I am a big Elliott Yamin fan and because of him I also got engrossed in American Idol. Season 5 was not exactly the best season but it was one of the most exciting because for the first time, I had my own favorite contestant. For that reason alone, American Idol was worth watching twice a week. Elliott’s elimation was one of the most emotional episodes in the history of Idol. I admit that I cried for two straight days because I couldn’t get over the elimination. I knew I was not alone. I found comfort through the now defunct open blog that I made for Elliott fans to submit letters and personal wishes.

Now for the first time since he became famous Elliott came to the Philippines. This is his first tour outside of the US and I could tell that he enjoys the place and the people . He will be staying here for 10 days and will be touring five different Ayala Malls in Manila and Cebu.

We attended the second mall show today at Glorietta mall. My husband had to rush early in the morning and line up outside the gate of G4 to get tickets for the two of us. I wasn’t feeling well this morning so I decided to stay at home. When he got there, he learned that one person can only get one ticket so he was worried that he couldn’t get one for me. He asked around and begged someone to help him– he was even willing to pay someone to line up for him. Unfortunately, everyone was there to get tickets for himself. As hope was dwindling on his end, he saw a familiar face in the crowd but coudn’t recall where he saw him before. The guy turned out to be from Nebraska and was the start of their conversation. So he told the guy how desperate he was to get another ticket for his wife who is a big Elliott fan. The guy knows one of the organizers of the show an so he explained my husband’s dilemma. They eventually gave my husband another ticket and that just made his day.

After that, he chatted with the guy for several minutes. The reason why the guy looked familiar to him is he’s one of the pastors at the Church we’re going to every Sunday! It was Pastor Rob Johnson who usually leads the prayer for offerings every 5 and 7PM Church at VCF The Fort! What a great coincidence! Not only that– his wife is also a big Elliott fan and also does SEO for an online company!

It was a great mall show and Elliott’s voice was simply the best. As always, he has a very likable personality. The crowd went crazy and there were non-stop chanting of Elliott’s name. I enjoyed the show so much! I have no one else to thank for the wonderful day but my wonderful husband who went through a lot just to make sure I get a seat.

Here are some photos from the show.

More photos to come plus video clips!

Technorati Tags: Elliott Yamin, Philippine Tour, Philippines

This morning Apple, Inc. released an update to its iTunes software.  According to the company, “iTunes 7.4.2 addresses an issue with creating ringtones using iTunes Plus song purchases and includes bug fixes to improve stability and performance.”I’m all for improved stability and performance.  Who wouldn’t?  But wait just a moment.  Will it undo my hacked, modded or unlocked iPhone?  As of this entry, the word is “No, it will not.”  What iTunes 7.4.2 will do to your hacked, modded or unlocked iPhone is remove any custom (translation: hacked) ringtones from your iPhone and from the Ringtones tab found on your iTunes software.  Though I have not created any custom ringtones for my iPhone, I will refrain from upgrading to iTunes 7.4.2 until I’m more confident that that’s all it will do to my iPhone, which has performed flawlessly thus far.  Stay tuned…

Amrin and I will be attending the SEM Conference on October 9-10 at the Hotel Intercon and we couldn’t wait to meet new people in the event. Now I’m thinking of what to bring and to wear when we come face-to-face with members of the geekdom. If I were not pregnant, it would be easy to sport a chic look that will blow people out of proportions once they discover that I speak in codes haha. Now I have no choice but be content with the biological changes in my body. I’m not liking it but I’m enjoying being a future mom to this wonderfully active baby.

We are expecting to meet SEO gurus, SEO newbies, Internet Marketing Specialists, bloggers and different sort of people. As someone who’s been doing SEO since 2004, this is music to my ears.

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Unlocked Apple iPhone…welcome to the Philippines!

While the rest of world focuses on the number of iPhones sold (more than 1,000,000 thus far in case you’re wondering) since its launch in the United States on June 29th, there is a core group of hackers who is determined to unshackle the iPhone from the AT&T Network. Some have relied on hardware tweaks while others have chosen a less evasive route: software hack. At this point in time, hacking the iPhone is not for the faint of heart. One must be comfortable with Unix tools and freeware applications that are light on how-to instructions and heavy on command-line coding. But, for those who are up to the challenge, it is worth the effort.

I’m delighted to report that I have successfully hacked the Apple iPhone to work on the Philippines’ GSM network Globe, Smart and Sun. Here are the photos of the unlocked iPhone:

In all, it took me more than one day to accomplish the task. I can now make calls, text, browse the Internet, and listen to my iPod. If that weren’t enough, I could download the rapidly growing list of software (many of which are free for the taking) found on the more than 144,000,000 sites devoted to everything iPhones. The two applications that do not work on my iPhone are YouTube and voicemail, obviously because they are connected to the AT&T Network. We also prepared a video demo of the unlocked iPhone. Enjoy! Meanwhile, it’s time to get some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Note: the process of unlocking is kinda complex but if you are resourceful enough to search for hacks online, you will successfully do it!

Technorati Tags: Apple iPhone, Unlocked Apple iPhone, Unlocked Apple iPhone in the Philippines, Makati, Hacked iPhone in the Philippines, Globe Telecom, Smart, Sun, software hack for iPhone

Now it really makes me think if attending a small group discussion is enough to say “I have a social life.” Last night, we met a bunch of people who shared interesting stories about themselves. After months of talking to the same faces in one of the high-rise buildings in Makati, i.e. the guard, water delivery owner and the receptionist, we were finally talking to real people face to face (in the past months, our connection to the outside world has been limited to phone calls, SMS, emails and YM messages and of course talking to food delivery customer reps). Anyway one particular woman in the group last night was quite oblivious about her situation.

Her name is E. She is a dual citizen (both of the US and the Philippines), who has been living in Manila for almost a year now while her husband is left in the US. She has grown-up kids who hate staying in the Philippines because of the weather but they are here to study. She had a good job at a health maintenance organization in Northern CA and I bet her husband’s doing well too. She and her kids decided to go back to Manila last year for an indefinite period. Now she doesn’t understand why she and the kids are here while her husband is left in the US. She has been wondering how many Filipinos would do what she actually did when most people would do everything to the States. She wanted to know what her real purpose is for moving here. When she heard that we will be moving to the US next year, it made her all the more confused about her life. I guess I exactly knew what was going on in her mind. The good thing is, she always have the option to go back without any hassles.

It’s been a “hectic” week for me. Mostly because my mind is cluttered with to-do things that I like to accomplish right away. Days seem so short now and before I even think of the time, it’s already one in the morning. I tell myself though that I’d get there and there are a lot of catching up to do after neglecting my sites for almost a year. But hey, I am fully satisfied with how things turned out in the past months especially when I met my husband so I only have things to be thankful for. So now I just have to gather myself, sit back, watch TV, do my wifey duties and organize my schedule.