Walk This Way!

It is really funny that being born in Manila, I have not really thought about what my city is all about. Yes, the occasional passing through parks, museums, historical landmarks, but never really thinking why Manila is the way it is today. Enter Carlos Celdran, he is a self declared tour guide, who does the thing (guided tour, of course!) in different parts of Manila, as his website states, his mission is to change the way people think of Manila, one step at a time.

Me, my wife and son joined Carlos on his "If These Walls Could Talk", a deluxe tour of Fort Santiago, San Agustin Church and Casa Manila. And boy, was the whole experience worth it. Its not only the sights that he took us, but also the great stuffs he shared. His blend of history and personal analysis really hit the bullseye! He took us through how Manila was established; how it was before it was discovered, how it was during the Spanish, American, and Japanese times. It was a delightful mix of history, culture, jokes blended into his own brand of showmanship that makes his customers captive audiences during this three hours of travel back through time.

You have to join one to know and experience what I'm talking about. Definitely no regrets.
For details you may visit his website http://celdrantours.blogspot.com.

Monster of a Truck!

I just remembered going through my old posts that I wrote about my impending change of vehicle. Well, months after that post, March 2007 to be exact, I did change. It was a year earlier, it was definitely unexpected, but what the heck, I took it!

Well, the vehicle is not exactly brand new, but the mileage was pretty low (20,000 kms. for two years used), it was definitely well maintained, the best of all, I only have to use it for 3 years (instead of 5 years) before I can call it mine and of course the right to change to another vehicle (brand new by that time).

What I got was a monster of a pick-up truck, its got a 3 liter direct injected turbo diesel engine, its got 4x4 for those off-roading moments, its lifted for those battles with our famous Metro Manila flooding during the rainy season, the interiors are almost car like, with the leather seats, nice sounds coming out of the Pioneer stereo + Blaupunkt speakers combination, its got dual airbags and all the seat belts for the riders safety. And last but never the least, it's in color BLACK!!!

Ten months and 26,000 kms. later, I am a very satisfied customer, I drive everyday for around 100 kms (both ways), and the diesel conversion was at around 12 kms per liter of crude, that's a miser for a 3 liter engine. The riding comfort is a mixed bag, it feels more comfortable riding in front than at the back. The space for cargo is definitely loads better than a sedan. We actually experienced no water for a few weeks, and the pick-up helped us through by hauling water from our relatives homes to ours, can't say we can do that with a sedan, gallons of water maybe but not drum loads! Speed is of course diminished compared to a sedan, but at my age, its ok, I don't feel like racing Hamilton and Alonso anymore. Overall I give it a 4 out of 5 cylinders.

By the way, the monster I have been rambling about is an Isuzu DMax 4x4 pickup truck. Its now even better with its new CRDi engine, so for those in the hunt for a new utility monster, check out the DMax, it's good to go!

Do-It-All Digicam

Me and my wife spent our 10th year anniversary at Pearl Farm, Davao. It was her first time there so it was good that she liked the place as soon as we got there. The food was great, and we spent some time kayaking, going to the other island near the farm and of course the customary snorkeling and swimming in their pools (the eternity and the jacuzzi pools).

We got us a Samal House cottage, its a room on stilts that has a view of the sea, terrific! Waking up in the mornings will never be the same again (you'd wish its like that forever). The marine life is rich, with lotsa fishes and corals to explore when snorkeling. And all these activities we got to capture using our recently bought Olympus Mu-SW725 digital camera. What makes this camera special? Well, its takes pictures underwater without the camera being put inside a protective case. Yes, that's right, just take the camera along on your snorkeling and you are set. We got shots of us underwater in the pool, under the sea with the marine life. Its safe to use until the depth of 15 feet (5 meters) and it is also shockproof to a depth of 5 feet (1.5 meters). That's why its ShockWater. I would encourage anyone to buy one once their digital camera is due for a change, its also great at taking ordinary photos.Our trip to Pearl Farm was indeed a memorable one, apart from being able to spend some extra special time with my wife, its was also a time for relaxation and quiet time from all the pressures and stresses from work. And it is now ably documented with the help of our new digital camera the Olympus Mu-SW725!

Touch Generation

This '07 October is a very special year and month for me and my wife, because it will be our 10th wedding anniversary as it is her 33rd birthday. And I want it to be special, first off was we planned for a trip, and we are going to Pearl Farm in Davao this November, the second thing I did was to call a radio station to ask for a free dinner for us together with the radio program's disc jockeys (hint hint... Mo Twister's show) and lastly, is what to give to her on these occasions (by the way, I am traditionally allowed to give her just one gift to culminate these special days), and Steve Jobs of Apple Inc., save me the time to think when he launched the Ipod Touch last September 5, 2007. Upon seeing it on the web, I immediately knew my wife would love it (and I can sneak in some use time myself, hehehe).

I placed a pre-order from my supplier in Hong Kong and it was set to arrived 1st week of October. The almost a month wait was actually excruciating for me, I just fell in love with the devices by just seeing pictures and videos of it. It was advertised to have a 3.5" touch screen for your video on the go, it comes in either 8 to 16gb (I know, too small) for all those photos, music, videos, movies, tv shows and podcasts, it is only 8mm thick, it has wifi, it now has the Apple iTunes Wifi store in it, with wifi it also gives you direct access to the internet through Safari (web browser) and all the home made video via You Tube. Great piece of tech, this Ipod Touch is.

And when I finally gave it to my wife, I can tell she was extremely happy to get one of those launch hardware (this is actually the first time I bought a tech stuff upon launch). And at home, when we started to play with it, it became evident that all the hype was justified, the machine was gorgeous, it does what it was advertised to do. To put it bluntly, it was an iPhone without the phone on it (which was fine with us). I hope my wife enjoy the Touch in the next few years (hoping for 2 years atleast).

Now its my turn to wonder what my wife is giving me for our anniversary.....

WiFied!!!

Wifi (Wireless Fidelity), being able to access the internet wirelessly. Wow, talk about liberation. I have always been amazed by the leaps in technology, but Wifi is really something that is short of astonishing. From all those people whipping out their laptops, pdas and smartphones inside the comfort of a coffee shop and surfing the web or what may you is just simply liberating and amazing. But what I have in mind was to replicate this experience in the confines of my own home. And the quest begun....

First off, I got rid of our years old dial-up connection from PLDT. And after hitting the forums for some key advises from people I don't even know and have never met before, I decided that I will subscribe to Bayantel's DSL + Landline product. It gives me 384 kbps of speed all day long during peak hours, and during off peak, as much as 768 kbps. After the initial set-up by the phone guys. I was up and running. Getting DSL was already a great experience since from a lowly 56 kbps we are now more or less 7 times faster. And that happened months ago.

Secondly, I need to have a wireless router to connect the DSL modem to for our house to get the wireless signal. Now here lies my problem, our house is a four-storey concrete structure, it is a "buhos" building, which means the flooring is also made of concrete. The DSL line is on the second floor (which was ideal, so that the signal can reach both first and third floor easily). But I have heard of problems regarding signal not reaching computers/devices because of dead spots and signal obstruction. So, hitting the forums again, I found myself more puzzled than enlightened after the exercise, for there were a lot of different opinions regarding my case. And so the last decision lies solely on me. What to do? What to do? If I go and buy the router, and it did not work out. I now have a problem of spending 3k for nothing, or it will work out fine. I decided to go for it, no guts no glory as they say.

Thirdly, I have to decide to what kind of router I am going to use. LinkSys, TPlink, Correga, D-Link, there are literally dozens of brands of these networking products, and I have to get the right one. And the right one turned out to be the LinkSys WRT54G, Why? You may ask. Because, its the router that is most compatible to all the devices that are going to connect to it. My wife's MacBook, My Lenovo X60s laptop, our old Dell Latitude laptop (which will get a wired DSL hook up), My Nintendo DSLite, My Sony PSP, My Nintendo Wii and lastly, My "future" PS3. And so off I went to the malls and got one for 3k flat.

Next step was to set it all up, and call me lucky, but I have heard a lot of horror stories regarding setting up a wireless network. But for me, it went off without a hitch! I followed the instructions of the LinkSys router and set it up to detect my other wireless devices, and luckily all detected the router. I let the set-up run without security for a week to see if there will be any problem and none happened. So, after the week, I set-up my security using WEP (the least cumbersome) and everything still went off like a charm. And I must say my wife's impress as hell, she gets to surf without going to the second floor to hook herself to the DSL line and only for that she's sold. As for me, in addition to wireless surfing, I now can get online with my Nintendo Wii & DSLite (surfing, online gaming, download new games and others), my PSP (surfing and online gaming), and the experience is simply GREAT!!!

So I think I am completely happy that me and my family are now completely WIFIED!

NextGen Gaming

Family Computer, man, those were the days. I would pester my mom to buy me one and when I finally got one. Sweet!!! Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong, Battle Tank, Galaxians and others. I would be glued to our TV set until my dad would shout at me that he needs to watch the news (we only have one TV set then).

Fast forward, I am now 37 years of age, I have two boys, and I still love gaming, I am not a hardcore gamer, but on weekends (when everything is done; shopping, grocery, pedia visit and etc.), I can sit there for hours playing until I get the ire of my wife eventually. I was never big into PC gaming (I stopped after my Apple II+ died on me). After the Family Computer, I sorta stop playing. Finishing High School, going to college, chasing girls and drinking..... I started noticing the games again when I was working already. PS One was the hot stuff then, but not earning much, I could not afford to buy it. And so I only got to look at it from a distance.

I bought our PS 2 around 2004. Boy, was I excited, my eldest; Hans was around 5 then was too. Got to play all those games like Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, Socom, DMC, RE and more recently God of War was awesome. Next thing I know, my son was asking me for a Gameboy. Lucky for him I love gaming, if it was my father, no deal. But I got him that too, and later on got myself a PSP and got Hans a DSLite. We are now really into it. Three handhelds and one console.

The year 2005 started in the west the so called next gen gaming when Microsoft launched their Xbox 360 then Sony and Nintendo followed suit the next year with their own consoles, PS 3 and Wii. Today the cast is complete. Tough to decide, but last June, I bought the Wii simply because its cheaper, and I want my family (specially my wife) to play with us. And after a few nudge, she tried Wii Sports and it did not got her hook but atleast she is now trying to understand why we love playing. I plan to get the PS 3 next, specially now that they have announced that they will lower the price by $100, so its now $499, not bad at all since you also get a next gen BluRay player to boot. I'm stoked, hope I can get it by December.

Right now, I'm content. Lots of choices to play and a chance to own maybe the most sophisticated piece of game machine by Christmas. What more can a man ask for. Wait, I wonder when my youngest son Cross will start playing video games......

The RhoSig Golden Ball

ASTIG! That's to sum it up in one word. 07-07-07 will be remembered by UPLB Sigma Rhoans as the day the Fraternity turned golden. The Grand Ball was held in rustic and historic Senior's Social Garden. Hundreds of Brods were present for the once in a lifetime affair.

The presence of four Charter members; Romy Somera, Emil Llames, Serge Capitan and Andy Espiritusanto made the affair even more special. Brods from the 60's and 70's also graced the Ball. But the notable presence of brothers from the 80's and 90's showed to us the Fraternity is alive and well.

Highlights of the night were the induction of the resident's Dignitaries, the premiere of the Fraternity's 50th Anniversary AVP, the awarding of token paddles to the four Charter members and a hundreds-strong Sigma Rhoans singing the Sigma Rho Hymn.

Kudos to the officers of the UPLB Sigma Rho Alumni Association under the leadership of Brod Jojo Fornesa and all the brods who supported the project one way or the other in making the Grand Ball possible.

PSP vs. DSLite

Simply unbelievable!

I bought my Sony PSP (Playstation Portable) last February of 2006, and my son Hans Dylan's Nintendo DSLite (Dual Screen) last December of 2006. Which now completes our collection of game handhelds (Hans also has a GameBoy Advance SP). Why I am simply flabbergasted into writing a piece about this is my utter disbelief that I will simply fell for the DSLite handheld.

Even before owning the DSLite, I was simply a fan of the PSP and when I got my hands on my own unit, I simply fell head over heels for it. Its screen is to die for (4+ inches of high resolution goodness), the games that I have bought and played in it were simply top notch, games like Daxter, Lumines, Syphon Filter, WipeOut Pure, Burn Out Legends and etc, simply brought out the best of the machine, add to it its capability to play mp3s and wma sound files, mp4 video and surf the Net through its Wifi makes the PSP a multi media beast of a machine. That's why when I hit the Net and read about how PSP is inferior to the DSLite (Game-wise) I just knew that the writers were just being fanboys, for I truly believe that the PSP easily out performs the DSLite. And add to that, Nintendo has the reputation of having a fanbase of mostly young children did not make me want to purchase one for myself right away.

Enter my son, Hans Dylan, at eight years of age, currently playing his GameBoy Advance SP and starting to get bored with it. Having seen the DSLite being wielded by some other kids when we were inside malls and other recreational areas, started to ask me if I can buy him one. Luckily, me and my wife went to the US of A last Christmas and got a pretty good deal for a new DSLite (cheaper by around 1.5k pesos). And the rest as they say was history.

We bought the black DSLite, same color and finish as my PSP, the graphics of the games can't compete with the PSP's but boy o boy do the games get addictive, lets start with Brain Age, its a puzzle game that is innovative and addicitve, it makes counting and doing math fun, even my wife is competing for play time with the DSLite! Games like Advance Wars, Super Mario, Wario Touched, Trauma Center, Phoenix Wright and Metroid Prime makes use of the stylus during gameplay that gives the games an extra oomph factor which i can't describe.

Now I am a convert, I still use my PSP but the DSLite is number one on my playlist, my poor son has to compete with me for the machine's use. Oh well, I just hope they can both co-exist, since both handhelds have their own competencies and weaknesses. I am just glad I can afford both. For those who have to choose, if gaming is your number one criterion, then go with the DSLite, you will not go wrong with that choice. If you want to play games but at the same time watch movies, play sound files and keep some of your photos with you, then the PSP is your machine!