I think it's a matter of pride that propelled me not to give up on The Great Hard Disk Crash. As my dad continually hinted - or jokingly demanded, having gone to college with a course related to computers, I should know how to fix all technical issues related to it. Yes, correct, because that should also justify an almost a decade of experience in Information Technology. Gawd, please don't make me open this thing, I cringe at anything hardware that has its intestines looking up at me.
After several play of keywords at Google and several installations of free software tools, I found some applications that detected my long lost pictures. I almost screamed with delight when the screen suddenly displayed, DSCXXXXX.JPG and began to lists all my pictures and other files. I don't care about other files (well, except for my bookmarks, that was one valuable storage of wonderful discoveries), I just want the pictures, my bragging rights to myself (not to anyone mind you), the only legacy I could pass along to my grandchildren that has lasting value. Staunch technical geniuses/certified geeks at the office have given me useful pieces of advice but none have predicted that the information can still be recovered, in such a, um, simple and cheap way.
Aside from the power of the web and a stolen wallet at Ayala Avenue last Friday, what else is new with me? Well, obviously a site redesign. I figured the butterfly design, if anyone of you happen to see it a few days ago, was a pre-defined template of Typepad and I could not imagine associating myself with butterflies. They're just too delicate to watch and I'm tough in a fragile kind of way -- whatever the hell that means. [Cinds, I know you liked the previous, but I hope this one's more me].

This picture was taken on a train and we were on our way to Barcelona city proper. I was jotting on my journal, squeezing my mind of all memories the past days. My sprained left ankle was swollen and my cloth belt which I wrapped around it, was not helping. That ankle, even though sprained for the past 5 days, have endured the endless walking and the running and chasing of buses from Granada to the last pit stop in Spain - Barcelona. Miraculously it did not cause any pain, just a little bit of swelling, a little bit of twitch, but nothing searing.
I chose this picture as my banner image because it captures the purpose of this blog -- a moment of rest in the middle of an adventure. The moving scenery captures my passions and my state of mind, and as I move with it, this blog attempts to capture the significant experiences. The text "living" was a way to emphasize me not as an observer but a part of the adventure and syempre, mga funny kapalpakan and bloopers effect are encompassed by the sprained ankle. I dirtied the picture in sepia tones with grainy textures, because with me, it's never perfect, most times, nothing goes as planned, which makes the picture worth telling.
Napiga ko na ba ang pedeng maging symbolism sa picture na to? :). The site is still three-columned and although I'm a bit unsatisfied with the size of the main body content and having requested for a change in Typepad's 500 pixel limit, I love this design better than what I have done before. Despite its sepia monochromatic feel, I obviously still love colors so you can still see splashes of it here. Mustard is my color of the year.
So now, I'm re-welcoming all of you to my blog with an over-analyzed banner image ;).