A Memo from the Conspirators Who Grant Random Individual’s Wishes

While out for a smoke just a few minutes ago, I pondered over my own life: how I envision it to be, where it currently is, and what would probably fill the gap to take me from its current to my envisioned state. Mind you, this is not something I normally do nor is it something I’ve ever thought of before. Never. I have this fondness of not thinking too far ahead most probably because of the “endless possibilities” premise. Endless possibilities either make me try to map all possible end points out in my mind or they blank me out. The former drains the life force out of me and the latter is just plain scary for someone with a hyper brain.

Going back to me thinking of addressing the gap between my current state and what I envision my life to be… I caught myself, uhm, wishing. That if only I get this one thing, I’d give up other things I’d rather still be doing but which could be to some, at the back of my mind, and probably versus the general sense of morality, something that’s just wrong or excessive or even immoral. Call it guilty pleasure, addiction, or vice, if that suits you better. Got my drift? I said to myself, I’ll let go of things I enjoy doing if only I can bridge the gap and have my way and start a clean slate.

“Universe, give me what I want and I’ll make the sacrifice.”

Seconds later, another thought hit me: what if it doesn’t work that way anymore? With all the unanswered wishes, what if the conspirators-who-grant-random-individual’s-wishes have long changed the rules of the game, made a memo, signed it with an elixir of Virgin’s blood, fang of a Mnemovore, and sweat of a Succubus and had it shredded to pieces but enforceable to their Memories so no one would ever find out that things work the other way around now…

“Make the sacrifices first and only then will we give you what you want. Bitch.”

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Experiencing Blazing Fast 4G Internet with Smart LTE

4G Internet services promise noticeably faster mobile Internet speeds as compared to its 3G forerunner and, as would you and the thousands of net critters like us, I said “I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE” when I experienced firsthand how FAST Smart’s Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G service could really go. Imagine watching full-HD Youtube videos without the pain of letting them stream for hours on pause before watching them sans buffering. To understand the technology better, I tried reading through net materials on 4G and, not surprisingly, my brain would numb off when I force it to get as much supposedly life nurturing nerdy juice from them as I can. Right after my third failed attempt, I concluded with firm resolve that if I become Emperor of the known world, I’d ban techno-jargon from reaching the consciousness of ordinary mortals, this Mensa genius included, because of their arbitrary harmful effects, quite similar to getting too much UV, glucose from non-diet non-zero sodas, and fat from those delicious yet ordinary glazed donuts.

However, if there’s one thing I learned from my net-readings, it’s this: 3.5G and HSPA+ will be far FAR inferior compared to a 4G’s premise like, in my mind, somewhere along a 1Gb download in under 10 minutes while you play your favourite resource-hogging online flash or client-based MMORPG . Sounds ridiculous, yes? Actually, not with LTE.

Smart will soon release its 4G LTE service late in the year and they have been fearlessly inviting several discerning users, yours truly included *chest thumps*, to try it out. The techno-masochist in me had a field day thinking of possible stress test scenarios for this special purpose.

When Bim from Smart said “download anything you can think of. Anything that’s legal, of course, LOL,” only one thing came to my mind: the massive 5.06Gb Adobe Creative Suite 5. To add to the challenge, I used the same browser to watch a full HD 1080p trailer of Summer Wars while the download is ongoing followed by me playing GodsWar Online, a flash-based MMORPG from IGG (that would on normal occasions freeze intermittently after around 30 minutes of continuous game play). Below’s a screenshot of the activity:

The shot of the screen above was set up with a direct-to-PC connection at the briefing hub in Astoria, Boracay. My download speed averaged 1MB/s or 8Mb/s. The real test, for me, however, should be when I take the Smart LTE dongle up to my room, a considerable distance away from Astoria, and see for myself how this would fare wirelessly from there. Proceeding to download Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 trial version that’s around 1Gb in size, thinking the LTE technology would fail to deliver anything better than the 1MB/s speed from hours before, it finished in 8-9 minutes tops at speeds between 2.19 to 2.3MB/s ( or 17.52Mb to 18.4Mb/s!). More than twice as fast from my previous experience! My laptop must have felt euphoria that time because the 1Gb download finished in 8-9 minutes LOL.

“LTE is a mobile standard which promises, at present, actual download speeds of up to 70Mb/s (as proven during the launch in Boracay) or roughly 35 times faster than that of the current 3G standard. It is 100% future-proof as it is designed from the ground up to handle massive amounts of data.

“With this, end users can fully enjoy multimedia streaming and downloads on their mobile devices faster than they could even on fixed-line DSL and cable internet connections” – Smart Communications.

I raised several questions during the test and briefing: when do consumers get it, who gets it first, and how much can we have it for? Smart LTE is currently slated for public release in December 2011 but the infrastructure is now established in Metro Manila and Boracay. Cebu, Davao, and other major Philippine cities and municipalities will follow shortly, Anne Binuya of Smart shared. There may be times when the 4G signal would go down to lower speeds depending on the location, similar probably to what I experience on my mobile phone with Smart’s HSPA when mobile. They mentioned that pricing would definitely be higher than the current rates for mobile broadband but there’s no final plan amount yet. Hopefully it’s friendly on my budget because I’m missing the speed already and I’ve been itching to change ISPs for a while now.

Traveling to Boracay on a Saturday and back in Manila again on Sunday was worth getting a taste of something exciting from the near future, all thanks to Smart. Since we’re in one of the best beaches in the world and since we were afforded some free time, we got to beeline towards a small store called Jonah’s Fruit Shake (not an advertorial, mind you), the undisputed must go to place in Boracay for fruit shakes LOL, thrice in 24 hours! Thanks for suggesting the Avocado-Banana variant, Bim. IT WAS THE BOMB LIKE YOU SAIT IT WOULD BE!!!

Disclosure: airfare, living, and accommodation expenses for the one-day LTE testing event in Boracay was entirely paid for by Smart Communications.

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Noon, Ngayon, and the Diskette’s Ancestor from 20 Years Ago

I’m sharing with you something that made the geek in me drop every and go “ZOMGYAYNOSTALGIA!” while doing office spring cleaning. Look! A SyQuest 5.25″ Removable Cartrige! I was holding this… this THING and I probably looked like what the great Alexander Bell would should he get ahold of a smart phone from the future (a Nokia N8, not an iPhone, excuse me LOL). Did a little search and I found out that SyQuest was one of the earlier players in the removable mass storage market in late 80s and that some aspects of its business were acquired by iOmega years before SyQuest filed for bankruptcy in 1998. BUT WHO CARES, RIGHT? This right here is like the level of a 64Gb SDHC flash memory card of 2010, only two entire decades ago where 88Mb was like WHOA WHO WOULD EVER NEED THAT MUCH MEMORY PRAY TELL (the cartridge back label says (c) 1988-1991 SyQuest Technology)?!

My Memories of Memory

For what seems like eons ago during my first job, we’d annually get a shipment box with 20 or so micro floppy diskettes containing a software (A Plus Tax) for the year’s US Tax Return preparation jobs. For a paltry 28.8Mb of data, we would have to wait from several weeks to several months before the order arrives. One bad sector in one diskette from package mishandling and you’re back to square one. Thinking about expensive shipping cost, too long a lead time before product receipt, pounds of costly and relatively heavy plastic diskette material, and a very time-consuming, spanned-disk install procedure, I’m glad we’re so over what for me is the stone age of storage, saving the environment and money along the way.

1.44Mb formatted? Pft. I’m so compelled to compare the micro floppy to the micro SD card right now but that wouldn’t be fair challenge. Instead, I dissected the micro floppy and compared its tape with a similar sized mini DVD-RW with 1.46Gb capacity. 1000x the storage, exponentially better looking with rainbow refract powers!

Still on the subject of memory, here’s another blast from the past. Back when Canon used to only have 1-megapixel cameras as their top of the line offering, the SD card on the left of the image below may have been very useful, something I won’t even think of using with my 18-megapixel Canon 550D. LOL.

A Briefcase Full of Old Cloud Nostalgia

On a more personal note, I used to zip and span 5-10Mb sized short film clips in micro floppies. I’d usually carry a box at a time for file transfer purposes. Remember Yahoo! Briefcase? It was easily a go-to portal for free mass storage offered to anyone with a Yahoo! email address/registration. With a limited storage space of 5Mb that later on grew to 50Mb, users (like me!) ended up making multiple email accounts just to avail of additional free storage space (because I’m “cost effective” like that LOL). Versus my diskettes, Yahoo! Briefcase is like free, exquisite, 3-Star Michelin rank restaurant prepared cuisine and the former a bland, over-priced hospital cafeteria food.

It pained me some when Yahoo! decided to discontinue the service in 2009 but only on the basis of nostalgia. As soon as I heard, I immediately checked my never-for-around-5-or-6-years-used-nor-visited Briefcase to view the contents and found several Sony Ericsson ringtones I painstakingly composed by ouido because, yes, apparently, I was a bored “secret mobile phone instrument musician” in the past. Saw some midi files there, mp3s, and some, um, “very informative” video clips that I’d rather keep to myself (evilsmirk). I’ve long forgotten the art and technique of ringtone composing (moreso that I once dug ringtone composing) but remembering what I did at one point in the not-so-far-away time made my heart flash a warm, toothy grin.

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10 Tips and Facts for the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Clark, Pampanga Traveler

Here are some 10 things that will come in handy for those who are going to this year’s hot air balloon festivity at Clark in Pampanga. Those who went in their own private vehicles or as a group whose transport had been pre-arranged sure had it great. Going to Clark, Pampanga via public transport, however, is an entirely different level of adventure, more so when none of the people with you know how to get to the event venue, hahaha. Talk about hard core! Enough of the blah and on with my definitive guide, owing to our personal experience during the 15th Hot Air Balloon Festival. Bookmark this page for future reference, dear backpacker/day-traveller.

1. The Commute: there were five of us who decided on taking a bus for the Hot Air Balloon Festival. Take the Victory Liner or Dagupan Bus Lines from Cubao. Bus fare is P102.00 (2010 rate) for Dau, Pampanga via Dagupan Bus Lines. It’s a good thing that we left our homes at 2:00 a.m. because there were no Victory Liner buses scheduled to leave before 4:30. Get off at the Dau stop over and take a jeepney along the highway (will take a short walk from the stop over spot) for the “Main Gate.” At the Main Gate, take another jeepney that will take you to the festival grounds. People in Angeles are very helpful. Ask if you feel lost or if you are not sure where you are.

2. Event Ticket: if you can, buy tickets before going to Clark via ticket outlets scattered around the Metro. Now be sure to bring those tickets because I know some people who forgot to bring theirs LOL. You can always buy them from the gate but prepared to fall in line because the Hot Air Balloon Festival is a BIG event and it will never fail to draw more and more tourists every year.

3. Start Time and Program Schedule: check the schedule from the event’s official website prior to going to Clark. During the Saturday event last year, the balloon flight was slated at 5:20 a.m. but the first balloons only started inflating at around 6:00 a.m. While the balloons were being set up, at around 6:19 a.m. a person in parachute came descending from the skies carrying with him the Philippine Flag as the speakers played the National Anthem. Everything has already flown at around 7:00 a.m. and right on schedule, too. There are things happening all day long but, next time, I’ll make sure I leave after the balloons. The scheduled re-flight at around dusk did not happen because the winds were too strong that they can’t even be inflated! I’ll explain more about this in a bit.

4. Vantage Point: only those with media badges are allowed in the field area where the balloons are being inflated. The rest of the spectators get to stay behind a gated area around 30 meters (or so) from the nearest hot air balloon. Those who came in early had the chance to stay right in front of the fence surrounding the main activity area.

5. Photographers Galore: as mentioned, people who get inside the venue earlier usually choose to stay very close to the fenced area. As there are also LOTS of photographers wielding huge-ass lenses on standby in that perimeter, it’s gonna be a feat get to have a better position than most others. Usually, the really very early guests reign supreme: a usual perk enjoyed by the sleepless but deserving. Remember, you are shooting opposite the sunrise. It’s challenging enough to get a good shot of the balloons, and then this lighting problem! Caltex held a contest for each of the days during the festival last year, selecting 5 best shots from submissions. Winners could get to win gas cards and a year’s subscription to a locally published photography mag. Winson, who was with us that time, submitted a photograph and won the grand prize! Woot! Lastly, bring extra batteries for your camera. I can’t stress this important little reminder enough. For what use are 32Gb memory cards when your camera’s in a temporary coma.

6. Weather: I suggest that you bring a jacket for the bus trip. I never thought the early pre-Valentine’s Day morning in Pampanga can still be chilly. The event venue is an open field with several hangars that organizers managed to convert to covered activity areas. At noon, and thankfully, it got a bit cloudy so everyone had heavenly protection from harsh UV rays, so to speak. The wind picked up late in the afternoon, much to the kite flyers’ enjoyment. As a drawback, the commentator explained, the balloons that were supposed to fly that night had a hard time inflating because the wind speed rose to around 7-8 knots (8 to 9.2 miles per hour) at the open field. In the event that the balloons did get to inflate, there’s also the risk of endangering the onlookers. They still tried inflating the balloons and it was evident from where we were looking that they were all having a hard time.

7. Food: there were trailers where Burger King, Jollibee, and McDonalds sold freshly prepared food (megots Burger King Chicken Sandwich! WIN!). There were also hotdog stands, carinderia-style meals, dimsum, ice cream, water, Halo-Halo courtesy of Kabigting Halo-Halo at the Marquee Mall booth (with pastillas as a main ingredient), and Yellow Cab Pizza, among others. Some brought food but, IMO, that’s too much of a hassle since arrangements for food stalls were well taken cared of by the organizers. Just bring cash since there are no ATMs inside the event area.

8. Mall-Access: Speaking of Marquee Mall, they offered free shuttle service to spectators that left every thirty minutes for the Mall. We left for Marquee Mall at around 8:30 only to find out that the mall opens at 10. Major bummer! Good thing Starbucks opened earlier than everybody else. We went around, having nothing else to do, and found ourselves inside Saizen (a Japanese store that sells anything for P85) where we spent a good hour getting awed at the littlest things. It is only here that I saw the most expansive CDR King branch ever! There we also traces of concepts stores, one for each of Microsoft, Lenovo, Toshiba, Logitech, and Dell, the likes of which we’ve never seen anywhere in the Metro. We had lunch in the mall before heading back for more Hot Air Balloon festivities via the way we came: free shuttle!

9. Stay all day: Next year, I’d rather leave for home after the early morning balloon flight. Don’t get me wrong, staying there the entire day will get you your money’s worth for all P150 of it (still the same price as in 2010). There are portalets in strategic areas that would have been easy to use in the mornings but got filthy-gross at dusk. The emcee was outstanding. I was not able to get his name but kudos to you, whoever you are. That guy was talking all day, talking sense of what the “plane acrobatic pilots” (the actual name they’re called escapes me) were doing or are about to do as the flying exhibition happened, helping children find their lost parents (LOL), explaining about the balloons and the science behind the flights, and taking good care that the program remains interesting even for those who are not facing the stage or field area. It must be exhausting doing all that for four straight days in a row! *hat tip* I would not dare stay later than 3PM again because of my next and last learning…

10. Going home on commute: We had a hell of a hard time going back home at around 7:30 p.m. There was traffic everywhere and it seemed that every commuter from the festival decided to go home at exactly the same time. Jeepneys heading back to the “Main Gate” were scarce and the traffic congested. Terrific! Outstanding! When we finally reached the Dau bus terminal, getting a Manila-bound bus proved to be the hardest task for the day. Oh boy, never again. It’s either I’ll take my own ride going to Pampanga for next year’s festival or I’m leaving the venue earlier and forego the afternoon program.

There you have it folks, 10 thinks you should know and prepare for when going to your next Hot Air Balloon Festival. Thanks to Marquee Mall for the Event Pass!

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Blog Action Day 2010: To Drink From Tap Again

I’m only being honest here but this year’s BAD theme bored me to tears: Water. The Blog Action Day (BAD) team had been very helpful when they emailed topic guides for those who are lost with an angle to write and there’s this one particular item that turned me off the most: the action widget. When embedded, it’ll let your readers have access to a link to a petition “supporting the UN’s efforts to bring clean, safe water to millions.” Though noble and I fully support this, mind you, why do we need to gather signatures for this cause again? If people in global organizations who have the power to do this decades ago can not still discern that this is a worthy cause to pursue then I’ve lost faith. Oh, just because there are private citizens who’d do this for them anyway, is that it? There’s this episode on Oprah three or four years ago that showed she’s already built a well in Africa. It’s the same advocacy that BAD’s petition is trying to have signatures over and this bothers me.

If the UN did not get inspired, fully grasp the humanitarian essence of this deed, or if it would take Blog Action Day and thousands of blogs to give the UN a backing first before they can act then, sorry to say, as an Internet meme would put it, “I am disappoint.” It’s 2010. All of mankind’s concerted efforts globally through the years since 1996 have practically stopped the hole in the ozone layer from expanding. Look, UN and BAD, go ahead and do it, petition or no petition. It’ll make you feel good, the kind of feel good that’ll make you cry some happy, fulfilling tears.

I left the title as it originally was from the initial draft of my Blog Action Day article . Sure, I’d still wish to drink from tap again but those in Africa who’d have to walk miles just to have access to clean drinking water dwarf my battle cry in shame. I hope the 3,050 signatures (as of press time) on that petition’s enough to egg and cheet UN on aaaaaaaaaaaand I highly doubt that’ll be the case instantaneously. Still, I hope some time soon that some real action or miracle happens, whatever comes first.

As a personal advocacy to attempt in my own small effort to declutter the country I’m in with trash, pet bottles being the lot of them, I’d like to share some ideas on how we can all do our part:

1. Reusable Mugs: for those who are working in offices, carry your own tumbler and reuse it when getting drinking water from filtered water dispensers. I get at east one every Christmas and every one of them end up at home. I’m sure I’m no isolated case on this. Leave one at work, use, and reuse. They’re cooler looking than plastic/sturo cups and plastic bottles.
2. Sport Bottles: from home when going out in the field or going to school or places that don’t usually offer potable water from water dispensers, use sport bottles and take your cold water anywhere with you. My favorite brands for these are Sigg and Nalgene. These two are right about the coolest looking sport bottles on the planet and they’re available in outdoor equipment specialty stores in the Philippines.
3. Mind Water Fountain Wastage: there are still some establishments that offer potable water dispensed from electricity powered drinking fountains (like Buddy’s and out office cafeteria, for example). Observe. We spill more water than how much we drink when we bend and drink directly from the stream. Use a glass.

Let’s do our share in continuing to be mindful about the filth we throw away everyday. If anything, this for me is action more than just clicking a button to sign a petition. (NO to take out styro and disposable utensils!)

Header photo meta: Meta: 22mm, f/4.5, 1/3200 sec. taken 04.20.2010 5:08 PM, Camarines Sur.

Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Join the global conversation around water on October 15th.

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Free Multi-Me Lifestyle Fair on October 17th at SM MOA from Centrum

I’ll be so going, my fabled spinal injury be damned, to the Centrum Milti-Me Lifestyle Fair on Sunday, October 17, 2010 at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall for this one single reason out of the many: FREE WALL-CLIMBING! While Barre3 (“ballet with with the wisdom of yoga” for fitness), Center for Culinary Arts Manila (healthy food preparation demo), Team Manila Lifestyle (lomography), Groovejackz from the Brewing Point Dance Studio (street, hiphop, krump, popping, and adlib dance), Freeway and Solo (fashion makeover demo), and John Robert Powers (personality development) will be setting up booths, demo classes, and interest group talks (where applicable) for the different multi-faceted or soon to be multi-faceted attendees (as the event is for free for anyone and everyone), I’d like to hog the wall because it’s been close to two months since my last climb and I can totally sense my muscles forgetting the discipline.

We’re at that day and age where being holistic and dynamic is nether only a suggested lifestyle nor a fleeting trend. It’s already become the consciousness that’s possessing everybody. If living the multi-me lifestyle were a virus, it’s one thing anybody’d rather die having. It’s a phenomenon that so good and sound, everybody’s buying. Nobody would want to be branded as just a corporate person doing good at their jobs, an artist who only knows one fiddle, or worst, somebody who’s just as good as his one hit wonder. If there’s anything of value that that slut consumerism has set a-walking on this earth, it’s creating demands for activities that actually benefit the consumers by giving them a wide selection and avenue where they can express their passions, realize frustrations, and live what they would have only forever dreamed all while in the pink of health.

So do you want to learn to dance like those kids at Got To Dance UK (great format, guys! I saw one episode last night and I was so inspired, I swore to go get street dance lessons again and soon) or So You Think You Can Dance? Or would you rather know how much it would take or at least get a feel of being in one of the best culinary schools in the country? What’s this Barre3 and why’s it being the world’s latest workout craze, pray tell? How easy or expensive is it to lead a “new you” life starting with a makeover? Can you beat the fritzparazzi at wall-climbing because he dares you to beat him? I’ll see you at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall on Sunday for Centrum’s Multi-Me Lifestyle Fair? Yes? Yay! Last I heard, anybody and everybody can join the fair. No product purchase required.

Below are some photos taken during the Multi-Me Lifestyle Fest Press preview.

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