ACG Ways

          ACG. This is what my peers called. They are the best of the best. Friends that you can always count and lean on. Supports and sympathizes you in any way they can just to keep you happy and comfortable. They're always there for you to listen especially in times of hardships and struggles, gives you advice in times you needed a companion, hang-out with you when you feel down and lonely, laughs with you even with your corniest jokes, and most of all, they makes you feel that you were born as brothers. The bonding that can never be replaced of with anyone or anybody. You can say that you really found a new brother in them. Even though you're not really family associated with each other. They are friends, my brothers.


          This peers started on my secondary days. I was a transfer student at this school. During my first school, a student approached me and ask if where section I belongs. So I told him and luckily, where on the same section, II-Cattleya. Then he became my very friend on my new school. He also introduced me to his friends and companions. We all get along together. They were my buddies until fourth year high. All in all, we are five. The original ones. We were separated when we reach college. The other one enrolled in other university while the four of us enrolled in the same university but were assigned in different campuses. Only me stayed on the main campus while they go together in the same extension campus. A year later, one of us dropped out of college and work for the meantime. But he continues after a semester break. A year has passed and the other one transferred in a private university, so thus the other one. So we're only two remaining on the same university. After a year, its already on our third year, new friends came in and new hang-outs. Most of the time, they go to their newly found friends while the two of us wanders.  And finally, they introduce them to us. They are good, quite and looks that we can go along well with them. So we spend most of our free time going to mall,s drinking sessions, music jams and other non-sense things just to kill time. This are the things that keeps us busy during our college days. Time passes so quickly, some of us already graduated from college while other left behind, including me. But during those days, our groups becomes bigger and bigger, new freshmen came and joined our group. There are several girls who also joined our group. They are happy being heard they are members of ACG. Now that all ACG originals are graduate, we seldom see each other because of work and other things in life. But whenever there are birthdays or some happenings, we always saves time for it so we attend no matter what, unless there is an important matter to be made. Up until now, we are all the same, nothing's changed. We're still like the musketeers, one-for-all, all-for-one. I miss those days. . . Hope to see them again, after 2 years. . . . The ACG ways. Always there to comfort you. . .

Dreams

When I was a child, I always dreamed of becoming an engineer someday. Build houses, design roads and highways, construct bridges and dams and also build high-rise building and hotels. I thought that being an engineer someday will make a big difference in my life. I can fulfill my dreams and reach my goals in life. And also, I guessed that studying engineering is fun and exciting because you'll learn many things. I thought that it is all about analysis and application.

I'm about to finish my primary days when I always dreaming of it. So my high school  days are about to begin after two months of vacation. Here comes the entrance examination for high school, feeling nervous yet confident that I can somehow someway pass this examination. After long days of waiting, the result was out, and guess what?! I passed it! Hahaha. I felt overjoyed about it. I never thought that I can do it, but by luck, I did it! Childish mentality. Thinking of it, only four more years to go and my dream of becoming an engineer will come true. It's like holding your future at the grasp of your fist. But of course, there are still more obstacles and hardships to overcome. And also, having my family and my friends by my side, I know I can make it! So four years of high days has passed, here comes the graduation day. There comes happiness and now sadness because you'll be separated from your best buddies. But that's life, a never-ending adventure. So my college days are about to begin. . .


So college entrance examination goes near. Nervous and agitated, I take the examination. Hoping that I will pass it and so help me God. Many days has passed and the result was out, a letter from the university was mailed at our house. Feeling a bit of excitement but more frightened because of the result. Did I pass it or not So I open the letter and written there is the word "Congratulations!" at the top. I feel very happy. I can't explain how it feels. So I hurriedly show it to my mommy and daddy, and they said, they are proud of me. So I enrolled at the said university taking up "Bachelor of Science in Engineering", (for freshmen engineering, majors is not yet specified unless they are third year). This is the start of fulfilling my dreams. First day of school is about to begin, feeling happy and a little bit shy and nervous. Meeting new friends and classmates. Some are punk, emo, athletes, geeks, rich and normal students. Maybe I belong to the normal students. (Yeah, whatever!?!) Introducing yourself is he first activity before the classes begin. So I introduced myself, saying several information about me and other things that I like and dislike, and so thus my classmates. This happens repeatedly because of different teachers and professors. So the first day of my college day ends up. It was a very fun and busy day. As days and months passes, things getting harder and harder. Subject are so complicated., especially mathematics and engineering mechanics. It feels like my head is gonna blow in any moment. I said to myself, I don't want to continue anymore. But how about my dream. In regardless of hardship and difficulties, I somehow manage to get over it and continue this course. After seven years of studying, I finally finished and completed my college days and graduated as a civil engineering student. It feels so good. Something in life was fulfilled. It was a very exciting college life. So adventurous. Thinking college days has ended, this could be the start of my new life, as a college graduate. . . 

Working in CARAT

Have you heard before the application called "CARAT"? CARAT. An application which offers an optimal assistance in planning, presenting and sales of your individually planned fitted kitchen. It specializes in planning kitchens from classic to modern design. It was also created for the purpose of designing together with the order processing and units pricing. This program provides you the planning design, the perspective/3D of the drawing, the units information or the unit code, and price list. Working in this program is easy, all you have to do is input the code of the unit wherein you can find in the manual provided by the manufacturer. Each code corresponds to the specific unit. Every unit has its own unique code and variant, which means that you cannot use  or alter the other code or the variant for the unit that you want if it is not on the list for the said unit. Each code matches its own price. Its price is prior to change when the new price list was given by the manufacturer. So therefore, a new update will be sent to update the previous data. Having this program legitimately allows you to contact the manufacturer directly to inquire about new updates and designs. Having a direct contact with them gives you ease in designing because you'll be able to determine the correct way of planning. Whether it is modern or classic. Because some of the units are not available in other variants or cannot be modified according to one's desire. So communication with the manufacturer is a great advantage. Learning CARAT is not that complex because if you already use any application about design or any other 3D application, you can easily adapt to its features. But don't expect other features from high-caliber 3D applications because you won't find most of those things there. This is made only for presentation and quick design editing.

AutoCAD 's Snapstyl Command

Isometric drawings. Are you familiar with the "SNAPSTYL" command? Well, this command is used in creating isometric drawing. Instead of using "ISOPLANE" command for each angle, and then enter those corresponding values and options, you can use this command to easily produce or create an isometric drawing. It's more reliable and comfortable in using this command because you can simply navigate or toggle-up from isoplane right, left or top.  Using isometric drawing  is one the simplest way  show the perspective of an object  in 3-dimensional state while in 2-dimensional  command. This gives you the idea of how does a design looks like in 3-D, but it only has limited faces and views. Most isometric drawing used to express an orthographic view of a plan, design or even a drawing.

In addition to this, I will also give you some tricks in creating an isometric text, dimensioning and creating a circle in isometric view. Lets first start in creating an object using the "SNAPSTYL" command then follow-up with isometric text.

-First, open Autocad, create new file, then press F8 for Orthographic Projection and F3 for Osnap (Object Snap Tracking) to specify precise location on objects. After that, enter the command "SNAPSTYL" on the command line then press 1 <↵>. There you can see that the crosshair changes from rectangular to isometric snap. It means, it is now ready to create isometric objects. Now you can draw your desired shape or object.


-Then follows the text. Create a text using text command. Type "TEXT" in the command line then enter. (Note: Don't use the command "T" only because it will make an m-text which lacks some properties of  being an isometric text or otherwise you'll have to explode the text itself just to make it text only.) After you've created a text, open the object properties dialog box. There you can see options under text, the options rotation and obliquing. These options controls the direction and the obliquing angle of the text . You can try to explore and you'll find out for yourself. Most commonly used angles are the 30°, 330°, -30°  and -330° because these are the corresponding angles used in isometric drawings.

-Next is the circle or ellipse. To create a circle in isometric view, you will use the ellipse shape. It possess the property of being in isometric or even in rectangular view. Type "EL" (for ellipse shortcut command) then enter. After that, you can see an option in the command line, press "I" for isocircle then enter, click on the desired location for the center of the ellipse, then enter the radius or press <enter> if diameter. You can press F5 to change the direction of the isoplane. That is how you can create a circle in an isometric drawing.

-Finally, dimensioning. To dimension an isometric drawing, first create a text style thru command line or thru dimension style dialog box and named it 30 Degrees, and put 30 on its obliquing angle option. Then, create another one and named it-30 Degrees and put on -30 on its obliquing angle option. Next, create a dimension style in relation with the text styles we've created. Named it 30 Degrees and -30 Degrees respectively. After that, put a dimension on an object. Then type "DIMEDIT" <enter>, type "O" <enter> to change the obliquing angle of the dimension line. Choose the object itself as the reference for its angle. That's it! You have now the steps on making an isometric drawing. Feel free to ask questions.

Example: 

What Lies Ahead

Good life. Sweet memories. Happy thoughts. True friends. Bright future. Better work. What else would I imagine for a better life and a bright future ahead. Although it accompany with great effort and vast sacrifices. We need to make a single step in order to pursue our dreams. We must be courageous and brave all the time, be prepared in all obstacles and overcome those hardships in life. This is how it goes.


So I came back again here in Saudi Arabia to fulfill my dreams and goals in life. It's my second time here to in Saudi Arabia. I stayed here for two years and two months working. I am the only Filipino here in our company. All of my subordinates are Egyptians. My employer is an Arab and his business partner in an Egyptian wherein, the Egyptian has a bigger share. Maybe he only merged with him just to establish a business here in Saudi. Because establishing a business here is very expensive and you have to undergo a very long process of legal procedures unless an Arab man is the one to arrange those papers. This is because of their strict implementations of rules and regulations regarding  about their social cultures and religious beliefs. So most of the businessman here are co-partnered with an Arab or incorporated with an existing Arab company. That is why Saudi Arabia is one of the richest country in the world and also because of their land-rich oil. Amazing right?!


So going back to my topic, as it goes, working here Saudi is very hard because of their very strict rules. Men are not allowed to wear shorts in the streets, alcoholic beverages are prohibited and punishable by law, no places to hang-out, most of the mall-time are exclusively for Saudi's or for family. Taking pictures is not allowed unless otherwise you have permission from the policeman or security guards. This strict rules must be followed all the time unless you want to sleep in jail for a night. These are the common things you must know before working or visiting Saudi Arabia. Working here is a bit boring yet interesting because you'll learn more about their culture and tradition, their traits and behavior, their manners and way of living. Being able to work here for more than two years, I observed different and crucial things. Most of them prefer conversing regarding about religion rather than working. They talk most of the time, it seems like they're not getting tired at all. That's why I always feel irritated everyday. Hahaha. But in return, I can save much for my future, because the worker don't  pay for their taxes, instead, the company or the employer shoulders all of it. So we get our full salary without any deductions or cuts unless you have cash advance. It is one of the nicest things in here aside from gaining experiences and enhancing most of your skills and knowledge. This are the things that can't be stolen. It will grow and mature but not fade. That is why I came back here, to learn, to grow and to save for my future... Because nobody knows what lies ahead. . .

Samsung Galaxy S2

Well, let's take a break and have a look with the latest and high-tech gadgets. There we can see these DSLR, HD video camcorders, super-high pixels of digital cameras, tablets, gaming consoles and last but not the least the smartphones. Of course, my favorite among all  of this is the smartphones. I browsed and looked for the best and yet most affordable smartphone ever launch in the market and this smartphone has caught my eye because of its extra superb features that a smartphone can offer, the Samsung galaxy s 2, and also recommended by some of my friends. After reading all of the specifications and features of this smartphone, I was amazed by its features.
Samsung Galaxy S 2 is an extra-ordinary hand-held unit. It's like you're carrying a desktop on  top of your palm because of its powerful capabilities, the 1.2GHz lightning-fast processor Android 2.3 Gingerbread, TouchWiz UI v4.0, 16/32gb storage, 1gb-RAM, 4.3 inch. Super Amoled Plus screen display, an 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and 2-megapixel front camera for video-calls, 1080p @ 30fps HD video recording,  assembled into appallingly light and slim body. But that's not all this smartphone can offer, almost all of its applications and games are free from the Android market. Unlike  any other platforms that you need to purchase (that's one heck of a problem!), well, with this handset's platform, you don't have to worry for purchasing most of the useful apps and tunes. Regarding about its weight, it's very light that you won't feel bother carrying it. It's as light as 116g. It's 4.3 inch Super Amoled  screen is protected by a Gorilla Glass display which is resistive to cracks and chips. So I think, this is the best of the beast smartphone ever launched in the market as of now. Enjoy reading. Thanks. Hope that I get one as soon as it is become avaible here in KSA. Get a better review and user feedbacks at http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9100_galaxy_s_2-3621.php or http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260822121935+&clk_rvr_id=249944828137   check this  item on e-bay. Thanks.