Computers on Stamps and my Love Affair with the Machine

A few months ago, I visited a link in Delcampe, a stamp and collectibles auction site, about "Cyber Philately: Computer Stamps- from Abacus to Internet", and I was transported back in time to my love affair with the "ultimate machine".

 

Pocket computer--- desktop--- laptop--- notebook--- netbook--- tablet PC. In a nutshell, that's the evolution of my computers. 

 

Back in 1983, when I was in my second year high school in UP Cebu, my dad gifted me from Japan, my first computer- the Casio PB-300 (picture below), a pocket computer with a built in thermal printer. To my knowledge, it was the first computer with a built-in thermal printer but had only 2KB of RAM compared to mammoth 4GB of today. There were no elaborate graphics and software programs then. You can only see 12 characters in a line on a monochrome LCD for simple games and computation of algebraic formulas which was very helpful in my elective Calculus subject in high school in UP Cebu.

 

Only a handful of my UP '85 classmates joined the Calculus class under Prof. lluminada Mercado. We were often "bullied" and branded as the nerds. They were the athletic Math genius- Carl Abad Bugarin, pretty and brainy mestiza Irene Casals (Madarang) and the artistically gifted Jose Ramon Mercado. I fondly remember him joining art fairs and competitions and winning them. His depiction of the hands were epic. I'm sure he would have been an established painter now had he pursued this path. 

 

Beside our room was the elective photojournalism class that included class writer, photographer, all around athlete and best buddy- Nimrod Lebumfacil Quinones. His roots are from Toledo and Liloan. (I was the one who encouraged him to write for Tambuli), Nimrod and  my comely classmate since elementary (batch 1981) in CIC-Mandaue, Kerrwin Ouano Sanchez played all the sports and were exceptional in all of them. Nimrod, Kerrwin, Raul Cabahug Trasmonte, Joel Mangubat Seno, William Sienes, Dominic Ylaya, Richard Villaceran, Robert Gandionco Hipolito, Apollo Oriel Carl Abad Bugarin, our spiker and team leader, and yours truly, comprise the batch volleyball team. We played in the highly competitive annual interschool volleyball tournaments (CAAA). 

 

The batch '85 Sacredhearters were a cool and good-looking bunch; they were adroit, beneficent, tacticians. A lot of our batchmates had crushes with the pretty and talented Girl Hearters and STC batch ' 85; and a handful courted and eventually married them. My beautiful, gifted to give, and ever-supportive Vincentian sister, Araceli, also belonged to Batch' 85 - CIC Main. She would always cheer for us during these highly competitive and tense events. I can't recall  anyone from Science High Batch 85 joining these events - maybe because they are always studying- they are the covert, humble geniuses. It is not uncommmon for intermarriges to occur within these batches because we always have frequent encounters with them.

 

Our nemesis then was Batch 85 of San Carlos Boys High headed by Michael Gerard Maninang. He was also the HS academic rival for highest honors of my best friend and mahjong mate in Medical school, Dr. Cristino Caayao Canga III, now a US based gastroenterologist.  (Other gamers forming the quorum include Dr. Dave Ross Bonifacio and Dr. Robert Roa. Dr. Leopoldo Jiao and Dr. Zoilon del Rosario as substitutes). The USC boys played ferociously, like cougars and wolves, but eventually we vanquished them. Finally, we are the champions! 

 

Others in my batch photojourn class included, painter and art lover- April Mary Tudtud (Ramos) who gave me some paintings (my fave was the bicycle watercolor ) and sketches. I started to develop my love for the arts because of her and Jose Ramon who we fondly call Pitpit. (I remember us sneaking into to the college Fine Arts class), class wordsmith, Michelle So and the dainty, truly gifted polymath, Sharon Hormachuelos (Santos), our class valedictorian. Her best friend was Noreen Davide (Salas) and the 3 of us had a covert dialect which Noreen and Sharon created. I can't recall if Rogel Anecito Abais was in that class but he was also  a good writer and an excellent speaker. He was a highly cultured intellectual and a lover of languages. I always see him together with Michelle So.

 

The rest of the class were in Dramatics. That club was a happy bunch. They include my friend/prom date Tina Pacis (Ouano), my two pretty seatmates who always amuse me with their crazy antics, Arlene Aguilos (Rasmussen) and Elizabeth de Dios (Bondoc), charming buddies Sheelah Malicse and Consuelo Camaya (Villafania), classy Carla Ybañez-Veloso and the smart beauty Sandra Centino (Jones) who was also my elementary classmate in CIC and amiable neighbour in DRV Mandaue.

 

Aside from the Centinos, other cordial neighbours in the village include the Soco, Flores, Barba, Suico, Cabahug, Vega, Yuvallos, Donaldo, Fulache, Pangan, Chua, Lao, Abines-Go, Ronquillo, Pangan, Yu-Gothong, Canen, Alo, Muñoz, Diaz, Ramirez, Sanchez, Wong-Francisco, Reyes, Tolosa, Tuñacao, Pestaño, Uy-Tan, Velasco, Pablo, Arquillano, Quintana, Laurito, Macaraeg, Padilla, Leyson and Borromeo families.

 

Other classmates in Dramatics were Gene Cagas and band leader/confidant Alvin Salonga-Chiong who fondly calls me "Enteng". Myself, (keyboard) Alvin (drums), Warren Balcera (bass) , Donald Antonio (lead guitar) and Daniel Gonzales (singer) comprised the Stynkyn Sphynx band (inspiration Lynard Skynard). Our favorite band during this time was the Culture Club and Dan, our singer, Boy George's doppelganger, loves to sing Miss Me Blind. We also joined in the HS Protest Song Contests and did the arranging, instrumentals and sound production in our HS school plays. 

 

"Lipunan, bakit tayo nagkakaganito?.... Kailan pa gigising? Kayamanang tulog ating linangin.. Kulturang katutubo ating pagtibayin". (song lyrics)

 

Kulturang Katutubo (Native Culture), won first prize in the first UP Protest Song Contest, was composed by Alvin ( Project A Sound System) and myself with the former playing the flute. Those were fun times!

 

The Dramatic street plays were epic! The stern and no-nonsense Ms. Madrileña de la Cerna, our Social Studies professor was also the Drama coach/teacher. Her favorite student was from the class one year ahead of us- Joel Garganera who was the best buddy of Pablo John Garcia. She was strict and sarcastic but her eyes would beam when Joel was around. She would tell us how good Joel was (whether academically or dramatically I wasn't really sure). Pablo John was a brilliant student and an astute debater. Once in the JLC (Junior Leaders Circle) under Prof. Jose Balansag, our batch had a dispute with their batch and he was tasked as the speaker. We had the case (that almost caused my mom a miscarriage) on our favor but he was able to defend theirs eloquently and successfully. He was such a natural and I was so impressed! The first time I heard the word bureaucracy was from his mouth. I had to look for a dictionary after his discourse. He uttered a lot of words foreign to me at that time. I started collecting words and owning it since then.

 

I really admire those classmates who took the difficult electives, especially the moneyed ones. They chose the hard path. Mostly likely they'll do the same in life; the arduous path is the most rewarding. A word of advice to the young- Never bully the dorks, they will will be your bosses in the future. 

Back to my first computer, I remember programming a basic shooting game and did some print outs of the program. Years later I saw the prints fade to oblivion. As far as I can recall, there were only two of us who had a pocket computer back then - other one was Gene Tagalo Cagas, now a pastor based in Cambodia. We were always talking about spirituality, philosophy, science especially the surreal, time travel and the "what ifs" -  the profound things in life. We often had religious and philosophical discussions with Jose Renmar Natividad. 

 

My favorite high school teacher, Prof. Martin Castillo also had a pocket computer; can't recall the brand and model now but it was top of the line during it's time. I was deeply inspired by his teaching methods especially in Physics where he instills his students the love for science. Unlike some UP teachers who can be harsh and unforgiving (one even gave me my only red grade ever for an hour late thesis submission). When you love something, you want to get to know more about it. Before he starts lecturing, he would read aloud with apt, mostly goofy expression, the test results individually, make corrections and comments to inspire us to do our best or else you'll be praised or disgraced- a clever method to compel us to study harder. I'll never forget our first Physics exam where I luckily got perfect. He beamingly announced to the class- "this guy's going places". Another favorite teacher who inspired me to become a doctor is Biology professor Mrs. Lapa...... (TBC)...

 

Some teachers are threatened by their students. Because they know they will be future competition (especially in the field of Arts and Medicine). Some even preventing them to practice, declaring they are not good enough. Others are encouraged to stay and practice with them, with the intent of making them their subordinates.

Gene and I would have weekly competitions of creating the best computer programs. We love programming (unfortunately, there were no computer science courses offered at this era), we were not too keen on Filipino and Social Studies. One time, he conceded defeat when he saw me making a simple shooting program (how complex can a program be, given only a line). In this program random alphanumeric characters would show up and when you press a button, the duration should be right enough to cause an arrow to hit it. If you press to short or too long it would undershoot or overshoot the target. Anyway, I had a really memorable time with my friend Gene.

 

We also had frequent debates about the best kinds of music. Gene and I liked classical while frenemies Richard Madarang and Ralph Daitol favored Rock and Roll. I recall higher batches would watch us debate at the field, Stephanie Seno (Medalle) and her friends were a few. We always reminisce with hard laughs about these contentions during our class reunions.

 

Unfortunately, this pocket computer is now forever lost- I never knew if it was stolen or a relative of mine borrowed it (most likely the latter).

 

During college in the 90's..... I had the desktop computers, mostly cloned. I would just choose the sound card, video card, disk drive and all other parts and have them assembled by the supplier. Mostly, these desktops were optimized for gaming, an aspect of computer which I love until now. It was during this time that the internet became popular but dial-ups were sluggish. There was no broadband or WiFi then. I had these desktops during my medical technology years until medical school and residency.

 

During my GI fellowship years in UERM in 2003.. (TBC) after my one year (completed) arduous stint in UST.........(TBC) -, I got myself my first laptop-the HP Compaq Presario.

 

It was in vogue then and a bit expensive. It was impressive during its time- with 512 gigs of RAM, 60 GB of memory and Invidia video card capable of handling 3D games and graphics effortlessly. It had no Bluetooth and WiFI. I played Counterstrike and Unreal with this laptop and was able to finish Half-Life- a science fiction, first person shooting game and my all-time favorite computer game. My weekly presentation of cases, journals and studies where done with this laptop. During my various symposium and seminars, it traveled with me. 

 

After I finished fellowship and became a consultant in PSH...... with an aching back.... , the laptop became too heavy for me, so I switched to a notebook- the Acer Travelmate. This was definitely much lighter and smaller but less powerful. I don't really need the extra power because I rarely play graphic intensive video games, with its decent ATI Radeon video card, during these years. This time though, it already had a bluetooth and LAN. It was during this time, that I was into music composition and home recording using software synths like Rob Papen's Blue, Albino, Moog, Vanguard, etc. using the MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) keyboard. I had to get myself a Creative Audigy soundcard which fits snugly into the PCI port to play MIDI and sound intensive programs requiring ASIO like Ableton Live and FL Studio. I did my first home studio recording using this computer- mostly Electronica and Trance music.

 

When WiFI became ubiquitous, I shifted to a netbook- the Asus 1000HE. I got this because it is very light at two pounds and excellent for surfing. I got a Buffalo wireless router so I can surf anywhere at our home- which led to its eventual demise after using it for less than two years. While surfing in our comfort room, it slipped and broke the plastic edge. Although still functional, it was now cosmetically challenged. I lent it to my wife and got myself a new computer- the Tablet PC.

 

I was not really impressed with iPad. I mean why buy something expensive just to read and surf? I did some research on this, because I wanted a gadget that works like an iPad but had strong computational skills. These qualities I found in my new tablet PC- The Asus T101 MT. It's lighter than a notebook but has multitouch features. I had problems with the netbook at night and during traveling when it's very difficult to use the keyboard. With the touch feature, this problem is eliminated. Play Chess, Scrabble or Plants vs Zombies on the plane--no problem-- you just touch the screen to move or control the pieces.

 

The websites are a pleasure to surf- you just touch and drag up or down, right or left or flick to scan or change pages. It has an Expressgate feature, a separate OS (operating system) with allows it to boot the system in 5 seconds so you can quickly connect to the internet, view your pictures, listen to internet radio or use Skype. You cannot, however save files in this OS, you have to shift to the Windows 7 OS. by just pressing a button. As of now, I'm very satisfied with this computer. With its handwriting recognition software, I wish I had this during my student days to take notes during lectures. Now, I give lectures, so I just use it for presentations. 

 

 *Update- my latest laptop is the Dell XPS 13 since 2012 up to the present 2022.

On this battlefield man has no better weapon than his intelligence, no other force but his heart.

Jose Rizal