The DJ who's not a DeeJay

Today is February 29, 2008. It only occurs every four years during leap year when there is a Feb. 29. I really didn't take notice to this day as an extraordinary day. February is unique in a way that it is the only month with 28 days. It's uniqueness extends to the fact that every leap year, it's the only month with 29 days. All the other months have either 30 or 31 days which doesn't make them much spectacular in that manner.

Today, I also get to celebrate my monthsary with my sweetie. Yes, it falls on the 29th. And so, suddenly Feb. 29 has meaning since we won't be able to celebrate it for the next 3 years. Now I realize that there must be people whose birthdays or anniversaries and important occasions fall on the 29th of February. They must have to settle to celebrate on March 1, or a day earlier on February 28.

Either case, leap year now has meaning for me. Happy leap year !

I'm particularly careful in parking a car. Being a bit obsessive-compulsive, I really make it a point to be within the yellow lines in a parking lot. I'm accustomed to parking facing the wall too.

And if I'm beside two other cars, I see to it that the tail end of my car isn't as exposed to the street. So if some car happens to get out of control, my car is shielded by the two cars beside me whose posteriors are longer.

Early today, I parked at the nearby mall and when I got off, I was surprised to see the Pickup parked beside me literally an inch away from the wall. I wouldn't let my car go that near to a wall. (Did I mention that the other side of the wall happens to be a 3 story boarding house ? ) There is no room for mistake here if the driver happens to put the gear in reverse. I can understand the Pickup is a much longer vehicle than other standard sized cars.

I think parking lots should consider having a section for medium to large sized vehicles especially with the proliferation of SUVs. Their sheer size and built occupy more than the allocated space of standard parking spaces and sometimes even takes extra space off of other car's parking space.

I'm just happy I haven't experienced parking beside a monster truck yet.

I guess I don't travel that much because I'm not accustomed to having most or all my belongings not within reach nor available at my convenience.
But when I travel, I don't want to bring everything I have including the kitchen sink. I'd rather pack only the essentials and travel light.

Problem is my idea of "the essentials" is a lot and I may eventually end up bringing a lot of stuff. So tough luck for "traveling light".

In past out of town trips though, I've come to appreciate Value Hotels in the Philippines and the service they provide to travelers. They provide your temporary but complete "home" away from home. Most of the amenities and services they provide are enough to make traveling more convenient and worry-free.

I remember that when our family didn't check in a hotel and instead opted to stay with relatives, we had to bring more than the usual like towels, toothpaste, some food and had to abide by my uncle's house rules which meant "lights out by 10pm". I was forced to sleep early but the eagerly hungry mosquitos and humid temperature didn't make it an easy night for me. The next day, we also had to buy some food for all, since it would be embarrasing not to show any form of gratitude.

I have nothing against my relatives and their hospitality for letting us stay for the night. But if we had only checked in a hotel, we wouldn't have the need to pack bulky bath towels, come back to the house at a given time, and sleep early against our will. We would even be able to watch some movies on cable and only had to provide for our personal eating expenses as opposed to an entire family in addition to ours.

Value Hotels in the Philippines cater to just about anybody: a foreigner touring the vicinity, friends flying in or making an out of town trip to attend a wedding, people who were caught in midtrip transit looking for a place to sleep for the night or even a family planning for a weekend getaway.

Whatever it may be, the convenience Value Hotels in the Philippines offer is truly worth checking out.... or should I say "checking in"... the hotel.

I hope everybody would be able to check out the article on Page D5 of the Technews section of the Manila Bulletin today, Monday, Feb. 25, 2008. My sweetie Aileen Apolo is the featured blogger occupying a third of the page. I'm so proud of her.

If you don't have a copy of the article, here's the online version courtesy of Manila Bulletin.

Trivia: I took the pic of her on the header screencapture.

How ironic would it be if this car got carnapped ?

The Metro Trail Transit (MRT3) is one of the faster modes of transportation around Metro Manila. Due to its popularity though, long queues have emerged from the sheer bulk of people wanting to arrive to their destination faster.

The long lines in the ticket booths can be avoided though by buying a prepaid card which you can reuse until all credit is consumed. The lines entering the station though are unavoidable as you go through the aisle inserting your card through an ATM like opening and returns your card in another opening verifying your card and letting you enter the station.

There is only one way how to insert the card. It's with the side with the hole on the card to be inserted first with the card design facing the person. If you try inserting it any other way, it won't be accepted. My problem lies with the new (or old, depending on how you look at it) cards being used by the MRT.

The cards used to have the president's face on them. Some had commercial designs (Samsung phone ads, and other various designs). Aside from the visual appeal, this helps you determining which is the front and which is the back. The last time I rode the MRT, I was handed out a blank card. One side was white and the other was black. I couldn't tell immediately which was front and back. And I'm not too keen on making a mistake entering the MRT terminal especially with a long line of people behind you expecting you won't hold up the line.

I wasn't the only one who made a mistake. I saw other people in the lines next to mine asking security which side is which.

I'm not sure if these cards' design have faded through time, or if MRT is just cutting down on printing expenses, but the least they could do is have a sign or arrow showing which side is front and which side is back to lessen the number of mistakes people would make and eventually make the entire process more efficient. In addition, it's embarrassing to make that mistake when dozens of people all around you are doing it correctly when the difference is just a matter of having a printed card as opposed to a blank card.

I saw this device in a store last week. It's labeled as a wireless keyfinder. There are two components to make it work. One is a key chain with a chip so it can be detected electronically. The other one is the detector. You press the button and it will make the keychain attached to the missing keys emit a sound and blink (I think) which will make the keys move apparent as to where they were left.

I was impressed with the gadget... for about 30 seconds... until I thought of this scenario...

"What if the keyfinder is missing instead of the keys ?"

And

"If you lose the keyfinder, but not the key chain with the keys, you can still survive because the important thing is you have your keys with you, demoting this gadget into a mere key chain."

So lesson is...

Don't buy this. Just...
ALWAYS REMEMBER WHERE YOUR KEYS ARE.

I was in Glorieta 3 weeks ago waiting for my sweetie and while killing time, I passed by my favorite past time place, Timezone. While going around, I saw a huge group of people watching a video arcade. Curious about what the fuss was all about, I approached the crowd only to be surprised by a newly installed game in the video arcade, Tekken 6.

The most striking upgrade to this version on console was that it was sporting a flat wide screen similar to the plasma TV units. The graphics were of superb quality on the wide screen. Aside from that, there were a lot of new characters to choose from and locations to play.

Being a Tekken player with limited skill, I was just happy watching the players challenge the computer. I thought I had seen it all but was flabbergasted to witness a bonus level where a nearly invincible humongous robot named "Nancy MIS47J" was the fighter.





Let me know what happens if you beat this android cause I wanna know what's the bonus.

The week after, I was at Mall Of Asia waiting for sweetie when I checked out the Timezone branch there which had Tekken 6. Since there weren't any players around or people watching, I summed up the courage to play. I got through 3 levels and I must say, overall, it's a great and exciting game. Despite the large selection of characters, I'm sticking with my favorite character, Nina.

And as a self-induced adrenalin rush, I got to the final stage of Tekken 5 using Nina. Woohoo !!!

I saw this sign in a restroom door in the Super Bowl restaurant, Glorietta, Makati.

It seems like it's telling you that you won't be able to open this door on your first try if you don't put any effort into it.

OR

You need to eat a lot in their restaurant to have energy to push the restroom door.

I rarely watch UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship but the main reason I watched this particular event today was to witness the debut of former WWE Superstar, Brock Lesnar on UFC.

On a sidenote, Brock really looks like Rocky Balboa's opponent Ivan Drago in Rocky 3.

I was pretty impressed with his physique and massive built yet agile and impressive with his wrestling moves during his stay in the WWE. Lesnar dominated the wrestling scene. Since then, he's entered the NFL and now, he's into MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).

His opponent was former heavyweight UFC Champion Frank Mir. Both of them had something to prove in the ring - it was Frank's comeback after a motorcycle accident and Brock is getting intense heat from dedicated UFC fans who think that Brock has no business to be in the octagon. I could feel the pressure for Brock, since it was a make-or-break situation for him to give a good first impression of his MMA skills.



The match was quick and intense. Too bad it ended in 90 seconds. Brock clearly overpowered Frank but Frank, being the more experienced UFC fighter, submitted Brock in a quick kneebar.

I'm looking forward to more of Brock on UFC.

I passed by the computer shop today to buy a new mouse for my other laptop. I didn't plan on buying anything else until I saw this.


It's a USB-powered massager. It looks like cross between a UFO and a baby rattle in a spongy casing. It has a powerful vibration. And when I mean powerful, I mean that I placed this massager on my cheek and it made me think that my monitor was flickering. Oh, it wasn't. It was really the massager rattling my entire head.

A word of caution though: it's power hungry too... it sucked up the power of my USB mouse rendering it frozen on my desktop till I turned the massager off (and replugged my mouse). Better to have it plugged on a dedicated USB port rather than on an adapter sharing other USB devices.

These are one of those things that you don't really need but since it's a hi-tech gadget, you just want it. I saw it online being sold for USD $17.98 but I got it at CDR-King for P100.

The other gadged I'm eyeballing at is the USB mini refrigerator which can house a softdrink can. Isn't that COOL ??? (insert rim shot here)

You can check out the USB massager specs here.

Roosevelt College is one of the popular and leading schools in Marikina. A couple of my cousins studied there. I only knew of the Cubao, Cainta and Lamuan Marikina branches. I only discovered recently that they have branches in San Mateo and Rodriguez as well.

A few days ago, a huge number of students and faculty from all the Roosevelt schools paraded in front of our house marching towards the main campus in Cainta along Sumulong Highway.

Roosevelt was celebrating their 75th year of academic service. Students holding banners and placard drawings depicting "save the earth" drawings and "75th anniversary" were evident.

A tired band also passed by with the drummer being the only evident and audible sound left.

Happy 75th Foundation Day Roosevelt College !

In commemoration of Lego's 50th anniversary, here are some creative videos with the use of lego.



Classic Super Mario


Donkey Kong


Lego Indiana Jones



Lego CounterStrike


Lego People

I considered downgrading my laptop 2 months ago. I figured that the specs of my MSI Megabook Turion 64-bit laptop were overkill for me. It was underutilized. I figured that I didn't need much horsepower and features for a laptop since most of my heavy computing requirements were provided by my desktop which is my main computer. My laptop is just an extension of my computing requirements when I'm mobile. And I don't use the laptop every time I go out. So I consider it underused.

And so, yesterday, I got myself the downgraded laptop I wanted. It's a Samsung Pentium 3-750. The best thing I like about it is that the docking tray (which carries a floppy drive, CD-ROM drive, 2 additional USB ports, serial & parallel port) can be detached thereby leaving the laptop with the bare essentials (20GB hard disk, USB and PCMCIA card). I'm going to use this laptop mainly for online purposes and some web developing so I don't need a DVD-ROM or a fast processor. If I need additional file space, bluetooth connections or a mouse, the USB port will suffice.

I've used this laptop before and I love it's thickness (or thinness if you ask me) and size. It's only 1.98 centimeters thick and weighs only 1.36kgs. The weird thing is that I can type faster on this keyboard than on my MSI book.

One thing I love doing is accesorizing computers. Last year, I read up on modding (computer modifications to CPU cases, monitors, laptops etc...) where you change the visual elements of a boring computer and transform it into a cool and thematic machine of art. For this particular laptop, I wanted to create a fast car theme.

First, I bought a Final Fantasy poster from Comic Alley for P20.00 and cut out a portion to be used as the background wallpaper for the cover. I cut out the fiery art on a dark background.

Then I went to Officewarehouse and bought a clear A4 acetate for P11.00 to cover the wallpaper and make it appear shiny. I cut the A4 acetate to fit the size of the laptop and taped the ends.

Next, I went to the Blade car accessories store to get an "@" symbol to stick on the bottom left and made it appear embossed. One character costs P55.00. I was looking for a "Need For Speed" sticker but they didn't have any.

So, I proceeded to a sticker stall to have a custom-made silver sticker sporting the logo of the "Need For Speed" game to accentuate the car theme and at the same time make the laptop appear to be fast (when in fact, most of the laptops mine will stand side by side by in cafes and wifi hotspots will actually be faster). I had one made to fit the exact width of the laptop. The custom-made sticker costs P130. and took 8 minutes to make.

As for all my computers, whether desktops or laptops, my trademark is adding the transformers "autobot" symbol. I usually place it at the center on the cover of my laptops but for now, I figured placing both autobot and decepticon insignias on opposite ends below the keyboard. One transformers sticker costs P30.00.

Since it had the letters "Kia" on the cover which I covered up, I'm officially naming this laptop, "Kia".


I spent a total of P276.00 to accesorize the laptop. I may add more depending on what I'd like to add. I'm tinkering on the idea of adding something to look like a "car spoiler".

And so behold, 2nd hand downgraded but newly accesorized laptop, Kia.


I love it !

I've had the chance to go to Eastwood City last night where I attended an event. During intermission, I was able to take some shots of the carousel situated at the Eastwood Central Plaza.

While playing with various settings of my digicam's shutter speed, I was able to take these pics. The first picture vaguely shows the horses in the carousel. The effect seems like they're on a rampage.

I find them fascinating that the lights on the carousel create a spinning top effect.

Taking a closer shot makes it appear to look like an UFO.
Subjects like this makes photography fun and exciting to experiment with.

Last week while I was at the supermarket, I couldn't help but notice the unusual bananas in the fresh food section. I'm used to seeing bananas around 2 to 4 inches long. But this particular banana is HUGE !

When I mean huge, I mean that this banana can pass for an egglant or a cucumber if it were much greener.

The sign above said "banana tindok". It's the first time I've heard of this type of banana. It's like 9 to 12 inches long. The one I held was even longer than the entire bunch of smaller bananas.

Call me ignorant about the "banana tindok" or not. I just thought it was worth sharing. I definitely got a shock from the sheer size. I wish there were pickles this huge too.

If I had to choose between the two, I'd choose a hug over a kiss. Of course I'd take both anytime but if I really had to choose, I'd go for a hug. Both show care but the kiss is just really a contact of ones lips to ones cheek (or lips), whereas a hug is feeling another person's warmth.

Plus, there's no equivalent to how fast a smack is given for hugs. A smack on the cheek takes only a split second. There's no "smack hug" or "lightning hug". No one hugs for a split second. You need to give it some time (even 2 seconds at least) to really appreciate it and feel the care expressed.


So hug someone now and feel good.

The most recent episode of this season's American Idol auditions went out with a bang (or bang bang how you see it) with the last featured contestant.

Introducing Reynaldo Lapuz, 44, from Reno, Nevada. Before he even started singing, there was much to talk about him... his very white outfit, his original composition, and who could've missed the word "Simon" on his hat with wings. Somehow, he has the notion that Simon is God-sent for giving opportunity to people to sing. Hmmmm...



Yes, he's Filipino and made an impact on the show. William Hung may just have met his match.
I'm sure a couple of you guys acquired the LSS (Last Song Syndrome) from his song....

So without further ado, here are the lyrics:

I.
I am your brother
Your best friend forever
Singing the songs
The music that you like
Wohhhhhh

II.
Brothers till the end of time
Together or not
You're always in my heart
You hurt your feelings
And you will rain no more

Repeat I & II: (2x)

(Spoken) I love you brother

Repeat I & II (indefinitely)

If you can't get enough of Brother Rey, here are some photos from Kidd Kraddick in the morning radio show. Photos courtesy of Kidd Kraddick.


UPDATE:
I knew it was going to be the talk of the town for a while, but I didn't expect it to spread like a fire. I've seen a remixed version and some youtube imitations. Here's someone's tribute to Reynaldo. I am your BRRRAAAWWWDDDERRR !

He sits on a bench everyday minding his own business. I pass by him almost everyday but don't bother greeting him.

Some people sit beside him when they're tired or waiting for someone. He's happiest then cause he has company.

Kids like him. Some people have their picture taken with him. He smiles without hesitation (even if you sit on him).

Sometimes he's outdoors. He stays put regardless of rain or sunshine.

Sometimes he sits beside a trash can.

So why does he endure all the abuse ? Well if you'd earn billions a year, you would too.

Link
This is why you should watch where you go.

Thanks to Paco for sharing this :)