Saturday, October 31, 2009

All My Gadgets

How many gadgets do we really need to have? Just for fun I decided to take a picture of all the gadgets I have.

1. Macbook - I bought this 2 years ago since I didn't have any PC or laptop at home. I initially wanted just a regular laptop but a friend insisted that I get this because at that time I was to help her develop her design business. Nothing really came out of that except for this nice Macbook which I only use for the internet at home.

2. Compaq laptop - This was issued by the office most file here are for work. I essentially have my work laptop and my personal laptop. This works quite well so I can really separate work and personal files. You won't see any "bad" stuff on my work PC but of course I still have some personal stuff here it's really hard to keep things separate. Sometimes I find myself having the 2 laptops open to fix my stuff.

I have been offered by the Laptop dude several times to change my office laptop when the opportunity comes but I always decline the offer because it's such a hassle to transfer files. Unless he give me a lighter one or a new Macbook then I'll take him up on that offer.

3. Canon S2 IS - When I bought this camera 3 years ago I told myself I this would be my first and last digital camera. I was actually advised to get a DSLR already but at that time I felt it was too expensive for me. The gap between this camera and comparable entry level DSLRs was still quite wide and I liked the zoom of the S2. I was happy with my camera until I learned from using it that a DSLR really takes better pictures. So now I am considering getting a DSLR and have actually done some research on it already. It's seems that the practical buy for me is the Canon 500D because of it's hi-def video capability.

3. Ipod Touch 2nd Gen - This was actually an 'accidental' purchase. I though I found a bargain in a shop in Bangkok but found out it was a 2nd hand unit. Since I was already dead set on the purchase I just bought a new one. I think this was worth it though especially when you need to burn time. Since I mostly use it for music the new Ipod Nano would probably have been a more practical purchase but I won't have the games. So this was a good buy for me. The wifi feature was also one of the things which I like so I could have internet on the go (I don't use this as often though).

4. I have 2 mobile phones a Nokia5000 for Smart and a Nokia6220 for Globe. I used my Globe phone to take the picture so it's not included in the photo above. So I'll just have a solo picture of it below.

Since Smart gives me a free phone every 2 years I simply availed of their offer for the free phone. Globe is not that generous so I would simply go to Greenhills and have them open the line of my old Smart phones. Unfortunately (or fortunately) either my phones fell from my bag or someone stole it. Which is why I had to go and get a spanking new phone for my self. Hence the Nokia6220, which I bought for its 5MP camera. It's not a great camera but it serves its purpose. I was looking at Sony-Ericsonn phone but they were simply way too expensive for the features I was looking for (5MP cam).

Now I'm thinking that I want a phone with wifi because for my need to be constantly connected either via the mobile internet or wifi. Hopefully it just remains as a though since these phones are expensive and its not really essential.

5. Mares Dive Computer - this was something that I felt was really worth it. This really helps me when I dive since I can now safely gauge how much time I can spend under water. It also counts down during my safety stop which I simply find cool simply because you see the countdown (minutes last longer if you don't see it tick away). This was probably one of the factors why I can now dive much longer.

6. Woof Mini Speaker - this is my Ipod's partner. It's not well designed though. It's not stable. So if you hit it full blast it moves around. It doesn't attach to well to the Ipod if you use the port. I would have liked to get the X-mini but it wasn't available at the time and at that time I really wanted to get a speaker already. But it works and it's here so there.

7. Logitech Wireless Mouse - I love this! Especially because I got it free! It's really convenient not having those wires and connectors (which I included in the photo). Really useful in client presentations. I can scroll through the presentation even if I am far from my laptop.

8. Sun and Smart USB dongles - pre-paid internet is just too expensive so a post paid Sun Broadband is the answer! No lock-outs for P799/mo. It's just good in Metro Manila though which is why SmartBro comes to the rescue. I had very fast connection in Bacolod and limited connection in the middle of nowhere. That works for me.

9. Sony Clie (RIP) - I think this gadget is already obsolete but I was still using this until I forgot to charge it and it lost all its memory (about 2007). So I technically lost my back-up to my contacts and my collection of quotes...maybe I should throw it away already.

When you purchase gadgets it follows that you purchase a bag that will carry them. So I also took pictures of my laptop bag and my camera case. Crumpler wasn't here yet when I bought my camera and that Samsonite case was the best I could get - again it serves its purpose. A new laptop bag is in my wish list. I want something with a waterproof cover since I walk to work with all the storms coming our way this would help. I'll prepare a wish list for Santa soon anyway. I hope he is reading this.

Trip to Negros Final Set

I think this is the final set of my pictures of my trip to Negros. I brought a white board so I could use it to place captions or commentaries on my pictures. I was able to use it at the start but I wasn't able to sustain it. I'd probably bring this slate on my trips though, I think it serves its purpose. This is also the start of my trip. So as you scroll down the blog posts you'll see how my trip evolved.









Lyceum Laguna Photoshoot

Here's a few shots I took from my camera phone during our photo shoot at Lyceum Laguna. We will be developing a new website for them so we wanted to get some photos that will match the mood we'd like to have on the website.

These were actual students of Lyceum Laguna and we'd like to thank them for coming over even though it was their semestral break and it was signal number 2.

Because the students were so pretty I am now looking forward to the next shoot at their other campuses. If we would need models in the future we would keep these students in mind.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Noynoy's MTV



If the artists are a good gauge of the people who would vote for Noynoy I am seeing a winner right here. I hope Chiz won't push through with his presidential bid. I think he was smart enough to back-out of a losing cause. Noynoy (actually maybe it was more of Cory's death) changed the landscape of the 2010 elections.

I hope they all(presidentiables) show an actual platform on how they will solve the problems of the country and not just make use of the popularity of these stars to win an election.

My Blog History

Late December 2008 - I opened this blog account and drafted my first blog which I never posted.

April 2009 - Finally posted my "first" entry.

May 2009 - To help me adjust to my new place I posted additional entries.

September - Decided to go full blast into this blogging thing to use this as a platform to learn more about the online marketing business.

October 2009 - Inspired in part by the seminars I have been attending and the people in the office who started blogs I started to aggressively post more entries. As of Oct. 29 I got 70 unique visitors. It peaked at a certain day when I sent text messages to friends to ask them to visit my site. I think this is my 25th entry for October but I started posting on October 18.

Hot Kate Beckinsale!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Sipalay

As mentioned on my previous posts I simply loved driving in Negros because of the scenic roads and this is just another example of those. At this point I think we were about 30 minutes before we hit Sipalay.

We stayed at Artistic Diving which I found through the internet. I inquired more than a year ago at it took me that much time to go here. The accommodation were at par with Anilao dive resort standards. Our room cost us about P1,500 a night and food was about P150++ per dish. Serving were quite small though and I won't rave about the food. Since the resort was a long drive from the town it was a hassle to go out and eat.





Here's pictures of the room.


Here's our view from the room.



It was the rainy season and it was raining when we arrived. The beach looks great in the pictures but it was quite dirty because of the season. But I can imagine this during the dry season. This would look really good.



Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Random thoughts

I posted something which got some feedback on my Facebook and I think it's worth sharing here. As mentioned in an earlier post I will place favorite quotes here on my blog. So her goes...

An organization run with passion will outperform an organization driven by profit. - as far as I am concerned I thought of this hehe

I think the same is true with people. Passion really drives performance...but what if you don't know what your passion is? How do you find your passion? If I find it I'll let you know...

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Let's go diving


If you live in a tropical country such as the Philippines with one of the longest coastlines in the world and surrounded by water. You gotta be diving man! Or you should have at least gone on an intro dive. Snorkeling is cool but going down a little deeper is much cooler.

The Philippines is right smack at the center of the marine universe. They say that we have the most bio-diverse marine creatures in the world. Sometimes we don't realize it but corals are living things and there are a lot of critters that live in and around them. Imagine the stuff you see when snorkeling....multiply than ten fold when you dive at a great spot. You really learn the meaning of breathtaking...literally and figuratively when you go through a coral garden and see all the marine creatures moving around.

Here in the Philippines finding Nemo is so easy, he's practically everywhere. The density of life in such a small area is simply amazing....and the colors. You see all the colors of the rainbow in most of the creatures you see (some you can't see at all).

Diving gave me a reason to go to the beach more often. Diving is actually such a hassle. Wake up early, bring all those expensive gear around, drive a couple of hours (sometimes through traffic), but it's really worth it. To a certain extent it's a spiritual experience where you appreciate and became awe struck by the beauty of God's creation.


Shout out to Marie for the great pictures, I'll post more soon.

BacktoBlack 2008 and 2009 Champions

I'm hoping that the guy on the scoreboard brings me a threepeat.




Season 72 for the Blue and White

Just some pictures I took at the games. This year I missed a total of 5 game. One of the seasons where I missed a lot of games. I think my season record is just missing 2 games total. But my streak of Ateneo LaSalle games since college is still alive.