The days from May 12, 2000 to April 1, 2001, a period spanning almost a year, have not been wholly uneventful. This period is covered in some of the articles to be found in the newer pages of this website. They were left unrecorded for the simple reason that my work and the other activities somehow related to it left me with little time to record my daily thoughts much less to transfer these into an HTML document.
The other reason is banal perhaps to most, but crucial to the "Agonia...". I intended the "Agonia Quotidiana" to be a daily record of my life as a Web-enthused Friar. But the more I typed on a computer, the more Web-enthused I appeared and less of a Friar. I believe that my content will be more original if I kept a balance between Web-enthusiasm and a Friar's life, a balance which is hardly discernible in the pages that I have succeeded to publish.
My new assignment at the Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod was so new that I had to stay long hours at the office and to study manuals. It is not easy to work as VP for Academic Affairs even in a small college. I had teachers to meet, problems to tackle and office activities to get familiar with. I have been fortunate to have a staff that is truly helpful.
My activities as a website owner continued. New opportunities arose as I got known as "the friar who makes web pages." The hard drive of my new computer easily filled up with new software downloads. I became familiar with more web masters' sites in the World Wide Web. My tinkering with HTML and javascript soon bore fruit.
During this time, I also witnessed the lauching of an Association of Biblical Scholars in the Philippines. While I am not an active biblical scholar in that I don't teach Scriptures nor do biblical research, I do intend to make my training in biblical studies bear fruit. I am a regular contributor to Suite101.Com's Catholic Scripture Studies section, and my second job as Director of Religious Studies at the Colegio gives me enough opportunities to further my biblical apostolate.
The creation and maintenance Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod Website was a major activity during these months. Part of the project was to teach a group of volunteers how to help me update the contents of the website. This latter helped me learn how to extend my Web enthusiasm offline through lectures and workshop. It also gave me an opportunity to develop "Your Simple WebPageMaker" as a teaching aid.
URL submissions, website updates, developing javascript applications were not the only activities that occupied my spare time during these months. I continued to experiment with web graphics using not only Adobe Photoshop 5.0 but also other softwares that are distributed for free.
Work also involved teaching Philosophy three hours a week. This gave me the opportunity to reflect on the Philosophy of Man from a Christian viewpoint. But while I found the topic interesting and stimulating, I am afraid that it left the students uninterested. After all, Philosophy in our Colegio is just one of the minor subjects, i.e. something that a student should enroll in but not necessarily to study.
The Colegio's second semester was more interesting than the preceding one. I was becoming more familiar with office procedures, and the demands of my new job. Committee meetings characterized these months: Faculty Development, Accreditation and Rel. Ed. Faculty Meetings had to be squeezed into a tight schedule. Apart from administration, I was also involved in teaching. I taught a course in Christology and Ecclesiology that I spiced up with screen presentations using web pages. I also had the chance to present the Gospel Reading Guides (Mark and John) I wrote a few years back for the use of both our teachers and students.
The months of November and December were also significant because it was during this time that the Philippines was plunged into a national drama the effects of which we are experiencing even now (I write this on April 11, 2001): the impeachment of President Joseph Ejercito Estrada. The Blue Ribbon Committee Investigations following Chavit Singson's revelation of Estrada's connection with Gambling Lords, the Congress's proceedings that led to the impeachment trial of the President, and the Senate trial itself became the content of our dinner conversations, Sunday homilies and jokes.
Office work, Impeachment Trial and Internet. There wasn't much else to do. It was during this time that I discovered Nonags.Com and Jan's Free Software.
The Christmas Break allowed me to have lighter moments with my staff and time with my family.
Life at the Colegio became more enjoyable during these months: after all, this was a period of fiestas and prom nights. It was also a time of extra-scholastic meets like the two Augustinian Board of Education meetings I attended.
During the month of January, I had more free time with the computer as the events surrounding Estrada's impeachment trial grew into People Power II. We had to suspend school at some point to allow the students to participate in the protest rallies following the January 16 Senate fiasco. The People Power II event also made me turn on my cell phone to exchange text messages with others.
A new interest occupied my spare time during this period: WML (Wireless Markup Language). I put a Wapsite for the Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod Website. I also started experimenting with WBMP. It was during this interlude with WML and WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) that I switched to a Nokia 7110.
The month of February saw me enrolling in a Basic IT course offered by IBM. It felt funny going back to school to study almost 10 years after I graduated from the Biblical Institute.
March saw me beginning to work with a new computer that runs on Linux. Man, it is like learning a whole new language!
The months from January - March 2001 are three months worth remembering not only because of Joseph Estrada and WML, but also because of the friends I met during this time. There is so much yet to tell, but unfortunately, only a few things can be told.
