It's Been a While

How long has it been since I last posted here? Two months? My, it's been awhile.

I didn't want to post because I don't want to be caught up in what's happening in our country today. The political situation is in everybody's mind right now so i don't want to add to the din and noise surrounding it. I chose to shut up and just observe.

Aside from that, I have been busy with my new love, this thingamajig called iBook. I can't get enough of it. I just plain love it. mwah mwah mwah.

I decided to post again because I want to talk about my new obssession. I am trying to lose weight. My sister-in-law told me that drinking green tea helps in losing weight. So I tried looking for green tea leaves, not the ones in tea bags, loose ones because I found out that the loose leaves are better. I am in luck because it's available in Glorietta at 125 pesos per 250 grams. I believe this is good for one week. Not bad.

Of course I am embarking on a mission to lower my size 38 pants to size 36 by December. Hopefully, I'll have a 34 inch waistline when I turn 40 in April 2005.

Me and My iBook

Me and my iBook

After waiting several months, I finally decided to take the plunge and get an iBook. And I am so happy with it that it kept me busy and hooked for several days!

I am still getting acquainted with my new baby. Although I've been hearing and reading about how painful it is to shift from Windows to Mac, I am convinced that nothing could be easier. Yes, the keyboard is different; there's a bitten apple instead of a flying window and the alt and ctrl key are positioned elsewhere. Moreover, the interface is so refreshing.

I'll be talking more about this little baby of mine in the next few days. Allow me to bond with it first and like a parent with a new child, I simply just can't get enough of it.

Summer of 2005

I don't know about everybody else but in my book (or in this case my blog) Summer 2005 could be the hottest summer of my life. I'm not talking about anything else here but I am talking about the mercury readings.

It is during this summer that I spent most of my time in the comfort of my airconditioned room. Or if I get to the office in the morning, I usually stay there until the sun has set and the heat absorbed by the cement and land has dissipated.

Last year, my friends could still drag me to go to a nearby mall or cinema but this year, I'd rather stay in my bedroom, coccooned from the scorching heat of this summer. As a result, I've been paying my electric bills twice the amount of what I usually pay in non-summer months.

It is also during this summer that I probably have drank the most number of glasses of iced tea in my life. Thank goodness for the bottomless iced tea in most restaurants, I need not worry about spending more on drinks than on the actual food.

I have to tell you that where I'm at in Bulacan, the heat is so intense that even after sunset, the furniture inside the house remain warm. For the last few weeks, I stopped using our water heater because the water in the shower feels as warm as the one coming from the heater even at 4:30 in the morning. Even more amazing is the fact that after toweling off, I would begin to sweat as I step out of the bathroom.

Many Filipinos are wondering when this summer heat will end. I wanted it to end NOW! Why? Because, I am experiencing something that I haven't had for years now. It is hot and itchy and I scratch it until it is painful.

It's called bungang araw... prickly heat.

Scott Savol: The American Idol

from www.idolonfox.com

I know I should have written this long ago but the events this morning compelled me to write something about my American Idol.

He is probably one of the most controversial AI candidate this season or ever and also the most villified, but the first time I saw him during his audition in Cleveland, Ohio, I knew I am already a fan.

His name is Scott Savol. He has the body of Winnie-the-Pooh and the voice of an angel. During the auditions, he told the world that his father once told him that he will not accomplish anything. In the Hollywood rounds, he appeared to refuse to participate with his group song. And during the heat of the finals, an article came out on his past run in with the law.

Yet I remained firm to be his number one Pinoy fan. Hey, I didn't care spending thousands of pesos on telephone calls just to call relatives and friends in the US to vote for him. If I were there, I would have spent entire two hours every week voting for this guy.

He amazed the world with his rendition of beautiful ballads like "You are My Lady", "Against all Odds" among others. He also made us dance with such bouncy tunes as "Everlasting Love", "Ain't too Proud to Beg" and "I Can't Help Myself".

Every week he surprised even his most ardent detractors by hanging on and staying in the competition. His staying power even prompted Simon to say that he has more escapes than Harry Houdini had.

But this morning, I got the bad news that he has been voted out of the competition. End of the the American Idol dream for my idol. Funny, even though I haven't met the guy, I still felt sad for his departure from the show. I am not even an American for that matter!!!

So this is a kind of tribute to the man who sort of represented the average man in that competition. Here's hoping that this wouldn't be the last that I will hear about this great guy, Scott Savol.

Where in the World????

Okay, it's been more than a month since I last updated my blog and I must admit a lot of things have happened.

Pope John Paul II got sick and died but a new one, Pope Benedict XVI has taken his place. That's one thing I like about the Church I am in. There is this continuity and constancy, two things that reassure me that whatever happens, life will continue.

Then there was that great quake that never was! A text message (SMS in other lands) spread in the metropolis alleging that a visionary nun foresaw a massive intensity-9 earthquake that will hit Metro Manila on April 14 at 5PM. Our panic-striken boss sent us home only to see us having a great time at a nearby mall 30 minutes after the supposedly earthquake.

Well, I haven't fully explained my disappearance, have I? Okay it is simple. I've been very busy. With work? Are you serious!?!

With my The SIMS2 of course. I created a lot of characters and everyone is demanding attention from me. One recently died because of old age and is now scaring the wits out of her fellow sims by her nightly hauntings. Then I've been busy with the darn baby SIM which resulted from a couple of my SIMS trying out for a baby. I will never do that again of course.

And one kid needs to do better in school or he won't make it to University. Dang it... the list goes longer and longer....

So this lengthly post is just an announcement that I am back. Hopefully on a regular basis. Wait... Oh one of my SIMS needs to take a shower. See you later.




Here's the picture perfect SIMS family I am working on! 

(I hope Maxis won't run after my neck for this... tee hee)

whatthe!?!

My iPod mini is getting smaller everyday. I keep on putting in more and more of my favorite music that I began thinking of getting one with a bigger capacity.

I was training my eyes on a 40GB full size iPod when WHAM!!! Apple came out with new models for the iPod Mini and Photo and I am now given a lot of choices!

These new generations of iPods are really impressive. For one, the battery life was significantly increased to 18 hours! That's more than enough music for my trip from Manila to San Francisco!

What more,iPod Mini now comes with two capacities; the original 4GB at USD199 and the new 6GB model at USD249!!! Now who wouldn't go on a rampage with that?

And then there's the iPod photo which now comes in 30GB and 60GB models! This is killing me!!!

Faced with all of these options, things have become more complicated with me. Maybe I should buy now before things get even more complicated.

Caught in A War of TV Networks

I am a member of a Yahoogroup that caters to Filipino professionals from around the world. I don't know how it all started but all of a sudden, two factions are now battling it out in the discussion area.

The main piece of contention? Which network is better: ABS-CBN or GMA?

Maybe I should give a brief background about these two networks. These are two heavyweights in Philippine broadcasting. ABS-CBN claims that it is the country's pioneer network. It started in the 50s but their operations were stopped when then President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law and sequestered the properties of the family that owned the station.

GMA also claims to be the country's first network and unlike the former, it continued its operations even during the Martial Law years. During those years, it was this station that brought to the country such American shows as CHiPS, Three's Company, Man From Atlantis and a host of other good programs.

When Cory Aquino became President through the People Power Movement (I refuse to call it a revolution because my militant friends from UP argue that a revolution involves bloodshed), she gave back ABS-CBN to the original owners. In fact, it's not the only property Tita Cory returned but even other properties sequestered by the Marcos government and she gave it to them on a silver platter. Bad move I should tell you but I should find another time to discuss this.

Since it's return, the ABS-CBN station did everything to drill in everybody's mind that they are the biggest and the number 1 station in the land before and after Martial Law. Since the other stations in the country are government-owned, only one station could challenge these assertions: GMA. And challenge it did.

That leads us to my topic for this post.

I don't understand why the members of our e-group are waging war among themselves over which of these two stations is the best. To be honest, I watch shows on both networks and I must admit most of their content would leave you in a stupor.

The comedy shows are anything but funny and are downright stupid. These shows run for an hour with heavy usage of canned laughter perhaps to induce the viewers to laugh even if the situation is not funny at all. I can't remember any program on these channels that really made me laugh. What more, the production values are so cheap, I am often left with no choice but to switch to the Discovery or National Geographic Channels.

The drama shows? Forget it. You will not cry because of the story. You will cry because you felt cheated of spending one hour of your life on a piece of nonsense

And the newscasts! All I learned in my broadcasting course in college, the reporters in these networks blatantly violate. One anchor speaks in a monotonous voice you'd think a robot would sound better in his place. A reported speaks like she's selling fish instead of reporting the news. And one weather person always appear on TV like he was just blown in by a strong typhoon. I pity my professors, how would they instill in their students proper speech and diction if they constantly exposed to these violations.

To make matters worst, these networks constantly engage in copying each other's program content and trying to upman the rival station. It comes to a point that the viewer is so confused as to what channel he is in.

These are just a few of the reasons I couldn't understand why my fellow members are so emotional about this network wars. I can't see any reason why they would be so fanatical about defending the station of their choice.

I decided that someone should make them snap out of this thing. The egroup was fun until this network war thread cropped up. And so this morning I posted a message on our egroup telling the members to stop the nonsensical discussion. I pointed our that if they are not being paid by the networks for what they are doing, there is no sense to make enemies out of people who otherwise share some of their interest. Besides, to these networks they are nothing but mere statistics that will boost their claim to the top what.

Guess what, I am now their common enemy.

The Apple in My Mind

Mac Mini or iBook?

I've been in a very tough position in the last few weeks.

Ever since Steve Jobs announced the arrival of the Mac Mini, I've been itching all over my body. I wanted to get one. Now! But wait... something is holding me back. I want an iBook too. I can't make the right choice. I need help.

My inner self tells me to weigh my needs. Portability? Power? If I want portability then the iBook is the way to go. If I needed power the MacMini is it. But then, MacMini doesn't come with a keyboard, a monitor and a mouse. And here in the Philippines the littlethingamajig goes for 38 thousand pesos!!!

So it's the iBook then? Hmmm... the iBook sells for, at the minimum, P72K. Add some RAM and the whole thing goes for almost P80K. Oh and I'll only get 30GB of storage space for that. Plus, there is a need to buy a nice bag to protect this investment.

Who wouldn't be confused with all of these things to think of?

Of course there's another inner voice that keeps on nagging me with a very practical question: "Do you really need an Apple in a country run by Windows?"

Right now, the rebel in me says Yes.

Come Fly with Me

Just last week, I was told at work that I am going to be a part of a team that will conduct a survey in Davao City. I've been to Davao many times before so I was the least excited about the whole trip. But a good office friend told me that it'll be a good opportunity to get out of the workplace and see places other than the four corners of my cubicle.

This week, however, I heard the horrible news that we will be taking an airline that offers cheaper airfare. The airline is Cebu Pacific.

I'm sure that most of you have heard the joke about Cebu Pacific. The one that says, 'Fly to Cebu and land in the Pacific.'

Who will ever forget two of the worst airplane disasters in the country. Yes, the planes involved were those from Cebu Pacific. One slammed into a mountain somewhere in Mindanao because the pilot had to take a detour to pick up some passengers. The other flew low over Samal Island in Davao and hit some coconut trees thereby disintegrating before it hit land.

So what to do? I told them that I will skip this one and nothing can make me change my mind. Not even the threat of disciplinary action or reducing my chances of getting promoted. I'd rather have my life than a notch up the corporate ladder.

Whenever asked why I decided not to go with them I have only one answer: "I fear for my safety."

Now don't get me wrong. I am not a die-hard devotee of Philippine Airlines. It's just that I have come to trust the airline. It's been flying the route for years and I've always flown to Davao in the same airline. Okay, their safety record may not be as near perfect as Qantas (remember 'Rainman'? He said Qantas has the best safety record among the world's airlines). They are also a butt of joke in terms of punctuality (PAL = Plane Always Late). But experience counts a lot in this business, and PAL has years of it. Knowing that makes me feel safer.

And so I chose not to avail of the chance of getting out of the office and seeing places other than the four corners of my cubicle.

I Love my iPod Mini

My iPod Mini looks like this one.

I bought my iPod Mini from the Apple Store at Arden Mall in Sacramento last September. I filled it with my favorite tunes, yes, the ones I grew up with. The 4GB harddisk is okay with me since I don't find the need to tote along all my music. It's great especially during my daily two hour commute to work as it blocks off all the undesirable noise in public transport like gossiping fellow passengers, Pinoy DJs trying to sound like Americans; I'm sure you get the picture!

I also bought a Sennheisser MX450 to even enhance my listening experience. It improved the bass sound.

I also used the iTunes AAC format to compress my music. There's a little quality loss but I can live with it. Applelossless is very good but it eats up a lot of HD space. That makes MP3 still the best format to compress your music to make them portable. Of course had I bought the full sized iPod with a 20 or 40 GB harddisk, space won't be a problem at all.

One of the things I love about my iPodMini is it's so easy to use! The click-wheel is a work of genius. You can smoothly change music by the flick of your thumb. What more, you can create an instant playlist through the On-The-Go menu. There is no way you can get bored with your music because you can surprise yourself by turning on the Shuffle mode.

I only have one little neg comment about this thingamajig --- battery life! The blurb says battery life is good for 8 hours for one charging cycle. The longest I've had is a mere 5 hours. And I need 3 hours to get a full charge!!! Beware, the battery is easily used up if you keep on pushing the forward button. The website explained that it has something to do with the cache memory; the iPod saves the next song in its cache and if you forward the song, the cache needs to store another song. This process eats up a lot of the battery's energy. So to avoid this from happening, I use the On-the-Go playlist a lot.

Welcome Everyone

Mabuhay!



Kumusta!



I made this blogsite so i can put down all the thoughts swirling in my mind. I hope you can come here often.



In the meantime, I am preparing my initial post.



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