The 5 Worst Ways to Die Hiking

The 5 Worst Ways to Die Hiking

Went up hiking at Buntzen Lake doing the Sendero Diez Vistas trail, though kinda screwed it up because instead of going the whole path around the lake, I doubled back on the route and took the same path down. Agh, so we missed all the viewpoints, but at least I got a good workout (almost) without killing myself.

5) Having a heart attack 30 minutes into a hike
The trail we chose was probably too hard for me. The initial vertical slope was pretty steep. For the first hour, I couldn't breathe, I was dizzy, seeing spots, colors, and imaginary people. After the first hour, it was better, probably because I threw everything up from IHOP breakfast, and threw up even though there was nothing left in my stomach.

4) Knocking myself out with a stick
There were a lot of wasps, bees, or moths, and flies. ANNOYING. I kept waving my walking stick around myself to get them off me, but when they kept buzzing around my head, my ears were hurting so I tried swinging the stick at them. I probably could have taken myself out.

3) Mauled by a black bear
On the way back from the hike, towards the parking lot. A bunch of people screaming came towards us. Nothing weird, they're just rowdy kids. "BEAR" "OMG That's the scariest thing I've ever seen. I don't even wanna do this anymore"(from a girl carrying a life vest). "

I heard a scream while we were still on the other side of the floating bridge... but didn't think anything of it. It kinda makes sense now.

2) Mauled by a cub
When we were taking the alternate path to the parking lot (to avoid the bear), we turned around and realized there was a cub following us (a group of about 15 people). As it kept coming towards us, we hastily ran away, turning back every so often to check it wasn't still following us.

1) Impaling yourself on a walking stick
I almost fell on my walking stick, which was just a wooden branch. If I took a wrong step and actually tripped, my weight could probably have driven it straight through me. Then I would look like a complete retard.

Get Smart

There's so many summer blockbusters this year, I'm already behind on other movies that are currently out like Indiana Jones, Hulk, Wall-E, Wanted, and Kung-fu Panda. I'm so excited for next month as well for Dark Knight, Hellboy 2, and Hancock.

I watched Get Smart today. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. I wasn't expecting much since most remakes are pretty weak, but this one was alright. This role was meant for Steve Carell, but I was hesitant at all the corny jokes since Carell's performance on The Office gets pretty stale and predictable. The jokes were good though and not overly excessive.
Overall rating: 7/10. Lots of laughs, a simple movie to just relax and enjoy.

Growth

I know my own strengths and weaknesses. I understand my personality and try to change and improve some aspects of it. For the past few years, my belief was that if I applied small changes in my mentality, and shifts in attitude, I could create an entire personality change. It was partially right. I need to have the mentality in order to change myself. But complete personality morphs has to occur over time. Having sudden, major experiences can change who we are over the short term, but the mundane, monotonous minor experiences that we live through day in and day out alter us more.

I think about how I have grown every few months. It used to be that I could never notice myself changing. I always thought the same. My perspective has undergone a radical transformation in the past few years, though. Every time I ask myself how I have grown now, I realize I wouldn't ask the same questions, nor make the same decisions.

In truth, it is about every single day. Each day adds a new layer of growth. Small experiences shape who I am, who I will become. And while I think I can predict what I will do each time I face a situation, I know that it will be different every time I look at it. Every experience is a layer upon us. Layer upon layer, we are the sum of our experiences.

Every day is a gift. A gift to explore who we are.

Weight

Weight's always been a big issue for me. I used to be underweight when I was 6-7 years old. I wouldn't eat, and my mom had to run after me and force me to eat. The tables have turned now and instead I'm overweight, and eating too much. That might be an exaggeration since I have controlled how much I eat and I have been able to keep my weight around the same for about 5-8 years with a fluctuation of maybe 5 lbs. I'm thinking about this because I found a little fortune teller scrip where I weighed 174Lbs and 5'09" dated 17-07-1999. Funny, because I don't ever remember weighing that weight/height combination, because then I'd be in better shape than I am now.

Time to get my shape on and go work on my Wii Fit that I got this tuesday. (Maybe, I need to get out of shape, because I'm pretty pear shaped right now)

Philosophy Hour: Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil

I tried reading through my copy of Beyond Good And Evil, but it was also beyond comprehension; for me anyways. The text is just full of aphorisms and thoughts separated into multiple chapters. Each highlighting a different facet of Nietzsche's perspective. I might not have been able to read it because of what is lost in translation as the original work was in German. Instead, I used good ol' Sparknotes as my guide and referred to the book to verify the arguments.

This is a philosophy piece and thus prompts you to think. It provokes very different thought than usual philosophers. Nietzche tries to prod the reader to consider what he reads from philosophers; as they are inclined to force you to think how they do, or convince you that how they, the philosopher, thinks is the "right" way. In fact, by doing this, Nietzsche openly subjects his own work to judgment.

Perspectivism. This is what I think is the strongest argument from his work. He challenges the thought of "absolute truth." He posits that any truth is subjective. The same observation could result in different interpretations based on who is seeing it, and similarly some "truths" or rather opinions change over time. That is why he has an aversion to writings or language. They are fixed in time, and are only relevant at that time. Languages grow, but the words are unable to change with it. These words are forms of thought that someone has affixed to a word and will no longer be accurate as the words change meaning over time. In my opinion, this is especially true in religious teachings and texts as certain ideas made sense in the time they were written, but no longer correlate with modern society as it has not evolved with civilization. This creates conflict between those who follow the written word literally as to those who take it as interpretation.

Truth is such an interesting concept. There are so many concepts of how truth is no longer truth, and as I have said above, only relevant at the time. Such ideas in science such as Newton and Einstein on space/time, Ptolemy and Copernicus on the geocentric/heliocentric, and all those other "truths" that have been shattered. The same problems viewed from different perspectives can yield any multitude of "right" observations. In all fairness, no one can really claim the truth. They can only claim what they think is true, and only at that time. What Nietzsche tries to champion is the idea of taking everyone's opinion and going from there rather than just believing in one and ignoring the rest.

We must rather ignore "truths". If someone believes in a "truth", then it means that they have chosen their perspective and chooses to regard other opinions as false. We must move to a higher level and rather believe that truth is fluid, and changes as people need it to. We must ignore assumptions, and base our beliefs on knowledge instead. Facts that can be proven, and hold no perspective, and only give information without an opinion. If we can use this knowledge and listen to opinions, be open-minded, and then we may start looking for truth by being open to possibilities.

Pain. I've been in pretty harsh back pain since last week. I can't sit down for long periods without having my spine hurting. It's been getting better over the week, but now after badminton today, I can't even move without feeling my spine stiffening. Plus my glutes, quads and knee are aching. I really need to go exercise more.

The end of Narnia

I've been reading through the Chronicles of Narnia the past few weeks and enjoyed every story. The books are a breath of fresh air reminding me of the imagination we all lose once we move on from childhood. Characters from the stories themselves make that point when they first enter Narnia. We are all adventurers except when we are skeptics. It's sobering to see how blinded we become when we are drowning in fear, scared of reality. How is it that the amazement and wonder of youth, that crazy spirit that sets us free dissipates with age and experience.
I'm going to start looking for my own adventure now. There's a passage in the book that truly brought this to light for me. It sums up for me what the Chronicles of Narnia books are all about. Life, adventure, and being able to take it all in.

"For all find what they truly seek" -Aslan in The Last Battle

Got my spots!

I have made the leap. I finally installed Leopard. It's a little early to say if I like it just yet. It is different. Spaces is a little in-between for me, but I am very happy with Stacks. I'm gonna do a little mini-review on Safari since I wanted to do one for Safari 3.0, but never did.
Well, I wanted to praise Safari's improvements of having functional tabbing. Safari 2.0's tabs were pretty terrible, but the improvements in 3.0/3.1 have made up for it. The tabs are now draggable, and "pull-out" feature of being able to turn into new windows and vice versa, pulling tabs from other windows and transferring it into another Safari window is just phenomenal.
I guess for functionality that's it really. But the most important thing is the jump from 3.0 to 3.1. The SPEEEEEED! Apple boasts about it on the site, but they are not kidding. It just renders everything on screen faster.
Firefox has taken a backseat now. I didn't have a choice before and needed it to run my Gmail so I could use Googletalk, but Safari/Webkit's upgrades have made that functional. Now I almost use Safari exclusively, except for when I need to do browser tests. Or when Safari crashes.... which seems to come a bit more often than usual.

Staying frosty

It's still really cold here in Vancouver. A little odd considering it's already Spring but the average temperature is still looking around 8-10 degrees Celsius.

Just some Frost-y poetry for the frosty weather

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
By Robert Frost

"Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."

I love Frost's work. His poetry is always calming because of its imagery and connection with nature. I added this because I was rummaging through some old poetry in elementary schools. Before I toss them, I'm gonna list them here so I'll have a little reminder.

Haiku:

A Windy Fall

The leaves gently falll,
trees swaying from side to side,
as the strong wind blew.

Snowflakes

The snow is drifting,
very softly on the ground,
painting the ground white.

Lanterns (1,2,3,1 syllables):

Snow
drifting
very light
filling the sky
white

Leaves
from trees
being blown
changing colours
fall

Games
pleasant
enjoyable
are challenging
fun

Rain
falling
drop by drop
pitter, patter
wet

Balls
are round
filled with air
played by people
bounce

Birds
have wings
big and small
soar through the sky
fly


I just realize some of those lanterns have some alternate interpretations. Hahaha. Okay, gotta get the mind out of the gutter. Time to get back to cleaning...

Diary Dialogue

I'm still combing over old agendas and journals in my cabinets. I love reading some of the stuff I write. It's a form of self-exploration that is so revealing. Unlike reading someone else's diaries, you are not understanding someone else's history, you are glimpsing into your own mind. Nothing is as intimate as having a conversation with your past self. (If I could talk to my future self, that would be cool too.)

Some things stay the same though even after a long time. Here are some entries I wrote for pre-set questions in my agenda:
I feel important when: "Somebody asks me for help"
I am able to: "Play the Piano lousily"
When I need help I turn to: "My family or friends"

Awakening

I woke up this morning from a dream so vivid because a girl was causing me physical pain with an iron grip, yet entranced in a magical stare. My forearm still felt like it was still being pincered by the girls razor sharp nails. Upon waking up, I looked down at my arm completely convinced that it would be bleeding and have slivers of skin peeled up by the human claws.

The last three weeks have caused me to suffer Mac withdrawal while my Macbook Pro has been under repair. Well, I got it back yesterday, and while the extremely long wait frustrated me. "I'll never buy Mac again, their service sucks" are words I rescind. It may have been due to production/supply changes/lost order or whatever, but I finally got my hard drive replaced. Only it wasn't the same. My original hard drive was only 100GB, but the replacement drive I received is 200GB. I guess it's fair only to ignore the long wait since I got a free upgrade. It may only have been a luck of the draw because they no longer make 100GB HD's for Macbook Pro's, which is the most likeliest reason. w00t! Back to mac!

To be or to be something else

I am going circles in my head still trying to figure out who I am, who I want to be, and how to get there. The idea of trying to do things differently, to act differently that to what I should/would, is still at the front of my mind. I am who I project. And the world around will reflect upon that.
I have to keep resorting to the fact that I am myself, and that I shouldn't change who I am in order to achieve my goals. History does not remember kindly those who are willing to succumb to pressure. History champions those that stand against the flow and challenge the strong. If I act against my ideals, I'd be doing nothing but betraying myself and abandoning all self-respect. I have to trust in myself and believe that I shall pave my own path. Pretending to be something else is an illusion and will only serve to sabotage my own efforts of self-definition.

Some quotes that have helped me strengthen my resolve:
"The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be." -Socrates
"We write our own destiny. We become what we do." -Madame Chiang Kai Shek
"Our deeds determine us as much as we determine our deeds." -George Eliot

Richard Branson said something that resonated so strongly with my beliefs in daily life in an interview on The Colbert Report in August 07. He said "In the end, all we have is our reputation." It's the Golden Rule. You treat others how you want to be treated. People will trust and respect you if you do likewise.

I don't understand how a lot of people just don't get it. Some simple truths are the hardest ideals to achieve.

A window to the past

I finally gave in and started to read through some of my diary entries. They start just under shy of 10 years ago in Nov 98 and they go on for about 3 years. I find myself flinching after reading every few lines. My memories aren't particularly painful, but it reminds me of someone who's so distant now. It may be distant, but it still feels like inside of me just pooling up in little pockets of unresolved reflection.
Some things seemed so important then that are trivial now. A lot of it is silly junk like how I used to obsess about Starcraft, and video games. I spent Christmas Eve in 98 playing Metal Gear Solid. Hahaha. My addiction with video games still carries through to today, but I wouldn't find myself writing about it in a diary.
Then some entries are damaging. There was somebody I wanted to talk to and get to know, but I never got a chance or didn't try. And now it's too late.

There are the ramblings of dreams and hopes I had then, now just fading reminders of what I perceive now to be as impossibilities and taken avenues. Silly ideas of where I would go to school. I was a pretty hopeful 15 year old back then. I'm a little more pessimistic now.

I'm finding it harder and harder to turn the page. And I cannot bring myself to throw it out. These memories are a part of me I still need to come to terms with and accept. Or bury them forever. Resolving one's memories is something I didn't think I had to do. I didn't think I had a bad childhood, but I guess any life experience has its own depth and magnitude that overall happiness itself can not measure.

Human centered design

An interesting example of modern anthropology in a technological construct by a researcher for Nokia.
This is the stuff I love. Human-centered design. Usability issues. Designing products for people rather than just for the specific need. People will use the same tool in different ways based on their own cultural context.

This is a good read for those who aren't even interested in usability. It appeals to all people who love design and invention.

Reformation

In order to create, we must destroy.

I'm starting to shift gears now. In my path of destruction I find that I am changing who I am. Every change brings about a light upon an aspect of my life that I did not realize. I am continually applying changes to other things I wish to improve or even forget. I've been so focused on some things in my life and those goals aren't wrong, they're just unreachable for me because of obstacles that are so close to me that I choose to ignore.
Here's hoping to the continuing de-evolution of my currently existing footing, and to rise from the ashes tomorrow and ascend upon my lofty sights.

I found some old diary entries while I was (currently, still am) cleaning my room. I'm contemplating on whether to burn them or not. I haven't read through them yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to like what I see. I feel like I really need to engulf them in flames so I can move past. Just throwing them in the garbage would feel like I'm just burying it within me, and then I'll never be able to get them out.

Destruction....

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then I must be paving the road to the apocalypse or something... I think I'm on a record breaking spree as of now. I broke a sprinkler handle while washing the car on the weekend, and while I was out there doing some cleaning, I went to mow the lawn. Oh of course, I ran the blade into some kind of pipe and broke the blade and the pipe as well. I seem to be earning my title of "Smasher" quite handily.

I went to the Vancouver International Auto Show today, not as much excitement as it usually gets, but still a lot of nice concept cars to look at. The weirdest has to go to the Ford Airstream, which is similar to a standard Airstream, but built more like a luxury car inside rather than an Airstream RV.
The Audi R8 seemed like it had the highest amount of traffic and attention in the central display area, it looks so awesome. It makes you wonder about Audi trying to push their boundaries of sport luxury sedans to a higher (and better) level for their brand.

Penny Arcade Vs The Industry

I just finished reading an article from Wired interviewing the guys at Penny Arcade regarding digital distribution.
From what I've read correctly, that's going to be ingenious if they are really allowing for a game key to be distributed among different platforms. A la, having to pay for the same game on different systems. It's ridiculous and if I am given the freedom to be able to play on a different system, when I want, then it's giving more power to the people. Do I really own something if I am forced to buy it multiple times just so I can use it at different situations for the SAME content?

I'm also intrigued with the idea of creating a new digital distribution platform as opposed to existing ones like Steam. Steam is alright, only because it allows the user to be free from having to own a physical copy of the game to still retain the ability to play it again. Being able to download on demand is great. Other than that, it is a pain having to consistently update their platform. I'm hoping Greenhouse will break the mold and bring a new age of freedom. With the guys at Penny Arcade at the helm, or co-helm, I'm sure it will.

Withdrawal

Oh, it pours when it pours.

Last week, as in my previous post; my Macbook Pro failed. And now... my internet at home is dead. I'm still going through Mac withdrawal, but who knows what will happen after I get hit with internet withdrawal at home.

I've managed to entertain myself pretty well without my net. The Best of Sherlock Holmes has been a good read, and I'm sad I finished it so quickly. Now I want to read all the other stories that weren't included in this book.

I was really annoyed when I found out that my connection was still broken last night. I thought it might have just been Telus' usual spurts of broken connectivity when I was internet-less on Monday. Telus tech support took 20 minutes before I got connected to an agent. And even then, they were useless. I'm stating it now. Telus = useless (except maybe when it's working).
I stumped the agent because he wasn't able to figure anything out for me because they couldn't access the telephone account that I use for my ADSL. I half expected it, and I didn't bother telling the tech that we no longer had Telus phone lines. haha. So, I don't have any other choice but switch to Shaw anyways. Hmm.. which Shaw probably expected when they said we could still use our Telus ADSL (with the knowledge that we'd have to switch over when Telus' ADSL breaks down on us).

Shame On Me

The issue of backing up my data has been on my plate for the past few months. The primary concern was really my older PC that my dad uses. It's getting old, the hard drive freezes, and so I've been wanting to shift the old data into the external drive. He hasn't been around much so I haven't gotten around to it and assuming the data is still intact since it just hangs, and doesn't completely prevent access. My current PC is also starting to act up as the fan on the power supply goes into loud whining every once in a while and then decides it's fine again.

I have to say though, of all the computers, my Macbook Pro was last on the list of things expected to fry. Shame on me. This is either the second, or third time I haven't backed up my data properly. It is a pretty complete disaster if I do, my photos, and recent projects are all on it without any form of backup and it'll be a complete disaster if I'm unable to scavenge any existing data.

Have I learned my lesson? Yes. Again. Will I actually apply the lesson towards the future? I hope so.

Hoping that I can still recover my files. And then when I'm done sulking I can start cursing Apple.

Super Mario Galaxy Fini....ARGH

So I thought I finished Super Mario Galaxy. And now I realize that you actually have another 120 stars to go through with Luigi. I wanted to be done with this game already. My only consolation is that it will only take less than half the time to do it the first time because everything will exactly be the same. It's just frustrating I have to redo it.

Jeffrey's Manila Restoreview Roundup

Angels Kitchen, Connecticut Ave, Greenhills

This restaurant has an identity crisis. The restaurant's walls are bare. The back wall is painted green, but the side walls are white. There's a couple of old 70's style floral leafs, and some mirrors, but other than that, the restaurant has no attitude or message to convey to say "This is who we are".

The thin bread crisps they serve as munchies are bland and not crunchy enough. They taste like they're old and given to you just because they don't want to give you fresh ones. Granted, they serve pate with the bread crisps, but the pate itself is quite tasteless. Even ;
The Pumpkin Soup was decent. However, it was inconsistent as we ordered it twice, and it was good on the first order, but the second serving tasted bland.

I tried the Lamb Chop Curry? It was alright, nothing spectacular. Nothing to write much about. It's pretty standard. Lamb... covered with curry.

Their "Fruit Splash" is more like "Not Enough Fruits mixed with too much ice". I could barely taste anything. It was mostly watery and made me feel like a retard for drinking something with no flavor.

The cuisine is mostly home style cooking. Home style Filipino, and other regional home style dishes in general. It's mainly Filipino cuisine, but not limited to, there are some select dishes from different regional cuisines, like Malaysian, and Indian. It's more of a potpourri of dishes anyone can prepare at home.

The one thing that does redeem this restaurant is its desserts. The Banana Chocolate Cream Pie is deeeelish! Not enough chocolate though, or else the balance is perfect.
The Apple Pie covered in caramel was quite scrumptious. Incredible crust! Oh my! The one issue I had is that the pie is served cold. The waitress also told us not to get it a a la mode for the pie because it's already covered in caramel. She was wrong, customer's always right. It tasted better after we got the vanilla ice cream anyway, but the pie would have been even better served hot.

Overall rating: 4/5

Zucchini's Vinotek and Grill (Redux)

Strike, the lunch menu is exactly the same as their dinner menu.
Have I ever mentioned that their Apple/Pumpkin Cream Soup was excellent? No? IT IS EXCELLENT. Can you hear me now? IT'S EXCELLENT.
Their Tomato Soup is also top notch. This is the first time I've tried their French Onion Soup, and now I've come to the conclusion that the soup entrees are Zucchini's best offerings.

The Duck a L'orange was tres excellente. Duck is one of those dishes where you either cook it right, or it tastes like crap. I was delightfully surprised with the texture, but mostly the Rosti Potatoes that came underneath the duck pieces.

Overall rating: 4.5/5

Cyma Estiatorio, 1/F Greenbelt 2 Ayala Center, Makati

Attitude! This place is overflowing with it. With the unified "Opa!" from the staff upon lighting of an order of "Flaming Cheese" and the white stucco walls and chic modern Greek hybrid murals and lighted glass, it's a very relaxing dining atmosphere.

I've forgotten what I ordered, but most of the dishes were pretty good. The salad is excellent. The one thing I didn't like was their lamb, and the Greek potatoes, they weren't sour enough. But it's not fair for them, any Greek I taste has to go up against my experience with food at The Mad Greek.

Overall rating: 4.2/5

Jeffrey's Manila RestoReview 2008: Florabel

Florabel, The Podium

The restaurant's contemporary wooden design with dimmed lighting is accentuated by simplicity of the plastic table lights. I would probably say that any type of electric lighting is cheesy, but the smooth, curved plastic-shelled lights they use as table lighting actually gives a statement of the restaurants simple, but elegant atmosphere.

The appetizer I ordered, the 'Duo of Tuna & Sashimi' is sheer genius. I would have walked out happy just having eaten that appy.
It was a very well rounded presentation of seared tuna sashimi, a risotto mixed with tempura chunks and morsels of tuna sashimi, and mesclun salad.

I was a little less impressed with my main entree. The 'Pan Seared Prawns and Scallops in Lemon Caviar Butter' with risotto had a very weak taste. It relied too much on the butter to give the rice and seafood flavor. The scallops were seared perfectly. Just enough to give it a crisp texture. Just enough that it was still soft inside. The risotto was a little too hard for my taste, it could have been because it was made with wild rice, but I still disagree with it. Risotto should be soft enough so that it feels like it melts in your mouth.

My disappointment was short-lived. For dessert, I ordered their Chocolate Souffle with Yuma, accompanied by vanilla ice cream, and fruit compote. I didn't mind having to wait the 20 minutes for them to prepare this because ultimately, it's chocolate ecstasy. Oh how the warm, hot soft chocolate souffle just melts on your tongue. MMMMM

Overall rating: 4.5/5

Blogging drought

I have been without internet for the past few days and with all the preparations for my grandma's funeral, I've been busy.
I'm tired, exhausted, and when I get back to Canada, I'll be overwhelmed again with the load of things I have to do.
My brain is bursting with exclamations of incomprehensible jargon as my mind is struggling with the load of responsibilities and obligations.

The one respite I have I guess is watching some Discovery Channel here. I have nothing to do at my house when I'm at home so I can actually watch television. One really interesting show I saw this morning was a special on Ayurveda. It is the traditional, or rather, aliopathic, form of medicine that is used in India. I think these forms of natural medicine should be considered more seriously in modern medicine on the basis of having been used and been effective for a long time. They have existed before the invention of modern scientific standards and really have no reason to be ignored. Besides, it's much more fun being rubbed down with oil rather than popping a few pills.

Mourning

I felt bad in December when I didn't come back to Manila when my grandfather passed away.

My conscience is a little less guilty since I came back to at least see my grandmother before she passed away. I've been busy for the past few days because of the funeral arrangements for my grandmother. It's a little complicated with Buddhist customs, so I'll outline it later. But I'll be here at the funeral home(?) for at least 4 more days until her body is cremated.

Jeffrey's Manila RestoReview 2008: Duo

Duo Steakhouse & Wine Bar, Serendra Piazza - Fort Bonifacio Global City

Their menu has a good selection, but there is no creativity at all.
We started with the Tessie Tomas salad for appetizers. It was very good. The shiitake mushrooms gave it an earthy flavor while the seafood lightened it. The cheese was a little too strong for salad though.

The Steak and Foie Gras was excellent. The steak was cooked to tender and moist medium rare perfection. The Foie Gras was a little bland though, the lack of flavor made the dish completely about the steak. I don't know what the chefs at Duo are thinking, but trying to fool the customer is a no-no. Sneaky attempts at trying to mix people's perceptions, by mixing the meat and potatoes into a single mound so they all look alike, is down right devious.

The Mint-crusted Lamb was ho-hum. The mint-crust was something new for me. But the preparation was sloppy. The meat was not consistent for each lollipop, and the garlic mash was too salty.

The waiters were unprofessional. We brought a birthday cake, and yet, when they came out with it from the kitchen, the waiters held it for a little girl to look at. I would have said nothing if the child was from our party, but she wasn't. And if the cake is ruined, how the heck are they going to make up for it?

The menu is lacklustre. The overall generality of dishes allows the chef to do whatever he wants with a dish on that day. There is no focused vision on the flavors of the restaurant. The plating and originality of the dishes is a complete disaster. I know it's a steakhouse, but the chefs should still have pride in making each entree distinct and visually identifiable. From what I saw, the dishes were prepared just to spec to match the menu description.

Overall Rating: 3/5


This was my first trip to Serendra out at Fort Bonifacio.

I was looking for a website for Duo, but I found a review instead. I love his style. He's a professional travel writer/critic so he has experience writing polished articles. I need to get a new camera so I can actually do that, my DSLR is way too bulky to carry around. Some day, I hope I can improve my writing and be able to write a little more professionally. I'd love to be a pro food critic. That'd be the funnest thing to do. Eating for work. =D

Jeffrey's Manila RestoReview 2008: Zucchini's

Zucchini's Grill and Vinotek, Quezon City

I have to come out and say I'm a little biased about this place. My previous trips here have been nothing but beyond expectations. I can still taste their wonderful Cream of Apple and Pumpkin Soup (with roasted walnuts and apple chips) and the Lamb Lollipops with Saffron-infused Rice.
However, this actually works against them for my review today. I was expecting nothing but pure gourmet ecstasy. Sadly, I was not as impressed this time around.
For appetizers, we shared a Sea Scallops dish served multiple ways, and a Duck Breast Salad. The Sea Scallops dish had nothing memorable and was mostly mush. Even the element served with foie gras lacked flavor. The salad looked pretty appetizing but alas the duck was overcooked, and eventually renders the dish flavorless just as a salad dish with overcooked meat.

The soup never fails to impress. I tried the Roasted Mango Soup instead of the usual Apple/Pumpkin. It tasted more like Squash soup as it was more savory than sweet. I think it was probably a squash soup mixed with some mangos, and mango bits to give it a little bit of a sweet after-taste.

The Lamb Lollipops a la Provencale (with Escargot Ragout, Cauliflower Puree, and Zucchini Florentine) was pretty interesting. The taste of the lamb paired with the Provencale sauce was quite disappointing, but I was more interested in the sidings. The Escargot Ragout had a very subtle taste but a very distinct presentation, it was mixed light and airy, similar to a garlic mash. The Zucchini Florentine was some spinach contained in a section of zucchini, covered with some melted cheese. Disappointed by the taste, but presentation is still wonderful.

Dessert? I can't really remember if Zucchini's has good desserts or not. I ordered the "Frozen Coconut Souffle". I've never heard of such a thing.... souffle, that's frozen? (Okay, maybe it's because I'm just not an experienced gourmet.) Plating, presentation, and originality are all off the charts. This was some crazy concoction from the chef's demented psyche. The base of the dish was thin slices of pineapples caramelized with sugar and created little saucers of pineapples. On top of that in the center was some type of frozen coconut custard, similar to panna cotta, accented with a cherry on top. This was more a work of art than food. Visually impressive, but hard to eat. The custard was alright, but the pineapples were very hard to cut, and definitely way too sweet.

Overall rating: 4.5/5

Portal humor

A Day In the Life of a Portal Turret

It's a little nerdy humor, but it's great. It will only make sense if you've played Portal.

Jeffrey's Manila RestoReview 2008: Buon Giorno

Buon Giorno, Tagaytay

Modern Italian. That sums it up pretty well.
We started with a number of appetizers Frutti Misto fried seafood platter, creamy Pumpkin Soup, and Pepperoni pizza. They were all are fresh interpretations of very traditional dishes.
The entrees were all cooked to perfection.
I ordered the rack of lamb and it was tender and delish. Their Prime Rib was also superb. Perfect and moist, I have no complaints whatsoever.

Overall rating: 4.5/5

On our way back from Tagaytay, we got some pastries from a place called Rowena's.
Mmm... damn. If you ever go by, pick up some of their buko tarts, ube tarts, strawberry or blueberry tarts. DAMN. They are all good. I've never had such good buko pie tarts before. It's so creamy it tastes like egg custard. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
Not too sweet, not chunky. Creamy and delicious all around.

Jeffrey's Manila RestoReview 2008: Cafe Uno

Cafe Uno, Tomas Morato

They always have a unique variety of dishes, varying locations of culinary inspiration.
Their uniqueness doesn't carry much weight though. Their cooking is absolutely terrible.

Appetizers
The Roti with Onions and Gruyere started everything off with a nice twist. Roti's not usually served wet, but I liked the new approach to a standard cultural (Malay) dish where it's served dry with some spicy sauce.
Scottish Smoked Fish Chowder, was too smelly. Too salty. It was something new, but most people wouldn't be able to take a few sips before throwing up from how smelly the fish was. I know it's supposed to be salty because it's smoked, but you don't want people to be choking on it. They need to lighten the concentration.
The Green Pea Puree was standard fare. It's just puree of green pea.

The Grilled Wrasse was more fried than grilled, the fish was actually pretty tender, but the onion sauce was way too salty and too strong.
The GrilledBarramundi was even less thrilling. The fish lacked any flavor at all. The bean sauce they used to try and cover up the lack of flavor was still lackluster and merely a reminder of how unskilled the chef is.
The salmon was alright. A little overdone, but nothing special.
So far, the only dish they actually had any success from what we tasted was the Rack of Lamb with horseradish. Perfect counterbalance sauce for lamb.

Dessert
Creme brulee. TERRIBLE. The creme was not cooked enough. It wasn't creamy at all. It had the consistency of cheesecake. It was warm. How can you serve creme that's not chilled? And to top it off, the sugar wasn't completely caramelized.
The Chocolate Fallen Cake was okay.

Overall score: 2/5

The blurring of desktop and web

There is a merge/shift in using web technology to create complicated desktop applications. Desktop applications normally take a much more difficult approach using desktop programming. It is starting to create a paradigm shift in the design of web application technology with the introduction of development frameworks such as Prism by Mozilla, AIR by Adobe, and Silverlight by Microsoft.

This new wave of integrated technology allows for rich Internet applications to be made into a desktop experience. Although each of the technologies has its own strengths and weaknesses, all of them are striving to push integrated web media onto the desktop. Hopefully more of these new media applications will hit the desktop and revolutionize the stagnant slow, dull desktop applications of the past 20 years.

Sony HDR SR12

Wired has a brief video up on the new Sony HDD Camcorder at CES. I'm a little skeptical about it since most consumer level camcorders are unable to perform any decent quality in their recordings.
However, the review talks about recording in full HD, 1080p quality. That's a pretty big leap in modern video quality for consumer level products. The reviewer also talks about the image stabilization feature taken from the Sony Alpha cameras. If the camera even delivers on either of the two features, it'll be so far ahead of the competition.

Bill Gates has humor!

Bill Gates' retirement video from CES. Hahaha. I gotta give props to him for having humor and making light of himself.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2008!

I'm going to start it off on a sad, sober note.
I always thought of myself as someone who's a very solitary person and I would be okay not being with family.
Well, that's gone straight out the window. This is my first holiday season (Christmas and New Year's), spending it without family. Mostly just together with friends. And well, friends are friends, they're not family. I have really been in a rut. I just realized how much I miss them. It's like some type of psychological torture.

Now a little bit wiser and less solitary, but still feeling lonely.

Another year has passed, and I have grown some more.

Microsoft vs. Google

The theoretical or perceived notion that Google is going after Microsoft is somewhat of a joke. Google itself has not stated in any shape or form that they are intending of attacking Microsoft, but of course, Ballmer goes after everybody, not just Google, because he's just that kind of guy.

Eric Schmidt of Google states, "velocity matters." It sure does, and that is the one of the biggest reasons that Google succeeds. Software update cycles are commonplace and take place behind the scenes. If you haven't noticed, Gmail has done a major upgrade two weeks ago dealing with performance issues and a number of interface upgrades. This type of velocity doesn't take place at Microsoft which has a history of forcing upgrades for security issues, but also releasing patches way too far apart giving users somewhat of a disparate upgrade experience. The Microsoft periodic upgrades will shock people because of major changes, contrary to what Google does is by constantly changing their interface slowly and allowing users to test it out features one at a time rather than being overwhelmed with a complete interface overhaul.

How can someone state that Google is out to make money. Sure, it make tons of money. But it's all advertising.
For all of its achievements, no one can point at Google stating that its primary interest is to make money. Their bottom line so far is providing free services which have improved the overall Internet experience for everyone. Yes, Google's products are encroaching on Microsoft's marked territory (Office applications) and thus issuing a challenge, whether intended or not.
But, seriously, if people choose Google, then it's obviously for a good reason.
Google is much more serious about designing usable and innovative software. And everyone knows the bottom line is Microsoft is still about making money.

Shopping bags

The new trend in fashion and functionality is the emergence of reusable shopping bags.

These aren't the ordinary paper bags that stores provide for you to carry your purchase. They're all new plastic, or fabric-based bags with designer graphics of a higher production quality. The new trend in bags are flash, but they'll also store your stash! People are using them as an extended purse, storing items for daily use that would otherwise not fit in a regular purse.

It is a step into the future of preventing paper waste. It is an environmental boon that may also be a marketing and advertising bonanza. People gladly use their bags as a sign of being in style, but also mark themselves as slaves to the brand. I guess being a billboard is a small price to pay for going green.

Portal

I require some brief counselling and cake.

I just finished Portal. That has been one of the best video game experiences I've ever had. It's not a violent game at all but it is so rewarding and satisfying to play. It sends your mind to the wacked out dimension of thinking in lateral dimensions where you can create dimensional portals so you can walk through them and show up somewhere else in the same dimensional space. Confused yet? You just need to think in portals.

It's a thinking game that focuses on puzzle solving and that's why I love it. There is no relatable game play experience out there.
It requires a certain understanding of physics and I think it's possible to allow kids to play this in school as a demonstration in basic physics concepts such as kinetic energy and momentum.

Portal makes physics fun!

MattLAN

Ah damn. I was at Matt's place in Maple Ridge on Saturday. It was a pretty late LAN, which kinda sucked. We did a round of Battlefield 2, CS1.6, and tossed in a couple rounds of Halo3 for X360. It was a pretty good turnout. There was around 7 of us, though the late start was a waste. Most of us were sleeping by 5 but a couple were up until 7. Buncha crazies. They even went for breakfast after that.

I really miss LANning. I'm starting to get too old for it, but I haven't done enough of it to not want to do it.

Wacky weather

Only the other day, it was 0 degrees and the whole day was a contiguous stream of snow. Flurries pouring over the city blanketing it in white. That's all fine and dandy, but then today it was 13 degrees and torrential rain for the whole day.
There's probably going to be another water turbidity warning here like last year. The water level was really high this morning when I left for work, the canal/ditch on my street were almost overflowing. I've never seen it at that level before.

The effects of extreme weather are screaming in our faces. El nino, la nina, global warming, whatever it is, we have only seen the start of it.

Funniest CSI intro ever

"The only thing you need to do is answer 2 simple questions." "Whoddunnit, and how?"

Hahaha. Seriously, tonight's intro was the funniest thing they've done in a while. I love the humor they're incorporating into the show now with the funnier quirky lab techs like Hodges, Archie, and Wendy.
These episodes make CSI:LV push it back to my fav list.
This ep (8x08) "You Kill Me", along with the ep of Hodges' lucky day are my fav so far. CSI's quirkiness now mixed with even more quirky just makes for brilliant comedy.

I lost my sandwich breakfast

Sigh.
I'm so sad. That was a really expensive breakfast.
I got a Smoked Ham with Honey Dijon sandwich from Starbucks. Except when I was walking to the office from my car, the sandwich ripped through the bottom of the bag. Sigh.
I guess it's lucky I got a Fruit, Yogurt & Granola Parfait which was supposed to be my lunch, but is now my breakfast since I really have eaten anything yet.

DAMN YOU STARBUCKS. GET SOME BETTER SANDWICH BAGS.

Beckham in Vancouver

Ah, last night was a pretty boring match, but a very entertaining game.

The biggest highlight: streaker on the field. Haha.

Winter Accessories

It's technically not winter yet, but it's really getting cold. It's reaching as low as 5 degrees now so it's definitely time to start wearing warm. With that said, I LOVE my scarf. It's a striped gray/dark gray scarf I got from Gap when I was down in Seattle. I almost look like a character from Hogwarts.
When I wear it, it's like my ultra accessory. +10 to cool, and auto casts Style Aura.

I'm really needing a haircut now, it's really long, but it's so cold. I need to find a nice toque before I get a haircut. Hehe

Premonition

This feeling is based more on coincidental milestones, serendipitous events, which by themselves, hold no significant meaning, but with all of them in sequence, it seems like there's some sort of synergy that's driving it towards me.
Although, I'd rather not name the specifics or I might jinx it.

I have had a certain name running through my head, although there was no reason that it should have been.
I recently came across said person's name in an article, and I had no idea of his previous history/success.
With my current project work focusing towards Facebook, it adds up. Somewhat. Or maybe I'm just hoping it all does.

Impulse Shopping

I always wondered what was wrong with people who couldn't help themselves buying everything in sight even when they knew they couldn't afford it, or it was a waste of money. I'm starting to get a glimpse into that world because I've been having ridiculous tendencies going to Red Flag Deals, a website for bargain hunters and sharing good deals in Canada. Refresh, refresh, refresh... Ooh there's something I want!

I haven't actually bought much, but I have been wanting to get stuff I've seen like discounted clothing from A&F (Hoodies & Tees), cheap gaming headsets (Sennheiser PC131), Bluetooth earpiece (Jawbone Silver Noise Shield), Video Games (Orange Box for PC).

There's been some good freebies I've found on the site as well like free Wii jackets.

Apple's new release of Leopard has me all excited. I've never been a fan of OS upgrades but the new features are blowing my mind, most notably Stacks, Spaces, and Quick Look. Now I'm actually hoping my computer dies so I have an excuse to get a new Mac with Leopard. :D
Something caught my eye on the Apple site too, the Samung SCX-4500 printer. Damnnnnnn it looks so nice.

Gotta keep resisting the urge to buy stuff

Technology in the electricity marketplace

There's been a test run of user-driven electricity-on-demand technology done in Washington, and I've got to say, this type of infrastructure could revolutionize the world in terms of energy demands. The framework itself could apply to other things and reduce consumption and be more dynamic to regional/national/world economics and force people to pay attention to supply and demand on a daily scale.

It may be more of a hassle to individuals in the short run, but I think people would eventually appreciate the higher level of control being able to shop the energy industry like a market or a grocery and consciously pay regarding on your own budget. It's a counter-point to having to pay something because you have no idea how much it's going to cost in real-time and so you blindly use it until you get the check. Real-time marketing, or as the article terms it, service-oriented architecture (SOA), is going to hit the market like a sledgehammer, people will not be adapt properly unless the technological model is done correctly.

Back from Seattle!

Now I'm sad, home alone.

I went with my sis and her husband down south on Wednesday night. I'm so exhausted driving the whole week. I had to drive all night considering we left as soon as I got home from work and it was raining heavy all night all the way down to Renton.

Our first stop was Boeing. We did the Boeing tour and it was awesome! The tour consisted of an hour trip around the factory. We could only see 2 of the 5 (or is it 6?) hangars of the factory, which is only about 1/4 of the entire complex. It is MASSIVE. It's 1/3rd of a mile deep. I don't think any words would be able to describe the immensity of the building. You have to see it yourself. The hangars we could see were the construction areas for the 777 and the new 787, also known as the Dreamliner.

Next stop was the SuperMall in Auburn. The mall has turned into a pretty quiet place. It's really crappy now, and it shows with the lack of people there. But, with slow business, comes GREAT deals! Even without using the discount card we got from the information centre, the prices were so low that I would feel bad not buying their merchandise!

We pretty much blew our allotment for our trip based on how much we spent that one day that we didn't buy anything when we went to Seattle Premium Outlets. I'm so disappointed when I realized that the personal exemption limit was bumped up.

My sister left yesterday and so now I'm home alone. =(

The Unit theme song

Give me your secrets
Bring me a sign
Give me a reason
To walk the fire

See another dawn
Through our daughters’ eyes
You give me a reason
To walk the fire

I love The Unit, and the theme music they have on the show as well.
The army style theme for the first season was good, but the new theme for the second season is even better. I was looking around to find the full version of the song, but apparently it's not even done yet.

VIFF: Deep in thought

I went for a double header tonight.
Both deep and foreign.
Secret Sunshine is a Korean film about a mother who is dealing with loss and tragedy. This movie made me scratch my head, and I'm still processing it. It's a very chilling drama and it's hard to fully comprehend it. Viewing raw, unfiltered grief and anger is a lot different than what you see in most modern films and this takes a look around that alley of what people could and do go through. The direction is all over the place and creates an atmosphere of the world passing by as I'm sure how a lot of people feel when they have something on their mind.

Beaufort is a psychological Israeli war drama about the pullout of the IDF from the Beaufort post in Southern Lebanon.

These movies are a lot to chew on. It's quite different than what I went to see on thursday which was For The Bible Tells Me So, which is still a relatively serious film with a sociopolitical debate on religion and homosexuality in current society.

I think I have a problem

I'm a serious tv addict. I didn't really realize how many series' I was following until I got hit this week with all the season premieres. Ungh.

I'm still trying to catch up from being gone at the beginning of the week...
My current week series/season premiere listing...
Finished:
Simpsons, Family Guy, Heroes, Prison Break, K-Ville, Chuck, Journeyman, House, Bionic Woman, Bones, The Office
Queued:
The Unit, L&O:SVU, NCIS, Criminal Minds, CSI, CSI:Miami, CSI:NY, Greys Anatomy, Numb3rs

There's a couple of other ones that are in mid/late season like 4400, Eureka, Psych, Painkiller Jane (which got cancelled), Sanctuary, Burn Notice.

Ungh, there's other shows that haven't started their season yet most that I can't remember off the top of my head, I really should cut my list down.
Still coming: 24, Lost, Dexter

Dining in San Francisco

I just got back from San Francisco last night. My little 3 day vacation was a nice break, I spent most of it stuffing my face full of good food.

Arrived in San Francisco on Sunday. Met up with Cam for lunch at Cheesecake Factory and then headed up to Sonoma Valley for a scenic drive. Cam rented a BMW 325i zipcar and we had an adventure trying to figure out how the car worked. We went for a wine tasting at Kunde Estate. The vineyard was beautiful! It was a massive estate of well-manicured vines sprawling across hills. There were also some interesting caves on the estate, but we didn't get a chance to. They also had a patio with a small lake with some decorative fountains. It was amazing!
After that, we headed over to St Helena in the Napa Valley and went to Tra Vigne by Cam's suggestion. Their pizza was excellent. The Arctic Char I ordered was damn excellent. I actually think it was salmon since it was pinkish. It was so soft it practically melted off my fork.

Went for lunch on monday at Scala's Bistro. Their lunch menu includes their staple "Earth and Turf" appetizer which is one of their popular dishes with a delish calamari. The Salsiccia pizza and Lamb Risotto we got weren't as stellar as usual. This trip to Scala's was a letdown.
Mmm dinner however, on the other side of town, also by Cam's suggestion, we dined at Foreign Cinema. The food was absolutely exquisite. I think this was my most favorite dining experience for the whole trip. The restaurant is a very expressionistic display of art and architecture. The dining area was split into 3 wings. The first is a standard indoor area with beautiful walls lined with classic paintings and a relaxed atmosphere. The second is an open air patio surrounded by concrete buildings giving it an artsy-urbanesque motif. Lastly, the third wing, which I didn't really get a chance to see, is an art hall with modernist paintings. The name of the restaurant stems from the fact that the hallway of the entrance leads up to the restaurant as if it is like a movie theatre; they also have a foreign film which they play(The English Patient, for that night) during the evening on one of the walls in the open dining area.
The oysters were a little on the small side, but sumptuous. We ordered a combination of Buckley Bay, Kumamoto, and Malpeque. We also tried the Steamed Mussels with Thai coconut curry sauce. The green curry sauce was very refreshing, I'm used to eating curry that's either creamy so that it's flavorful, or it's too watery and bland. The curry they served though, was a very light and mostly watery mixture, but gave enough flavor to give it a distinct kick without being creamy. It tasted great with the bread too.
I obviously had to go with the Hawaiian Tuna. I give their Seared Ahi a 9.5 rating. The sauce didn't have enough kick and wasn't at all flavorful. The slices of tuna also had just a bit too much seared. However, the slices were big enough so that the very soft Ahi could still be enjoyed with the its tender flaky texture.
Damn... the dessert! Lavender creme brulee is just a classic. The "Chocolate pot de crème with crinkle cookies" was chocolate diabetes in a cup, and boy was it MMM MMMMMMM good. I forgot what kind of crumble pie Cam got, some type of berry.... boysenberry? was just right. A little bitter, mixed with the vanilla ice cream and the crumble of the pie, is out of this world.
10/10 for Foreign Cinema. DAAAAAYMNNN!

I'm falling asleep here, I'm not done yet and i'll add on later.
Continued:

We went for lunch on the following day at the food court in Westfield San Francisco down on Market St. The choices were excellent. It had a good variety of different cuisines, but also the quality was above average. This is a more upscale, higher-end food court with good food. The steakhouse, Buckhorn Grill, gives out free samples and if I hadn't already ordered my BBQ Ribs from Asqew Grill, I probably would have gotten their Tritip Sirloin.
The food isn't all that's high quality, the rest of the mall is pretty upscale with a Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom, and other smaller name brand boutiques.
OH YES! They have Beard Papa too! Best cream puffs anywhere!

My neck is broken

Well, not literally, but I have a pinched nerve. I could barely get up in the morning. I think I tried 5 times before I was able to get up since my neck was hurting so much I couldn't move.
I had to drive carefully and twist my body to do shoulder checks. Haha.

It's been 4 hours and it's still stiff. It's not as bad now, my range of motion has increased, but it's still hurting like hell.

Sleep disorders

An interesting article on sleep disorders at CNN. I think I probably have pseudoinsomnia, either that or just regular insomnia. Either way, I have trouble feeling like I'm well rested.

Dreaming darkly

I've been getting a little bit more sleep than usual this past week, so it's not from the usual tiredness.
I am experiencing some really disturbing dreams; from situations involving in appropriate relationships, crushed teeth, dangerous situations with motor vehicles, insect infestations, bullying, and some other less severe emotional experiences.

I wake up in a pretty pensive mood, equally mixed with shock and a tired state of confusion; unsure whether to try and go back to sleep and forget about the raw emotions or to think of a deeper meaning.

I'm also seeing shadows. I think something's moving in the corner of my vision and there's nothing there when I take a closer look.
I think I need more tea.

Got Wii?

I sure do! I'm surprised though since I just ordered it on Sunday (Sep 9th). That was damn fast. I ordered my Xbox360 last Monday and it hasn't arrived yet. But it's a little different considering it's supposed to be bundled with Halo 3. It's not supposed to be released until the 25th, so it probably won't be shipped before then.

My Wii is a good deal I guess.... 420$ CDN+tax for Wii (includes Wii Sports, controller+nunchuk) and bundles with an extra controller and nunchuk, and Super Paper Mario. Oh whatever, I don't have to spend time trying to go in early in line to get one, so whatever. Hehe.

Mmmm London Fog

I'm sipping on one right now. This is the first time I've had it and I'm not sure if I like it or not...
It tastes wrong somewhat...
For those of you who don't know what it is, it's Earl Grey Tea with milk. Basically, an earl grey tea latte.

Tournament finish!

It's a pretty pathetic tournament, but it's still a cash finish.

After almost 4.5 hours of playing in a $100 Freeroll on Full Tilt Poker. Out of a field of 2700, I survived long enough to make a cash finish in 26th. It's only $2. But what the hey, I haven't really played much tournaments so this is good practice for me. It was good fun though since I had my dad beside me watching. We had good debates of how to play, and let's just say I probably would have gone broke a lot earlier if I listened to my dad more. Hehe.

Ungh. My neck is cramped now after that long grind.

Reaching for the past

I've always had problems of letting go of things I really liked in the past. Especially with video games, I always get annoyed by the fact that I cant' find old NES or SNES games even though my old systems are still running. The old classics are the best. Who cares about fancy graphics, the gameplay was simple and addictive. I love how the old systems had a lot of co-op play where it's all about you and your best buddy trying to survive to the next level. Sadly, that genre has almost died out to the more popular First Person Shooters, Role-playing Games, and maybe still some Adventure games.

I've gotten used to the fact that I haven't been able to, and probably wont' be able to, find any old 8-bit games for the NES/SNES etc, anymore. However, I've recently been missing Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory for the Xbox. It's the first co-op game I've felt that has surpassed expectations and deliver a unique experience. I went for a walk in Lansdowne and I couldn't find a copy of it at Future Shop, or Best Buy. I was ecstatic when I finally found it at Toys R Us, until the guy scanned the box and wouldn't sell it. Apparently the game has been recalled. Now, I'm stuck trying to find a game that's just barely 2 and a half years old. Ungh. I really hate this industry.

Learning Italian with Star Wars

It's not really Star Wars I guess, but it's fan-based movies on the Star Wars universe. It's called Dark Resurrection, and so far it's pretty interesting. I've only seen part 1 of 2 and I'm pretty intrigued. It's filmed in Italian with English subs. The casting/acting is mostly solid and it's a pretty decent movie considering it's not a major production, although it didn't look quite low budget at all.

The special effects were good most of the time, but the blowing out of colors effect was being used a little too much. The casting was really intriguing, a lot of the actors/actresses were in the older range of 40-60's, and I think they gave a more experienced and believable environment. I still have a problem with the casting of the main character, but I could still relent depending on how she acts in the second part.

Yum yum salmon!

I just realized how good the Wild Sockeye Salmon on Filone sandwich at Starbucks is. At 5.95, it's so cheap! There's other sandwiches on Starbucks' shelves too, but they don't taste as good. I don't get how they price their inventory. One would expect that the salmon sandwiches would cost more (besides the fact that it's local since we get salmon from BC) but I would gladly pay up to 7.50 for this sandwich, while the less tasty ones, the 5.95 price tag does not justify it's taste.

It goes maybe not so well with Caramel Machiatto, I probably should have gotten a tea, or some fruit drink. Salmon doesn't really pair well with coffee or any bitter drink.

I'd like a book please!

There's an awesome video on CNN regarding new book printing technology. Being able to order books on demand will definitely make a difference in libraries and being able to stock more content and not being constrained to retain physical copies of old books that can be reprinted. This is the type of technology that will re-define the current generation's ability to adapt technology to be more useful rather than simply entertaining. Ipods/iphones are nice, sure, but how does that affect our society? Music is primarily a form of entertainment, but books can span even more across the ages.

Video-on-demand, sweet. Book-on-demand? KICKASS

I should really sleep earlier

A friend of mine is back from SF for a couple days, but today's probably the only chance I'll get to hang out with him. We went out for dim sum at Fisherman's Terrace. I'm not sure if we were sick or something, but we ordered very little. After that we got some bubble tea at Tapioca Express. It's been a while since I've gone out for bubble tea. Once you stop drinking it, you lose your taste for it. We went though since we just wanted to hang out, and there is really nothing better to do in Richmond.

Bourne Ultimatum! That was another headache inducing, although not as bad as the previous one, because of the rapid free-chase camera style that director Paul Greengrass OH SO LOVES! I felt airsick after watching one of his other films, United 93 which also employed the same technique. But, I have to admit, this Bourne was awesome. So were the others, but this one felt like it gave some completeness to the storyline. I'm a little saddened since I love the directional style of this movie series, and I would be quite disappointed if they don't continue. Considering that the movies don't really follow the books that closely I wouldn't really be all too critical how much they changed the story. The psychological aspect is tremendous, the mind games, the spy game with a character that employs a certain avoidance of action unless necessary which is quite contrary to the norm of any spy movie where the protagonist initiating violent encounters just for the sake of having action in the movie.

I was talking to Tim about this like a week ago... The 2 gig limit on gmail is pretty big, but it would be nice to have something even bigger, and an incurred cost of the upgrade would be a fair alternative. Well, I just noticed gmail is now offering the said pricing scheme:
6 GB ($20.00 per year)
25 GB ($75.00 per year)
100 GB ($250.00 per year)
250 GB ($500.00 per year)
They seem pretty reasonable.

I don't normally read Google's blog, but they made a post about it

Murphy's Law

I guess it's an obvious cliche, but you should really back up your data. With the old adage of Murphy's Law of "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong."
I was expecting this for a while, and contemplating about getting a new external HD to back my data up. And well... I guess I just got lazy. Right now it's unclear whether or not I can get my hard drives back up, but all it's doing is clicking whenever I start my computer. I'm going to lose massive amounts of work if it's permanently gone. I really hate the idea of digital storage. It's so easy to lose, but then physical storage doesn't really give much of a better alternative with its space requirements.

If you don't listen to your insights, then you deserve to fail. I hope my insights will re-consider about me hearing it.

Two idiots, and water.

So, my mom and I just got back from Safeway. My mom bought a 9.5L tank of distilled water for drinking, and we both assume the water comes straight out considering... it's that much water. There's obviously a great amount of pressure from the weight of the water being pulled by gravity. However, both me and my mom were quite dumbfounded as to why the water would only trickle out. I think we spent about 10 minutes trying to tilt it and raise it, all to the advancement of our realization we were pretty stupid not knowing how to operate a tank of water. Haha

We figured out a technique after that little game of trying to pour it out. Have you ever had this situation?
Please laugh now, and laugh again when you run into this situation yourself.

Tv = Bored--

I'm watching a pre-air copy of Bionic Woman right now. It's pretty interesting and certainly something fresh. I'm always surprised whenever I find a new show filming in Vancouver, and there were pretty obvious scenes with UBC. Some other new shows also seem pretty promising, which is to say, that they have decent storylines, good acting, and stand a decent chance of not being shelved.

Kill Point, is a new thriller on Spike with John Leguizamo playing an Army Sergeant returning from the frontlines of war to return to the States to rob a bank with his platoon only the heist goes wrong and instead, the platoon is stuck in a siege inside the bank. He plays against a quirky, grammar-obsessed hostage negotiator played by Donnie Wahlberg.

Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles. I'm not really sure yet about this show. It's going to be either really stupid or...really really really stupid, but it'll just be good because it is so stupid. I still don't think Summer Glau can act, other than being mental, which she truly fits here as a Terminator. Lena Headey is definitely a perfect fit for Sarah Conner, and same goes for Thomas Dekker as John Conner. The casting is pretty strong, but so far, the writing is a little bit questionable.

I'm definitely a big fav for Bionic Woman now. A lot of the actors are being borrowed from Battlestar Galactica, so that's a shoe in for the case of solid casting. The direction is pretty unique and gives a very naturalistic gritty touch to the sci-fi scene, very quite similar to BSG.

Harry Potter!

My copy of the Deatly Hallows just arrived!

Brown Rice Tea

I'm trying out this Japanese Brown Rice Tea that someone got in our office. It smells heavily of Brown Rice aroma, but the taste still comes out as regular green tea. I'm not sure why I'm drinking hot tea, I'm already feeling pretty hot. I'm an idiot. Haha, but I wanted to try the tea out.

a little sunday art

I didn't realize there was an art show going on at the Vancouver Art Gallery until today. It's the first time I've been in the gallery, which is the (I'm not sure what type of architecture it is), it's the one that looks like a museum. I just did some Wikipedia-surfing and I think museum architecture has its own classification. But back to topic, the current main exhibit is Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The majority of the works are of more modern (1800-1900s) paintings, and sculptures.

I've been meaning to take a look at these types of works for a long time, but never really had an opportunity to. I had a good introduction to the majority of the painting movements. Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Cubism, Modernism, Surrealism, and I'm missing some of the smaller movements. It does make a difference seeing these works of art in real life. You can't truly appreciate the skill that goes into creating these paintings without seeing the imperfections and the subtleties of the strokes and the unevenness of the oil on the canvas or whatever each artists medium of choice. Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Picasso, Rodin, and Dali. These are the major names that come to mind, and I finally see truly how different each of these major figures played in advancing modern art. It's a little elitist, but I have to admit, that not everyone will be able to understand or appreciate fine art. I'm not quite at that stage either, I'm still learning how to appreciate it.

The one piece that probably intrigued me the most was Salvador Dali's "The Dream". I was thinking of buying a print from the gift shop, but I couldn't perceive the shock I experienced from seeing the actual painting. The colors and hues are so vibrant, while they don't look the same on printed material. The subject matter interests me as well since it's about dreams, but it wasn't what primarily caught my interest. Just the stark contrast and vibrant hues with an oddness that defines surrealism. It speaks on a very philosophical level.

What I work on

My company just had a release of their flagship software last week on 7/7/7 with a serious interface overhaul. The functionality isn't that much different, but the usability has been improved considerably. Originally called Booking Server, the software was lacking in a personality, especially in modern day Internet branding/marketing.
Our software has been re-branded as Rezgo, powerfully simple reservation system. Through Internet blogging and various web marketing techniques, some people have started to take notice and most recently, our software has been noted on go2web2.0 as well as at KillerStartups.

XBox360 = bye?

It's a little disheartening to hear about Microsoft's failure in the gaming industry. The arrival of Microsoft on the gaming scene with the XBox and Xbox360 was a great boost in the competition of the gaming industry and has thus perpetuated increasing quality in game development and design.
This current fall of Microsoft is sure to dent it and may be a signal that it could be on its way to an early grave. I love the current new-gen consoles. The deeply integrated rivalry of Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft has given rise to advances in experience design, hardware advances, and rich graphics, (somewhat respectively to each company).

The Wii is currently in the overall lead with its breakthrough in re-defining the video game experience. It's still sold out in most places, and has been since its release in November 2006. The XBox360 is the front runner for graphics with powerhouse games like Gears of War, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and Call of Duty 2. They're also releasing Halo 3 later this year which should give it a little more stable footing pending its approval by the critics. Sony on the other hand with the Playstation 3, is well... floundering with the competition. It has no spectacle game to garner appreciation from fans, and the hardware may be the best out of the existing gen consoles, but has yet to shine.

On a side note, I'm now tempted to buy a Sony PSP. Damn Squaresoft =/. They're re-releasing Final Fantasy Tactics, with FMV upgrades as well as new playable characters, AND new character classes. Damn them *shakes fist* On the other hand, I can break into it and try 'homebrew' applications which seem to be popular in the PSP crowd with installing emulators allowing the user to install old games like SNES and PSX roms. Hrmmm...

A random quote from a Chinese proverb. "One joy shatters a hundred griefs"

Odd Videos

I just found these off the front page off torrentspy, but they're awesome nonetheless.

http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/112363/Marble_Based_Calculator.html
This one is a marble based binary adder machine. it's pretty amazing how people think of these type of designs. some people don't understand the intricacies of this design and think it's stupid because you can count faster in your head. In truth, if early mathematicians did not invent binary, the modern computer could not function as it does.

http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/112532/Spider_Man_Speed_Painting.html
Uhm. Crazy. I have a hard enough time drawing simple lines with my tablet. I can't even imagine how professional artists draw digital paintings like this.

Alias

I was a little apprehensive to start Alias. I have so far been discontent with J.J. Abrams and Lost.
So, after finishing season 1, I am hooked. I'm so on the edge of my seat, and quite confused as to why I haven't watched it before.
It's not really as confusing as other people have claimed. It's heavily serialized like Lost though and heavily detailed so missing one will definitely create a blank in the story.

Aiyee. I'm happy though since I have something to watch. Especially so since everything other show on television is on summer break -_-. My current lineup of airing shows is Standoff, Traveler, and 4400 just started season 2...
I actually thought Standoff was cancelled since it just disappeared for no reason. Or maybe it was just me expecting every new show being written off left and right. Since Jericho managed to fight that off with loyal fans, maybe I should go watch that too.

Information...

...is a dangerous thing.
Apparently, I struck a chord with certain individuals that did not know me very well prior.
They felt that I needed to know some things even though they did not directly affect me, and probably should/would not know any other way.
Privied information, is definitely a very dangerous thing.
I'm not as concerned as much of what I should do, but rather how to digest the information.

It affects me, indirectly, only because I know it now. Even then, it's paradoxical because had I not known it, it wouldn't affect me at all. The information serves as information that could give me potential insight, but for now it merely hinders my judgment because I will be second-guessing. Information is dangerous, especially if it exists in a state of flux.

Heed it, and I may avoid the rain, but carrying an umbrella everywhere.
Ignore it, and the sun may still shine, or I may be struck by thunder.

New Phone!

I got my Sharp Vodafone 903SH today!~ Thx Tim.
At least now I've got an alternative camera to use. The 3.2MP resolution is decent for a phone camera, and it looks snazzy.
My yuppie factor just went up a notch.

I don't know what it is lately. I've been feeling so tired lately. Sigh. I'm too tired to do anything by the time I get home. Well, the drive home has gotten worse too. Some traffic changes in North Van, and it takes me nearly half an hour to get out on to the Ironworker's Memorial bridge. It's retarded. 30+ minutes for <5 km. I need to find an alternate route.

Difference

When I set out to make a widget last year, I was merely trying to think up of something simple, easy-to-use, and practical. It's a metronome, it keeps time, although not accurate as some would like, but it is a basic tool. It ticks in time. It pulses a beat. It's nothing fancy. I was hoping people would find it a practical tool. And yes, I have received responses to that degree, from musicians who found my widget to be an invaluable tool as an alternative to an actual physical metronome.

I received a letter from someone this morning who actually found another use for it. This person has asthma and does Buteyko breathing exercises to perform timed cycles of breathing. He/she was holding a stopwatch in front of their face to help keep their breathing on track. So, somehow, they managed to stumble onto my widget and thus reducing the strain of having to look at a stopwatch. I never thought this widget would make such an impact in someone else's life. But I thank them for letting me have an insight to how my work has made a difference in the real world.

Airport Drama

I'm so tired. I went twice to the airport tonight. The first time, I had to pick up my friend's family. Then I drove them back to their house where they had to continue packing and then had to drive them back to the airport for their flight back to Manila.

I was also there last night too since I had to drive my sis and her family. The house is so silent now since all the kids are gone and it's only me and my mom here. It was pretty funnysad last night. My sis started to cry cuz she didn't want to go. Eisner started wailing too. He didn't wanna go back home. Haha. Funny thing is, nevermind that all the luggages have been packed, or that they were at the airport; the thing that finally hit him that he was leaving was when my mom hugged him and told him goodbye. Haha. He was wailing from the food court area, into the washroom and all the way to the security checkpoint. It must have been a solid 5 minutes going. "Nooo I don't want to go back to Balut" haha.

Little Elle on the other hand was pretty silent. She didn't realize that she was leaving til she was at the security checkpoint doorway where she stood up in her stroller and waved with both of her hands. Oh so silly.

It was pretty dramatic too. In the main hallway at YVR where the terminals and the food court meet, some lady was in a hurry rushing with her cart. She either tripped or bumped into someone and took a huge fall onto the floor. It was so odd because right beside her were 2 officers. They didn't look like airport security b/c they had their vests on. I guess it was a good thing they were there so they could call for help a lot faster. She was pretty hefty so I take it she was in pretty bad physical shape. The officers lifted her up to see if she could stand, but after a second she just collapsed back down. It was another 5-10 minutes before the paramedics/fire truck arrived.

Considering how immediate the call for help was, it certainly took a while for the emergency responders to get there.

z95 = 95crave?

so z95 is gone... I'm gonna miss Nat and Drew in the mornings since they're so funny ragging on anybody in the news. It was a good start to mornings, but now that's gone, I'm wondering what I'm going to listen to instead. I'm hoping they find a good alternative for their morning time slot since my commute is pretty long.

I can't see I was a very big fan of Z with their repetitive playlists. But I did like to listen at least on the drive home. Sigh.

暑い!
Actually, it's not as hot today because all the windows are already open prior to me arriving which is a first.

There's some tv show filming across the street from our office. They're filming inside InterAction Computers. Apparently it's Eureka. I've heard of the show, but I haven't seen it at all. There aren't any big/well known actors on it, so it's not as exciting, but it's still awesome to see all the buzz and electricity with filming tv. Maybe if I keep walking around down there I can sneak into a shot. lol

Perspective

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWyJJQbFago

I think this video his an awesome message for people of all nations. We can make a difference as a citizen, and that our votes really do shift power. Things can be skewed because of what we see on television, and one way or another, we are all the same. I'm not trying to convince you to believe anything except be open to the possibility that not everything is as it is portrayed in the media.

People should strive to understand perspective and truth especially when they are many sides. There is truth in every perspective. But there is only understanding when you see all perspectives.

I broke my camera

*tear*
That's what I get for trying to clean the sensor. My poor Digital SLR. My poor Canon Digital 350D. It's actually not that bad. It's just a little pin I broke, but yet, it's still broken now even though it's such an insignificant piece of the camera. (I broke the 'Sub-mirror hinge'. It's a design flaw that Canon made it so prone to breaking, even if it is within the body of the camera. Repair is a...option. Not a financially reasonable option since it would cost about $200 just for labor, and the camera body is only worth around $500 now. So, I might as well get a new one.

Oddly, I would have thought I'd be much more upset. I think I would have flipped out about how I broke such an expensive piece of technology, but I'm just mellow right now. I'm more worried about not having a camera on hand rather than the fact that I just rendered a 1000$ camera useless. I'm totally Zen right now being immaterial, or I'm a complete idiot.

Free energy?

http://donklephant.com/2007/05/28/video-more-on-saltwater-into-fire-technology/

It's an interesting experiment which has the potential to change the world in limitless capacities...if it works.
If it doesn't, then well, maybe he's just found something that looks cool and help introduce more kids into science.

Feelin good

I'm ecstatic.
This was an awesome weekend.
I'm really lovin these new shoes my sis got for me at Aldo.

I'm havin a blast in general. I went for dinner with friends at Banana Leaf on Friday, dinner at Mad Greek with family on Saturday. Went sorta shopping with my sis this afternoon. Just chillaxin and relaxin for my b'day. I'd post some pics up of my shoes, but I can't find a pic of it online, and I don't have my camera on hand to take a shot of it. Urgh. I'll do it tomorrow! (if I remember to bring my camera home)

Rules

"Although being bound by constraints was tedious...
I couldn't bring myself to accept a life free of them.
In the end, it made no difference whatsoever."

A quote from Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society

Ghost In The Shell always delves into interesting issues of politics and psychology. It's a little deep for the majority of people, but that's alright. It is like my own little private treat to be able to think at a much more intellectual level.

The above quote makes me think of people who are unsatisfied in their life. Stuck in a crummy job, having to go to school, bad financial situations, or anything where they feel like they would be better if X happened, or if Y didn't happen, or if they were Z. I believe the truth in the quote is that even if we change those factors, we would still be the same. You're more likely going to make the same good decisions, the same bad decisions, and be the same person even if your situation changed in that one aspect.

You can't play the blame game, because it's not going to move you anywhere. Believe in yourself. Mistakes aren't fatal if you use them as steps rather than poring over the fact that they occurred. A masterful painter does not stop each time he makes a mistake, he weaves it in to his masterpiece.

(I think I'm somewhat of a hypocrit. I don't completely believe in what I say here. But by saying it, I am making myself believe in it a little more every time)

Yummm...

I picked up some of those Anna's Ginger Snaps from Costco. Odd though, this is the first time I've seen it being sold elsewhere, i thought Ikea was the only place selling them.

Tonight's Simpsons was hilarious. The 400th ep spoof of 24 has been one of the best eps I've ever seen. Especially with the Jack Bauer lines, hahaha. The split screen zooms! Ah, I can't believe how masterful of editing techniques used in 24 were genius.
The Family Guy ep was pretty funny too. It was a spoof of Back to the Future. Agh.
HAHAHA. OH right, The random chicken fights! They finally introduced how it started. Hahaha.

The most exciting week on television!

This has got to be one of the best weeks of television I've seen because it's Season Finale week!!

CSI NY, Criminal Minds, CSI, House, and Numb3rs had some crazy episodes, some which aren't done but are leading up to the final ep for next week. Bombs, Drugs, Terrorists, Serial Killers, Jerks, Espionage, Codes and Ciphers. WOWWWWWWWW!

I can't wait for Monday's ep of Heroes. How are they going to stop Syler? Will they even be able to stop him? Zomgwtfbbq!

What is Technorati?

I've heard the name, but I'm not actually sure what Technorati does. I'm too lazy to wikipedia it right now. Haha.

Technorati Profile

Who says bosses are nice?

I do! From buying pastries to doughnuts on a semi-daily basis, the boss(es) at our office are always buying stuff for everyone to eat. Just today, our boss brought in Tim Horton's Iced Cappuccino's for everybody!

Haha, hooray for bosses who like to feed! Too bad my conscience isn't smiling, it's going "tsk tsk tsk. Calories". Oh, did I forget that I mentioned that out loud? I said "Thanks!" to my boss. I then began shaking my head and actually said "Calories!" and my boss had a good laugh. =D

Haircuts x2

My sister commented on how long my hair was, so I dared her to cut it. She did... Except she only cut it on the back. Because she didn't know how to cut the front or sides. I was looking pretty silly with long hair from the front but it was nice and short in the back. Haha. That was Sunday, and so I kept my hair like that for the past day and a half to make her feel guilty.

I finally went and got it cut today. I went to some barbershop/salon on Lonsdale Ave half a block from work. Now my hair is all nice and short. And I look like an Azn gangsta again!

Here's a random pic of me, my sis, and her daughter Elle:

Popular in absence

I really haven't paying attention to my portfolio site at all. I created it mostly just to display my work and maybe give my resume that needed web edge. A friend of mine just recently talked to me about site traffic and I strolled on over to see how much traffic I was getting.

I haven't done anything on the site in over 3 months. Yet, my traffic keeps increasing on a progressive weekly basis. I'm guessing all the buzz is based on Metronomic, my metronome Os X widget. I also checked my site referrals and I guess it didn't hurt that I got mentioned on a widget watch somewhere: http://www.applelinks.com/index.php/more/widget_watch_friday_february_23_2007/

I'm pretty sure that the majority of the users are still flooding in from the Mac OS X Widget site. But still, it's amazing, I'm getting an average of 1574 UNIQUE visitors each day. That number is accurate as of today. Some other useless statistics that seem pretty silly considering I haven't updated the site, so it's ALL about that widget.

These are UNIQUE, because the TOTAL one includes repeats is actually even higher at (Total Visitors for Year: 361710)
Total Visitors for Year: 212433
Total Visitors for Week: 2522 (more like for today, mon, May 14th + 3 hours tuesday). The actual count for monday is just shy of 2200.

Graph Summary:
Total Bandwidth for Year: 2 008.01 MB
Average Per Day: 14.87 MB

My widget is only 68Kb...

Deja Vu at Stanley Park

Most of my deja vu's have been from dreams I've had anywhere between 3months before to a couple of years before. Today's was probably the most closest period of difference I have noticed. I experienced a deja vu walking towards the ice cream shop at Prospect Point in Stanley Park. The moment that struck me was when I was thinking of going down to the shops to buy some ice cream.
I think I had this dream/memory about 3-4 days ago. I'm still trying to determine if I'm crazy or not, and if I can really dream into my future. The concept sounds absurd, in a rational mind of though. But.... you never know, right?

Colbert Vs Rain

HahahahA! That was one of Colbert's best throwdown videos ever. Subtitling "He's singin in Korean" when he was also saying that in English. Classic.
But! BEST OF ALL. His challenge "Rain, I'm gonna be all over you like egg on a bowl of bipembap!"

Hahahaha. GO WATCH THIS! May 10th ep!

Dazed

I'm a little knocked off balance right now. I went on a 1-night cruise last night from Vancouver to Seattle. Got back this morning. Basically we left around 6 yesterday, and then arrive in Seattle in the morning and take a bus back so we got back around 12. It's a really short trip, but it's something to do. Haha It's like a mini-vacation.
The fare was pretty cheap, it was only 120 CDN per person, including transfer and taxes. I'm not too happy with the cruise line though. The restaurants were closed pretty early. I usually expect some place to be open 24 hours since, well, that's what cruise lines are good for, food, food, and food, whenever you want. We rode NCL, or Norweigan Cruise Lines. The food is my only complaint since we didn't really get to try much of the other facilities. But as is, it's a cruise ship and if it fails on food, it fails in a very major way.

The cheap fare is good though, hopefully I can find some other ones like this but on other cruise lines, they're pretty fun as a weekend trip if you have nothing else to do. :D

Humidi-bucket

I can't believe Canucks lost tonight after starting with a 2-0 lead. Sigh, now they need to come back from a 3-1 deficit.
As you can see above, I'm trying to make a makeshift humidifier. For the past few weeks, I've been waking up sniffling and stuffed up. It's pretty much gone now after all the vacuuming and cleaning and almost dust-free in my room, but it's odd because I'm still waking up to nosebleeds. I'm guessing the dry factor now. I don't really have a humidifier, but apparently having water in the room works as well? Hopefully I'll wake up tomorrow not having to worry about my nose for once.