Wednesday, August 18, 2004

The Caped crusader to the rescue

Maybe some of you don’t know that I am maintaining two blogs. This one where I talk about education, my life as a teacher, the other, my first blog which I call soft grumbles where I put my attempts at poetry and other things.

I blog for several reasons. One is to keep abreast with the times. I am not a young man and lest I become obsolete, a dreadful state for a teacher like me, I try to learn the rudiments of technology. I try to learn as I watch in awe my 15 year old son, Mickey create works of art using the Adobe or make musical notations on a program called Finale, both features he downloaded on our computer.

I blog because I derive pleasure in making articles, something I didn't know I was capable of, in the hope that it would help me increase my vocabulary and probably be a better poet. Furthermore, I get a kick reading comments coming from readers, especially when they happen to share my views and appreciate it when they correct a wrong perception I would have.

Lastly, and most importantly, I blog because I want to leave something to my children even when I am long gone. You see, when you are a father who is not well-off and certainly won’t be able to leave material things for your children to inherit, the next best thing is to leave a legacy behind. My first idea was to publish a book, but the cost of printing a single piece is too expensive. Knowing that I am not a respected writer, publishing a hundred is out of the question. Hence, I thought of ways I can fulfill this dream of leaving a legacy behind.

The internet provided me with the right venue. First, I joined a group of writers in a virtual university called writersvillage where I was accepted to be a student of poetry.

Then blogging came along. And as they say, "the rest is history."

Yesterday, I got the shock of my life when I tried to open this site. For no apparent reason known to me, nothing appeared! Not a single entry was here, the site meter gone, and only a portion of my links was present. I panicked. It seemed like a work of a lifetime was washed away. I felt weak in the knees, perspiration dribbling from my forehead.

I went to another computer and tried opening it hoping that it was just my office computer that broke. Nada! I went to my account and discovered that something wrong happened to my template. It did not seem right. The links I made - gone. I wrote blogger support but I know it would take sometime before I can get an answer.

In cases like this, who do you call? Nobody else but the caped crusader,
Batjay! He simply told me to republish because it seems that my template was corrupted. Even offered to send him my username and password so that he could take a look. (Well, the idea did cross my mind but that would be imposing too much) I followed his suggestion to republish. First I clicked on edit so that I can get to the "republish" button and voila, they appeared. Although the links were no longer there, at least, the entries and comments remained in tact. What a relief! So, bloggers out there, I hope nothing of this sort ever happens to you. But anyway, if it does, don’t despair. There are a lot of good Samaritans out there ready to help. After all, we are just one big community.

PS.

If I have forgotten to include you in my links, don’t hesitate to call my attention. I would appreciate it very much. Thank you.

34 comments:

Jillsabs said...

I'm Clemens Sabitsana ho :)

I don't think I was ever under you for Art, so I'm not sure if you know me. But I bet you know one of my siblings :)

thanks for adding me up to your links!

rolly said...

jillsabs Not only do I know one of your siblings. I know three of them, as a matter of fact. Two of them had been directly under me while the other works with me. I've also had the pleasure of being with your dad on a few Father and Son camps. :-) Nice to see you back.

BongK said...

ka rolly,

just read ur email and thanks for the concern. i also sought help from Batjay when i was starting my blog and thank to that good "young" soul for the hand..

ka rolly bakit nawala na ako sa link mo? huhuhuhuhu

batjay said...

parang mas maganda nga ngayon ang site mo tito rolly. hehehehe. parang mas alive ang dating. siguro dahil mas malinaw ang picture mo. kitang kita tuloy ang kakyutan mo. hehe.

nice to know that your site is back to normal. mahirap kang mawala, maraming mga fans mo ang iiyak.

rolly said...

Bong Andyan. Tingnan mo uli! hehehe. No, hindi kita nakalimutan. Mali ang tag nung html kaya di nag-appear. Okay na siya ngayon. Hope your mother's doing fine now.

Yaps Okay, I'll change the link. thanks for informing me.

Batjay Thank you talaga. You saved me from what would have been a night of anxiety. Buti nakita mo kagad yung logo mo sa kalangitan ng Gotham city.

Pumuti ba ko? Blessing in disguise kung ganon. hehe

Anonymous said...

Hi Sir
I don't think I was under you before in school,
but you are a familiar face. hehe.
I suggest you keep all your entries in a word file
so you still have a copy of them if the same problem occurs.
A very entertaining blog!

Sassy Lawyer said...

Wow, bad trip yun. Pag maganda-ganda na ang archives mo tapos biglang nawala... naku!!

Pero, seriously Tito Rolly, since malalim ala ang intention mo sa blogs mo, bakit ba talaga hindi ka mag-domain na? Di ba sa blogger may disclaimer sila na if you don't back up your files and they are lost, wala silang liability? Mickey can have a subdomain where he can publish his artwork. He can start making a name for himself.

My kids have blogs. Subdomains sa houseonahill.net. They write. Tatamad pero, it's a start.

rolly said...

Anonymous Thanks for the suggestion. i will try to do that plus make a hard copy and store it on a journal i keep. Sana nag-sign ka. I can look you up from the pictures we have of our graduates. Anyway, thanks for visiting.

Sassy In as much as i would want to, baka hindi ko masustain ang bayad ng sarili kong domain. Atsaka mahabang usapan pa yan sa kongreso ng aming tahanan. We are trying to make every centavo count these days e. Maybe someday.

tintin said...

(aka pinayhekmi)

Tito Rolly, what I always do is make a backup of my template. There's so much work that goes into creating a template that you need a backup "just in case". Select all of your template text from the template window and copy it, then open up Notepad (dont use Word), and paste. Voila! Anytime anything goes wrong, you can always just paste your backup back in!

Dr. Emer said...

I am glad Tito Rolly is enjoying blogging so much that even any hint that something is wrong with blog worries him no end. It means you have grown attached to blogging much like I am and the rest of the new bloggers like Ting-Aling, Santi, Techguy, Mari, Julsitos, and Jardine. Whew! Dumadami na tayo. Former commenters now have blogs of their own. Isn't that great? :)

It is only Bayi who's missing. But I think Bayi prefers bloghopping than blogging. He is our perennial commentor.

I hope you will not grow tired of Blogger and leave, Tito Rolly. Your glitch yesterday was just that --- a glitch. You see, Blogger has implemented a NEW bar at the top of the blogs in place of the previous Blogger banner. My guess is that it interfered with your template, but as BatJay suggested, can easily be remedied by republishing.

Here's to a thousand years of blogging, Tito Rolly! Mabuhay ka! :)

ting-aling said...

Tito Rolly, I wondered about that too. Akala ko nagwelga ka na against your barkadas. Sa aking computer naman, in the morning, nandoon pa yung links mo, and then mid day, nawala na sina Doc Emer downwards, and then biglang si Batjay na lang at si Sassy ang naiwan..so sabi ko, bah, favoritism na eto. Eh sa gabi, biglang dumilim yung site mo, hmm SAM TING WONG with the blog na ang unang napunta sa isip ko.

rolly said...

Bayi
It is through your blog that you have great friends like the "caped one" (sounds like the "great one" :-)!) BatJay (Spiderman fan?) and a host of others. And we find fulfilment in reading and commenting on your posts as they tug at the strings of our heart. And you are one friend I'm glad that came along. You were my very first commenter other than Batjay. That egged me on to write some more. Glad I did.

TinTin thanks for the suggestion. That didn't cross my mind, too. I'll do that. And I'm making a hard copy and put it in clear books.

rolly said...

Doc Emer Yes, I noticed that, too. More and more people are joining us. I'm glad because it means more people are reading, writing and thinking! I'm sure there are some more readers who just open our blogs but don't comment. We might be doing something bigger than we imagined.

Thanks for answering my query on stale vaccines. Nag-email ka pa. Touch naman ako dun.

TingAling, nawala na sina Doc Emer downwards, and then biglang si Batjay na lang at si Sassy ang naiwan..so sabi ko, bah, favoritism na eto. Natawa ko ng malakas dun a. Now that you've started blogging, ma-a-addict ka na rin pareho namin hahaha Thanks for coming over.

ting-aling said...

Tito Rolly, haha, meron pa rin talagang favoritism, wala ako sa links mo. ano bang qualification to be one of them?

Anonymous said...

Pasensiya ka na dito ako nagkuwento….di ko alam email mo…off topic ito

Yes, Rolly, pareho tayo ng generation, disco noon MWF pa...sa me tapat ng FEU...mga batang bell bottom blues, close neck na tshirt o kaya crispa tshirt na ibang kulay araw-araw, o kaya fruit of the loom.. saka scarp sa likod ng maong, tapos hush puppies na sapatos, ang mall noon harrison plaza pa lang,yong bakya na puwedeng kaliwa at puwedeng kanan –happy feet yata iyon, sinusuot ni florante o kaya glenmore shoes, pagkamayaman ka ..sebagos naman yong toga mo…yong mga droga noon cough syrup pa…corex-d..tapos… brownies na me kargang damo… Toyota – crispa..sa pasig me factory ang crispa diyan malapit sa rizal high, kayong sa bambang pasig malapit nayan sa taguig di ba? Tapos ang pinaka internet natin noon e yong jingle magazine me naka post na picture ng mga kolehiyala at me address pa..ala pang cell phone noon..pakinigkinig lang sa dzrj at yong mga tumutugtog sa shake’ys cubao saka sa malate…sa Richmond hill, Ontario nga pala ako, suburb… north of Toronto, lugar ng mga chekwa rito, mukha kasing chekwa si kumander, pero hindi siya tulo laway, sa akin lang siya tumutulo ang laway niya (misis ko) …hehehe…kaya lima yong anak kong lalake…sabi me mo kakilalang pari dito …me kilala ako si Father Ebcas pinoy…. kamukha mo nga siya…kamag-anak mo? Ano email mo …yong email nandon sa blog ko…

rolly said...

Ting-aling Anjan din. tingnan mo uli. 2 pa nga e.hehe

ting-aling said...

Ay, sorry Tito Rolly, nakita ko na pagkatapos pero di ko na mabura yung post ko. Anyway, nag-aaral pa lang ako mag link so patience, patience, patience

santi said...

Tito Rolly,
Kita mo naman kung gaano kita ka-idol nakarating ako sa May archive mo. Nakita ko si "Rey Valera?".

rolly said...

jonix di pala kita nasagot. Miss mo na kagad ako no?

matapoor musta na! Mana sakin? hmmm, sa mukha alam ko mana sakin, sa drawing, marami pang kaning kakanin yan, hehehe... the truth is sabi ng nanay niya mas magaling na daw sakin si Mickey. Hindi na raw ako idol niya. hmph e ano. Mas pogi naman ako hehehe

techguy wag tayong masyadong mag divulge ng hitsura natin non, mahahalata nilang matanda na tayo e ang babata pa nila. Brownies? Nanay ko masarap magluto nun. Pero yung totoong kinakain ha. Sa UP yata sumikat yung variety na sinasabi mo e.
Alam mo bang nagkaron ng rematch lately ang Crispa-Toyota? PAti referee ha. Ayun muntik na namang magkasuntukan sila Abet Guidaben.

Ting-aling don't despair. Talagang ngayon mo lang nakita yun kasi ngayon ko lang nalamang mali rin ang tag line ko. Binibiro lang kita. hehe

Santi Hindi si Rey Valera nakita mo. Si Brad Pitt yun nung mahaba pa buhok niya. Wag kang maingay kay Sassy atsaka kay Cat, baka i publish yung picture. hehehe

Thanks guys@

E. S. de Montemayor said...

I'm happy you're into blogging! You're absolutely correct when you said that you derive great pleaure writing articles. I guess everyone here enjoys writing their daily grind. At first nga, I was the perpetual skeptic who scoffs at blogs thinking that this was just an excercise in narcissism but it not. never. now, it's more of self-empowerment. siguro, i can safely say i was converted to the cause- the cause of having sex with my keyboard every few days. =) keep on posting tito rolly. love your insightful musings.

What is it that makes blogging pleasurable?

E. S. de Montemayor said...

tito rolly, how can we back up our blogfiles? it's frightening to think that on one unguarded night all your hard work goes blank. Sana parang microsoft Word wherein you can save it somewhere. nonetheless, thank God your blog's still here!

rolly said...

KatI've read your comment but I don't know what happened but it's no longer here. It used to be before Julsitos'. Anyway, thanks for visiting. Yes. AB is Bachelor of Arts. i think it was made AB to differentiate it with Business Administration.

Re the choice of career, it has always been my children's decision...if I can afford it. Now, should they opt for something me and my wife can't afford, say medicine, then they'll have to help. If they really like it that bad...

Julsitos I'm glad you're no longer skeptical about blogging. You write well. Thanks for your compliments. As for saving your files, I am still finding ways of doing it. I think Pinay Hekmi's suggestion of saving it in a notepad is to retain the html prompts. I think Word executes the html. I'm not really that computerate literate, though.

ajay said...

Tito Rolly, what a coincidence. I have just posted now an article on "why i blog" without reading your post first. I have to explain myself coz it seems some of my friends are not up to the idea of exposing their linen in public, even though it's not dirty,hahaha. Blogging is something i have to do for my own creative satisfaction, whether people approve of it or not.
I have also checked out your writers vilage html and poetry blog. I am glad that am writing lots of poetry now as a result of blogging, it's like an adrenaline rush. I still have to post them though. Why don't you download a creative commons license (www.creativecommons.org) so your work will at least be copyrighted. Good day!

Rachelle Grace said...

tito rolly, kawawa ka naman. gawd! i wouldn't know what to do if that happened to me. Girl Interrupted is sort of my writing archive na.

hope your blog problem gets fixed. :)

wow, aliw yung association niyo ni jillsabs. parang friendster. degrees of association. hehe... ;)

Rachelle Grace said...

tito rolly, kawawa ka naman. gawd! i wouldn't know what to do if that happened to me. Girl Interrupted is sort of my writing archive na.

hope your blog problem gets fixed. :)

wow, aliw yung association niyo ni jillsabs. parang friendster. degrees of association. hehe... ;)

E. S. de Montemayor said...

tito rolly, I thought of a suggestion on how to back-up our works. first, save your template so your backbone is secured. then, save your rss/atom feed from another site. dunno how yet. copy/paste?

rolly said...

Ajay Coincidence nga. We must be travelling on the same wavelength at the time or, at least, our train of thoughts :-) I have encouraged some co-teachers to start blogging, too, but they wouldn't. I don't know what their reasons are but I suspect it's because they don't want to expose their linen, too, they're too busy to write, or just plain not interested at all. Sayang, if they only knew the benefits they'd get.

Pepsi I'm glad you came back then. About the haircut, yeah, you do that this weekend. Let's set a good example in school.

Rache Precisely! I used to have a hard copy of my poems and the comments I receive at the virtual university since I started writing them but when I started blogging, I stopped. Maybe i'd start making them again. I don't trust computers anymore. My files are always corrupted. :-(

Julsitos Yes. That's what Tin-tin said. But not to back it up in word to preserve the html codes. Word executes them. I've saved my template in my office computer. I'll do it here at the house, too. Finding an easier way of filing the files is another matter, though.

Yes, Jillsabs brothers and sister are all known to me. Masayang pamilya yan.

stani said...

one of my biggest regrets in life is not thinking of blogging back when i was in high school. i just hit my first year anniversary last june and looking at my archives, i feel sad that i only have a year's worth of explicit memories instead of five. it really is the little and unfortunately easily forgotten things in life that matter in the long run.

you can link me if you feel like it.

ingat.ĂĽ

Anonymous said...

sir magandang araw, gusto ko sana makuha yung jingle ng glenmore shus nuong araw na madalas patuugtugin sa dzrj..it sounds like this..hinahanap mo ba ang tunay na tog, glenmore ang tatak ng sapatos nya. Sa bawa't hakbang ay walang paltos, yan ang glenmore shus..sir may release pa ba ang road runner na glenmore? gusto ko sana sya iterno uli sa 6 pocket kong maong na may lace sa laylayan at ipoporma ko uli sa cartimar..same as the good old days..slalamat po..mabuhay kayo!

rolly said...

anonymous I remember that jingle pero hindi na kumpleto. Mas kumpleto mo pa nga eh. Was it Pepe Smith who sang it? Parang siya diba? Tsong, tila wala ng Glenmore ata much more ang Road Runner. Talagang hanggang reminiscing na lang tyo. hehe

dsaint said...

yes sir si pepe nga ang humataw nung kantang yon.talagang remeniscing period na lang tayo. buti nalang hindi andropause period hehehehe!

rolly said...

Dsaint hehe okay sa screen name ah.. Baka naman saint sa ginbulag yan ha. hahaha

Oo nga, reminiscing stage na tayo. Ayan ayaw nang umalis nung jingle sa utak ko. Kaw kasi eh.

dsaint said...

tito rolly thanks for being a part of your legacy even im not one of your student. im just browsing to find the chord of that song and your blog pop out kaya ako napapasok dito and its nice to be a part of your legacy.. to complete the jingle of glemore..this is it..Hinahanap mo ba ang tunay na toga, glenmore ang tatak ng sapatos nya. Sa bawat hakbang ay walang paltos yan ang glemore shoes..Glenmore, glenmore matibay may class at may uri. Glenmore..glenmore gumamit ng glenmore shoes.. can i call you titio rolly? hehehe! now the jingle is complete chords na lang kulang mo para lalong di mawala sa isip mo .. thanks tito rolly mabuhay ka at magpatuloy ang coloumn mo.. GOD BLESS

rolly said...

dsaint Of course. Everybody calls me tito. Anyway, as for the chords, mukhang simpleng C F G lang ata yan. Of course, I'm just guessing as I don't have a guitar with me now. Happy playing!