Baguio Earthquake Festival

Yo!

I am back from a short vacation. La Union was much fun since the weather was not that humid as expected. Before leaving Baguio the earth shook around 6:30AM last Friday. The reports do say that it was an intensity five and its epicenter was right here in Baguio.

We arrived at La Union around 7:30AM, and yup they felt it too. Intensity four is what they felt and my uncles who were still on the Bus coming from Manila watched the news and they did want to call us immediately. We were all okay.

So what did i do during my three day vacation? Imagine there was no Internet access....well i could have easily went to my cousin's place and indulge in his fast wi-fi. Icould have asked for the password of the neighbor...hehehe but nah it was a vacation so was contented with a Sun Broadband USB stick. Geez it was so slow but just enough to check my mail and update my Plurk.

So what are you supposed to do then? Well strap your GE X5 around your neck and just sit pretty and enjoy the cool breeze. Hahahaha.

Of course i did lots of shooting. Used up two memory cards. One 4Gb and one 8Gb. A total of 3000 shots. Of course i spent the full charge of my new Energizer batteries but it was good i brought lots of back up.

I was hesitant to bring my cp charger. I said its just three days so my phone will survive. And yes it did with 40 percent battery life left.

Now i really did some experiments, but this is the sad part. There was a full moon last Friday night!!! Okay i was about to enter the outdoor shower when i saw it. I wanted to grab my phone and postpone my shower but i just said the moon will be just there. One hour in the shower and moon moved away!!! Hahahahahaha!!!

I didnt want to walk a lot of meters away just to take good shots. I DO REGRET!!!!

The next day i logged on to the GE X5 group and a lot of the members did practice shots on the moon. SUPER REGRET!!! Why? Because the moon was so big at LA UNION that time!!!

Oh well but last night i did sit at the garden, with a couple of monoblock chairs to serve as my tripod ahahahaha.

Took me almost two hours experimenting....lesson learned...use a tripod!!!! And dont forget to set the camera at spot exposure!!!! Oh well i managed to get two almost decent shots...ahem this camera is not a DSLR so what do you expect? Hahahaha. At least i tried.

So i still got a few more days left...will i write or spend my time doing nothing?

I choose the latter.

Ciao!

Off to LU

Yo!

Paging GE!!! You might want to get me as one of your advertisers LOL. I have managed to get five people to buy your GE X5 ahahaha.

Anyway yes i have encouraged five people to buy a camera just like mine. Three of them saw some of my pictures posted on the net and asked me what camera i was using. They didnt believe me when i said i was just a beginner and i was just using a bridge camera.

Di porke maganda yung picture kuha na agad sa DSLR yon ano! Hahahaha. I bought my camera last January 28 and its barely 2 weeks and still i am an idiot ahahaha. All i can do with this camera so far is do macro, spot photography and of course my favorite Bokeh!

Yes i can compose with this camera, i can adjust the shutter, aperture and ISO but i am still reading ebooks about photography. And yes i will try to go Manual mode in La Union ahahaha. So basically i know how to point and shoot, choose the best angle and of course automate signature placement ahahahaha.

The rest is all from the camera. So people its not me, its the camera trust me.

Anyway the three have bought their GE X5. I have nothing against DSLRs, i plan to get one myself when i have moved from being an idiotic to an amateur photographer. And i dont know if this photography hobby of mine will stick. I am fickle minded at times.

As for the two other people, well i met them at the mall when i was shopping for a screen protector. They were scouting for a D3000 or D3100, i guess thats the cheapest DSLR. The lady said my camera was cute and i pointed at the stand where the store had a camera just like mine. I showed them sample shots stored at my memory card and after thirty minutes of discussion they bought a GE X5. Oh yeah one each ahahaha. And that store didnt even treat me to a freebie for helping them out.

The irritating part is that they do text and call often to ask how things work ahahaha. I think their manual came in German perhaps LOL. So yesterday they came over the house and we did a sort of a mini eco walk around the neighborhood to test their new toys.

We would choose one object to shoot, then we would compare. Imagine an idiotic photographer like me instructing fellow newbies. I told them i was a beginner like them but they said at least i had two weeks head start ahahahaha. Fair enough.

One of them started to get frustrated as she was not getting good results. She had wobbly hands and she was so ATAT ahahahaha. You could see her wanting to smash her new toy but being an ex professor i told her that that is how life goes. I told her i did have wobbly hands but i tried to have a good feel for the camera. I experimented on several holds and then instinctively i got a good feel for the camera.

At the end of the day they were all smiles but still they thought i was cheating them because i had better shots ahahahaha. So it was my turn to use the 2 weeks advance excuse. So in the end they were happy and very hopeful. I must admit the other one was a fast learner and i envy her for having an artistic eye. She did manage to get some really good shots, so i told her and the other was so envious but it didnt break her. Its good that she didnt take it negatively.

For today we meet up again but this time with laptops in tow. For i am going to teach them how to make signatures.

I remember yesterday telling them that GE had a newer camera, the GE X500. Its an upgrade to the X5 and it comes with 16MP and more optical zoom i think. Oh boy they were so mad at me ahahahaha. But i said GE has not released it yet and i even had to prove it to them online.

I did show them the GE X5 group on Facebook and they saw really good photos. The more they were inspired, even me i do admire those fellow GE X5 users. They have had their cameras since October and they have managed to take really really really really really good shots. I so envy them since they are using Manual mode. Hey i will get there too one day. Ahem....the 2 week excuse ahahahaha.

Now for the bad part...one of them had an HTC Desire phone and the other a Samsung Galaxy S. Yep i was drooling!!! Ahahaha, not about their phones but its more on their Android versions. They both have Android 2.2!!! They have tons of applications!

My X10 mini is stuck at 2.1 because SONY ERICSSON does not want to upgrade it because they have newer phones!!! IF YOU WANT 2.2 OR HIGHER BUY OUR NEW PHONE!!!. YES THAT IS THEIR NEW COMPANY MOTTO!

Buti pa Cherry Mobile kaya nila 2.2 ahahaha. That says a lot SE!!!

Well at least the battery has lasted four days!!! LMAO! Yup its been 98 hours since i charged it and i still got 15 percent battery life left. Now i will for sure charge it this evening...will it last the whole LU trip. Friday, Saturday, Sunday...and i will be forced to use the Wi-fi for sure...nah lets leave the charger behind ahahahhaa.

"Bakit pati yung mga pangit na shots mo pinopost mo?" they asked. Of course so i can see where i committed a mistake and to show others that i am a beginner. And there are good people out there that would spend time to comment and tell you where you went wrong but of course there are more who will laugh at me but thats all good.

And besides even with the best shot i have i know there are still mistakes. And for a beginner just shoot away i told them. If you have one subject to focus on take as many shots as you want so you can see and even learn. What angle is the best, effect of the lighting or the settings etc. KAYA NGA BEGINNER E ahahahahaha.

Oh well its off to LU

Ciao!

Stupid Marketing Strategy

Yo!

Its time to be irate again LOL. Well actually i am not that much affected but i just wanted to dip my foot in the current issue with SE and its customers.

Being a spoiled brat i got a new Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini phone last Friday. I already talked about it in a post recently. Can you believe that my phone is still running at 35 percent battery charge, its been 3 whole days now since i fully charged it. Cool? Hell yeah since with 35 percent i am sure it going to last for another 24 hours. Four full days with one charge is definitely not bad.

Now what is the issue all about? Its really simple ahahaha, SE does not want to upgrade the Android OS of the X10 series family. The X10 users are stuck at 2.1 and SE even gave a lame excuse saying that the phone works better at 2.1 compared to 2.2 ahahahaha.

Its just like saying Windows XP is better than Windows 7. So what is the fuzz with 2.2 anyway? Well with 2.2 you can have Flash capabilities and the most important is Apps2SD, you can save your programs in your SD card. Without this capability then youre limited to the phone's 128MB built in memory and your microSD card will only store your music and pictures.

So is 2.1 really better? Of course not! Why am i not complaining then? Of course i got my phone for free so i am not that much bothered. If i did buy this phone then expect hell from me. Well this does not stop me from joining the cause to bug SE and tell them how bad their marketing strategy is.

Why do they stop upgrading? Because they have four new phones! Oh yeah four new phones with 2.2 or higher. I think its even Android 2.3 which again way better because you are assured of a faster operating system for your phone.

SE said "2.1 is better than 2.2" but in reality what they want to say is "If you want 2.2 or higher then buy our new phones" Hahahahahahahaha!

Of course they cannot just say that to save face. But hey who are they kidding? When the other companies can afford to upgrade to 2.2 why cant they? I have been an SE user for 10 years and they really have a mean reputation on customer service. Why do people keep buying their phones then? Because admittedly they are really good quality wise.

My K800i lasted for four solid years. The funny thing I noticed is that instead of them upgrading their phones they keep bringing out new ones.

I do remember i bought a K700i years ago, a few months later they brought out the K750i ahahahaha. Cool huh? But the tech geniuses were able to make some hacks in order to make your K700i into a K750i.

The X10 series phones are capable of Android 2.2 or even higher. They just dont want to upgrade them because they have new phones. Its as simple as that.

I WILL NEVER BUY A SONY ERICSSON PHONE EVER AGAIN!!! I got this X10 mini as a gift so i am sticking with it for a while...but i have plans of selling it to get an HTC Desire. Well at least HTC does things better and they do listen to their customers!!!

Anyway enough of that garbage. Customers of SE should stop ranting and just watch WALLSTREET 1 and 2. Its all about money people and so we cant do anything about it. They are more concerned about the sales of the new phones rather than the issues of the X10 users.

X10 mini cost is 12k (9k i think since they have a price drop) and the cost of one LG Optimus One is the same. Better get an LG because it has Android 2.2 already.

LG Optimus One sold 1 million units in just one month. Why? Because its a midrange phone with a low end price. The Optimus One has the almost the same specs with the X10 mini. The latter has a better screen and better camera and its cute.

The Optimus One has Android 2.2 and they have better customer service. Enough said! So forget about the brand name, choose a brand with better customer support and services.

I am itching to write something but nah!

Ciao!

Tech Guru Wannabee

The "Penis Plant" In Bloom

"Herma Plant" new name for the "Penis Plant"

Yo!

I have been wanting to change my Sony Ericsson K-800i for a long time now. I got this phone as a gift last February 2007. Getting this phone was the best thing i had for that month...or its the best day of that year.

On that same month of that year i got my last date, it was Valentines Day and i didnt even know that would be the last. At the end of the month she flew to a different country and the rest is history. So i called my phone the "Pain Gadget" since i took pictures of her on that said date. The last photos of her that i would be taking.

So i hated and loved my phone at the same time but more of the former. There are times when i would just like to throw it against a wall but i was afraid that it would destroy the last pictures. Deep inside i was still hoping.

Four years have passed and its time to retire my phone. With this phone i met the most wonderful woman. I could still remember her first text message last April 21 of 2009. I usually dont reply to unknown numbers but i did.

But this phone really sticks to its monicker, "Pain Gadget"

It had to be retired along with all of its contents. The pictures and the saved text messages.

A fresh start.

Sony Ericsson Experia X10 Mini.

Geez its so small, its dimensions are 83x50x16mm. How small is that? Its just like 2/3 of a normal phone. Its so light at 88gm so i suggest you connect a hand strap. There is a socket for a hand strap but the package does not include one.

It is quad band so for those who love to travel abroad you can take this gadget with you. The front panel is pure black but you can change the back casing. My package came with the white and cameleon case, i chose to use the latter.

Funny thing...my HP DV3 is pearl white, my Asus Netbook is pearl white, my Sony PSP is pearl white and now my Sony XPERIA X10 mini is pearl white ahahahaha! Am i complaining? Oh hell no since they are all gifts ahahahaha.

So that is why i chose the Black GE X5 since i bought it. If they were gonna give this to me as a gift i would have chosen the white GE X5 nyahahahaha.

So the X10 Mini has a capacitive touch screen with 16 million colors, oh hell yeah its that bright but of course the S-LCD screens of the high end phones are better but hey capacitive touch screen with 16M colors is better than having a resistive touch screen.

So that is my first tip to people buying a touch screen phone, never choose the resistive touch screen. The capacitive touch screen is more durable trust me. But if you got tons of cash then choose the high end phones with S-LCD screen just like the HTC Desire or Samsung Galaxy S.

The capacitive touch screen will do since its already scratch proof. I wont even try if this is true ahahaha. Buy your own and tell me if it is. Of course this is a Sony so the sound quality is great, the great part is that it has a 3.5mm jack so you can use your high quality earphones.

The processor is 600Mhz only compared to the high end phones having 1Ghz but hey why do you need a 1Ghz processor if your just a text and call guy? 600Mhz is decent enough.

The X10 Mini has a 128Mb internal memory. It uses micro SD cards up to 32Gb, the package comes with a 2Gb card already so its pretty decent but my gift came with two extra 16Gb micro SD cards ahahaha.

Yes it has 3G ( as if i would use this for the internet, this is a battery hogger by the way) and Wi-Fi (Now thats better)

The camera is 5 Megapixels with autofocus and a LED Flash. There is no digital zoom but i am not complaining since digital zoom makes the picture worse. If you want to zoom in on a far object then buy a decent camera with optical zoom. Digital zoom is a big no no.

Take note this is a mobile phone and the camera is juat a freebie just in case you want to take emergency pictures of everyday life. But if you are going on a trip on a scenic place and you plan to make this phone as your camera then you must be crazy. Yes it can take a decent picture with 5MP but hey who are you kidding? Buy a digital camera which does that function! LOL

The phones comes with Android 1.6 installed. So once i charged it up i immediately installed PC Companion on my PC and connected the phone for an upgrade. Yes the upgrade is free and now i have Android 2.1.

Now this is where Sony sucks big time. As majority of smart phones out there do have Android 2.2 already. Why is 2.2 important? Well its a better OS, you can now save applications on the memory card. With 2.1 you cannot do that and you have to rely on the built in phone memory of 128MB. Bummer!

But if youre not into apps that much this phone is okay even with 2.1 only. It already has Gmail, Facebook and the best part is Timescape!!!! Hell yeah! Timescape has Facebook and Twitter integrated. Trust me this is so cool.

I like the messaging system of this phone. Well all smart phones have this by the way. Its just like a chat thread format. But i did download Smart Keyboard Pro (from the Internet and not from the Android Market LMAO!) plus Handcent and TADA!!! A perfect messaging device. With this two installed i can choose the skin of my messaging system to make it look like an I-phone or an HTC Phone even ahahaha. And its much cooler compared to the standard messaging threads the normal Android OS has.

Do not fret about it being 2.1 and not being able to install apps on your memory card. If youre not into games that much then this will do. I am sure Sony will heed the calls of its customers and bring out 2.2 one day so i can wait.

Now for the battery issue. There are lots of X10 mini owners who have problems with their battery life. Here is my experience.

I charged the phone for the first time. Once it was full i immediately upgraded the system. Once i had Android 2.1 the phone became faster and better. Battery charge was down to 70 percent due to the upgrade.

So i tested out the blue tooth. I sent my contacts from my K-800i to this phone. Oh yeah in a few minutes instant phone book filled up. There are some owners complaining that they cannot use their bluetooth with other phones. Look at me it worked. I even transfered some videos and photos from my PC using bluetooth. So no problem with the Bluetooth.

After that i tested the Wi-fi and logged on to Twitter and Facebook and even Plurk Mobile.

Battery life was down to 50 percent when i went to bed. The next morning i had a text craze since i was getting used to its keyboard. In the evening the battery was down to 10 percent, that is 24 hours already.

The next day once i woke up the battery was down to 5 percent so i decided to charge it. Charging was done around 8:04Am, 100 percent done. (Feb 13)

Today as i am writing this blog post (Feb 14, 10:04 AM) battery is down to 85 percent. So is there a battery issue? 26 hours passed with only 15 percent down is pretty good. If you do the math the phone will stay on for six days.

Another cool thing i noticed is that when i was composing a text message...when i chose a recipient i was surprised to see the names of my Facebook friends with their phone numbers LOL. So cool it has auto sync hahahaha. Ignorant me not reading the manual.

So that is about it for my new toy. Im still not used to the small keyboard but its fun texting.

Oh i attached some pictures. Remember the "Penis Plant"? Well its blooming and as you can see it has turned into a flower ahahahahaha. Geez penis to flower. I better call this blue plant a "Herma Plant"

I remember writing something about the real essence of Valentine's day but i will not share it yet since it was written in the story MPEX ahahaha.

Yesterday was a blast, download season 1 to 4 of Big Bang Theory for my collection. Total size 5.4 Gb. Done in 12 hours. Thats 433Mb per hour or 7.5Mb per minute. That is a decent 120Kb per second download. Today i do my other favorite series Chuck!

So its Valentine's day.

Ciao!

Tiresome Twosome

THE EGG PLANT (lol)

For Monica

For Monica again

Yo!

Finally i got to unwind and relax just today. I went down to La Union early Friday, we arrived around seven in the morning. I was expecting it to be humid but it was alright. The first thing i did was to take a several pieces of pandesal and proceeded to the garden to take some shots.

I wasnt able to do much since i kept going back inside the house for more pandesal. Our neighbor has a bakery and hell yeah they do make really delicious bread. Trust me you should try their "Pandebara" its so delicious. The sad part is you have to wake up really early to go buy them since they only make a few pieces. Well sad to say we were unlucky so we had to settle for their tasty pandesal. Of course in the afternoon going back to Baguio we did take home some of their loaf bread, really super soft and delicious too.

So i managed to take lots of photos of all the plants around the garden of the house. Trust me there are many plants.

During the break i borrowed the wig of Alex (Family friend) and let my dad wear it. LOL! He was so shocked when i told him to wear it but he gamely did and i took several shots of him. Then i asked my Uncle Noli to wear it. Super funny scene, instead of posing for me he immediately proceeded to the dining area where Auntie Brenda (his wife) was eating lunch. He sneaked up on her and she screamed out loud thinking that my uncle was a ghost.

I managed to take two shots of that funny scene. Another uncle came over (Dario) and yes i made him wear the wig too.

Anyway Uncle Noli got me another new toy. A Sony Ericsson X10 mini. Its so small but one cool Android phone. Managed to upgrade it to Android 2.1 as i got back in Baguio and its really small LOL. I installed Smart Keyboard Pro plus the latest Handcent and TADA!!!! I got an on screen qwerty. Still its so cute and with big hands i have a hard time texting but i will get used to it.

Anyway i did get some supplies for my camera too, a new Case Logic bag, four Energizer 2450mAh rechargeable batteries and two 8GB SDHC cards. And of course a nice fast charger. I got two 16Gb micro SD cards too for my new Android phone but the sad part is that the X10 mini is only up to 2.1 Android version, that means i cannot install applications on my memory card.

Sony said they wont be releasing any new versions of the Android for this phone which sucks big time since you need version 2.2 to be able to install applications on your memory card. Paging Sony!!! Just get me to version 2.2 and everything will be fine! I dont care about 2.3 or even 2.4, just get me to 2.2 and were good ahahahaha.

So for now its just the important applications since the phone memory is only 120MB. The good thing is one app is only 1MB each but so far i am good since Sony has Timescape installed which already has Facebook and Twitter integrated. It also has GMail (Of course Android is by Google)

Now i wanted to install Yahoo Mail but i read the reviews and their application for Android sucks. So i wont be checking Yahoo Mail on my phone i guess. I havent tried it on the web browser though.

Yesterday was a different story. We met up with my relatives around lunch time at Tunu Tunuan resto at Engineer's hill. Hell yeah delicious grilled food. After that we proceeded to SM. Uncle Noli said its just going to be 3 hours of shopping. LOL!

Three hours later the men gave up ahahaha. The ladies continued shopping as we men proceeded to Gerry's grill. They ordered two Towers of beer. Of course its Iced tea for me since i stopped drinking, oh yeah its been almost seven years.

Around 6PM the ladies returned only to find out they had one more stop but Uncle Ben decided we have dinner. And dinner it was for we could barely stand up after eating LOL. I enjoyed the HOT SALAD!!! Hell Yeah! It was hot fruit salad with hot cream but wait theres more....yummy shrimps!!! So delicious trust me!

I got home around 8PM. So tired and full and so i decided to call it a day....not! Lined up all the shows i missed for the day and started downloading. Around 11pm i was done downloading so it was bed time...for real.

Thats basically it for my past two days. Be going down to Manila. Tuesday its going to be Palawan! Then Friday its back to La Union for another mini reunion. Be staying there up to Sunday.

Ciao!

(Pictures taken at our garden, Aringay La Union. Tons of pics at my FB album)

In The Realm of Butterflies

Yo!

I was lucky today for five butterflies were all around the house. Oh yes and they were very kind, they posed for me several times. Sad to say i didnt have my camera ready to catch them all flying together. You can blame PLDT for that ahahaha.

I woke up to no internet connection....oh yeah it made me a bit paranoid. When i was about to take the shot for the five butterflies the phone rang. It was my neighbor asking if we had internet connection. Okay so its PLDT's problem and not a local one. This made me lose that five butterfly in flight shot.

Oh well maybe next time. Tomorrow its going to be La Union for me. Not even done packing my clothes yet. I have to drain my batteries and recharge them. I have to delete the 800 photos on my memory card to have a fresh 1200 shots for LU.

So here are the shots i was able to take today. Take note i am not using a DSLR camera that is why the zoom is limited to 15x optical only. I dont activate digital zoom for it screws up the image. I will be posting some butterfly shots and the rest of my pics are at my FB album.

Entering my second week of photography basics and i am happy to test it out in La Union.

So much free time.

Ciao!

One Sunny Morning In Baguio

Orange Plant LOL

Mt Sto Tomas

Two Radars...One hidden by fog

The Penis Plant blooming

Trumpet Lily

Rock Formations along Chapis Village

No this isnt paradise...

Along Chapis Village

Yo!

I woke up early this morning and immediately took a peak outside the window. It was still dark at six but the sky was so clear. All i had to do was wait for the sun to rise.

At around 7:45AM the sun was shining brightly, finished my jumbo mug of coffee and immediately took my new toy and give it a spin.

For those coming up to Baguio for the Panagbenga Festival here are some sneak peaks to what you might see around the city. And take note that the pictures taken are only the scenes around my neighborhood.

Chapis Village is just a tiny secluded area located at the outskirt of the city. I managed to take pictures of the trees, landscapes and plants available. I did manage to take a shot too of the famous twin radars...unluckily there was a thick fog on Mount Sto Tomas so...just a take a look at the pictures.

The rest of the pictures are uploaded on my Facebook account. I will just try to post here some of the shots.

On Feb 10 i might be going to La Union. Of course i will do more practice with my new toy.

I am currently making a Youtube video. Trying something different. I am a writer but this time i will tell a story using pictures. I might be able to finish it by March since i am still enjoying my vacation.

Title of the video: "My Sad Story told in Pictures"

uy EMO!!! ahahahaha!

BTW dont ask me the names of the plants because i know nothing about them LOL.

Ciao!

FACEBOOK ALBUM

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2072745&id=1274082161