A love story

Once upon a time, there was a frog and a flower. The flower lived just beside the pond where the frog lives. They were very much in love.

Frog made Flower laugh by jumping about and croaking at night. Because Flower was usually awake at night, it was music to her ears.

Frog was so happy when he first saw flower. He just felt so.. Green sometimes, just like everything else –the pond, the leaves, and the moss. Flower added that special dash of color. So they fell in love.

Frog would eat every insect that bothered Flower and gave her water from the pond when the weather was hot and dry. He would sing to her at night. He was very devoted.

Flower would entertain him with stories and scent and the subtle dance she makes when a soft breeze was blowing. When he was hungry she would whisper to him where the insects were hiding. She was very supportive.

But after some time, they each became wrapped up in their own affairs. Flower was a flower and concerned with plant things, like the sun, and the weather, and how deep the fertile soil was.

Frog was a frog and was concerned with frog things: catching insects, how deep the water was, how many other frogs were there in the pond who compete for food. So they grew apart.

One day Flower said, “I miss you, Frog.”

Frog said, “I’m in love with someone else, Flower. She’s a frog too.”

And so they parted sadly ever after.

PDF writers and readers

Whenever I do research on a public computer, one of the most annoying things I find out when I get home and sift through my saved web pages a few days or weeks later is that:

1. There are no dates when I first accessed the site, and

2. The original URL becomes a mystery as well, because the browser would open the saved website from my  computer or flash drive.

This is the major reason that I need a PDF printer when doing research online, on a public computer. I print the website, and the original link is conveniently placed on the upper right header, and the date I accessed it is on the lower left footer. Perfect for those who need to cite these things.

Unfortunately, not all internet cafes offer pdf printing for free. So I usually install a pdf writer on the computer I’m using, and if it doesn’t work well with IE, I unzip a firefox portable and use that instead.

My favorite PDF printers so far are:

DoPDF – really easy to use, small file size, no bells and whistles, doesn’t need .NET passport or ghostscript, you don’t have to be online for it to work, customizable resolution up to 2400 dpi.

PDF reDirect – if you need to merge PDF files, this is it. The interface isn’t pretty though.

If you’re not converting an entire book that needs all the resource hogging features of the more expensive competition, these PDF tools are more than enough to do the job.

For PDF viewers, my favorite is Foxit, hands down. It’s really fast, and the latest version integrates well with Firefox. I love the tabs for viewing multiple files. But READ EVERYTHING during installation or you might end up with more than you asked for. It has a portable version too.

My second choice is Sumatra portable. Lightweight, as expected of a portable app so it launches in the blink of an eye.

Acrobat reader is still a little bit slow for me.

There are add-ons to firefox that do make research a little easier, but I find that pdf files are more convenient for working on different computers, especially when working offline. There are still computers that are not connected to the internet and if you’re one of those who have one, well, you’re not alone. =)

I saw her today

She was wearing pink and smiling. Right when I was mulling over the word “respect.”

And then it hit me: respect is like a smile. It isn’t earned from you. It is something you freely give to others because of who you are inside, not because of the person you give it to.

You smile when you’re happy, right? You smile at the dog, at the cell phone load vendor, at anyone, even if they didn’t directly make you happy. It could be a tiny smile, just a crinkle in your eyes, or the wide grin of someone who has accomplished a feat. You smile when you’re happy, it’s human nature.

I mean, she smiled at me today and I didn’t even do anything to deserve that smile, she was just happy.

Now if you’re a respectful person you also give that respect to everyone, whether or not they deserve it.

You nod to the Priest “good morning” not because he deserves your courtesy greeting, but because it’s natural for you to be respectful. Out of respect for the other viewers, you automatically switch your cell phones to silent mode in the movies not because they deserve your respect (heck you don’t even know them) but because it’s natural for you to be considerate.

Respect is like that. It’s like a smile. You give it to others whether they deserve it or not because it’s who you are (or who you want to be).

There are a lot of people who say, “I’ll respect you if you deserve my respect,” it’s a bit, I don’t know.. arrogant I guess. Who the heck am I to think that others have to “deserve” respect from me, I’m nobody.

Respect is like a smile. It’s free. And because it’s free, in my opinion it counts for almost nothing compared with other virtues like honesty, loyalty, integrity. Unlike respect, those three can really take a lot from you and you have to choose, really carefully who you give these to.

There are people who grew up on the streets who never use polite words like “po” or “opo,” who spout off “poo-tang-ina” (sonuvabitch) in between all their sentences, who would call their elders by their first names and make fun of everyone behind their backs, gossip without respect for privacy, who lie and cheat and steal just for the fun of it. Jerks. Assholes. Thugs. Bitches. I know a few.

But once they become your friends, real friends, these people would stand right beside you in any fight in hell, would never desert you, never lie to you, and would always ALWAYS come through for you and stand by their word to you. Loyalty. Honesty. Integrity. You don’t give these to just anybody.

I say respect counts for “almost” nothing because, well, it’s icing on the cake and icing has its uses. It can enhance the natural goodness underneath or hide a tasteless, crappy piece of bread. Politicians are experts at this, and those in power. You can never tell if the icing is the real thing or just a camouflage.

Because being “respectful” can actually make you seem like a decent person even if you’re not. Even if you lie. And cheat. And steal. In secret.

Just like a smile when it is used to hide the pain inside.