Jomar at Home

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed a lot of things. No more haircuts, no more dental appointments, no mass, no more weekend events, no dine-ins, no movies at cinemas, physical/social distancing... life is different now.

Work

Celine and I were fortunate our employers weren't affected much and we can continue working from home. I was usually at home once a week but the additional four days were different.

Run

One of my plans for 2020 is to run at least 10 kilometers once a month, like what I did from April to December last year.  I was able to run six times in the first quarter before the declaration of state of emergency. In April and May, I only did one runs each. Hopefully by June, I can do more. 

I was supposed to participate in the Vancouver Sun Run but the organizers cancelled the event. 

Nothing

During the early days of our stay at home, I was doing nothing. I am watching random YouTube videos, reading news, various articles and blog posts, and wasting time on social media. Doing nothing is tiring!

Just for Laughs

Some of the stuff I was watching were clips from Just for Laughs. One day, I discovered the official Channel and watched videos from there instead. I saw there is a playlist of the best gags and made it a goal to watch all of them. After accomplishing that, I became motivated to go back to development of my personal apps and projects.

If you're interested, here is the playlist I watched:

This only includes the first 200. To see more, check the playlist

#AndroidDev

I've been keeping myself updated with what's new in Android app development, especially Android 11. I am reading up, watching videos, and taking courses on Android and Kotlin. Recently, I am on Caster.io's Kotlin Programming Language course.

I also made some updates to the Tigcal Apps, Tigcal Utils, and my other Android apps.

Sweldong Pinoy

I made small changes in Sweldong Pinoy, Budget Pinoy, and Thirteenth Month. One is the Share button on web versions of the app. It's a minor task but I procrastinated on it for a while now. I have started coding for upcoming features.

Writing

In January and February, I am writing for the project which began late last year. After initial submission, I haven't written anything new at all. Now, I am back again! I created a post on Medium and made this blog post. I am on my way to finishing another tech article.

Other Projects

As I spent time on my Android apps, I suddenly found some time for my Chrome Extensions, Assistant Apps, and other projects.

Budget Pinoy

Sweldong Pinoy is now five! We have been developing a new app called Budget Pinoy. I'm reposting below the announcement blog post which was originally published in the Sweldong Pinoy Blog.

Need help in budgetting your salary? Want to find out what your asking rate is depending on your projected expenses and budget? We have developed an app that can help you!

Budget Pinoy is a tool for Filipinos in computing gross and net pay based on user's budget.

Users can input their target savings and projected expenses in the Budget Tab. They can also use the expenses tab to check expenses.

The recommendation tab will show the asking rate that the user needs to be able to earn enough for the target budget. It will also show the net pay and deductions, computed using Sweldong Pinoy, based on the asking rate.

We're also working with different financial institutions to give you relevant tips to help you in your finances, based on your budget. This will be coming soon in a future update.

Try Budget Pinoy at https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.sweldongpinoy.budget and let us know how we can improve the app to help you more in your budgetting needs.

2014: The Year That Was

A lot of things happened in 2014. Here are some of the highlights of the year that was.

Local Travel

From January 18 to 19, we went to Nueva Ecija, Tagaytay, and Manila. Wayne, Celine, Mama Chelle, Amit, Josh, Jona and I went to Nueva Ecija on January 18 for the Nueva Ecija Technologies @ Work (NETWORKS) Student Developers Day event. I did a talk about the basics of Android apps development there. The next day, Celine, Mama Chelle, Amit, Josh, Jona and I travelled to Tagaytay (People's Park in the Sky, Starbucks, Rowena's). After that, we visited the National Museum. It was my first time to visit there and it was a great experience. We then went to Intramuros and had lunch at Coco Bango Cafe. Afterwards, we went to San Agustin Church.

Celine and I went to La Salle University in Ozamiz City for the 5th ICT Youth Convention on February 27. I did a talk about Google Developer Tools and Technologies in the morning and conducted an Android Workshop in the afternoon.

Wayne and I went to Angeles, Pampanga on June 7 for a GBG Angeles-GDG Philippines Developer Meetup there. I was able to try Marco's 3-way Tinapa-flavor pizza and Pacencia a Kapampangan mom's sweet recipe pasta in Historic Camalig Restaurant. During dinner, I was able to try tilapia and chili frog in Apag Marangle, and Kabigting's Halo-Halo in Marquee Mall.

I followed Celine in Cagayan de Oro during their two-week work there and spent the weekend (October 10-12) with her. On October 11, we went to Camiguin Island and visited Katibawasan Falls, Ardent Hot Springs, Old Volcano, Sunken Cemetery, and Guiob Church Ruins, Soda Swimming Pool, and Sto. Niño Cold Spring Resort. In CDO, we went to St. Agustine Cathedral, Gaston Park, MacArthur Memorial Marker, and Capitol Grounds.

We went to Ilocos on December 2-3 for the Google Philippines and Philippine Science High School event. Our technical talks were in the afternoon of the second day so we were able to do a quick side trip to Vigan (and eat authentic Vigan empanada) in the morning.

International Travel

Celine, Mama Chelle, Mitch, Wayne, Jerome, and I went to South Korea from March 21 to 24 for a short vacation. We met with the GDG community managers there for dinner and also had lunch in the Google office. We visited Nami Island, different palaces, temples and other historical/cultural places there.

This year, I was also blessed to receive a US VISA so I was able to go to the United States for the GDG Organizer Summit (June 23-24), Google I/O 2014 (June 25-26), and a short trip to San Francisco, Oakland, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.

Personal Apps

Sweldong Pinoy apps were updated based from PhilHealth Circular 27 s.2013 and SSS Circular 2013-010. The tablet-optimized version of the Sweldong Pinoy Android app has also been released. Sweldong Pinoy was updated for Government employees (computing GSIS contributions instead of SSS contributions) and RHQ/ROHQ Employees (computing corresponding tax, deductions, and net pay). Check the Sweldong Pinoy Blog for more details.

I have also developed Thirteenth Month, a tool for Filipinos in computing their 13th-month pays. Thirteenth Month has a website/web app at http://13thmonth.sweldongpinoy.com and Android App.

Gadgets

I bought a Nexus 5 on February to replace the Nexus S that already stopped working. I also received an LG G Watch and a Moto 360 from Google I/O.

Runs

My only run for 2014 was Takbo.ph RunFest 2014 (July 13). On 2015, I am hoping I can do more runs, probably one per quarter. I had already registered for Takbo.PH 20 Miler Run 2015 (10 Miler/16k) and Condura Skyway Marathon 2015 (10k).

Thirteenth Month Apps

Want to know how much 13th-month pay you will be getting this year? We've made an app for you! Try the Thirteenth Month app at http://13thmonth.sweldongpinoy.com or download the Android app on Gogle Play Store.

http://13thmonth.sweldongpinoy.com on the web

Thirteenth Month Android App 1.0 Input Screen

Try the apps and let us know your comments and suggestions so we can improve them.

Sweldong Pinoy Firefox OS App

Sweldong Pinoy is a salary calculator for Filipinos in computing net pay, withholding taxes and contributions to SSS, PhilHealth and PAG-IBIG. It has been available on sweldongpinoy.com, on Google Play Store, and on the Chrome Web Store. And now, it is now available in the Firefox Marketplace: https://marketplace.firefox.com/app/sweldong-pinoy.

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Originally published at the Sweldong Pinoy Blog

Radio and TV Interview

Celine and I were invited by Michelle Orosa-Ople of TV5 for an interview last November 10, 2012. Michelle is one of the hosts of the radio program Oplan Asenso (airing every Saturday from 12:00 NN to 2:00 PM) on Radyo5 92.3 News FM. Their topic that day was salaries and deductions. We talked about our Android app Sweldong Pinoy.

Celine and me with the hosts of Oplan Asenso, Michelle Orosa-Ople and Gerard dela Pena

After the radio program, Michelle also interviewed us for TV5 news. This was aired on TV5's Pilipinas News and Aksyon TV's Andar ng mga Balita last November 14, 2012.

Sweldong Pinoy

A few months ago, Celine asked me to make an app she can use in computing the taxes and statutory deductions based from a specific salary. There wasn't an existing app yet for that purpose. Since it will not only benefit her (and me), but a lot more too, I decided to start developing the app. However, due to time constraints and because of the complicated processes in computing the taxes and deductions, it took a long while to develop the app.

Last week, I have finished the prototype of Salary Calculator. It is an online tool for Filipinos that they can use to compute their net pay, withholding taxes and contributions to SSS, Philhealth and PAG-IBIG. Users just need to provide their basic pays, and allowances (taxable and non-taxable allowances), as well as the rate (semi-monthly, monthly or annual). Then with just a click of the "Compute" button, the app will display the gross pay, withholding tax amount, net pay and the deductions for PAG-IBIG, SSS, and Philhealth. The withholding tax was computed based from the monthly taxable income using the BIR Revised Withholding Tax Table. The computation of the other deductions are based from PhilHealth Contribution Table, SSS Contribution Table, and Republic Act No. 9679 (for the PAG-IBIG contributions).

The app can be accessed at http://sweldongpinoy.tigcal.com and is still a work in progress. Try the app and please give comments and suggestions.

Update: The app is now called Sweldong Pinoy and is now also available on Chrome Web Store. We've also made an Android app which can now be downloaded on Google Play.

Update (December 19, 2012): The app is now at http://www.sweldongpinoy.com. The previous URLs redirect to this website now. We'll also be publishing an update to the app in connection to the increase in the PhilHealth contribution (see PhilHealth Circular 11 s. 2012 for details). For updates, you may also follow @sweldongpinoy on Twitter. Thank you very much for using the app!

Update (March 28, 2013): We already have a blog at http://blog.sweldongpinoy.com. We'll be posting news and updates about the app there.

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