Hi! Welcome to GeekyFaust.
Hand-shake, I’m glad you dropped by. I am no writer expert and editor, expect some grammatical and spelling errors in the site.
I’m Faust Haeja Crismel Salabar Principe, the author behind this tech, news, and gadget review site.
Born on November 11, 1977, in Velez hospital. I later settled at Guadalupe Cebu City, Philippines. I’m the eldest son among four siblings on my father’s side. Anthony Pepito Principe, a doctor, and my mother, Melba Guerrero Principe, a nurse.
My biological mother is Rosalie Marinay Salabar. She is notably known as DJ radio name call sign Pine Diaz. She previously worked as a radio announcer of Y101 Cebu.
My childhood days spanned the years in the 1977s. They continued through the 1980s. They lasted into the mid-1990s and beyond. These years paved the way in my journey as a kid. These years were influential while I was growing up.
Sometime down the road, I somehow developed a gaming habit, I love playing a family computer.
It was a piece of gaming console with a red rectangular joystick side finish and a white body case. The cartridge, which stored the gaming software, was a bit bulky. It was somewhat like a cassette tape and plugged into the gaming machine!
I think this was the first family computer console from Nintendo. I got hooked to it. A day is never finished without me playing the Nintendo console.
I still remember playing different Rambo versions, Contra Force, Star Wars, Arkanoid, and the all-time Super Mario 1,2,3.
The graphics are quite flat, with a 2D dimension, but still played until today I guess? with the likes of Nintendo DS, PSP Pocket, etc, and other handheld gaming consoles.
By 1991 I migrated to Davao City to pursue my studies with the guidance of my parents. Curiously, from there I got a glimpse of an actual computer that my parents bought.
The computer system then was a 486 DX architecture clone with no math co-processor. It had 1024 megabyte internal memory and a black monochrome CRT Cathode Ray Screen. It looked like a bulky television screen. It was connected to a Star Micronics dot matrix printer.
Loaded computer DOS, Disk Operating System-based games. My all-time favorites were Wings of Fury, Prince of Persia, Carmen San Diego, and Lemmings. I also loved Sango Fighters, Doom, Mortal Kombat, Pacman, Galaga, and Space Bats among others.
The operating system runs these games was DOS 6.22. Direct Access menu was a standard norm back in the days.
It was the menu management of choice for accessing, administrating, managing, and creating batch file processing. This was linked to programs like the defunct WordStar, a word processing software, and Lotus 123 for spreadsheets.
On top of it was Windows 3.1 – the GUI enhancement for DOS created by Microsoft. I also wrote some basic, simple computer programs in turbo basic and pascal. I did a little study of assembly or machine language. I acquired this knowledge by learning from school and reading technical-related books.
The logic and never-ending vast crunching of numbers were sheer and voluminous in size. They caused me some memory buffer stack overflow and memory displacements. So, they made the machine prone to crashes. I was not prepared for it. I decided to shift to another course. It led me to a teaching profession.
Fast-forward…
In 2001, by his grace and blessing, I graduated as a Professional Teacher for Secondary Education. This was at the University of Mindanao, Matina Campus.
Soon after I landed a job as a Computer Layout Artist at OrangeGrove Hotel in Buhangin, Davao City.
The job I took was quite a challenge. I was designated as head of design. I took the helm of making catchy graphic, vector layouts, logos, sketches, and illustrations for print.
It was presented to the hotel owner’s boss. It got a nod of approval, then submitted to a local newspaper for print, promotion, and advertisement purposes.
My preferred choice of graphic layout software was Coreldraw. I felt comfortable using it mainly because it was UI friendly. For the most part, I’m acquainted with the program after years of countless usage. This ranges from business cards to wedding invitations back then.
In addition to my job description, I was also tasked to do backdrop cut-outs. These were made from new and recycled Styrofoam. They were used for different occasions like weddings, debuts, baptisms, etc.
A few months later…
The news broke about the licensee exam results for teachers. Excitement, tension, and worries were overwhelming. I scoured the internet for sources of results, double-checking, verifying.
To my surprise! I successfully passed the exams. Overjoyed, I told my parents over the telephone that I passed the exams! A Happy proud parent not agree more.
Finally, I acquired a professional teaching license diploma and card from the Professional Regulation Commission
In the year 2002, I was invited by the City Government of Davao to work for them. My father, as deputy mayor, helped me get the position.
Assigned at the Planning Section under the Department of Education, Division of Davao City. Tasked to do data entry jobs for education statistics, like; enrollment data, performance indicators, etc. These tasks serve as decision-making tools for the delivery of basic education. They also serve as an information system for teacher deployments, furniture, and school building needs analysis.
In the year 2003, the Information Technology or Management Information System Officer-In-Charge position was vacant. The Schools Division Superintendent back then was Gloria P. Labor, Ed. D.
I placed me with marching orders, delegated me to take over and oversee the technology needs of the division.
From this point, there-on, I learned the ropes of the operation, how to set up, install, deploy, and manage servers. This could not be possible without the support – attended seminar enhancements, workshops related to Information Technology (IT).
The sponsors were glad to help us. They were funded by the Philippines Australia Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (PA-BEAM). This was done through its IT Manager and friend, Redentor Rola.
With the timely collaboration with the Department of Education Region XI, the division identified the need to develop its objectives. Select Division IT Managers from different divisions provided support. They worked together to outline these needs. This was done by showcasing its accomplishments thru a web-portal project as a result of the week-long technical training.
To develop a website from scratch for the DepEd Davao City Division Office, finally launching it at the Regional Level.
In the training, we set up, set up, streamline, harden software and hardware firewalls. We implement web content filtering and network health monitoring. Lastly, we attend to user queries and do coma-inducing technical support. This is no easy task for a one-man army.
Things got sour.. work burnout… a fall-out with the management…
June 2008, I was reassigned to Manuel Roxas Elementary School under Sta. Ana District to work at the school guidance office doing menial jobs. Later on, I introduced a website of my own.
As of July of 2011, finally, after serving approximately seven (7) and a half (1/2) years working as a rank-and-file employee at the office, I applied for a teaching job. I landed a position at Pablo Lorenzo Lorenzo National High School of Mandug, Buhangin, Davao City.
The rest is history in the making…
The technology blog GeekyFaust Philippines will be here to stay if it has to.
To guide, share knowledge on technical skill. Offer simply know-how, and how-to’s. This should be summed up by earlier and current skills and experiences.
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