June 2009 Philippine Nursing Board Exam Results

The results are in (well, out technically) 2 days ago and we now have a new batch of Filipino Nurses who just passed the Licensure Exam last month, June 2009.

If you want to check out the list of those who passed the Nursing Licensure Exam last month, Sel of SelAplana.com posted the complete list. Click here.

For this batch of board passers, I want to congratulate a friend...

DE JESUS, JORENZ GOMEZ

That's exactly how his name was listed. I saw his post on Facebook and I immediately searched for the results online and if his name was on the list. And I'm glad he's on it! Woohoo!

Congrats, Renz! RN ka na! Miss ko na kakulitan mo! Partida pa yan, adek ka pa sa Farm town and kung anu-ano pa sa fezbuk. Hehehe. *mwuahugz*

This semester, my dear brother will also be graduating and he'll be taking the Licensure Exam in November. I am really praying he'll pass so we can all celebrate, too! I know he can do it. I believe in him and I know he can accomplish anything that he puts his mind to. Good luck, li'l bro (na malaki na). I miss y'all!

So You Think You Can Dance Season 5 Week 7 - Janette & Jason Voted Out! WTF?!

I cannot fucking believe that Janette Manrara just got eliminated from So You Think You Can Dance. Are you kidding me?!?!? Damn!! She's got everything! She's sexy, she's got personality, and, most importantly, she's the BEST dancer on the show! Sheesh!!!

Pardon my French but I'm just shocked and mad about the result this week.

As much as I love Melissa Sandvig, I was expecting her to be eliminated this week even after her amazing contemporary piece with Ade. I strongly believe that Janette deserved to stay. I was really hoping she'd be in the finals with Jeanine Mason or Kayla Radomski.

ARGH! This sucks!

Well, I guess this season's competition is tougher than ever. I love all Top 4 female dancers - Janette, Jeanine, Melissa, Kayla. I would've loved to see Janette dance at least another week. Ack.

For the male dancers, this is another shock. Jason Glover got voted out before Evan Kasprzak. Are you fucking kidding me?!?! They're both lovable but Jason has got more talent and versatility than Evan! Don't get me wrong, I love Evan, too. But, damn, Jason deserved to be in the Final 3 more than Evan.

Brandon was in the bottom 2 this week. Ade was in the bottom 2 last week. Evan? Never been in the bottom. Are you SERIOUS?!?! Sheesh. If he wins this season, it's like Kris Allen winning over Adam Lambert once again. Back to back. Priceless.

Sheesh. I really hope Ade Obayomi and Brandon Bryant's fans will push through for them next week. I don't wanna see Evan in the finale! He doesn't deserve it!

*sigh*

Janette, me and Mai love you to pieces! Jason, you, too! Argh. I hope Janette signs a gig with Dancing with the Stars, like Chelsea and Lacey. I just wanna see more of Janette!

I'm crossing my fingers for Ade and Brandon. I really wish they're in the finale along with Kayla and Jeanine. Gosh.

If it was all up to me, there's just one person I want out this week:

Digital Paper Hearts Scavenger Hunt - Christmas in July

If you're a digital scrapbooking enthusiast like me and you love scouring the web for freebies (kits, templates, quickpages, etc), then, you'd love this new kit I just finished downloading.


Well, it's actually composed of 24 parts and you'll get 'em all by joining Digital Paper Hearts' Scavenger Hunt.

Here's the paper preview of the whole kit:

I love the colors and the elements so I joined and finished the Scavenger Hunt. The hardest to look for is the first part since I wasn't that familiar yet with their site but afterwards, it was pretty easy to find everything else.

It's pretty fun and this was my first time to join a Scavenger hunt. So, if you want to grab this freebie, go here and follow the clues!

Good luck!

If you're having problems finding the first part, there's a clue here somewhere. Hmmm...

So You Think You Can Dance Week 5 - Goodbye, Philip & Caitlin!

Can you believe who got eliminated this week from So You Think You Can Dance?!

Honestly, it wasn't a surprise at all. There were a lot of very good and versatile dancers this season so all of the contestants really have to bring it on, all or nothing, to stay in the competition.

Who got voted out? Philip and Caitlin. I'm sooooo happy they got voted out this week because of a lot of reasons...
Philip is not at par with the other male dancers on the show. And, in my opinion, it's unfair that he was even included in the Top 20 this season. I was kinda psyched to find out he got in but later on realized that it was unfair for him and the other contestants that he was included. He should've been kicked off earlier than Vitolio, honestly. Plus, he's been too arrogant. Mai totally hates him, especially when judges are giving him feedback. He thinks he's all that. Okay, in his genre or style (pop-lock, hiphop), he is GOOD. But that's it. Him being in the Top 20 just made some of his fans hate him, like me.

Caitlin? Ugh. I hated her since the Vegas round 'coz she's not giving it her all. And I hate that she wasn't eliminated earlier than this week. She's too fucking overrated. She's just pulling down Jason so I'm pretty glad Jason's partnered with someone else next week.

Ack. Can't wait for the pairs to be mixed up. I'd like to see Ade dancing with Kayla or Janette, Melissa dancing with Brandon. Woohoo!

How to Get the Best Photo Quality using Photoshop & Canon Printer

I've been tinkering with our Canon iP3680 to get the best results for our photos. At first, most of the output were too pinkish or reddish. I did some reading and found out what settings would change the quality of the photos.

If you're using Adobe Photoshop (I'm using the ancient PS7) to edit and print your photos, invitations, etc., the easiest way to handle color management is to let Photoshop do it for you instead of your Canon printer. Here's how you can adjust the settings of your printer and Photoshop for best photo prints or if you want the colors on your screen to match the printouts.

#1:
First of all, we need to disable color management on our Canon printer.
Go to Control Panel -> Printers and Faxes
Right click on your Canon printer and choose Printing Preferences (we're doing this so it'll be a permanent/default setting).
#2:
On the Main tab, select Manual under Color/Intensity and click on the Set button.


#3:
Under Color Adjustment, make sure everything is at 0.
For the Brightness setting, you can actually change this if you want to, especially when you're printing dark or dim images. You can choose Light if you want to or Dark if the photo is too bright. I just use Light or Normal.

#4:
Go to the Matching tab and choose None for color correction. This is how you disable the color management on your Canon printer.
If you don't like the print results of your documents on Word, etc., you can always change it back to Driver Matching when printing documents.
Now, click on Okay until all the windows of Printing Preferences are closed.

#5:
Open Adobe Photoshop.
Click on View on the main menu -> Proof Setup -> Select Custom.

On the Proof Setup window, select Adobe RGB (1998) under Profile menu. Then, click on OK.

This will ensure that what you see on your screen is also on Adobe RGB color profile.

#6:
Open the image you want to print through Adobe Photoshop.

For PS7, click on File -> Print with Preview.
You'll get the window below. Now, make sure all the other settings are correct (print size, page setup, etc).

At the bottom of the window, under Show More Options checkbox, you'll see a drop-down menu with Output as the default selection. Click on it and select Color Management.
Then, under Print Space, select Adobe RGB (1998) for Profile.
This should be available as an option for Canon printers as this is included in the installation of the printer drivers. If you don't see this, you might have not included this during installation so you have to go back to the installer and just install Adobe RGB.

For CS+, click on File -> Print.
You'll see a window like the one below.

On the right side, under Color Handling, select Photoshop Manages Colors.
Then, make sure under Profile that Adobe RGB (1998) is selected.

#7:
That's it. Now you can try to print your photos or any project on Photoshop and the colors that you see on your screen would be closest to the print quality/output.

Now, if you still encounter some color issues, I suggest you do some maintenance on your printer. Make sure you already did printhead alignment before you even started printing.

All my printouts with our Canon iP3680 that's now on CISS are as vivid as what I see on my screen.

Hope this helps!

Cebu Ink-Toner Well - CISS for Printers Dealer in Cebu

We went through a lot before we were able to setup our own internet cafe. We were busy looking for the right location (well, more about this soon), where to buy computers, network and the whole internet cafe setup and our DSL connection application. Because of this, we weren't really able to consider other things that we needed to maximize our sales.

Thanks to my kumare, Badeth. She and her husband owns and manages an internet cafe in Malabon (Mini Pixels, just in front of Immaculate Conception church and McDonald's). They've been in the business for years now so I completely regret not asking her for tips BEFORE we even started our cafe.

Anyway, I shared with her what I wanted to do at our cafe - practice my graphics design skills. She told me about her photo printing business (raket, if I may say) that's been a major contributor to their overall sales. And, she told me about CISS or Continuous Ink Supply System. I did consider refilling our ink cartridges but I didn't know about this new innovation yet.

My bro, Kenneth, actually mentioned this to me but I didn't really think about it since we had a bigger issue at hand (our DSL application). But, after Badeth told me about it, I started doing my research on CISS and what printer's the best for conversion. We already have an HP F4280 all-in-one printer (scanner, copier, printer) but based on my research, it's not recommended to convert it to CIS. We really needed a CISS-converted printer as soon as possible 'coz there were people who already wanted to have photos printed but was finding our prices rather expensive 'coz we're still using original cartridges.

After checking out ULOP forums (a community for LAN shop owners like us) and TipidPC forums, I decided to go for a Canon printer (because of less issues with its printhead). We had limited budget so we ended up with a Canon iP3680. Well, it cost PhP 5,195 and we still have to convert it to CIS but I know it will pay off by itself.

So, after considering 2 CISS dealers/converters here in Cebu, I decided to go with Cebu Ink-Toner Well. I got in touch with Jarwin Ng, the owner. I'm pretty happy with the customer service I got from him. At first, they didn't have CISS cartridges for our iP3680. He had to order 1 for us and after a few days, he contacted me and we got our CISS installed. We paid Php 3,450 for the whole installation plus the free CISS ink we got. Here's how it looks:

See the ink tanks? Jar instructed us that they should always be at the same level surface as the printer to prevent ink spills. I've already done a couple of test prints and I've found out what settings are appropriate for me to get just the right tone of colors on my printouts for photos, invitations, etc.

They have ink refills available but we didn't buy any yet. We might buy 2 sets for each color when we do. Now, I'm just observing how many prints this amount of ink can produce.

I had trouble finding the right CISS converter for our printer but I'm glad I found out about Cebu Ink-Toner Well. I'd like to thank Jar for the help and we're hoping this printer will last.

Now, if you're still considering if you should convert to CISS or not, I suggest you do especially if you're planning on doing a lot of photo printing (for photographers, especially) and if you own an internet cafe. This will save you a lot of money.

For people in Manila, I suggest Multicolors for your CISS conversion. Well, there are a lot of other CISS converters in Manila but make sure you do your research first. If you're from Malabon, Navotas or Caloocan, you can contact my kumare, Badeth. She can install the CISS for you. Leave me a comment with your YM, contact # or email address and I'll give you her contact information.

But, if you're in Cebu, I strongly recommend having your printer converted with Cebu Ink-Toner Well. Here's their contact info:

Cebu Ink-Toner Well Sales & Services
Unit 4 17-D J. Osmena St., corner Don R. Aboitiz St., Cebu City
( across New Sideline Native Restaurant-Baseline Complex )
Click here for their location map.
Contact #: 255-8506 / 412-2695
Cellphone #: 0917-626-2422
Email: cebu_inkwell@yahoo.com
Contact person: Jarwin Ng or Janet


Services offered:
Refill all inkjet & laser-jet cartridges; sell original, compatible & remanufactured cartridges; set-up CISS; bottled ink & toner; t-shirt heat press, mug press & PVC ID packages; printer sales & repairs; technical support

Just tell them you were referred by me, Michelle a.k.a. blankPixels. :)
I don't earn anything, don't worry. Hehehe.

So You Think You Can Dance Season 5 - My #1 Group Performance To-Date!

I wasn't able to really talk about the group performance last week that I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! It was choreographed by Dmitri, Tabitha and Napoleon. This has got to be my most favorite dance performance EVER in my 3 years of watching the show.

Here's the whole thing. Too bad, this Youtube version of the performance was kind of a blur so you can't really see their faces.


The performance showcased Kayla's amazing talent, her beauty and her stage presence. I absolutely love her! And, Ade, oh my gosh. He's not really a gorgeous fellow but the way he danced in this number was seductively executed. Me and Mai got a big crush on him. LOLz.

We've watched this performance like a million times since we first saw it. It's almost like there's no day that I didn't wanna see it. That's how good the choreography was and how great dancers they have on the show this season.

*sigh* I love, love, love Tabitha and Napoleon's choreography. Actually, my second fave performance was choreographed by them - Chelsea and Mark's Bleeding Love number 2 seasons ago.



Hmmm... I think I'll put up a list of my fave SYTYCD performances on here. But I have this feeling that most of them would come from this season.

I haven't watched this week's performance but, damn, I wish Karla stayed instead of Philip's partner or Caitlin. And Kayla's on the bottom 3?! Are you kidding me?!?!

Tsk tsk. I really hope the mixing up would start right away 'coz I don't want to see Kayla again on the bottom 3. Well, anyway, I know she won't get eliminated 'coz the judges love her.

It was Vitolio's time to go. Kupono and even Philip, who I love as a pop-locker, should be the next ones to go.

Can't wait to watch this week's performances.