Going loco 8-}

This is one of the problems that have been bothering me for a few days now.

Let me give you some background:

I just started to maintain some legacy code in our company. Development and deployment is difficult, as it is not the conventional way of doing things in Tomcat.

One of the problems I’m encountering is that if I drop a class file to the classes directory, Tomcat does not recognize that I dropped a new class.

You see, we do not put the servlets and classes on the WEB-INF\classes, common\classes or even the server\classes directory. Instead, we have a folder outside of Tomcat that holds all the class files needed for our web-app. This folder is then included in the CLASSPATH.

Yes, I have turned on servlet reloading on Tomcat, but this does not work. This is because the primordial classloader loads the classes from the CLASSPATH when they are needed. However, the primordial classloader cannot be overridden; and anything it loads cannot be unloaded or reloaded. (Hello! It’s the primordial classloader!) So, when it loads say, class Ozzie (from the CLASSPATH), it will stay loaded. Even if I drop a new Ozzie file, it won’t care. I have to restart Tomcat so I can load the new Ozzie.

This would be different if the Ozzie class were on WEB-INF\classes. If I have servlet reloading turned on, Tomcat would automatically see that I have a new class file. Same thing with the Manager.

But we have a wierd architecture, so I have to live with that. (When I’m doing code reviews, it’s always funny because sometimes I giggle at their [previous] code [The latest funny thing? SQL code on a JSP!]. Yeah, they know it’s funny. One of my officemates calls it ’sad’. But they’re smarter now. [I hope])

Does anyone know of a way to work around this (except for changing the architecture)? I can’t think of anything, really.

I just can’t stand having to restart Tomcat everytime I drop a class file, since we have a very big web application, and it takes 10-15 minutes for our server to fully start.

Cawws!

Ok.
I’m over my hybrid car phase. I am ‘highly discouraged’ to buy a hybrid car since ‘it is not fully tested yet‘ and the batteries cost so much to replace (2k-3k). I’m not really sure about how well tested the Prius is, but they’ve been around for more than 5 years (as opposed to Insight, w/c have been discontinued). So I guess the Prius is ok.

Anyway, what am I to do? I really can’t argue (I will *always* lose, whether I’m right or wrong). I just have to find another car.

Honda has a nifty little tool that lets me compare the cars side by side.

These are the 4 cars that I like.

But I’m leaning towards the Civic. (The only reason why I’m having second thoughts is because my brother has the Honda Civic Coupe)

Ain’t it pretty?

What I miss…

I miss the tiangges. The really cheap clothes, accessories and bags. Things are so expensive here.

I miss shopping for clothes that actually fit me. I have to shop at the juniors section to buy clothes. Not only that, I have to find sizes 0-2 (Yes, at the Juniors section) . There are some ladies clothes that fit me, but it’s difficult to find them. So once I see something I like that fits me, I don’t get second thoughts. No matter how expensive they are.

I miss Burgoo Cheesecake. Lately I’ve been making cheesecakes at home, but they’re really nothing compared to Burgoo’s. Even if my officemates tell me that they’re amazing.

I miss the constantly warm weather. It’s really cold here right now. Cold weather is fine, I can manage (Plus, I have a great excuse to buy more jackets). What I don’t like about the weather here is that we have 70F today and 30F the next. As they say, “You don’t like the weather in Texas? Just wait. It will change.”

I miss my independence. I stay here at home with my parents. Suddenly you have to tell them your every move again. You have to tell them what time you’ll come home, where you’re going and with whom. Suddenly they control (I’d like to call it ‘highly encouraging/discouraging‘) what you buy and what you don’t buy. Suddenly you see them in and out of your room. If you lock the door and they want to come in, but you say “Why?” before opening the door, they’ll get angry for not letting them in first. Suddenly you notice that someone ‘checked‘ your purse (What it there to check?). Ohhh… I can go on and on about this.

I miss going out. Weekends are boring. Sometimes I go to the mall and go buy things I don’t need. Other than that, most of the time I just stay at home and watch tv.

I miss DoTA. Game, game, game!

I miss my friends. People whom I can play DoTA with. People whom I can go out with. People whom I can actually talk to. Here, other than work friends, I don’t really know anyone.

And of course, I miss my Ozzie beaw. I miss going to tiangge’s with him. I miss what he does (making a tapa-oho) when I see another distraction (i.e. tiangge). I miss eating Burgoo cheesecake with him. I miss that even in the warm weather, Ozzie and I will still shnuggle up. I miss that Ozzie and I are always together. No need to tell him where I am, what time I’ll go home and with whom. Because most of the time, I’m with him. I miss ‘consulting‘ him what to buy (actually I base 50% of my decisions on his). I miss being with him in our apartment. Ozzie, Joee and I just hanging around. I miss weekends with him. Sometimes there’s nothing much. Just a lazy Saturday/Sunday. We just go to the mall, watch some movie and eat outside. Other weekends plan on a trip somewhere. Other weekends we go crazy and go on road trips. I miss playing DoTA with him! It wouldn’t be the ‘lightning osos‘ if there were only one of us, wouldn’t it? I miss going out with Ozzie and our friends too. I miss talking to him. I miss arguing with him. I miss making pa-cute. I miss him being so pa-cute. I miss the shnuggles. I just miss everything about him.

Gobble Gobble <:>~

(Cmon! Use your imagination. That’s supposed to be a turkey emoticon, not just some random keys I pressed)

Today was the company’s pot luck feast. Boy, was it yummy. There were lots of food cooked by my officemates. Turkey and ham was provided by the office. I brought chicken menudo, cheesecake and pili tarts. The menudo and cheesecake were such great hits. I’ve had officemates who really got addicted to the menudo (they called it chicken soup). They were literally eating it the whole day. I got compliments the whole day. I got several emails telling me how good it was. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depends on how you look at it), I didn’t cook the menudo. My dad did. He’s such a great cook. To be completely honest, my dad cooks better than my Mom. Don’t get me wrong, though. I love my Mom’s cooking. I just find my dad’s cooking better.

I’m not sure if my officemates were just being polite about the cheesecake. To describe it in my officemate’s words, “It was amazing!”. I told him I personally didn’t like it. Hahahaha. I cooked it the other day (Wednesday, pot luck was Friday) and the cheesecake seemed to be a bit too soft. I should have sticked with the Cooking for Engineers recipe. Although it’s still not the Burgoo recipe. Ohhhh… I wish I had the recipe for that cheesecake. Although I can’t really tell if it’s just the raspberry sauce that’s making the cheesecake so yummy. I remember I ate it without the sauce and I didn’t like it as much.

After lunch everybody was sooo full. I wasn’t able to work the whole afternoon since I was so full and sleepy. I’m sure my officemates were, too.

Philipino (sic) Food: Fancy Names and Chocolate Stew…

I found them on Google the other day and tried their Caldereta. It was a bit too salty for me, but it was ok. I brought back Brazo de Mercedes that day and everybody at the office loved it! They called it ‘the rolls with a fancy name’.

They wanted to try Filipino food so we scheduled for a lunch out. C misspelled Filipino. I didn’t correct her, because probably it really made sense to spell it with a Ph, since the country is called Philippines. (Yes, I know it was Filipinas before, but why not rename the people to Philipinos? hahahaha)

We invited our team, the DBAs, some QA and the Config Manager. We were so busy today since it was a code push day, but everybody still wanted to go.

There were 2 Vietnamese, 4 Chinese, 1 Pakistani, 6 Americans and Me (Filipina).

I ordered for our table. We ordered Lumpiang Shanghai, Lumpiang prito, Bihon, Crispy Pata, Barbeque, Caldereta, Sinigang na Catfish (don’t know what it is in Filipino), Adobo, Kare-kare and Dinuguan (yes, Dinuguan!)

It was a fun, fun experience.

While ordering:
Me: blahblahblah… and 1 dinuguan …
Waitress: Are you sure?
Me: Yeah, I want them to try it [evil grin]
M: Typically I get scared when the waitress asks, “Are you sure?!?”.

On Caldereta:
M: Hua, how is it? I don’t trust Cheryl.

On Caldereta:
M: Hey Cheryl, look at that! I’ve got French fries on my stew! (Pertaining to cut french-fries-looking potatoes [not fried, though])

On Kare-kare:
M: What part is this?
Me: Stomach, I think. (To waitress:) What part is this?
Waitress: That’s the intestine.
M: That’s even worse! That’s further down the digestive chain…[laughs] But ok, I’ll try it. (Eats the tripe with a funny looking face… something like he’s grossed out but doesn’t want to show it [but it still shows])

Offering the Dinuguan (Pork Blood Stew) to the other table.
S: Do you want to try this?
C: What is it?
M: No! Don’t tell them what it is. Just tell them it’s authentic Filipino Stew. Or Chocolate stew… just don’t tell them what it is. [laughs]

While eating:
M: So Cheryl, is there any American food that you say, “They eat that?!?”.
Me: Hmmm… none that I can think of.
H: Big Mac

On Adobo (was served last):
K: What’s this?
Me: Chicken in Soy Sauce.
K: Chicken on what now?
Me: Soy sauce.
K: Oh, ok. It’s safe to eat. I better be careful. [laughs]

After Lunch:
Me: How’d you like the food?
K: I loved the food. I really liked the “Meat on Sticks” .

Sooo funny…

They said the Dinuguan was not bad. M wasn’t a big fan of the tripe (Kare-kare) though. J liked it since he said he was used to eating tripe (people say it’s a good energy booster for his motorcycling gigs).

They all said they loved the food. (Not sure if it’s true or they were just being polite)

How did I like it? It was fine. Nothing exceptional, really. It’s just like your typical carinderia. However, their Sans Rival and Brazo de Mercedes are exceptional! Yumyumyum… =P~ (They were originally a bakeshop anyway)

Will I go back? Not really. I eat Filipino food everyday at home. Maybe I’ll go back only when I’m craving for their desserts. =P~

So I got the Pearl…

Small, smart and stylish. That’s the Pearl’s slogan. I’ve been hearing that so much in the office that it was one of the factors why I chose this phone. Most people said I made a good choice.

Good thing I ordered the phone a few weeks ago (received it last week). There are new phones that looked interesting (Motorola Q and T-Mobile Dash [HTC Excalibur]). It would have taken me another month to decide!

How do I like the Pearl? Well, I can’t say I love it, but I don’t hate it either.

It will take me a while to get used to the keyboard. QWERTY is fine. I just don’t like that it has 2 letters per key. Yeah, I know it’s a tradeoff with the phone’s size.

Mail synch is good, but I really don’t like getting [work] mails on my phone anyway.

I haven’t tinkered with it much, maybe because there isn’t much to tinker anyway.

I give you this, though. It really is small and stylish. It’s so light, small and thin. Even thinner than my old phone.