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| September 11, 2002 We're online!!!! About half of the computers are now networked and surfable.
My class last Sunday learned how to surf and got their own yahoo email
accounts. This is more or less the end of the 1to1 initiative, having
finally reached our final goal. There is still a hundred over bucks in
donation money available. Will most probably just donate this to FOWS
unless there are any objections. Just watch the Finance page for changes
and closure of "the books." August 29, 2002 Junior has purchased the airport base station for us! At $220. Check out the updated financial statement. We'll be setting up next tuesday, hopefully using a free starhub account. If all goes well, internet access is available from next Sunday's classes onwards. Sol August 13, 2002 Have finally submitted my thesis! Hooray!!!!! Also, warm congratulations to Konrad Chua and Ben Ang for graduating! Kudos, guys! We're sorry to see Konrad leave the Center to go back home. This webiste may also meet an untimely demise due to Apple's recent decision to backtrack on its commitment to a "free for life" homepage.mac.com and opt for a Sith-like .Mac account that costs $100 to $200. Boooooo, Apple! Anyway. I would like to apologize for any delays in the emailing of Computer 1 Course materials to other instructors. Will now have more free time. We are finally going to be able to have internet access for the computer lab. Purchasing a Airport base station to rout the internet access to all the computers in the lab. Instead of buying a $400++ internet router, this is a cheaper option at $220. So there's some extra money. Would really like to close the account on this after over a year and a half. Any ideas on how to spend the balance are welcome. Sol July 20, 2002 Heard from Manang Encar that a phone line will be up soon. That means the final phase, belated though it be, is on the horizon. This years class can enjoy internet access for free! More updates later. Sol January 16, 2002 Well, it's been a while since I last updateds this website. I notice that my last entry coincides with the start of last semester. And I'm able to write now because the semester has just started. School has been hectic! Anyway, since my last update, a few things have happened. First, the FOWS-STP 2001 graduation ceremony was held last November, 2001. Congratulations to the graduates, especially my students! Second, the last few classes were conducted at the new Bayanihan Center along Pasir Panjang Road. More space, airconditioning (albeit temporary). No internet connection yet, although we will discuss that soon. Please check out the updated financial statement because it has been updated with details of: $50 deduction from total income due to an unremitted pledge, additional expenses for an additional ethernet hub and powerstrips. There's been a lot going on actually. This Sunday, a few of us computer skills teachers will meet to try to standardize the curriculum. There have been a lot of people (about 10) signifying their intention to volunteer for this year's classes. We're thinking of instituting some sort of co-teaching scheme to lighten the teaching load a bit. On another development, the computers to be donated to Bayombong Central School are ready to be shipped, finally! DHL has volunteered to ship it for free. So I highly recommend the use of DHL for all your courier needs! Arrangements have been made by the school for customs exemption and they just have to pay some taxes. I'm trying to get some alumni from the Singapore International Foundation ASEAN Visiting Student Fellowship program to do the training and stuff this March in Nueva Ecija. So hooray for that! :) More next time, Sol
June 28, 2001 Sorry for the long hiatus. Basically, things are a bit on hold because the network still hasn't functioned properly yet. We're a bit busy these days so the testing and experimenting is being done every two weeks, when I'm at the center to teach. Thus, we still have some cash on hand but have not bought any of the equipment for internet access (modem and router). By the way, take a look at the updated financial statement. We have deducted $105.00 from the cash-on-hand due to fund transfers that have yet to be completed. This is money that has been pledged but something went wrong with the transfer. Sadly, for some of the extremely large Computer I classes, the computer-student ratio is still not perfectly 1:1. Hopefully, this will be improved by either taking in less students next year or by getting more computers concurrent with the transfer to the Bayanihan Center. OK, that's it for today. Sol
June 4, 2001 I am mortally embarassed. The problem with the network occured as I mistook the LAN cards to be on the Macs' communication slots, when it was on the PCI bus. In plain English: Network should be up by this weekend. I will be conducting a short session after that for all trainers on how to use the network to administer the client systems, transfer files, etc, so please email Sol to fix up the training sked. Jr (and to Ruanni and Carlo - sorry I was such a bear :P) June 4, 2001 Check out the new pics! Last Saturday, Ruanni Tupas, Carlo Vinoya, Junior and I were at the Center, setting up the rest of the Macs indoors. Earlier that day, the Salvation Army people delivered the tables (3 of them, plus an extra side table we have yet to use). So we were able to re-arrange the furniture a bit and bring in 8 machines from their outdoor storage, for a grand total of 14 functional computers for use the next day. We have now 3 off-line machines we can use for spare parts, etc. Networking and internet access still not up yet, Junior has to tweak the old boys a bit more. We're holding off buying the internet stuff until then. So finances are at a standstill (except for a couple of powerstrips we bought for the additional machines), will keep you posted as soon as there is any change. Ruanni, Carlo, salamat! Sol June 1, 2001 Hi! Manang Encar, Janice Delarima (a Pinay from Salvation Army Pasir
Panjang), and I met with the Salvation Army/Red Shield Industries General
Manager, Mr. James Tian. The outcome: the Salvation Army is generously
donating 3 tables which will serve as our computer desks. The tables are
in very good condition and we are extremely grateful for their compassionate
assistance. The only cost that will be born is $60.00
for transport. Some of us will be setting up the machines and the network
tomorrow afternoon. By the way, we were accompanied by Manang Encar's
daughter Ma. Teresa, who is a com sci student back home. Glad to finally
meet one of Manang Encar's kids! Also, we can more or less call the donation drive closed, with a whopping $915.50 in cash. We aren't expecting any more donations at this point; all those who signified their intention to send their assistance have done so. Again, thank you. There is currently $559.00 balance left. This will be used for buying equipment for internet connection such as a router and modem. We will close the books as soon as these are purchased. Thus, for those who are still interested in any form of financial assistance to FOWS for the computers or the other courses, please communicate directly with the president: Ms. Encarnacion Montales, President, Filipino Overseas
Workers in Singapore (FOWS) However, if there is still some money left over from this project, we hope to use the excess for the previously mentioned Bayombong Central School in Nueva Ecija. Greenview Secondary School, through the efforts of Raffles International President Jennie Chua, is donating 25 Macintosh Performa 5400s (leftover from what they donated to us). They will probably need a 24-port 10baseT hub costing $300 at most (hopefully, from the same Auntie at Sim Lim). We hope you will support this suggestion. Please email us at fows_stp@mac.com if you have any further suggestions, if you want to volunteer your time or resources for this endeavor as well, or if you have any objections. Please respond before June 8, Friday next week. Thanks. Sol May 30, 2001 OK, hold on to your seats ladies and gentlemen, because as of this afternoon (tis 5:25pm as I type), the cash donations have totalled $885.50, exceeding our aim by $138.55. Minus expenses so far, we have $589.00 in cash and checks, on-hand. This means we can get the equipment for shared internet connection. Which also means it is possible to expand the course offerings later on. This is great. OK, what to expect: (1) tables coming in from the Salvation Army before Saturday; (2) additional equipment bought and set up by Saturday afternoon; (3) updates on this website by Sunday; (4) Sunday's classes taught 1 student-to 1 computer thus finally fulfilling this project's mission. For Saturday, we'll need some help in setting up the computers so whoever's interested, please let me know. We'll be setting up the ethernet or local area network plus the shared internet access. Again, muchos muchos salamat to the donors and volunteers. Sol May 29, 2001 Not much to update except that we're still waiting for the Salvation Army to come through with the tables. Cross your fingers! Saturday afternoon, God-willing, will probably be spent finally bringing in the Macs from the cold and setting them up with more permanence on the tables. So, again, those interested in learning the basics of setting up a local area network, get in touch with me or Junior (98396353 or 98394159 respectively). If enough money from the pledged donations come in, we can also buy the internet router by then and set up internet access. Sol May 28,2001 7am in the morning and Sol is finally asleep, all pooped out from the writing. Website is more or less complete, and we shall be uploading to the server in about an hour. The main purpose of the website is to thank all of you for your amazing support, as well as to document everything, especially on financial matters for accountability. It is not often that people would just send money to strangers (in most cases). Gotta go to work. Jr May 27, 2001 4 classes were taught today with the new old Macs. The students were OK except that they were still sharing 2:1 for the bigger classes. Still a bit cramped. Everybody is looking forward to next week! Right now, there is a problem storing the computers. 11 of them are outdoors, but well-sheltered. We are still waiting for the Salvation Army to come through with the promised tables. Once we get those, we can already set up ALL the machines indoors. Keep your fingers crossed! Sol May 26, 2001 Managed to buy a 17-port 10baseT hub for only $130!!! Going rates at Sim Lim Square were actually in the region of $410 for a 24-port that we saw. Also got a quote for about $310 from another store. Yow! Then, at some obscure shop, the auntie quoted along the same lines. Junior did his best _polar bear sheepish_ face and said _uhh, actually it is for charity..._. The auntie drummed her fingers on her chin for a while and suggested that we get a 17-port hub instead (which was more than enough, actually) and sold it for $130. The universe conspires! Two students from Maris Stella Secondary School, Roy Soon and Wilmer Leow, were at the Center to help Junior and me install OS 7.6 on the machines and set up six of them for the class tomorrow. Konrad went by later to continue setting up. Whew! Some weekend! Sol NEWSFLASH::::: MICE HAVE BEEN MYSTERIOUSLY APPEARING ON Junior's desk! Actually, not much of a mystery. Junior emailed some colleagues at Apple Computer SA about the Missing Mouse Balls Situation (ref: all the mice from Greenview were castrated due to a problem with the students pilfering the balls as a prank). Since then, mice and balls have been popping up on his desk. And we are on target of meeting the numbers for both the Center project and another project sending the 25 Macintosh Performas left at Greenview to a school in remote Bayombong, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. Sol May 24, 2001 The response to this little project has been overwhelmingly positive. Various individuals and groups, both in Singapore and abroad, have opened the doors and paved the way for the fast-track implementation of our plans. The prognosis is bright, and a decidedly improved learning condition awaits the Computer I and II students of the Filipino Workers Resource Center on Sunday. 1. With the support of Greenview Secondary School, a team of five volunteers - Sol Iglesias, Konrad Chua, Bea Lorente, Euben Paracuelles and Baste Silvestre have SUCCESSFULLY resuscitated 15 Macintosh Performa 5400/180 plus 2 units for spares. These, plus a printer, have been transported to the Center, thanks to the Philippine Embassy. Greenview also donated a server, which will be transported in a couple of weeks' time. SKILL LEARNED FOR THE DAY: Using a mouse without a ball and hatch. Ang gagaling! 2. The Filipino Overseas Workers in Singapore (FOWS), which runs the courses, is getting help from the Salvation Army to provide the needed tables for the machines -- hopefully in time for this weekend's classes. 3. Financial assistance is reaching the SGD$746.95 target, with $220 on hand and another $200 on the way in pledges. So far, some $45 has been spent on today's activities. Again, deepest thanks to the donors. Maraming maraming salamat po! 4. This figure does not yet include a generous donation by UK-based Runtime Revolution of a license for their typing tutor software, "Ten Thumbs", worth USD$260.00. One resounding "YEHEY!!!" for them. What's Up Next 1. Tomorrow (Friday), further tweaking of the donated machines plus the existing computers will be done at the Center. Those interested in helping, contact Konrad at 98500480 or isc90666@nus.edu.sg. 2. Saturday afternoon, some volunteers from Apple and Maris Stella Secondary School will be at the Center to set up the local area network and, hopefully, work out Internet access as well. Those interested in helping, and in learning how to set up an ethernet network and shared internet access, call me (98396353) or Junior (98394159). 3. Sunday classes will proceed as (UN)usual, with (fingers crossed!) a happier, less harassed, less cramped, and infinitely richer learning experience. Our goal is a 2:1 or 1:1 student-to-computer ratio, down from an impossible 5:1 4. Simple website with financial accounting and other features showcasing the results of this endeavor will be up by Monday. OK, that's it for the day. For those who mailed checks to me at NUS, I won't be able to check my mailbox til tomorrow afternoon. I'll confirm upon receipt. Para sa bayang Pinoy, Sol |
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Copyright 2001 by Filipino Overseas Workers in Singapore. All Rights
Reserved. |