Mobile Make Over

Last Saturday had been reeling with so much fun and fervency. I realized how lucky I am still to be in the Philippines, despite the perpetual bullheading of my folks to go abroad.

Where can we ever find repertory of goods and services heaped in one spot than in the land of the orient pearl. Philippines is teeming with everything you can find in one cornucopia. We have a relatively wellspring of everything we need, and all of them are stacked in a zoning order. For computer parts slash peripherals, there's Gilmore. For pets and household cuddly lollygags, there's the Libertad. For electronics, there's the Raon. For shutterbug like me, all sorts of photo paraphernalia can be found at Hidalgo. For car parts, Banawe is replete with all kinds of car set up bounties, in almost all car brands you can think of. For almost everything under the sun, there's the treasury of it at the Divisoria.

So there we went at Banawe to check out some cool car craze dress up. stereo set, side skirts, side mirrors(be aware of the anti-fencing law, unless the side mirror sold to you is your very own), mufflers, and tiremags. While the hair makes or breaks one's look in a human being, a tiremag is the crowning glory of the car. It is like putting a new shoes to your automobile. The plethora of it abounds in Banawe.

And speaking of hair, after our mobile make over, we headed off to J23 Glam Salon and Spa for some urban pampering, a fair treat from a sweat-breaking day of price haggling with the Banawe folks.

For every person's first visit, one can get to enjoy a 10% discount on all its services. Butt because my friend has a gift of gab and undeniably a charm like no other, we were both offered with a 10% off too on its gift cheques worth Php500 and Php1000 respectively. A cheapskate that I am only gets thePhp500, enough for me to avail of their spa session on my next visit.

The long day obviously sends our stomach in deprivation. So we drive from Timog all the way to Cubao and filled our gustatory room at the Gateway foodcourt, with only a handful of bills left we have on hand. Our budget may have been squeezed, our day shrunken, but it was well worth it; it was a day conspicuously capitalized.

Mobile Cruise

I have unboxed quite a number of gadgets and techtoys but not 'toys for the big boys'(in other words, cars), but have been driving fairly well in the past, and admittedly enough have driven more time on jeeps than sedans, or than I could even count. True enough, the driving experience that it brought on me is quite exhilarating, and not because most of the jeeps that I have driven rallied through open air with dust, foreign pollutants, and radioactive elements of the sun are promiscuous visitors of your exposed body.

Lately, a friend of mine from the other side of a non-Mitusbishi universe that I am always involved with invited me over to grace his pleasure driving as his 'navigator' at the Honda Cup Challenge 2009 held at the NLEX straight. But because of my tight schedule and a series of events that I am brewing with, I turned down the invitation.

What rings to my ear is the term "pleasure driving" which is obviously an antithesis of what I am expecting in a motor cup. It mustn't be as easy as a walk in the park, or a drive to the diorama. Afterall, with our restrained need for speed and unrealized Formula One affinity, what comes to mind when talking about car challenge is the speed and prevailing the race. This isn't the case, he said.

Honda Cup Challenge is not about torque and horsepower. It is about fuel-efficiency, comfort, and overall driving convenience. Simply dubbed as a drive to go green, this competition is composed of several fleets of Honda cars driving to every drop.

Until I have driven one myself, I can attest that it does have a very economical and functional design philosophy.

While not really my type of car design(sorry I am not into ultra-compact cars), this is by far the most practical option if you want to save fuel costs while zipping through the squeaking space of Manila traffic. With the use of

If you look at it at the outside, some impressions ebb and flow like driving a space-arresting MiniCooper. But hell not. You'd be surprised it even has a spacious interior than an Altis. Usability is indeed the Jazz´s strongest Ace card by a mile - the interior solution is rather ingenious: The Jazz is actually more compact than an already compact sedan, an inch shorter than a Volkswagen Polo, but you you will be amazed until you're in the inside. The interior space is closely linked to the height of the car- the slightly more upright seating position enhances the space available in the cabin significantly.

The wide visibility allows one to have a full controle at maneuverability in swirling even small radius. Iconic design, sharp-handling, and sprightly and spacious interiors, this is a fusion of practicality and personality.

Among the rafts of features it boasts is not just the lofty road performance but the commendable flagship i-DSI technology(stands for intelligent Dual and Sequential Ignition) which is just a renamed and refined DOHC(dual over-head cam) that consisted of two spark plugs per engine. Armed with an iVTEC engine and an always dependable petrol guage, one can more or less estimate his fuel consumption via FCR(fuel consumptipn rate) monitor while on the road. Nice, edgy, and definitely state of the art even for those shoe-stringed-budget-driven individuals.

And like what I said, I have driven jeeps more than I can count drinking frap in Starbucks, so the engine noise has been a common audible commodity for me. But not this car. when I turned the radio on, I can even barely hear the engine running. Or maybe it is because of the fresh-from-the casa factor.

The verdict: For a car that is obviously aimed at mobile professionals and city-dwellers like me, it is one practical choice on almost all aspects.

Talents behind technobabbles

I pride myself into knowing how to play piano, of fingering keys up to the frivolities of pianissimo and forte, crescendo and decrescendo. But piano is a defeat to my advocacies of mobility. Had I known it, I would have tried my fingers into strumming guitars same way as Cathy(shown in the picture with me perusing songbook and showing KTV remote) did.

But more than having flexibility of fingers on musical instruments, at the least I can sing. And I can sing adequately better than an average, musically inclined Filipino. Hahaha, call it "brimming a certain degree of fighting spirit." But not only that the people close to me know that I can, I also bagged fair share of modest Sing Along contests during my heydays. Yes, we call it "Sing Along" contest and not the pop-culturally-known singing contest known today. Most of my reportoire were ballads and standards, because those were where my vocal range astutely fits. And during college days, I was branded to be a master balladeer wanna-be who always brings Minus One Tape(there aren't any videoke or KTV sets back then yet) and refuses to relish songs upon the coax of my folks, but ultimately gave in, in the concealed pretenses of an already mastered and memorized song by saying "oh, sige, Side B, naka-rewind na yan ha".

Last Saturday, the G&S Party at Music 21 Timog had been streaming with surprises. I never though one friend named Vic can sing so good, dishing out songs from the renowned pop artist and premiere balladeer Martin Nievera. He rendered the song "How Can I" which is probably one of Ryan Cayabyab's musical virtuouso, but since I'm more into ballads than any music types, I am partial over Willy Cruz's compositions.

Sharon(shown in the photo below wearing red shirt with a balloon inside) has been irrefutably good at that craft. I used the term "irrefutable" because she can draw and lump the crowd together to stage her own concert, just as how she did it during her birthday at the Conway's Bar, Shangri-La Hotel, Makati. I knew it, I was there too. Running a blood of diva's, her sister Ynna won a certain songfest in HongKong.

Going back, I am categorizing(desparaging) shamelessly that piano is a limpid violation of mobility and I was so glad that Cathy not only possesses unparelleled level of confidence, hahaha(sorry dear) but also started to play guitar as well, and she does it for a good cause. For their local church chorale purposes, mainly.

Had I grabbed guitar lessons, I would have had my launching ground to be the 'Jose Feliciano protegee' in the making. Hahaha.

I told Sharon that I refused to immerse myself with alcohol that night because I want to preserve my sense of hearing to discover raw talents behind technobabbles.

And yes I did.

Starbucks Planner 2010: Self-imposed gift for your mobile lifestyle

What is it on every Christmas season that people are bent on spending thrice the amount of frappuccino and twice the three special featured beverage just to get the December's most-sought-after folio, the Starbucks planner. Why has it evolved into an urban lifetsyle habit to grab one everytime the month kicks in the -ber affixation. 

Quite frankly, I am only able to drink the Dark Cherry Mocha during November and December. And yes, not only because I have diabates that I only tend to loose myself a bit when it comes to what is restricted and what is regimental(it is in these season that abundance is apparent in the horizon), but because I also want to race against time to grab a planner that I don't even use the entire year. 

I know I am only partially paperless when it comes to keeping the personal information management intact. But when it comes to contacts, appointments, and task lists, I don't use any Filofax or planners. I don't even jot down meeting minutes on a piece of paper, but rather, highly rely on Notepad installed in my Windows based netbook that I carry almost everytime due to its mobile practicality.

Have you noticed how kids gets discernible excitement whenever Christmas frenzy is in the air, as they expect to be harboring with their coveted toys left and right from their godparents? Well, adults too get that same shivering feeling in the sheer luxury of completing Starbucks stamps. More like a heralding trophy of triumph after a long surge of urgency; the difference is that you can only have this out of your own pocket. 

I asked one of the colleagues why such a behavior among us coffeeshop parasites, as if I am asking a professional opinion from a psychographic point of view. He said it isn't the planner but the thought that a large portion of the proceeds will go to the UNICEF. 

Maybe I too have that same rectitude. And I have just been to Starbucks to get my Nth stamp. 

Mobile Conveniences

I have just been a Globe Postpaid "return customer" last October. That being said means that I am sporting a new number. That also means that I am putting another set of bills to an already avalanche of bills that my pocket has been bludgeoning with, magazine subscriptions mostly. Not counting other forthcomings like gym membership and all.

The last time I had my Globe line was during 1999, when analog phones rule the world and when Nokia 5110 has its peak of notoriety, a barometer of celebrated stature. 

Back then, I think Globe just started charging the SMS sending. So my entry into the mobile market is a bit late than most technology-assimilated folks. 

What made me return back to Globe Pospaid are reinforced into two reasons:

1) Globe Super Surf is offered with a compelling discount so huge that I didn't have a chance to banter my rebuttals. Thank to my friend who works as a Business Development Officer of Globe(name witheld). 

Though I already have a SmartBro since December of last year, having two broadband internet options is not only a necessary commodity but a convenient flexibility. 

Plus, who would ever say No to the fact that Globe Visibility users will be capped 5GB per monty of usage. Although I am not a Peer-t-Peer freak in the form of download engines like BitTorrent, I am definely a Youtube Baby, and I succumb to most of the Youtube content especially Karen Carpenters music videos to lull me to sleep. 

One classic example of flexibility is being able to juggle business proposal and blog entries while in a bar with some friends and clients. The picture on the left is taken at one of the bars within El Pueblo area in Ortigas.(Sorry, phone camera is a crap but was lucky enough to take this pic when the crowd is still absent to swarm the bar area). 

2) My trip to India will possibly culminate anytime soon as I get all the portfolio of services, business blueprint, and feasibility proposals ready. Yes, I will be going to Bangalore for just a stint of around 3-4days and I badly need roaming services to keep me connected to my company here. This would purely be a business trip that I don't even have a chance to see the Taj Mahal.

I couldn't say much about India except for the fact that it is where most epicenters of technology-driven businesses converge. 

I might just as well cross the bridge when I get there.  

Mobile Cowboy's Cuisine Trek

I am neither a food connoisseur nor a resto virtouso. Heck, I don't even know essentially the difference between a gourmet and a gourmand, much more than deciphering hard-to-pronounce continental cuisines. But I have been into lots of restaurants that I can already rule out which of the entrees serves superb sapidity. The rule of thumb is simple, choose whatever is the house speciality. But usually, such concoctions are priced relatively high than other courses. 

Going into Filipino restaurant always make a safer selection and a quite easier way to savor taste without the need to google encyclopedic food jargons. 

After a long and laborious meeting with our client at the UP Ayala TechnoHub, we went to the place that reminds us with our college days in restrospect. Mang Jimmy has been a haven for students along the Katipunan universities. It accurately defines the very term "home-cooking" since it is situated right at the very shard backyard of the man whose concept made the place needless to introduce. 

Unpretentious and utterly simple, Mang Jimmy is a place for mobile professionals(empie's for short, an evolved term from yuppies) to gratify mouth-watering goodness without violating one's shoe-string budget. Located right smack at the MWSS compound in Balara, just a stretch from the UP Campus, it has earned notoriety for serving good food with bang-for-the-bucks value. In fact, our bill barely hits the Php500 mark and the three of us are already satiated with bloated tummies and grotesque forms. 

The only sinful indulgence that we have repeatedly committed that day was to feast over a huge serving of Crispy Pata smidged with home-made sauce. It will even definitely lure diet-conscious and South Beach advocates. You can never go wrong with their sizzling plates and I bet one will never go home with an empty(or even mid-full) stomach. This is probably what my friend Shy means when she describes their home dishes to be "abundance is food." 

They didn't let us pay for our rice when most of it glided to each of our stomach quite profusely. 

Given our speed to be close to a hundred kph, we arrive at the place 4:00PM, started eating 4:20PM and ended up 6:45PM. It was absolutely room-filling. 

Jetson's wedding of the future

It's wedding time. At least that is what I have felt this season, not so much with the forthcoming yuletide break, since it has been a prevailing cycle when we pave way to the -ber months. 

But it is definitely noteworthy when one felt December to be vicarious alternative to June. Maybe because people are bent on receiving huge lump sum of Christmas bonuses and annual incentives. Or perhaps they just simply would like to start a year long being into each others arms. 

Couple of years back, Cat got wed. Few weeks ago, Pen just got married. Now Sha is about to tie knot too with her dearest inamorato. I mean, most of the pals that I have been hanging out with for so long are in one way or another disintegrated into our singlehood circle... gradually.  And ultimately leaving me alone in the circle. 

And speaking of Pen, let me start my story by asking an apology. You know, there are things that I couldn't do in my solitude just so in the present times that I am still nursing a broken heart. Things that would remind me of her, things that would make me long for her, I have been eluding it. I couldn't even watch a movie all by myself, much less than attending a wedding ceremony. It was plainly bad timing and I'm sorry for not attending, for not being there in the most celebrated moment in your life.  

Going back to the heart of the matter, I am neither a bane to romances nor have I possess expert knowledge in the dissertations of marriage and its grandstanding. But I have more or less an opinion on what I want whenever this technophilia that I am decided to walk down the aisle with my bride. Techno-thematics in its finest.

But Catholic Church is flooded with century old "conservatism" which might oppose the cultivation of new, rising radical ideas. So I will try my best to stand on the amicable ground between what is reasonable and what is reformatory, on what is historical and what is hype. 

Given my affinity to cars, I'd start thinking my quentessential wedding picture on settling what car would be used. Partly reminiscent of the Cinderella pumpkin-inspired carousel, this is enclosed in glass, so that my wife can be seen at all angles. I mean hey, she is the queen of her own, she should have the claim of exposure, the right to royalty. Afterall, the difference between a bride and a debutante is the sealed commitment of her eightenth rose.

If having an iPod that plays church music is already an uncompetitive thought in the Jetson's wedding of the future, maybe a wedding ring that has a playback capability to project videos into a screen would make bells and whistles. Yes, a wedding ring that works much like MP4 players slash microprojectors. Projecting into a screen would be quite an extraordinary idea as devices that should have this feature must comply two essential requirements: 1) light bulb small enough but can project large screen dimensions and 2) a battery pack also small enough but can withstand an hour of playback. 

Next is to think of a place that where all these high tech(albeit farfetched) ideas roll into reality. Maybe a dome stationed in the Earth's orbit? Connected into the ground via elevator with cables a tensile strength of the univserse's strongest alloy? 

Skin sizzlin' your laptop

I started skinning my laptop four years ago via Gmask, whose only laptop skinning outlet is at Greenbelt 1. That was way way back. And way way far from my place of work. Now my Acer Aspire 3620 is collecting dust like magnet, while serving its sole purpose of entertainment, playing dvd to lull me to sleep, or before I sleep.

But true to the apothegm that you'd go far places to make yourself beautiful, same goes true with laptop. Afterall, one's laptop is an embodiment of your personality. Seen in today's teen with laptop the colors of pink and pastels, with the designs of Hello Kitty and Tweety Bird, laptop has been gradually evolving to be fashion statement other than its main purpose of computing slash surfing. Probably competing fashion spots with cellphone's interchangeable housing wayback its heydays, today's laptop also dresses up according to the myriad of user's personality.

But skinning your laptop is not an easy task and is mostly done by professionals, and taking an hour to finish(at least that is what Gmask advised customers as the lead time of service).

Well, gone are those days. Cretouch skins are easy to install and don't require sweat producing glands to work.

Care of Cretouch at cretouch.com, you have plethora of premium skins to choose from, from the wood finish to the leather designs. Short for Creative Touch, Cretouch is your ally in terms of revolutionary make overs on boring laptop lids. My favorite design would be the carbon fiber, maybe drawned by my affinity to cars with carbon fiber hoods.

My gripe with Gmasking my device is that it doesn't come cheap. I remember having shelled out around 3grand for overall maskable area.

Now, I'm glad I don't have to spend a dime as my netbook's lid already has a decent design out of the box. See the similarity of the carbon skinned MacBook above with my Toshie NB205?

How mobile are you

One has to defy the orthodox rule of social lifestyle to be able to answer question like "how mobile are you."

For some, it is measured as to the frequent flight miles they had with their airline loyalty privies, while others think of it as the number of times they are at home versus the lifestyle they lead outside. 

I myself measured it by how I easily adhere working lifestyle with personal ones, while maintaining the ever shifting landscapes. 

You see, I had been always on the perpetual move since I started marketing role wayback God-knows-when. Probably since the time I had my social security ID and TIN number. 

Remember the PocketBell days? When pagers used to be the primary means of contact for mobile professionals? I am one of those donning EasyCall pager on my left waist while Philips Fizz cellphone(analog) on my right. 

Then comes the revolutionary age of the PDA, those electronic brick that poses to be the handy computer via inception of wifi. With my immersion to wwireless technology, I was even featured in a magazine that speaks about mobile sphere in the Filipino culture. 

And now, with netbooks came into fruition, plus the advent of 3G, a promise of mobile lifestyle has even sharpened in massive scale. One can now juggle work at the time of pleasure. An unhealthy combination but considerably convenient. The hussles and bustles in getting confined at the four cornered office is now replaced with cozy and sleazy coffee shops where you can just bring your laptop and cellphone, and viola, the mobile office is with you. Unplug and play is the name of the game. 

One can enjoy the atmosphere of his favorite hang out circuit while not missing business documents and deadlines. 

But as to how far has this reached us is best measured by the laptop shipments in a year. Atom processor doubled sales figure in just a short span of time, cannibalizing the other conventional CPU market. 

It used to be the dictum of the OLPC brainchild to have widespread distribution of portable computers, hence the abbreviation "One Laptop Per Child."

And so it is. Today's Filipino household possessed at least one laptop. Some even has one laptop per family member. 

And the coffee shops' primary amenity don't limit to the variety of palatables and drinkables. In house, store sponsored wifi are already part of the offerings. The doors are not only gracing with menus to choose from but with wifi logo to stay connected, a come-on feature. 

In fact, I am writing this blog in a smoothie cafe while securing my needed break from a Mitsubishi event I was part of, showned by my red Mitsubishi T-shirt and the picture of the exhibit venue. (And it's one of those rarest, priceless moments that I wore rubber shoes on an occasion). A classic example of lifestyle/paradigm shift while traversing different landscapes. Speaking of which, do watch out for the next leg of Montero Sport Challenge by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines. 

Until here, I will be back to the event.  

Emergency Mobile Must-Have's

The past typhoon Ondoy ultimately gives us a stern lesson, whether on our way of coping tragedies, or our wherwithal to rise above distress, or even our workin plan in preparing such disasters.

The Ondoy which swept the entire into total darkness, literally and metaphorically, is a distinct mark at how adept and equipped are we in the face of turbulence.

With the city almost in total darkness after several languishing hours of power outage, one could almost account as what would have we prepped in the cases of long hours of brown out.

Not mentioning the flood, since it can only be coped at a massive scale and socio-political level, let's dichotomize this disaster into the nucleus of individual importance.

Had it not been with my Toshiba netbook, I would been gnawed in total darkness too. This is probably thing working in the entire neighborhood(not mentioning some PSP's of my younger kins), which professes to endure 9hours of continuous computing. My phone rendered useless as Globe's signal were a matter of futility, latter known that some communication tower near the flooded area conks out and can hardly be repaired because roads are impassable.

In my modest contemplation, I listed down the things I could have brought and bought as an emergency must-have's:

1) Battery Geek Portable Power Station: With over 30 + tips along with a travel case and a pouch to carry just the battery and cord, this is probably the must have gadget in cases of emergency. This claimed to power up your device up until 18 to 20hours. Imagine if you have a netbook that can last around 7 to 9hours, plus this portable wonder, then you'd be alive and online for close to 30hours.

2) OXO Candela Luau Portable Lamp: While many of us has different versions of what a portable lamp comes to mind, be it a hybrid radio/ lamp/flash light or a mere table top lamp, one should have at least this device to endure in lengthy hours of power interval. One thing that comes close to mind is the Oxooutdoor lantern that can light up your life up to 10hours, depending on the brightness setting. If your TV's out and DVD marathon's not possible, then better grab this portable lamp and just commune with good books.

3) Candles: But if you don't have $199 to boot for a portable lamp, then better get candles but you've got to be careful since it is one of the fireman's hot list on the most common causes of fire. The most nifty design I have come across with is this beer-inspired candle. Now, if you're thinking of pleasuring your alcohol-drenched friends with Christmas presence, this might be the IT thing.

4) Emergency Light: Known to be as common office must-have's as with fire extinguisher, this is also handy at home. Renowned as the industrial illuminator which automatically light up when AC outlet is not supplying power, it is probably the most seen and required building item.

5) Dynamo Torch with mobile phone charger: One of the most dressed-to-advantage devices is this flash light cum torch cum all other name-it-functionalities, including mobile phone charging and AM/FM transmitter. It can withstand up to 8hours of superb illumination. When TV's out, and books are all consummed to mind, maybe it's time to return to your humble auditory roots when radio drama and corny FM DJ's stormed the airwaves.

Post Mortem:

In the light of these, may I extend my heartfelt gratitude to our neighbor Noel who has a Christian congregation that took the initiative of carrying three sacks of slightly stressed clothings of mine to the site, when I am world-weary and could not mobilize for having hailed from work.

And just as the spirit of helping hand reaches, I ask a friend of mine too to donate some of her used clothings to the poor flood indigents. Just as I hoped, she said yes. She is a staunch believer of retail therapy and has an uncanny shopping habits like no tomorrow, with clothes piling up more than she could ever wear.

While some groups of friends in the industry participated in the photo exhibit at Badminton Galaxy, 2F Auto Galaxy Bulding, Sapphire Road, Ortigas Center. The exhibit featured photographs capturing the hope, love and heroism amidst typhoon Ondoy. "Capture the light" is all about the art and craft of capturing emotion, strength and bayanihan in action using whatever camera one have(yes even a cellphone). Proceeds of this exhibit was given to the destituted few of this flood.