I rarely post twice within the same day, but over the weekend the inspiration for this post just started to surface itself. I felt I had to somehow document the effect one priest half the world away from me had on my life. And then perhaps, I shall come to a conclusion of ALL that is happening. *evil grin*

In 2005, Father Roderick Vonhögen started the Catholic Insider podcast. That triggered an avalanche of podcasts with Catholic content, by Catholics, for Catholics. SQPN was founded soon after, and before one can say “SQPN, the BEST in Catholic New Media“, most of all our favorite Catholic podcasts were rounded up and have become part of the ever-growing SQPN family.

Then sometime last year, the “Rod Father” introduced us to the world of Twitter. Before one can count the number of wonderful podcasts featured on the SQPN website, almost all of SQPN fan community were tweet tweet Twittering away. I joined Twitter too, almost immediately after hearing Father Roderick talk about it on the Daily Breakfast. It was a calling I could not resist.

Next Father Roderick convinced us to embrace Facebook. I tried to resist, having heard unpleasant stuff about other social websites like MySpace, but resistance was futile. Before I knew it, all the friends I made on Twitter were on Facebook too! I had to go, I HAD.. to.. BELONG!

Father Roderick also taught us to uStream. His “live” stream has made most of us captives, including me. We were addicted. We threw away out TV sets and started to embrace our computer monitors, our eyes glued to video stream of our favorite podcasters.

Just when we were all content with following each other on Twitter and playing Scrabulous on Facebook. Father Roderick taught us the ways of FriendFeed. Almost all of us, including myself, swarmed over and started an account and added everybody we knew.

Less than a week later, Father Roderick invited us to Plurk. Now ALL of us are addicted to Plurk. At least I am. Even the most resistant among us have succumbed, one by one.

Meanwhile, Father Roderick continues to experiment with new Web 2.0 tools like Ping.fm, Last.fm, Britekite, etc. And just like the little children following the Pied Piper’s pipe, we all followed with reckless abandon.

The conclusion is obvious. Father Roderick may not be just the simple priest as he claims himself to be. He is.. the Pied Piper of the Web 2.0 era!

Tags: Humor, SQPN

It’s been a busy week for me this week. Especially since we have a new General Manager, who officially joined us on the the first day of the month. The first thing our new GM did was to have a 1-to-1 meeting with each and EVERY one of us. He even prepared a set of questions which he expected us to answer during our individual sessions. It feel horribly like a job interview. Yuck!

From another perspective, this was also a good chance for us to feedback what we felt need to be improved. After the merger last year, things have gone pretty much topsy-turvy in the company. Most of the sales/pre-sales/customer service staff have left. It is rather depressing to see co-workers leave the company one by one. Especially those of who I’ve been working with closely since joining the company more than 4 years ago. Some of our most senior staff (in terms of service years) have resigned. Hopefully, the new GM will improve the state of things around here.

I mentioned last week that I’ll be reviewing some podcast novels that I’m currently subscribed to. If you’re new to the concept of novels in podcast format, please read my previous post regarding podcast novels.

Before we begin, here’s a disclaimer:Some of the novels featured here contain mature situations, language and violence.

If you enjoyed playing Cluedo, you’ll probably enjoy Murder at Avedon Hill (rss) by P.G. Holyfield. As the title suggests, the story revolves around a murder mystery which took place on Avedon Hill. Gretta Platt, the housekeeper of the Avedon Manor, has been murdered. Arames Kragen, retired Aarronic Advisor and scholar of prophecy, offers to help find the murderer, in exchange for access to the mountain pass. In the process, he also uncovers the truth about a town that apparently has more secrets than inhabitants. Unlike the podcast novels that I’ve previously reviewed, this novel is presented much like an audio drama, where many fellow podcasters/authors lend their voices and dramatic talent. The plot gets thicker as the story unfolds. I’m often kept at the edge of my seat guessing who the real murderer is.

Another podcast novel involving multiple voice talents is The Metamor City Podcast (rss) by Chris Lester. The podcast consists of short stories as well as full-length novels. The stories occur within Metamor City, a high-magic, high-technology setting, an epic fantasy world projected into the near future. Metamor City reminds me of X-Men, but it really is much more than that. It’s almost like a big reunion of sci-fi characters. Habitants of this magical futeristic world include vampires, telepaths, werewolves, androgynes, magicians, and of course normal, non-magical humans (a.k.a “mundies”)

If you prefer a story that’s slightly “closer to reality”, you might like to try The Takeover (rss) by Mur Lafferty. The story revolves a takeover/merger of 2 companies, and how it’s affected the employees of both sides. The catch is, one of the companies involved are a bunch of zombies! At the same time, the human employees realize that to climb up the corporate ladder, you’ll have to be willing to turn into a zombie. Oh my! Talk about working yourself to death! If you enjoy The Takeover, you might also want to check out Mur’s many other podcasts at Murverse.com, or simply subscribe to her catch-all feed here to enjoy all the Mur goodness.

Meanwhile, fans of J.C. Hutchins‘ 7th Son Trilogy will be glad to know that J.C. is back with 7th Son: Obsidian, an short-story anthology series based on the fictional universe of the 7th Son Trilogy. Contributors to this world’s first-ever anthology podcast includes A-List podcasters as well as fans from around the world. Definitely worth checking out!

If you enjoy having famous voices read stories to you, I’m sure you’ll also love SteamPod (rss) by Chris Moody. SteamPod is a podcast about what is going on in the world of SteamPunk, a publication that is dedicated to promoting steampunk as a culture, as more than a sub-category of fiction. It is a journal of fashion, music, misapplied technology and chaos, and fiction.

That’s all for now. I hope you’ll enjoy the selection of podcast novels I’ve reviewed for you. Meanwhile, God bless!

Tags: fiction, life, musings, Podcasts, podiobooks, Reviews

Hi everyone! Yes, I know I know.. I was supposed to post this LAST week. But there was a bit of last minute hiccups. The office PC (where I normally post from, since there’s a faster internet connection) suddenly died. My product leader had to go out and get me a new computer with Windows Vista Business Edition (yucks!). I had to reinstall all my applications and tools, etc. I also had a backlog of work to complete since I took a couple of days of leave for 1) To present my final-year project to my local tutor; and 2) To spend a relaxing afternoon with my boyfriend and celebrate finally completing my degree course. Anyway, enough of excuses now. Here I am with a new set of podcast recommendations!

First up, one of my Facebook/Twitter friends Bill Donaghy, the man behind the Mission Moment apostolate, has a fantastic podcast called The Heart Of Things Podcast (rss).

The Heart of Things Podcast is a journey past the shallows and into the deep of daily life! Touching on faith, art, music, movies and more, we’ll tap into the many places where faith and life meet, at the very heart of things.

In the podcast, Bill interviews various personalities and discusses issues concerning the faith. Insight and informative!

From the geniuses behind the Catholic Underground Podcast (rss), the CU network brings you the Finding Your Keys podcast (rss) by Joshua LeBlanc. This is a weekly show that aims to bridge the gap between faith and everyday living. Finding Your Keys promises to be a field guide for the everyday Catholic. BTW, do check out the BRAND NEW Catholic Underground website. It looks absolutely cool! Gotta love it!

If you have a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary like I do, or if you simply want to find out more about WHY Catholics are so fascinated with the woman who is the Mother of Jesus Christ, you’ll have to check out the Theotokos podcast (rss) by Adam Andrejcio. Theotokos is Greek for God-bearer. In his podcast, Adam talks about the Catholic devotion to the Mother of God, who is also the Mother of the Church, the body of Christ on Earth, and brings up scriptural and doctrinal support for the Catholic teachings on Mary.

Listeners to various SQPN podcasts will probably be familiar with Father Bill Holtzinger, affectionately known as Father Geek. Father Bill recently started a new podcast, appropriately named PilgrmCast (rss), while on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with some of his parishioners. In this series of podcasts, Father Bill takes the listeners on a sound-seeing tour of various landmarks in the Holy Land.

The next podcast I’m recommending is not exactly new. In fact, I’ve listened to this entire series more than a year ago. I was reminded of this podcast series while listening to an episode of the Catholic Answers LIVE podcast (rss). What I’m talking about is the Going Deeper Podcast (rss) produced by Family Theater Productions in Hollywood.

Going Deeper is a series of original talks by Leo Severino (theologian/apologist/film producer) started while Leo was a youth minister in Irvine, California. Going Deeper increased in popularity and grew to a series of discussions for people in the entertainment industry searching for truth, held in various locations in and around Hollywood.

In case you didn’t already know, Leo Severino is one of the “3 amigos” behind Metanoia Films, the good people that produced the beautiful movie, Bella.

Last but definitely NOT least, the Catholic Hack himself, Joe McClane has start a brand new St Ignatius of Antioch Series, which is a series readings of 7 epistles of St Ignatius of Antioch. Download all 7 now!

For those of you who have been living under a rock all this while, the Catholic New Media Celebration (CNMC) will be held on the 22nd of June, 2008 at the Georgia International Convention Center, immediately following the Eucharistic Congress in the Archdiocese of Atlanta. I’m not sure if you’ll be in time to register, by the time this blog entry is posted, but anyhow, find out more about CNMC at celebration.sqpn.com. P.S.: If you are unable to make to Georgia, Atlanta in person (like me), at least make sure you are following someone that will be there either via Twitter, Facebook, or some other preferred forms of tracking.

Well, that’s all for now. More reviews next time!

Tags: Catholic, CNMC, life, Podcasts, rant, Reviews

After a 3-month hiatus, I’m pleased to announce that I’m finally back to blogging again! This time should be for good, well at least until I start getting busy with whatever drops in my lap again.

Won’t be doing any podcast reviews today, since I’ll need some time to do some research and preparation first. I have added a few new podcast subscriptions to my iTunes during this time, and they’re all very good. So a keep a lookout for my upcoming reviews for those!

Meanwhile, let me just give a brief update on what’s been happening to me and the world around me in the past 3 months. First and foremost, as some of you know by now, I’ve FINALLY gotten a promotion. After working in my current company for 4 years, I’m now OFFICIALLY a Senior Software Developer. Naturally, the pay package has been adjusted slightly to match the new position. It was a reasonable adjustment, though the final figure is still on the low side, compared to what some of my peers are earning outside. Nonetheless, I’m a happier worker now.

The fact that I’m typing this new blog entry also means that I’ve finally completed my final-year modules. Well, almost. I’ve completed the final assignment, which is due for submission next week. There will be a project presentation in the following week. And then I sit and wait for results. Then if all goes well (please pray for me, folks), I can finally make the necessary arrangements for graduation. FINALLY! Woo-hoo!

On a sad note, my god-brother’s mom passed away 3 weeks ago, just before Mother’s Day. She died of cancer. I only found out a few days later after reading a couple of entries he left on his blog where he mentioned that his dad was devastated during the funeral. He himself was feeling very sad, but for the sake of his dad, he had to stay strong. I can fully understand that feeling. My own dad passed away 11 years ago, and I had to tell myself to be strong for my mom. If you will, please pray for the repose of the soul of my god-brother’s mom and my dear dear dad, as well as for my god-brother’s family that they will be strong.

Another tiny tiny tragedy that happened recently was that I broke the LED display on my newly bought Creative ZEN Stone Plus MP3 player, after careless dropping it on the floor Thankfully the player still works in terms of audio. I just can’t see what I’m doing when I’m fiddling with the settings. The bf checked with the nice people at the Creative store near his office, and they confirmed that the 1-year warranty I had on the device was not going to cover the repair if I choose to send it in (what can I say, I was careless), and the cost of repairing the LED was going to be S$69. WHAT!!!! The player cost me S$99, and the repair is $69?!?! I might as well get a new one! Urgh!

Well, that’s all for now. Will try to get the podcast reviews ready by next week. Watch out for it!

Tags: life, musings, rant, technology

The Lion City is abuzz with IT Show 2008 exhibition which started yesterday (6th March 2008) and will end this Sunday (9th March 2008). It claims to be the largest IT/electronics exhibition of it’s kind in Singapore. And did I mention that admission is free? It’s no wonder that the IT-savvy and gadget-loving folks flood the exhibition halls in search of good bargains on computers, laptops, digital cameras, MP3 players, game consoles, printers, flash drives, etc. Being the semi-geek that I am, I make it a point to go to the IT Show on a yearly basis. Hence, I made an appointment with the bf and the both of us took the afternoon off from work to avoid the evening crowd.

Before heading to the exhibition hall, we had steamboat at the Chong Qing Hotpot restaurant in the basement of the Suntec City, where the exhibition is held. It was cold since it had been raining for days. The best time to have some steaming hot spicy soup. Yummy!

Tags: life, musings, technology