Here’s a great way of learning JSF from the JSF For Non-Believers series by Rick Hightower at IBM Developerworks.
Pretty good although one thing to watch out for is that you need to change the faces-config.xml from the DTD used by JSF 1.1 to the Schema used by JSF 1.2.
I recently upgraded to the latest WordPress. That in itself is a long story. For some reason, the automatic upgrade didn’t work and I had to manually upgrade. I got that done but I noticed my posts were showing weird characters like  or †or or ?. I looked it up and apparently it is a problem with character encoding. The first solution I saw is a little bit unsatisfactory so I searched some more and found the ultimate solution. I followed the instructions and, voila!, no more weird characters.
Michelle and I attended a fair at Tagaytay last Saturday. It was a smallish affair with only a handful of exhibitors. However, we did get to meet Vergel of Town’s Delight. He suggested a place called Moon Garden and offered to show us around the next day. Who are we to decline such and offer, yeah? So the next day, we went back to Tagaytay, met up with Vergel and did just that.
Moon Garden is a nice bed and breakfast situated in a relatively secluded area. They have a spacious graveled parking area. From the parking area, you follow a small path and enter a small gate into a lush garden. The garden has a mixed Asian and European feel.
The highlight of the place is, obviously, the moon theme. Little moons are scattered here and there: hanging from trees, in pots, etc. You can almost play find the moon or something.
In the center of the garden is the restaurant area. There’s a large dining area where you can find a fireplace (no logs nor fire, though) and a small fountain. There’s also a segregated hut or two for dining.
Just below the restaurant area are the casitas where you can spend the night. The casitas are spaced away from each other so that you can get a reasonable level of privacy and your night of serene solitude in the midst of the garden. I can just imagine how nice that would be. Maybe we’ll give the place a try one of these days.
It was my car’s schedule for an oil change so I dropped by the friendly neighborhood Shell station.
As the mechanic was changing the oil, I noticed some fluid dripping. I asked the mechanic about it and, after examining the fluid, told me it was radiator fluid. That would explain the coolant loss that I noticed a few days before. He told me it’s better to get it fixed ASAP and recommended a nearby radiator shop.
I went to the shop and in no time, they have removed the radiator, checked it, filled it with water, blew on it (you got that right), and concluded that there’s no repairing it. The leak cannot be brazed shut because it was on a portion made of plastic. That left me only with one option: getting a replacement radiator. It’s not a real choice so I did that and I was off albeit P3.7k poorer. At least it was quick.
Michelle had a surprise for me today. We went looking for this place and when we got there she got a box. It was obviously a cake but she didn’t show me until dinner. This is what I got:
Thanks, babe! :*
(Custom birthday cake by Truffle Park Co. Email them at [email protected] or call Audrey/Alfred at +63916-220-9395 or +632-490-3908)