4th OTOP Mindanao Island Fair, DONE!!!

After rendering 11 hours a day for 4 days, the 4th OTOP Mindanao Island Fair has finally come to an end! I, and the rest of the students felt so relieved after the 4-day voluntary work! "We could finally get a very well-deserved rest!"

Just to sum up what transpired during the 4-day ordeal:

The student's role was to encode all day-end sales report of all 100 (plus) exhibitors who came from all over Mindanao, and submit the daily report to the DTI personnel. This way, DTI will be able to determine the top sellers for each day, and come up with the overall top-seller on the 4th day.

There was nothing "out-of-the-ordinary" during the 4-day ordeal since the tasks were routinary. However, the students, including myself, had a great time savoring all the free taste-tests from some of the exhibitors who displayed edible food. We also enjoyed the "bottomless-coffee" which was being served by the Nescafe booth. There was a booth which sold "buy 1 take 1" burgers for 28 pesos. When we asked how much a piece of burger cost, they answered "14 pesos, sir!" Wow! what a great way to sell a buy 1 take 1 product!!! (duh!)

All in all, the group had a great time and experience during their 4-day volunteer work at the Garden Orchid Convention Center. We just hope the DTI was satisfied with the work that we've rendered. (hehehe...)

Another successful work from one of the greatest team ever!

Go Software Development Group!

Go STI College Zamboanga!




Best regards,

Jonathan Paul C. Solis
JPCS Moderator

4th OTOP: Mindanao Islands Fair and STI

(from http://www.sunstar.com.ph/zamboanga/mindanao-investment-gab-otop-fair-slated-zambo)

"THE Mindanao Business Council (MBC) is holding a two-day 2nd Mindanao Investment Conference (2nd Min iCon) in Zamboanga City.

The holding of the event will be done in coordination with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and in partnership with the local government and various development agencies.

The Zamboanga Peninsula will at the same time play host to the four-day 4th One-Town One-Product (Otop) Mindanao Island Fair 2009, which will also be held in the city."

This is are two of the grand events which will happen in Zamboanga in preparation for the coming Feast of the La Virgen del Pilar (Fiesta Pilar). Merchants from all over Mindanao will be displaying their goods at the Garden Orchid Hotel from October 9 to 11.

And ofcourse, STI College Zamboanga will be playing a big part in the event. Selected students will be tasked to document and monitor all sales from the convention. These students are members of the Junior Philippine Computer Society (STI Zamboanga chapter) and members of the STI Silicone Valley Club, a club specifically for students who excel in the field of Information and Communications Technology. Their skills include, programming, web developing, database management, flash animation, and many other ICT related skills.

Together with their moderator, these students will dedicate their work to the city of Zamboanga, and to their alma-mater, STI College Zamboanga.

The following are the students who will be working for the said event:

• BJ Duran, IT 311
• Fahad Abubakar, IT 311
• Ray Morados, IT 311
• Genesis Macrohon, CS 211
• Darwin Dela Cruz, CS 211
• Marlan Marlan, CS 211

You have been chosen, because you have shown dedication for your work. And you are responsible of your actions.

With that, I wish you all GOOD LUCK!


Best regards,

Jonathan Paul C. Solis
Moderator
JPCS/STI-SVC

Software Freedom Day 2009 @ STI College Zamboanga a SUCCESS!!!

After months of preparation, it has come! Software Freedom Day 2009 @ STI College Zamboanga was such a huge success!

Participants coming from as far as DMC Dipolog, and Claret College of Isabela joined and celebrated with the Zamboangueños at STI College for this momentous and international event dubbed as SOFTWARE FREEDOM DAY!

Speakers with great knowledge in the field of Free and Open Source Software enriched the minds of all the participants about the importance of FOSS and its effect to society.

It was a day full of new knowledge and, ofcourse, PRIZES!

Participants were given the benefit of winning a prize through a raffle. Prizes ranged from the simple STI sling, pouch, knapsack, and T-shirts to the Cups & Saucers from Chowking (one of the sponsors) and the much awaited FREE WEB-HOSTING and DOMAIN NAME which was won by one of STI's very own student! (congrats Nicolle!)

All in all, it was a very tiring, yet satisfying day! To think that I woke up as early as 4:00 AM and to be at the venue as early 6:30 AM to make sure everything is ready and set to go... We had some stumble-blocks along the way, but somehow got over it one-by-one.

To Sir RJ Ian Sevilla, thank you so much! For if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to organize such an event! (your convincing powers are good!)

Thank you STI College Zamboanga for all of the support and for providing a venue for this years Software Freedom Day!

And to all those who participated, THANK YOU SO MUCH with all my heart! I wouldn't have done it without you...

Continue promoting Open Source Software! and Continue supporting Software Freedom!!!

Long Live Mindanao Open Source Society!



Best regards,


Jonathan Paul Solis
Event Organizer
SFD 09
STI College Zamboanga

Youth For IT Convention @ U.P. Diliman (& FOSS)

We've just returned from a 4-day convention at U.P Diliman dubbed as Youth For Information Technology 2009, the largest IT event of the year!

Much of the talks from day 1 'til day 4 covered a range of new and satisfying (thirst quenching) information, especially to an IT enthusiast. Operating Systems, Database Systems, Web Tools, Animation Tools, IT's effect on the economy was discussed. Speakers ranged from local IT instructors, to IT professionals, student-turned-millionaire, foreigners, and even politicians.

From all of the talks that were given, there stood a common fad. And that would be OPEN SOURCE TECHNOLOGY. Although there were little talk about Microsoft, but, majority of the discussion was about FOSS.

I won't be bias when I say "Open Source Technology is the predominant software that is running in most of our computers today, without us even noticing it. It is really what drives the mainstream computing society today." (my own qoute... hehe..)

People may just be unaware that they are indeed using the technology. It could be due to being uneducated about the technology itself. Or maybe, they are still being predominantly lured into using the Windows platform and applications.

It would be wise for us to know about these types of technology. And one of the ways to be aware is by participating in the upcoming SOFTWARE FREEDOM DAY! It's an annual celebration which promotes FOSS and educates the minds of IT enthusiasts about the benefits of using such technology.

I am a FOSS user, but after Y4IT, I have become an advocate.

Support Software Freedom!

Support SOFTWARE FREEDOM DAY!

Please visit this site for more information:

minoss.org/sfd
http://www.softwarefreedomday.org

Thank you so much!!!

2nd STI Alumni Association Get-Together a Success!!!

Today (8/16/2009) marked the 2nd Get-Together for the STI Alumni Association, Zamboanga chapter!

It was such a fun, exciting, and tiring day! But all were happy to have had the time to spend one stress releasing day together.

The activities started a bit late, due to the fact that the participants were all Filipinos... But, all the same, it was an afternoon filled with games and non-stop fun! The 1st game was the "Huddle Race", where participants would walk together in synchronization while being tied up together. The 2nd was the "condom relay", where the participants would pass around a condom filled with water from point A to point B while making sure the condom doesn't blow. The 3rd game was the "Polo relay", where players will pass a polo candy by using a stick in their mouth, and not using their hands. The 4th was the "Candle relay" where participants would make sure that the candle their holding won't be blown by the wind as they walk from point A to point B. The 5th was an exciting one. It's the "Find the coin relay..." The coins are hidden within a 3-inch deep flour in a basin. The participants would have to blow the flour away to find 15 coins! It was fun! The 6th one was the "Build the Highest Tower". Participants would collect stones and pebbles to create a tower-like structure within 3 minutes. The last game was the "Longest Line". The participants would form the longest line using items found in their body and their own bodies as well!

All in all, the games were great! Then came the eating part! (which was the most exciting part actually! hehe...) The food was great, too! Fried chicken, chopsuey, lumpia shanghai, sotanghon, and macaroni salad! And an 8oz softdrink (or two, or three) to flush it all away. The food was just right!

Then came the last part, the "get-to-know-you" part. Having alumnis from different batches, it was obvious that majority of them didn't know who the others were. But they all got to know each other somehow.

To add it all up, it was such a great success! This year's participants exceeded those of last year! (only by a small margin, though...)

Thanks goes to the ever active, responsible, and bouncy Mr. Michael Ian Tandoc, the JPO Head for coordinating the event. Also to all the alumni officers, from the President down to the Sgt. at Arms! To the STI staff and all STI alumni who were present!

Thank you for the making the 2nd STIAA Get-Together such a wonderful and memorable event!

Hope we'll be seeing more number of participants next year!



Best regards,


Jonathan Paul Solis
Sgt. At Arms
STIAA Zamboanga!

STI 1st Gen-Meet 2009 a Success!

It was a night full of colors and fashion from the different Asian countries. Group 1 represented Malaysia, group 2 - Thailand, group 3 - India, group 4 - Philippines, and our group represented CHINA! Other groups include the Birthday group, New employees, and the Mancom.

The different groups showcased all their talents in singing and dancing. Some serious, others were funny, while the others were plain hilarious!

The heads from the different departments presented their quarterly reports and majority of the reports were positive. Nothing much to worry about.

The reception was kind-of cramped. There was very little room for the participants to move at the dinning area. I hope they moved the tables a bit forward to occupy most of the space. The presentation area ate up most of the spaces. There's really not much space for the parking also. (Maybe because there's no parking area...) The food was good, though.

But all in all, the Genmeet was a success! Congratulations to the CHINA group for winning 2nd place in the presentation. We did our best! Congratulations also to the other groups especially to the Philippines group for winning 1st place. We'll beat you next time!

Looking forward to a more colorful and more exciting Genmeet in the future!

Here are some pictures for you to see...

What's worse than getting wet in the rain while going to work twice?

GETTING WET THRICE!!!

I was on my way to work in the morning when I got wet in the rain and had to go back home. I waited for the rain to stop. Eventually, it did. So I decided to report in the afternoon. The sky was still dark though. Then all of a sudden, about half a kilometer away from work, it started to fall so hard! So I get wet the second time. Turning back was no longer an option. So I decided to stop awhile, and then moved on when the rain was misty, and eventually got to work all wet... I thought that was it. When it was time to go home (7pm) It was still raining! What other choice do I have? I can't wait until the rain stops ('cause it would take forever!) So i decided to go on home! Which led me to this blog. Call it worthless, but yes... I agree... I am to blame to the third occurrence. haha!

nuay lang! okya!