Tech Troubadour

GLOCK 17: a devil-on-the-run's toy

2006-10-25T23:43:00.000+08:00

The latest addition to my family is not a pet, nor a set of security gadget, nor it is in human form. It is my gun.

Brace yourself for a Glock 17 clad with complete 17rounds of full metal ammunition. This shining coolness is handed to me by a friend who has a connection to Russian arms dealers and underworld.

My very first close encounter to the real thing sprung from what he call an "underwortld." But what the heck is "underworld" anyway. Is is just a Hollywood depiction of a place where devils freely run? What is it made up of. At the span of our conversation, he said that it comprises the cops and crooks in the same sailboat, the saints and sinners in the same haven. A kind of place where you can't see any distinction between a crime czar and an "alleged" cohorts of a crime. It is not a place of communism(or Marxist rule) but definitely a place where everybody is equal. A street is full of people totting with firearms on the side yet emerged to be the safest place in the world. Not a place for empirialists or aristocrats. A deep regard for one's altruism prevails first more than a rude brass of one's authority. Rule of law is least observed, yet respect is highly esteemed.

The gun is accordingly given to him as a gift from a Portuguese druglord who is now based in Buenos Aires right after the oust of Fidel Castro. The "gleek"(as he refers it because of its sleek look and chrome finish) is customized by an Austrian gun maker, from the very first breed of people who baptizes the very first Glock in its inception.

The specs is awesome, but numbers don't end there. The licensing cost Php6,999(standard 45caliber licensing rate for private individual) and the Permit To Carry cost Php12,000, plus Php19 for each bullet piece in a box containing 50 of them. A holster cost Php3,495.

Nevertheless given:

Glock 17 Specifications Caliber 9x19 mm
Action Safe Action (constant double action mode)
Overall length (slide) 7.32 in. (186 mm)
Height, including magazine 5.43 in. (138 mm)
Width 1.18 in. (30 mm)
Barrel length 4.49 in. (114 mm)
Sight radius 6.49 in. (165 mm)
Rifling Hexagonal profile with right-hand twist of one turn in 9.84 in. (250 mm)
Weight, without magazine 22.04 oz. (625 g)
Weight, empty magazine 2.75 oz. (78 g)
Weight, full magazine ~9.87 oz. (~280 g)
Magazine capacity 17 rounds
Standard trigger pull ~5.5 lbs. (~2.5 kg)
Trigger pull length 0.5 in. (12.5 mm)
Number of safeties 3

... I would be more than glad to shell out that amount.

They say if you have a gun, it will spruce up smugness and imperiousness. A Spanish harlem said "true gun virtusuo is depleted with airs of braggadocio." I felt the same. Arrogance never lurks in my kind while I carry weapon. I felt like I became the calmest creature on earth carrying this weapon. Probably it is because I don't need to exert effort in waging supremacy(if ever I have to).

Well, I should remain placid until an extreme agitation passes by. But it should be extreme enough for me to pull up a weapon of destruction.

2006-10-19T12:01:00.000+08:00

After several musings, years of pondering shattered relationship, I never found the answer... answer to these questions:

How is it that so much time spent loving and caring for a person can suddenly crumble to the ground? How can words of tender endearments suddenly be turned into comments of blind hatred and revenge? Why is change such a feared presence? Where is it we go when we step outside of the comfort of familiarity? How do we recreate joy when so much is trapped beneath the rubble of failure? Where is the strength to pick up all of the delicate shards that reflect the beauty of true love? Is there a cloth thick enough to wipe away the blood of our bleeding hearts? How can we absorb the surrounding happiness of our friends when our closest friendship has been sapped of any reminder of happiness? Why, if we still breathe, does life end... until the rocky moment of acceptance? How does love end anyway?

Can someone so kind emancipate me with life's unanswered questions such as these?

IF(a poem noir)

2005-09-17T02:01:00.000+08:00

To Paje

2005-09-17T01:51:00.000+08:00

This poem was written last Valentine of 2005, yet I published this in this blog of mine just now. Why? I dunno. What am I churning this out for? Oh, I was in the hiatus of my darkest times as an industry pundit when Paje(of Microwarehouse), a rightful owner of this poem, required me to submit our CM(credit memo) Summary, in which I have failed to comply. She went stark raving mad upon hearing my delay despite her forgiving leeway(a month after tyrannical deadline). From that time on I couldn't come up to her to spur her subtlety and ask another set of subsidy. So in order to appease her and win her heart back, I made this poem for her. My unorthodox, sweeter way of bribing someone.

Beyond the Streaks of Light

2005-09-17T01:45:00.000+08:00

iPod Nano as in "unano"

2005-09-17T01:38:00.000+08:00

Apple's miniaturized version of iPod via sub brand "Nano"(as in unano) will have a 3.5 x 1.6 x 0.27-inch size and will feature 500 song/2GB and 1,000 song/4GB capacities, a 1.5-inch color display, and, of course, a click wheel, which appears to have a drastically larger center button(a la retro apparel butones).

The headphone jack though is located at the bottom of the device intended for easy interface for display and song manuever. You will be even more astounded that the more than 62% the size of the once diminutive iPod mini; it weighs 1.5 ounces (42 grams), has a maximum of 14 hours battery life, will come in black (as well as iPod white), and includes a few new niceties such as a nighttime inverse screen mode.

In My Dreamland Rendezvous

2005-09-17T01:36:00.000+08:00

Prayer for Passion and Purity

2005-09-17T01:31:00.000+08:00

Sony NW-A3000 / NW-A1000 / NW-A600

2005-09-17T01:17:00.000+08:00

Hey sleepyheads and slackers—if you’re like me who have a penchant for, um, sleeping amidst technical innovation, you might have missed Sony’s latest entrant into the portable audio market. If they reign supreme in the market share before in the hedays days of walkman, right now they are trying to make habol iPod's huge chunk in the market by coming out these. Let's wait and see if they can really give an Apple a run for their money.

But wait, now there’s even more info to check out, too. So in addition to what I know about the NW-A300 and NW-A1000 players (I prefer NWA-3000/1000 playas, thanks), I now know the screen the A3000 will be packin’ is a 2-inch OLED display, and that it’s a little larger than I’d like at 2.5 x 4.1 x 0.84-inches (65.2 x 104.2 x 21.4mm); the A1000 (that’s their 1-inch drive version) will have a 1.5-inch OLED display, and both will feature "intelligent shuffle“(whatever that is, it simply means they're trying to knock off iPod Shuffle, tingan natin).

Sony’s also given an update to the Network Walkman NW-E series; it’s returning as the NW-A600 (over in Japan, anyway) with the 2GB A608, and 1GB A607 in a slew of colors—including limited edition gold (which did just so well for Apple) and emerald. They too will feature “Intelligent shuffle,” and will be priced between ¥25,000 - 32,000 ($225 - 290 US).

Of Loved and Lost

2005-09-17T01:14:00.000+08:00

Untitled

2005-09-17T01:12:00.000+08:00

A Poet

2005-07-01T15:05:00.000+08:00

**poetry by engrjohnraycabrera**

Poets often use many words
Melodies and metrical expressions
Each line versed with rhythm and rhyme
Achieved by the passing of time
Recollected in utmost tranquility
Blended with contemplation.
And if I could only say the words left
Unspoken by passionate drift,
I'll be the greatest poet of all time
Uttering only my heart's sublime,
Nobility and love's divine
That was never, never at all mine,
Not until I give you the words
Which is rightfully yours...
Words that say.... I LOVE YOU.....

Discintillation

2005-07-01T14:37:00.000+08:00

**poetry of engrjohnraycabrera**

'Twas an awe-inspiring fascination
Dreams of all dreams propagate
Ushering me into a dazzling dimension
As cherished admirations visitate.

Time and again, it stirs my memory
Like some indimunitive illusion
A one that thrills me even today
Flashes an extravagant sight meant for late afternoon.

In the beautiful spot of an island
An equally beautiful woman immersing in the water
Like Tequila sundown casting so grand
Being with her is a heavenly bliss rupturing in my atmosphere.

Sailboat silhouette exhibits a grandiose display
As it sliced through the low, golden sun
Viewed only as a speck of the glistening sea
Causing the breeze to swish as it spurn.

Scouring the expanse of a dry seabed
And tossing tjhe peebles into the sea
I orchestrate our lovesongs often repeated
While mesmerized by her finesse and beauty.

The sun gloriously hang inches above the horizon
Announcing the promise of a new day
Like earth's weary pilgrim, it vanishes soon
Eddying from one celestial nook to the other, yearning another moment with Marie.

Nokia N91: so much for the camphone, here's a musicphone

2005-07-01T14:21:00.000+08:00

Brace youself for the Nokia's new 4GB musicphone. Nokia N91's finish isn't so hot and is kinda too subtle, as you can see, it scratches pretty easily, but it felt really damn good thing to hold.

BestaPro DMP1: Holy Grail of Convergence?

2005-07-01T14:09:00.000+08:00

Given the forays of punching features, this Korean-made device might bring hope to the neverland of consummate devices, making this this generation's Holy Grail of Convergence.

The BestaPro DMP1 flaunts a 20GB hard drive, 64MB SDRAM, a 320 x 240 LCD adjustable touch screen and features the usual music (MP3, WMA, ADPCM, WAV) and video (MPEG-1 and DivX and Xvid MPEG-4) playback formats, FM tuner, TV-out, and USB 1.1 hosting for direct transfer of photos from your digital camera, for example. All in a shiny black box about 10-15% bigger than the i2 in dimensions and weight. However, unlike the i2, the DMP-1 also boasts an integrated 1.3 megapixel cam for stills and video, an SD expansion slot, and includes “PDA functionality” with the Encyclopedia Britannica and electronic dictionary built-in.

The encyclopedia feature is even enough for me to emancipate my gadget lust and salivate a techno-drool.

Nokia 770: PDA category contender?

2005-06-11T18:11:00.000+08:00

While palmOne LifeDrive's stint in the mobile industry created a rippling undulation due to its gargantuan drive space, plus a raft of outstanding connectivity features like wifi and bluetooth, Nokia on the other hand just released a non-phone device that would hopefully give palmOne's LifeDrive a knock off?

I have a penchant for minitaure computing devices, but I still don't know if this Linux powered device will take off in the Philippine market. Not because I dont belive in Linux(I'd rather revere my salutation to Torvalds than Gates for a more stable operating platform), but Philippines is a market where a "get-used-to-it" graphic interface is something that matters. That's why Windows OS still occupied a larger share of the whole computing population because people are just afraid with the change(paradigm shift).

So, will the Nokia 770 be forcible enough to change my perspective from my current Clie TJ37 handheld to an all new Nokia 770 Handheld? Brace yourself....

Poetry in the Far Corners of Forever

2005-06-11T17:55:00.000+08:00

I have learned a month ago that my diabetes had become worse. Out of the onslaught of that physical infirmity, I have written this to Marie:

I want you to set this poetry aside
For this is written painstakingly
Wrought myself and my marrow
Just to let you know my heart’s delightful glow.

I want you to set his poetry aside
As a sign of how you make me for what I am
Accept me for who I have become
And giving me a strong character, a sense of direction,
a destiny to come.

I want you to set this poetry aside
And read it when you’re feeling happy and hue
So that you will always be reminded
That it was you who make me feel that way too.

I want you to set this poetry aside
As my admiration will never change nor fade
And the inexpressible charm and jovial mirth
Will remain in your loveliness and being down to earth.

I want you to set this poetry aside
Save for the days when things get wrong
And the dark clouds are hanging by your side
Hoping that these will cheer you up a little,
thinking those sweet mem’ries we have spent along.

I want you to set this poetry aside
On your dresser or on your shelf
Remember that it’s probably me sitting there,
Smiling to think of all the wonderful things about you.

I want you to set this poetry aside
While I’m gone; just to remind you in mind
That though I can’t always be there, or when God will take me somewhere
This poetry will remain truest, as I will be holding on to our promises,
waiting for you in the far corners of forever.

Tradewinds of our Time

2005-06-11T17:37:00.000+08:00

by engrjohnraycabrera

If I can undo the things already done
And restore back the lusters of yesterday
The reddening tinge of sunlight gone astray
To sunset's glowing crimsonnes....

I would willingly sacrifice
My years and lifetime's only price
Just to retrieve the natural essence
Of youthful's enthralling sweetness.

If I can undo the tears from a bleeding heart
Clothe you once more with pristine beauty
Of what was once vibrant
All with boundless enthusiasm, bliss, and ecstacy.

If by doing so would ease you
Of the pain gnawing your soul,
I would unweave love's mystic halo
Pick the fragments into original full.

If I can undo the sorrows inflicted in thee
And behold once more the appealing tenderness
Of that vestal face adorned from artist's memory
Regaining the allure of past togetherness.

If I can unwrap anew the mantle
Of gloomy misgivings and heart's trouble
Thrusting back into the darkest oblivion
The anguish that seared into your soul's pavilion.

If I can undo the poignant feelings
Let thoughts berserk and tormenting
Flee to where they came....
And with winsomeness glorify heart's untame.

If I can undo the haunting melancholia
That encompasses you with utmost nostalgia;
Clad you anew with those vanished happiness
That once were kin to your existence.

If I can undo the doings of time
Resurrect the years like effervescent mist
Joining the vapory space of falling moist,
Then subtly reviving your charm.

If I can recapture the bliss
Like elusive shadows escaping from mind's reach
Beyond recall, beyond warbling pitch
Restore your queenliness.

If I can undo the happiness gone excuciatingly
Endured by your strength and fortitude
Reawaken those emotions long dead and decayed
I shall but endow them with breath of life beyond immortality.

If I can undo the stirring songs
And redeem the carefree, bouyant nature
Of the pulchritude aloft the throng....
These eyes shall witness the youthful glow mirrored in my rapture.

If I can undo the yesteryear's complexity
But yesteryear is gone to eternity
Gone to return no more.....
Letting today pulsate life's irrevocable reality.

If I can undo all these
Giving you back the yesteryears
The youth's unalloyed joys grown with smiles
Bestow the thrilling music that describe our mem'ries.

If I can undo the fate's cruelties
I shall not lament and bemoan my punishment
All because I fell to Cupid's unerring dart
In you I can see heaven savored by my heart.

I love you Sweetheart.

iPod Shuffle-licous

2005-06-11T17:32:00.000+08:00

iPod Shuffle-licious.... that is what I call for an iPod Shuffle dressing itself like that gum bar. And, had this been owned by dad of a 4-year old kid, it will be most likely be devoured directly to the poor kid's palatte. And he'll just wryly react to his wifey and say: "I've seen my 'Pod dancing in our son's gastric glands, Honey...."

Reflections of Remorse

2005-06-11T17:16:00.000+08:00

One of my biggest flubs way back in college was failing my physics class. I wonder. Me? Aspiring to be a nuclear or discrete particle physicist flanking my physics subject? More so, a dean's lister like me to failing in his favorite minor class?(Physics is a minor subject in an engineering curricula) Yes, I flanked... for a dimunitive reason I did flank. The final exam was moved into another room, and me, not being veracious to the science building's bulletin board failed to take the finals.

I had several thoughts oscillating in me. What will happen to my future having a grade of 5.0 in my academic record. I started writing down this poem, thinking that my future ends there, and my end days start now.

A Dream

2005-06-11T17:10:00.000+08:00

the love we shared....

2005-06-11T16:13:00.000+08:00

Talking to God about Marie
April 17, 2005-

Yes, I'm on top of the world, floating aimlessly in thin air, gallivanting to the world of nowhere yet so definite and firm about the path taken. And I feel like I have the same level of stardom as Erik Santos belting to his heart's delight, "This is the Moment", for tomorrow I will be meeting the woman I love most. I will be seeing someone I dreamed to be with for the rest of my life. Such is an immense outpour of joy catapulting my senses. I am literally happy, yet the happiness I've felt goes beyond the virtue of the literal happiness itself.

But she is currently embrioled into something that caused both our sleepless nights. She was summoned for court case at the Mandaluyong trial court. I know God love her more than I could, but I just need to pray for her, hoping that my prayer would fortify Marie's strength, with my presence cementing a kind of compassion that God is always watching above. I cried in it. I cried not because I don't have faith in God, but because my prayers have been heart wrenching these critical moments of her life. I cried while praying, weeping like a child in the foothold of an adult's brethren, asking for God to untangle Marie of the intricacy she's implicated with.

Oh, God, I love Marie so much.

Loving thoughts about Marie

2005-06-11T16:06:00.000+08:00

I love her, and there will only be one person my heart is capable of loving than her. Whenever I see people's faces, I see herrs instead. It bothers me. I felt like God is giving me signs wherever I go. But it makes me happy for everything that surrounds in me reminded of her.

I will just be here, loving her. I will stay around with a love that is pure, sincere, and immeasurable as that of the Being who gave her to me. I will continue my plan, steadfast of the dream that I built around her... and if she will finally be able to untangle yourself from the web of intricaies that she is embrioled with, I will only be around, waiting for her in the far corner of the world, waiting for the dreams we have shared with, waiting for the love we summon.

I love Marie so much and I know my life rest in the cudgels of her love, and I felt confident that end the end, we may share the same glory. No matter what that is, it's for her and me to relish, to cheerish, and to enjoy mutually.

I love her to the purest and sublimest, and not transient and momentary as she thought it is.

Thinking of You

2005-06-11T16:00:00.000+08:00

this is my poem for Marie....

the Alpha and the Omega

2005-06-11T15:50:00.000+08:00

the grandeur that is God....

PoetTech: a fusion of poetry and technology

2005-06-11T14:34:00.000+08:00

Yeah, blogs have been there since the dawn of online literatures. And while most writers find this handy in expressing their opinions with just a laptop as their notepad, a coffee shop as their haven, and a wireless internet as their publication channel, I am not alluded by this kind of service primarily because I don't want to openly unshroud my thoughts into public consumption. I mean, even if this is subscriber dependent which requires your approval before they can feast upon your blog, there will always be people who would request to read it. I love fiction movies, but the least of the ficion heroes I adore are those who know can read minds. So why such my lame attempt to finally put down my thoughts into writing? Two things: poetry and technology. Expect this blog to be a fusion of technical insights from me(and from other the industry pundits) and of my literary handiworks.

So then.... let the bloggin' party begin.....