What's small, black, shiny and sorta new with a few scratches?
An Apple iPod 30GB video! ^_^
Yup, I got one. I ranted last week about having missed the sale but found out that Patti had an officemate who 'reserved' a unit but figured that he won't claim it anymore. So, I scooped it up. Good deal too. Only 9k Php for a 30GB unit. That's pretty cheap since a new unit would cost about 14k at retail.
Now all I have to do is set up the media pc, figure out how to use the Apple camera connector (for transferring files from the camera to the ipod directly) and convert my videos to ipod format... That's a lot of work...
Videos I need to convert:
CSI Las Vegas - Season 4-6
Top Gear - Last 2 seasons
Fifth Gear - Last 2 seasons
The Simpsons - 'borrow' from Marion
Futurama - 'borrow' from Marion
South Park - 'borrow' from Marion
Shaolin Soccer
TAXI - 1 to 3 (original french by Luc Besson, not the crappy Queen Latifah ripoff)
Samurai7 - the anime
Voices of a Distant Star - anime too
Adam Sandler movies - madami...
Kung-Fu Hustle
and etc...
Too many to mention honestly... and that's just the stuff that I have on hand that I want to convert! If you count the stuff that I want to find then it'll be a looooon list.
Anyway, I'll go mess with it a bit more =)
Later...
12/21/2006
12/20/2006
The Effects of Coke
Saw it on another blog and couldn't help but post it here... Considering I'm drinking a bottle of Coke right now, I felt it was semi-appropriate...
In Verbatim:
Have you ever wondered why Coke comes with a smile? It’s because it gets you high. They took the cocaine out almost a hundred years ago. You know why? It was redundant.
In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment)
40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dialate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
>60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
>60 Minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
>60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.
This will all be followed by a caffeine crash in the next few hours. (As little as two if you’re a smoker.) But, hey, have another Coke, it’ll make you feel better.
Original article can be found here.
In Verbatim:
Have you ever wondered why Coke comes with a smile? It’s because it gets you high. They took the cocaine out almost a hundred years ago. You know why? It was redundant.
In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment)
40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dialate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
>60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
>60 Minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
>60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.
This will all be followed by a caffeine crash in the next few hours. (As little as two if you’re a smoker.) But, hey, have another Coke, it’ll make you feel better.
Original article can be found here.
12/19/2006
Wishlist Redux
I'm adding an item on my wishlists... It's at the top of the list, regardless of category. I just want one and I want it now... 
I want a Nintendo Wii... I was at megamall last Sat night and saw a store clerk at InfoMax playing Wii sports on this thing. Bowling to be specific... I asked the price and what games were available. It turns out that the unit she was using was a Japanese model and couldn't play US games. Gray market of course. It was being sold for Php 22,000. While the US models were going for Php 28,000 in Toy Kingdom. Hell of a markup from the SRP of $250... Almost double...
I tried the thing and it looks ike a lot of fun! The bowling was amazing! tilting your hand a few degrees results in a slice/hook and how fast you move your arm translates to the speed of the ball on release. I can get hooked on this easily... Boxing is the same thing. Moving fast means a faster punch, too slow and you'll miss a block. Golf was cool as well since you'll need the proper golfing stance to get a good shot and same with the bowling, a few degrees off axis and you'll slice your ball into the woods.
The controller is called the Nunchuck. It's motion sensitive with a gyroscope inside and senses how fast, what angle and pitch the controller is at. This translates to motion or input depending on the game being played. Zelda for instance uses the Nunchuck as a sword/shield combo for fights and the left hand controller for lateral movement. It's connected by a cable for data transfer but you can disconnect it for games that don't need the other controller. Be careful though, there have been some instances where people got too enthusiastic about thier games and the strap on the Wii-mote broke sending the thing into their TVs.
Morons...
Nintendo hit a home run with this one though (there's baseball in the Wii spots package as well) regardless of the idiots who break stuff with their controllers... The PS3 is a technology showcase for Sony, showing the potential of today's hardware but without the support of innovative games then it'll be a dud. Microsoft's Xbox360 is a good contender with some nice games but it isn't as immersive as the Wii since it uses old technology and just plays like a souped up PS2. The Wii gets you into the game unlike any console on the market today, and the flawless backwards compatibility with older Nintendo game systems (you can use the older Gamecube controllers to play games on the Wii) will help with established gamers who already have a Gamecube collection as well as budget gamers since GC games go for P300-500 on the second-hand market today.
On a side note, Wiis are region coded using the DVD region coding system. Japan is R4, US is R1. We're in R3 so games will be specifically coded to work on machines in the proper region. Unless of course you wait 6 months 'til the newest mod-chip comes out that will let you play your Wii anywhere with burned copies of games... This is illegal of course and I don't condone piracy. Piracy is bad. Php50.00 games are good though so I don't really do my part in curtailing this injustice... I'll probably just wait for the local unit to ship. Expect it around May/June. But I still want one now... This is probably the most fun you'll have with a console since Dance-Revolution and the dance pad came out 5 years ago! =)
I want a Nintendo Wii... I was at megamall last Sat night and saw a store clerk at InfoMax playing Wii sports on this thing. Bowling to be specific... I asked the price and what games were available. It turns out that the unit she was using was a Japanese model and couldn't play US games. Gray market of course. It was being sold for Php 22,000. While the US models were going for Php 28,000 in Toy Kingdom. Hell of a markup from the SRP of $250... Almost double...I tried the thing and it looks ike a lot of fun! The bowling was amazing! tilting your hand a few degrees results in a slice/hook and how fast you move your arm translates to the speed of the ball on release. I can get hooked on this easily... Boxing is the same thing. Moving fast means a faster punch, too slow and you'll miss a block. Golf was cool as well since you'll need the proper golfing stance to get a good shot and same with the bowling, a few degrees off axis and you'll slice your ball into the woods.
The controller is called the Nunchuck. It's motion sensitive with a gyroscope inside and senses how fast, what angle and pitch the controller is at. This translates to motion or input depending on the game being played. Zelda for instance uses the Nunchuck as a sword/shield combo for fights and the left hand controller for lateral movement. It's connected by a cable for data transfer but you can disconnect it for games that don't need the other controller. Be careful though, there have been some instances where people got too enthusiastic about thier games and the strap on the Wii-mote broke sending the thing into their TVs.
Morons...
Nintendo hit a home run with this one though (there's baseball in the Wii spots package as well) regardless of the idiots who break stuff with their controllers... The PS3 is a technology showcase for Sony, showing the potential of today's hardware but without the support of innovative games then it'll be a dud. Microsoft's Xbox360 is a good contender with some nice games but it isn't as immersive as the Wii since it uses old technology and just plays like a souped up PS2. The Wii gets you into the game unlike any console on the market today, and the flawless backwards compatibility with older Nintendo game systems (you can use the older Gamecube controllers to play games on the Wii) will help with established gamers who already have a Gamecube collection as well as budget gamers since GC games go for P300-500 on the second-hand market today.
On a side note, Wiis are region coded using the DVD region coding system. Japan is R4, US is R1. We're in R3 so games will be specifically coded to work on machines in the proper region. Unless of course you wait 6 months 'til the newest mod-chip comes out that will let you play your Wii anywhere with burned copies of games... This is illegal of course and I don't condone piracy. Piracy is bad. Php50.00 games are good though so I don't really do my part in curtailing this injustice... I'll probably just wait for the local unit to ship. Expect it around May/June. But I still want one now... This is probably the most fun you'll have with a console since Dance-Revolution and the dance pad came out 5 years ago! =)
Weekend Jobs
I was supposed to be on vacation last weekend. Applied for leave Fri/Mon to get a 4-day weekend so I'd have time to go out of town, enjoy myself and come back with enough leeway to still be rested when I went back to work Tuesday. Instead I had to work.
It was a photo shoot at Lee Gardens Condos at Shaw blvd in Mandaluyong City. I worked from 7:30am 'til 8pm on Sat and 11am to 7pm Sun. Hours weren't bad and the pay was good. It was just sooo damn boring though... It was your typical event coverage with shots of people, opening ceremonies, awardings, stalls (there was a bazaar) and unit owners getting the first look at their new place. Ho-hum...
There were highlights though. Free Starbucks was one. All you can drink brewed, a free Latte on the first day and a free Mocha frap on the second. Whoopee... Oh, I also got to buy some Christmas gifts as well. 4 bottles of Spanish red wine, a shoe bag, a pepper mill, Cheetos, a shirt and some other weird things. Pacs also dropped by with Kharen and took a few shots. I don't think they found anything to buy sicne everything was geared towards people moving into a new place.
So it wasn't a total loss... I got paid too. Well, haven't been paid yet but I will be... soon. I hope.
This whole event made me realize something though. It's been on the back burner for the past few months but after this job, it suddenly came to the fore.
I need a new tripod.
Earth shattering revelation huh? Nah, just practicality. I lugged my Velbon VG-4 tripod around the whole weekend. You might think Velbon Carbon Fiber tripod or Velbon Traveller Lightweight Aluminum tripod... Nope. It was the old-skool Velbon thick as my arm solid billet aluminum tripods that you can use for large format and video cameras from the 90's... This thing is about 8lbs. By itself! This with the D70s (which is no lightweight) and the Nikon Sb-600, well it could be around 15lbs I guess... The result of all this weightlifing is a sore left bicep. Cheaper than going to the gym I suppose but it won't be even with my right arm since I just use that for the camera. =P
It was a photo shoot at Lee Gardens Condos at Shaw blvd in Mandaluyong City. I worked from 7:30am 'til 8pm on Sat and 11am to 7pm Sun. Hours weren't bad and the pay was good. It was just sooo damn boring though... It was your typical event coverage with shots of people, opening ceremonies, awardings, stalls (there was a bazaar) and unit owners getting the first look at their new place. Ho-hum...
There were highlights though. Free Starbucks was one. All you can drink brewed, a free Latte on the first day and a free Mocha frap on the second. Whoopee... Oh, I also got to buy some Christmas gifts as well. 4 bottles of Spanish red wine, a shoe bag, a pepper mill, Cheetos, a shirt and some other weird things. Pacs also dropped by with Kharen and took a few shots. I don't think they found anything to buy sicne everything was geared towards people moving into a new place.
So it wasn't a total loss... I got paid too. Well, haven't been paid yet but I will be... soon. I hope.
This whole event made me realize something though. It's been on the back burner for the past few months but after this job, it suddenly came to the fore.
I need a new tripod.
Earth shattering revelation huh? Nah, just practicality. I lugged my Velbon VG-4 tripod around the whole weekend. You might think Velbon Carbon Fiber tripod or Velbon Traveller Lightweight Aluminum tripod... Nope. It was the old-skool Velbon thick as my arm solid billet aluminum tripods that you can use for large format and video cameras from the 90's... This thing is about 8lbs. By itself! This with the D70s (which is no lightweight) and the Nikon Sb-600, well it could be around 15lbs I guess... The result of all this weightlifing is a sore left bicep. Cheaper than going to the gym I suppose but it won't be even with my right arm since I just use that for the camera. =P
So looking around the net, I saw a few models that might fit my requirements. First on the list is the velbon 600RA. It's about Php 6,000 in JT and there's also the 200R for around Php 4,000. The main advantage of the 600RA is that it's abit lighter and has a lower min height (29cm vs 59cm for the 200R). Lower height means better for macro shots or tabletop applications. There's also the Manfrotto 715B going for about Php 5,000 and the Gitzo's, Hakuba's and SLIK's for the same price range. Mind you, these are the "cheap" ones that fit into my price range. The more expensive ones from Gitzo and Bogen hit Php 20k at least... Factor in the heads aas well since my preferred tripods come with them as a package already... A good ball-head or pan/tilt-head wil go for about 5k at least in your local stores... That's too much for my blood so I'll just stick with the packages I mentioned before.It's time for another shopping spree! =)
12/15/2006
Wish Lists
Wish list time... sabi ni Pacs and Selle na gumawa daw ako so here it is...
The top ten baka-sakaling-manalo-ako-lotto wish list!
10. Nikon D200 Body - 2 pcs
9. Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens and Nikkor 12-24mm Ultra wide lens
8. Nikon SB-800 SpeeLight - 3 pcs
7. Car Stuff - Rota Circuit 10/16" w tires, Pioneer DVD/Mp3 head unit, Sparco Bucket Seats, Toyota Blacktop Engine
6. Suzuki Swift Sport WRC Edition (1.6l turbo, awd)
5. My Dream PC - Dual AMD Opteron, Dual 8800GT SLI, 6 500GB Sata2 drives, 1BluRy burner, 1DVD burner, Dual DELL 2407 Flat LCDs, Klipsch Audio System, 8gb RAM
4. Alienware Area51 Laptop PC
3. LazyBoy THX edition
2. Sony Bravia 54" Home theater System
1. A life
The top ten baka-sakaling-manalo-ng-lotto-kabarkada-ko wish list!
10. Calvin and Hobbes complete collection
9. 1GB Corsair DDR 400 RAM
8. 30/60gb iPod Video, black
7. Hoya 67mm Infra-red Filter
6. Portable DVD player w 8-12" screen (divx/avi supported)
5. Excercise Bike
4. DVD ng F1 Seasons (any from 2000-2004)
3. Smart Intense Hora Vulcan Lvl 45, +6keen (for RF players only... hehee)
2. Hoya 67mm Circular Polarizer (camera lens filter)
1. Trivial Pursuit 2006 Edition Board Game
Realistic ba? hehehe... Didn't really think so. But hey, it's the season for miracles and hope. So I figured, "why not hope for a miracle"... =)
Happy Holidays!
The top ten baka-sakaling-manalo-ako-lotto wish list!
10. Nikon D200 Body - 2 pcs
9. Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens and Nikkor 12-24mm Ultra wide lens
8. Nikon SB-800 SpeeLight - 3 pcs
7. Car Stuff - Rota Circuit 10/16" w tires, Pioneer DVD/Mp3 head unit, Sparco Bucket Seats, Toyota Blacktop Engine
6. Suzuki Swift Sport WRC Edition (1.6l turbo, awd)
5. My Dream PC - Dual AMD Opteron, Dual 8800GT SLI, 6 500GB Sata2 drives, 1BluRy burner, 1DVD burner, Dual DELL 2407 Flat LCDs, Klipsch Audio System, 8gb RAM
4. Alienware Area51 Laptop PC
3. LazyBoy THX edition
2. Sony Bravia 54" Home theater System
1. A life
The top ten baka-sakaling-manalo-ng-lotto-kabarkada-ko wish list!
10. Calvin and Hobbes complete collection
9. 1GB Corsair DDR 400 RAM
8. 30/60gb iPod Video, black
7. Hoya 67mm Infra-red Filter
6. Portable DVD player w 8-12" screen (divx/avi supported)
5. Excercise Bike
4. DVD ng F1 Seasons (any from 2000-2004)
3. Smart Intense Hora Vulcan Lvl 45, +6keen (for RF players only... hehee)
2. Hoya 67mm Circular Polarizer (camera lens filter)
1. Trivial Pursuit 2006 Edition Board Game
Realistic ba? hehehe... Didn't really think so. But hey, it's the season for miracles and hope. So I figured, "why not hope for a miracle"... =)
Happy Holidays!
12/14/2006
Go Bellato!
To those who don't know yet, I'm one of those MMORPG freaks... (MMORPG - Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game)
My current poison is Rising Force Online and I share this addiction with about a dozen or so people in the office. Unfortunately in the dirty dozen, only one other person (Lobo) is a fellow bellato, and he's on a different server (altrax). The rest of 'em are in Nexus-Accretia.
Anyway... Bellato won the 1pm chip war. Again. We just gotta win for the next 2 days or so to make it a real comeback for our maligned race. Ogor and Symour (race council/archon) are doing a superb job of coordinating the attack and defense roles during CW so that's a big reason for our success now. Thanks guys and keep it up!
That's that... Back to the game ^_^
For more info pls visit www.levelupgames.ph
The Great Microwarehouse Sale
Crap.
As most of the people in this country with email accounts know, Microwarehouse, the distributor of all things Apple, had a year-end sale today. Their office is a 3 minute drive from my place, and I know a few people in there so I thought it wouldn't be that difficult to get some of the items that I wanted. Right?
Dead. Fucking. Wrong.
All I wanted was an iPod Video 60GB mainly for archiving photos while on the road. It was selling on sale for P10,500 (roughly $200) as a class-B item, meaning opened box and used as a demo unit. I got money from the trusty ATM the night before just in case the stupid machines were dead in the morning. I was ready, I had the part numbers, prices, even the accessories that I wanted. Is it too much to ask for?
The sale should have started at 12:00 noon. I was there at 11:27am. 254 people were there ahead of me... Damn.
The system was everyone got assigned a number, then they were given a time slot. My number was 255 and time slot was at 5:40pm that same day. Well fuck... I'd rather sleep and buy the stupid thing at full price next week... Is P8,000 worth all this hassle? My answer, maybe. If I didn't have other things to do then I'd have waited. If I didn't have reservations on buying it then yeah, I'd have waited. If there was someone with good conversation skills in line with me then yes, I would've possibly stayed as well. But alas, Mars didn't align with Venus and Uranus on this fateful day. So I got fucked over...
Figuratively of course.
So for now, I'm still stuck with my trusty iPod Shuffle 512mb for a primary music player and my iPaq RX3750 for video as well as having to buy a few CF cards for my shoot tomorrow...
Hey, everything I have works... But i can't help but wonder how much more I'd enjoy the iPod video...
Crap.
Kids, Don't Try This at Home
I was driving home one morning from Makati and saw the long deserted stretch of EDSA right ahead of me as I came down the Buendia flyover... So what do i do? Pull out the Clicker of course! While driving with one hand and an eye to the road, I set the camera to auto-aperture and 1/6 shutter speed. Took 3 shots while driving at around 90 kph... I like the effect =)
Eleanor
Eleanor. Only one other car would have a name as evocative as that... Eleanor is the 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback featured in "Gone in 60 Seconds". Nick cage drove it's wheels off in the final chase sequence in the 2000 remake of "Gone" and it's the same car in the original 1974 title. I've had lofty aspirations of owning this car. Since I was a kid, the '67 'Stang was the dream car for me. Before the Lamborghinis, Porsches and Ferraris, there was the original Pony car. I've seen a few hulks rusting in driveways and junkyards in our country but I keep considering the time and effort it would take to revive this behemoth to it's original glory. It would be time, effort and resources that I unfortunately have little of... for now this will stay a dream... Maybe if i win the damned lottery...
Photo taken at the Sport Car/truck show in Megmall last Sept...
Fly
One of my first ever pictures on the D70s. A house-fly on a a Chrysanthemum leaf. Taken at 210mm, F5.6 aperture and at a 1/80 shutter speed. I loved the DOF on this since they were nicely rounded and as out of focus as you can get.. My only peeve about this was that the leaf was sharper than the fly...
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