Update: A Recap of My Year 2012

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 1^st 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 1^st 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!