48 minute productivity

48 minute productivity

I want share this awesome tip I got from a webinar. It is about being productive. I find this useful when I needed to get things done fast, especially those tasks which I am not looking forward to in doing. 

So, here it is. The 48 minutes productivity rule. 

- choose a specific task to focus on for 48 minutes,
- set the clock for 48 minutes,
- don't do anything else but do that task until the timer rings,
- do something else for 12 minutes, and
- repeat the process again until task is done.

The Pledge

I got this from my inbox. I am passing it on to others through this blog post. 

The Positive Pledge by Jon Gordon

Instagram Sunday

Sunday Pancit with bags of Umami

I love the pancit my mom cooked for lunch. It was moist and has a bagful of umami flavor. I need to get the recipe from her. I had watermelon for dessert.

Gramblr uploader is not working. It says "Gramblr is now loading..." but its taking forever for it to load. I wonder what happened to it.

So I started sent my Instagram photos through my smartphone. Let's see how much charges I get from this. 

Red Watermelon for dessert. So refreshing!

My back photo on paper artist Corallero and Instagram Hefe

I placed an Instagram badge here at this blog so you guys can check out my Instagram photos. Follow me if you like and see some photo arts I come up with using my favorite photo apps. I use the Paper Artist app which is in my Samsung Galaxy Note II smartphone to come up with electrifying photo such as this.

I will be sharing some more apps in future blogposts.

By the way, you can now see your Instagram feeds on your desktop. I wish I can also upload photos through my PC.  

Hugin - Stitching Photos

Last night, I tried using Hugin for the first time. It is a freeware for stitching photos. You use it to stitch photos into awesome panoramas. I experimented a bit using photos I took at my desk. It was a tedious process. The photos didn't come out good. But it is a start. I thought it was easy as demonstrated in the video tutorials I watched at YoutTube. 

It is not, especially when I am using smartphone photos. I needed to get many overlapping shots as possible. That is about 10-15 portrait shots with an overlap of 30% or more to be able to get many control points as possible. Hugin needs these control points as reference for stitching. 

To get the best panorama with a few click, I should get a full frame camera. With a full frame camera, I can shoot a 360 degree panorama in just 4 shots. For a crop camera, I need at least 6 shots. Using my Samsung Galaxy Note II, I took more than 10 shots to get a panorama photo of my desk. 

I also need a fisheye lens. I need to shop around to buy one. Looking at the world with fish eyes. Kewl!

White Creamy Spaghetti with Tuna and Cheese Recipe

White Creamy Spaghetti with Tuna and Cheese

I like to cook once is a while. And this weekend, I decided to cook a dish I am fond of cooking. It is white creamy spaghetti in with tuna and cheese. Here is the recipe

White Creamy Spaghetti with Tuna and Cheese.

Ingredients 
1/2 kilogram of spaghetti
1 teaspoon cooking oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic, chopped
ground black pepper to taste
1 white onion, chopped
2 cans of 155 gram tuna in oil
1 250ml All Purpose cream
1/4 cup cheese, grated

Preparation:

1. Fill a pot with water. Heat the water until it boils. Add salt and oil to the boiling water. Stir until salt dissolves.

2. Add the spaghetti into the boiling water and cook according to package instructions. Make sure it is al dente or tender but still firm to the bite. Set aside.

3. Heat a sauce pan. Add the oil from the tuna to saute your garlic and onions. Cook until onion is translucent. 

4. Drop in tuna flakes. 

5. Add cream. Add in some of the grated cheese. Cook in low heat up to a simmer. Stir until cheese is melted. Add pepper to taste.

6. Toss in cook pasta to the sauce pan until every strand is coated with the sauce.

7. Serve right away with some grated cheese on top.

How did you like this dish?

I will share more recipes next time. 

Naruto Shippuden 618: Shinigami and Hokages

Naruto Shippuden: Shinigami Masks

I am an avid fan of Naruto Shippuden. It is the only Japanese Manga I am reading now.

Things are shaking up in the Naruto world. Its getting more intense and exciting. The war is between Madara and Obito Uchiha alliance on one side and the whole shinobi world on the other. Madara and Obito control the most powerful chakra beast, the ten tails. On the other side, you have the 2 remaining jinjuriki, Naruto and Killer Bee who hold within them the 9 and 8 tail beast, respectively. Now both enter the war. The last time when the 10 tail attacked, many died. The latest casualty was Neji, one of Naruto's best friends. This week, the latest manga was released and its about Sasuke and his taka buddies with the resurrected Orochimaru. They are in a quest somewhere. The quest is a search for those who knew all. And it turned out these know-it-all beings are the first four hokages of the hidden leaf. 

As you know, the souls of these hokages were trapped under the reaper death seal.  This seal invokes the power of a Shinigami. Shinigami is a death god or death spirit in Japanese. This reaper death seal was not only used to seal the souls of these hokages. Minato also sealed a part of the 9 tails chakra using the seal and the other part was sealed inside baby Naruto. When Orochimaru broke the seal, he release the trapped souls with the reaper's stomach.

Naruto Shippuden: The four Konoha Hokages Ressurected

My question was "Why was the sealed 9 tail chakra not mentioned in Manga 618? What happened to that chakra? Was it released and where did it go?"

Merienda and diet tips

Lumpiang Sariwa (Ubod)

 I bought 'lumpiang sariwa ubod' for merienda. It's a big fresh vegetable roll with peanut sauce.  Ubod is Filipino name for bamboo shoots. Not only is it fresh but its healthy too.

I gained a bit of weight so its time to make healthy choices (all the time).

I need to trick myself to eating less. No more second servings from now on. Promise!