Time flies! It’s been nearly one year when I posted a recap blog for 2011. Over the past year, there have been many exciting changes and improvements that happened in my life. 2012 was a year of challenges, interesting finds and discoveries, and a year of fulfillment.
Below are some of the highlights and activities that happened this year (still updating!):
Personal
- Rented an apartment unit and started living the Taft life in December 2012
- Reconnected to some of my college classmates
- Stranded for almost a week with my thesis advisees in a condominium
- Spent more time playing with my violin Bianca
Travel
- Went to Ilo-Ilo and Bacolod for the first time
- Went to Singapore to participate Innovate For Good last April 28 and 29
- Went to Cebu and Bohol, spending my semester break and my family vacation during November
- Went to my first faculty field trip at Littelfuse Philippines, together with the Computer Applications faculty
- Went to our local Manila Ocean Park and enjoyed seeing the sea animals; It was my first time seeing and feeding penguins.
- Discovered a small restaurant that specializes in home-cooked cookies at Cubao Expo (Thanks, Martin!)
- Rode a jeepney from Taft to Monumento
- Went to Cartimar (and bought their famous taho) for the first time
Health
- Participated in an unusual 30-day diet without eating too much junk food. I managed to lose around 7 pounds.
- Donated blood twice
- Started not eating rice for consecutive days (90 more days and counting)
- Avoided drinking soft drinks 80% of the year
- (Still) avoided drinking alcoholic beverages aside from red wine
- Smoke-free (for the longest time)
- No serious illnesses happened this year
- Maintained my usual weight of 75 kilos; BMI is still average
Events
- Attended the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) Technical Briefing at Microsoft office, last February 2
- Attended the Microsoft Innovation Universe 2012 at SM Megamall last March 21 to 23
- Watched Smash Project 2012 at Smart Araneta Coliseum last March 8, featuring The Used, Dashboard Confessional, Cobra Starship, and The Cab
- Watched Lifehouse performed live at Smart Araneta Coliseum last May 26
- Attended a debut
- Attended the 1st term DLS-CSB Commencement Exercise 2012 last October 20
- Attended Microsoft Student Partners (MSP) Christmas Party at Bonifacio Highstreet
Social Media
- Redesigned my portfolio and blog website
- 6890 tweets on Twitter, with 475 followers (Stopped tweeting for about month)
- Got a Klout of 63 (90-day high was 63.83, the 90-day low was 58.75)
- 1135 check-ins, 3 mayorships, and 31 badges on my Foursquare.com account
- Facebook friends are now 1,722+ (I added most of my former students)
- My YouTube channel has now 65 subscribers, with 346 uploaded videos and 184,846+ video views
- Started a new YouTube channel, an account for web development and programming screencast
Leisure / Gaming
- Discovered an ‘ultimate’ coding soundtrack playlist (Thanks, Sir John!)
- Finished watching the entire episode of Community, from season 1 to season 3. (I am stoked for the next season!)
- Started playing NBA 2K13, and it never made me disappointed.
- Completed playing an entire season for NBA 2K12; currently at Playoffs (Finals) for NBA 2K13.
Career
- Directories Plus (version 2.0) is currently up and running for the 10 kiosks deployed around Robinson’s Galleria. Deployment of kiosks for Robinsons Ermita has been delayed until the 1st quarter of 2013.
- Developed PhotoBooth, a webcam/photobooth application for the client Solar Philippines during the Paranormal Activity 3 campaign
- Created a prototype directory system for SM Southmall and SM Mall of Asia
- Created a website for a top wedding organizer/planner company
- Currently teaching in my second year in De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde as a part-time instructor, teaching web development and .NET programming; I also have been allowed to become a thesis adviser and a panel for thesis presentation as well.
Programming
- Started using CodeCademy, with 737+ points and 19 badges
- Got 1571 reputation points (as of writing) in StackOverflow.com, with 52 badges (12 silver and 40 bronze)
Speaking Engagements
- Conducted a seminar talk about Windows Phone 7 (Mango) at Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila last February 3
- Conducted a student and faculty workshop on Game Development with Windows Phone during the ICT Convergence 2012 at Wesleyan University last March 15 to 17
- Conducted a faculty workshop on Windows Phone 7 Development during the PSITE Western Visayas Regional Convention at Ilo-Ilo last May 2 to 6
- Conducted a student and faculty workshop on ASP.NET / WPF Development at University of St. La Salle in Bacolod last May 6 to 9
- Conducted a crash course C# seminar for Benildean freshmen and sophomore students
Before the year finally ends, I would like to thank everyone who made these experiences possible. Let’s make countless memories again next year! Looking forward to an even better year in 2013!
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