I have been through online shopping and purchase, from buying domains with Paypal and cards for our Magic: the Gathering decks and even on online stores on Facebook. Recently I have been looking at shopping sites like Lazada because of the large variety of items and the convenience of checking each item at the comfort of home and lastly, the option of Cash on Delivery.

I had bought a few items at Lazada but I forgot to do some product reviews. So far they have missed delivering one item. I think that was a colored wallet that I bought for around 300php. This time, I will consider one review for their sister site, Zalora. I have been seeing their ads on Facebook and on several sites that I visit so I have thought of having my first purchase from them. The support for that decision was the P300 discount if I subscribe to their Newsletter. That is already a huge amount to convince people to buy.

First off, I had to check a few reviews from bloggers detailing on how they made their order from Zalora. So far I had seen positive ones and so I have decided to try and my product of choice was a pair of sneakers. It was easy to browse on their site as you will just mouse hover to the Men tab and then click on the Shoe category. They have most of the shoe types like Sneaker, Boat shoes, Sandals, etc. I was then browsing their Sneaker shoes as I wanted one styled to wear during office days. They have a few brands available from Fila and Nike to their personal Zalora brand.

I have found one that costs around 1050php which entitled me for a free shipping but then I had discovered another discount from one of the blogs I’ve read earlier. The price cut was 15% off and so I had to add or buy another item to be able to reach that free shipping limit.

It indeed arrived at their said date and here is what the package looks like:

They have my customized name on this package seal, making it look like a gift for me.

Enclosed inside is the product receipt and instruction for the request to return or change in size/color.

Here is the red t-shirt with graphic print by Dodie.

Here are the Zalora sneakers shoe box and the next pic is what is inside.

They have carefully wrapped the shoes to avoid dust and also included silica gels to absorb moisture.

I am somewhat happy with my first purchase at Zalora PH. The cash on delivery is convenient enough for me and to those who do not have credit cards or don’t want to spend time lining up on banks for cash deposits, plus the 30-day return policy guarantees you a replacement of your purchase just in case you find any problems.

So that is a wrap for this Zalora purchase review. As I am writing this blog post, I am also checking some new stuff to buy at their as they are having an End of Season sale. I might as well have a new pair of shoes for this week, lol.

Thanks for reading and until the next post.

So I recently encountered these errors on Photoshop CS6 just this week after working on a few graphics needed for the blog articles of my client’s company website. The errors appeared while Photoshop was loading and it showed the first as “Could not load actions because an unexpected end-of-file was encountered.” It was then followed by another error: “Could not initialize Photoshop because the preferences file was invalid (it has been deleted).”

I scoured via Google on the correct fix on this and it somewhat took me a whole to try out their solutions which were all in vain. I then finally found a correct fix after checking on the link that one forum user posted on a thread in the Adobe Forums site. The posted article fix said that the errors were caused by corrupt preference files. He then followed that part with a post no how to fix for Mac and Windows OS. I am sharing below the Windows OS solution steps.

1. Click the Start button (Windows XP users should then click Run).
2. Type %appdata% and press Enter.
3. Open the Adobe folder.
4. Open the Adobe Photoshop CS5 (or similar name) folder.
5. Delete the “Adobe Photoshop CS5 Settings” (or similar name) folder.

Note that this also works for version Photoshop CS6 and after trying the fix, my Photoshop CS6 is now loading normal like a fresh install. Easy peasy.

Here is the link for the reference post.

Easter with the tradition of eggs, bunny, resurrection, and stuff. These are just one of the many things that we Filipinos observe and practice on this special day. For me, I will just enjoy the scenery and maybe look for a few Easter discounts or sale in malls in the city. The commercial aspect is just there, waiting to be taken advantage of.

Looking forward to the week, it is going to be quite tough and busy. Busy in the sense that I will be thoroughly learning the latest methods for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to achieve our goal of a Page 1 rank on Google. There are various procedures that I have learned before, but if implemented incorrectly, they might backfire and hurt our rankings.

I had a refresher on marketing and promotion stuff when we attended the PLDT SME seminar in Sarabia Manor hotel a few weeks ago. The guest speaker described the importance of Social Media in selling your products or services, and he even discussed (with a few slide presentations and graphs) the trends of online presence since the start of the popularity of Facebook. After the discussion were a few exercises on how we could determine the flaws of a certain online business or advertisement, and also how to improve its online presence. I had learned a lot at that time, and I am thinking of implementing it on my client’s websites.

As I write this blog post while listening to a Stevie B song, I keep wondering if I will be able to accomplish the tasks on time. Do I need an inspiration? I am not sure. Did someone inspire me lately? Maybe *smiles*. I just think that I have to do what I am assigned to do. The correct steps , though, are yet to be finalized. I am thinking of planning it tonight, but then it is my day off so I might as well just enjoy it. I guess I’d stop overthinking stuff, as there is a specific time for that.

My laundry is waiting, and there is a room that needs cleaning, so I will just wrap this up by greeting you guys Happy Easter. Thanks for reading this rant, and until the next blog post about Mtg, life, or whatever.

*cover photo from CCGHouse Playmat

I had been very busy last weekend due to the new schedule and various friend gathering and office Christmas party yesterday. So here is a few updates. There has not been any new spoiled cards from the upcoming Oath of the Gatewatch. The mothership will start the official previews this January and I am hoping for some cool cards for the Eldrazi ramp and Devoid decks to utilize. I’d prefer the latter because I am an aggro player by heart and I am wishing for a card that can held off or somewhat overpower the Abzan menace.

Moving on, there is a new WordPress theme that I am getting familiar with and that I am hoping to use for future websites of my client. Responsive type of themes has been the trend today in most of the business websites and the need for it to be mobile compatible is necessary as most of the users today browse the site through smartphones and tab devices.

So far I am enjoying this last month of the year and this coming weekend will be the start of Christmas vacation and meeting up with the relatives for a mini reunion. Also this Saturday will be the Year-ender tournament for Magic: the Gathering Iloilo to be held in Martinelles Pit Stop in Molo. I am trying to fix my schedule for the week so I could playtest with the Team M14 the deck I will use for the event. We have three ready to play decks at the moment and playtest supposedly should start today.

So that is a wrap for now. Until the next post and have a happy holiday geists!

It is Sunday and people (mostly Christians) from all over the world are celebrating Easter feast or whatever they call it. As a part of my tribute for this occasion, I am posting below a list of a deck archetype that was popularized before in the Modern format. It is somewhat related to the activity that children and adults do on this day.

Eggs by Stanislav Cifka
Modern

Maindeck
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Conjurer’s Bauble
4 Elsewhere Flask
4 Lotus Bloom
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Faith’s Reward
4 Second Sunrise
2 Silence
1 Gitaxian Probe
4 Reshape
4 Serum Visions
3 Sleight of Hand

7 Island
1 Plains
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn

Sideboard
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Pithing Needle
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Echoing Truth
2 Silence
1 Grapeshot

To wrap up this special day, here is a picture of a Vizzerdrix. Don’t try to do this experiment on your Easter bunnies.

This is a quick fix on the common issue I’ve found after encountering one this afternoon while doing edits on my client’s website. Its a common issue because I’ve Googled a lot of similar posts on the WordPress support forums under The Events Calendar topic.

It is a quite small issue on the Individual Events Pages of the plugin wherein the sidebar appears below the posted Event. I’ve checked on the plugin settings and did not found any option to disable or enable the sidebar.

I’ve also checked the Widgets page to double check since the iTheme Layout I created did not allow sidebars to be created. It also confirmed its not there. So my resort is to find solutions on the forums.

Here is the topic that gave me the best resolve: How to Remove Sidebar Widgets from Individual Events Pages

User amiithist commented a fix which to copy the file to a new folder and delete a line of code in the ecp-single-template.php of the Events Calendar plugin. I tried the fix but it didn’t work well on my template as there are two that I use, one main theme and a child theme. The fix I done is to directly delete the code in the file on the plugin folder itself. Here are the simple steps to do the fix:

1. Connect to the ftp File Manager of your site (either thru cPanel or by using Filezilla).

2. Check the file named “ecp-single-template.php” in the Views folder under the Events Calendar plugin folder.

3. Download the file and open it with Dreamweaver or related HTML software.

4. Delete line 29 (states about the get sidebar php code).

5. Save the file and upload it again to the Views folder of the EC plugin.

That’s it. The sidebar is now gone. As for the issue of having it on the right side, I think the fix here is to assign a width for the Individual Events’ content.

I hope this post helps clarify the sidebar issue and I’m also hoping the guys behind the Events Calendar plugin come up with an updated fix on the plugin’s future versions.

Thanks for reading and until next post!

I think this is worth the repost so I am sharing this inspiring article with you guys. As the quote on the website says, “When you stop chasing the wrong things you give the right things a chance to catch you.” Here are the things that you should stop doing to yourself right now (and I mean it).

1. Stop spending time with the wrong people. – Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you. You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot. Never, ever insist to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the people who stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends.

2. Stop running from your problems. – Face them head-on. No, it won’t be easy. There is no person in the world capable of flawlessly handling every punch thrown at them. We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems. That’s not how we’re made. In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble, and fall. Because that’s the whole purpose of living – to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them with time. This is what ultimately molds us into the person we become.

3. Stop lying to yourself. – You can lie to anyone else in the world, but you can’t lie to yourself. Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves.

4. Stop putting your own needs on the back burner. – The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much and forgetting that you are special too. Yes, help others; but help yourself too. If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that matters to you, that moment is now.

5. Stop trying to be someone you’re not. – One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you like everyone else. Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you. Don’t change so people will like you. Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.

Numbers 6 to 30 are found here. I hope we all relate to this and start a positive outlook on our lives.

Until the next post.

I’ve just found out another interesting application today for the Samsung Champ. It is an application used to create and convert text files into mobile books. The app is called QiC and the generated file is of a JAR format, which is the common format on every JAVA-enabled cellphone available.

To generate the JAR file,

1. Simply create a text file (in .txt file format) of the text you would want to convert.
2. Open this link and click the Choose file button to select the text file.
3. Click the Create button and then transfer the output Jar file to your mobile phone. It should be installed.

Here is what the application would look like:

Pic from the QiC application page.

Overall, I find this app very useful in converting Mtg articles which I can read whenever I’m on travel or offline. Its very good, aside from being free to dl so I very much recommend you install this one in your phone.

Until next post and have a happy weekend.

This is a repost from the group, Filipino Freethinkers, which I’ve recently joined on Facebook, which I’d really like to share. Here are the types of people that you’d notice on Facebook. Funny but seems very true. First of is the lurker.

1.) The “Lurker” – Never posts anything or comments on your post, but reads everything, and might make reference to your status if they… see you in public.

2.) The “Hyena” – Doesn’t ever really say anything, just LOLs and LMAOs at everything…..

3.) “Mr/Ms Popular” – Has 4367 …… friends for NO reason.

4.) The “Gamer” – Plays Words With Friends, Mafia Wars, Bakes virtual cakes and stuff, etc., ALL DAY.)

5.) The “Prophet” – Every post makes reference to God or Jesus.

6.) The “Thief” – Steals status updates.. and will probably steal this one.

7.) The “Cynic” – Hates their life, and everything in it, as evidenced by the somber tone in ALL of their status updates.

8.) The “Collector” – Never posts anything either, but joins every group and becomes fans of the most random stuff.

9.) The “Promoter” – Always sends event invitations to things that you ultimately delete or ignore.

10.) The “Liker” – Never actually says anything, buy always clicks the “like” button.

11.) The “Hater” – Every post revolves around someone hating on them, and they swear people are trying to ruin their life.

12.) The “Anti-Proofreader” – This person would benefit greatly from Spell check, and sometimes you feel bad for them because you don’t know if they were typing fast, or really cant spell.

13.) “Drama Queen/ King” – This person always posts stuff like “I can’t believe this!”, or “They gonna make me snap today!”, in the hopes that you will ask what happened, or what’s wrong…but then they never finish telling the story.

14.) “Womp Womp” – This person consistently tries to be funny…but never is.

15.) The “News” – Always updates you on what they are doing and who they are doing it with, no matter how arbitrary.

16.) The “Rooster” – Feels that it is their job to tell Facebook “Good Morning” every day.

Which one are you?

“Might as well go with the hype.” As of this posting, the Miss Universe 2011 is currently being held at Sao Paulo, Brazil. My country’s contingent, Ms. Philippines Shamcey Supsup prepared very well for the event and has been a crowd favorite on the online voting. Currently, she’s on the top 5 and I am hoping very much that she’ll win the title. The rest of the top 5 are Angola, Brazil, China, and Ukraine.

Anyhow, here is a quick video of the contestant’s preparation for the Miss Universe 2011 Bikini portion. It must be real hard to maintain that sexy body figure.

Update The final top 5 are the following:
Miss Universe 2011 – Angola, 1st – Ukraine, 2nd- Brazil, 3rd – Philippines 4th – China.

“In case of emergency, crush bug.” It seems like Internet Explorer never fail to be an annoyance to most web developers. From earlier versions up to the latest ones, there are still bugs that obstruct the commonly used codes and that should be dealt with separately. They demand a separate fix all of the time.

I’ve checked a few solutions on Google and the first site I’ve is this one, which completely explains the 9 most common IE bugs and the solutions on how to fix them. You might as well just visit the page.

9 Most Common IE Bugs and How to Fix Them

*img src: http://www.red-team-design.com

This one’s seem cool enough. Here’s what you do: 1. Go to wikipedia and hit random. The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band. 2. Go to quotationspage.com and hit random. The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album. 3. Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”. Third picture no matter what it is, will be your album cover. 4. Use photoshop or similar (picnik.com is a free online photo editor) to put it all together. 5. Post it with this text in the “caption” and TAG the friends you want to join in.

Here is what I’ve got:

Purton Stoke is a small village in the southern part of Britain so this album cover maybe that of a British Band. Seems the random button worked well for me.