spell it),and more...

In Davao City they will set up a durian park (just for the season) where families, friends, lovers, and officemates go to eat. Its kinda fun seeing a lot of people eager to eat this king of the fuits. Because of its abundance you can see durian all over the city (the picture above was taken from one of the streets). Other vendors will just park their truck or jeepneys and sell durian.

To describe this fruit - IT SMELLS LIKE SHIT BUT TASTE LIKE HEAVEN.

Once you've tasted it, you don't have to be a Mindanaoan to love DURIAN.

The Beginning

2007-09-07T10:19:00.000-07:00

At last i already have a blog!

For some time my friends we're trying to convince me to create a blog but i wasn't interested at that time because i thought it was just a waste of time. Usually whenever i open my computer i just check my mails and the rest is computer programming or reading tutorials related to computer programming.

Today September 8, 2007 1:19am while waiting for my wife to arrive from work, my friend gladys reminded me again to try blogging. So since i have nothing else to do (i was playing Far Cry before she popped up from my screen) i created this account.

I kinda feel a little weird composing this but maybe because its my first time.

Well my wife is already a sleep ... Today is her birthday and i still haven't bought her a present.

Its almost 2 in the morning i better get some sleep 'coz its going to be a long day ahead ...