Weekend Musings

Dropped by a little park in my village... saw some guys playing tennis at the tennis court, others football (or soccer)... I was thinking to jog there but one side of the park is driven past by many cars.

So I decided to just do my jogging at the street or drive nearer to my house where few vehicles drive along and is not a busy area. In other words, back to my old jogging path. hehe!

I also dropped by the clubhouse to check how busy the swimming pool might be at dusk. Not busy. No one in the pool at all. Turns out it's because it's off limits from 5pm unless you reserve the area overnight for a party or other event. Gah. Lol! It's open 'til 5pm only 'cause the life guard works 'til 5pm only. Oh well. At least I was able to jog... now that the rainy days have stopped.

Am thinking of another alternative exercise to engage in that's accessible from my place, among tennis, biking or swimming. For tennis I need lessons. For biking, I gotta get myself a bike, and for swimming, well, I just have to be at the pool by 330pm at the latest. Lol. We'll see.

Jaiku is Down

Jaiku.com is down for maintenance.. So:

Am currently setting up and playing around with a little Java project with someone from London who's this IT Manager for a finance company in where else? London.

Am setting up Tomcat, Maven, Spring, and any other stuff that needs tweaking with my Mac for this little project... it's kinda labor-intensive but fun nonetheless.. Let's get this s*** to work. Lol!

Tech Buys + Opinions opinions..

I am currently keeping up to date with what's being released in tech gadgets lately, because I am thinking to:

• replace my mobile phone
• buy a new point and shoot, and perhaps,
  
• a new Mac notebook.

But then, I thought to wait some months more since I'm not in such a hurry and new gadgets get released later in the year in time for the holidays, + their improved versions about 3-6 months later. I'm not the sort who changes gadgets like a fashionista follows the trends in a blink of an eye. hehe! I usually buy one only when the current one stops functioning right and I don't want to bother getting it repaired. So even when the item's more expensive than normal it's ok since it'll probably last longer than it should and I know I'll be using it much. I make careful choices regarding the gadgets I buy. Which in turn could turn out to be too wise of a choice, because they turn out to be too durable so I've no excuse to be in a hurry to get a replacement when I feel like it. That's a good way to keep my tech purchase decisions in perspective and not just get one 'cause they're hot. Hmmm...

I've still no iPod of any sort 'cause I've no time to listen to anything that way yet, so it'll be wasted on me. But if you can give me an iPod to which my DSLR camera can easily connect to so it would serve as sort of like an external hard disk to which I can immediately and directly archive/backup my photos while on the road or out of town (without having to lug or use a laptop) with little or no hand-wringing, that might make it sold. Hehe!

My notebook's a more than 2-year-old Mac, and my cellphone cam is a 3-year-old Sony Ericsson w800i bought when I was going on a backpacking trip through Europe for some months to serve as a photography backup in case I hit a snag with my old Canon digital camera.

They've both served their purpose very well (the SE w800i and the Mac). Both have been with me on my trips overseas. And the Sony Ericsson phone has so much more battery life than my then Canon camera that I used it so much whenever am on the road travelling. Very convenient. 'Cept for the shutter sound it makes for which there's no option to turn off. Very obvious when you're inside the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican attempting to sneakily photograph Michelangelo Buonarotti's The Last Judgement (no photo-taking allowed) and you're this Asian holding this ubiquitous but modern little camera in cream and orange color masquerading as a phone. (How very Japanese. hahaha!) If a guard had stopped me, I probably would say, "Bene, scusi signore, it's not like I can come back here anytime soon to my heart's content. And hey, no flash!" (you smarty pants!) hehe! Can already imagine the museum guard exclaiming, "Mama mia, signorina!", complete with hand gestures. Lol! But I digress.

a section of the ceiling depicting works of
biblical scenes by Michelangelo.
See Adam and God reaching out to each other on the left.
photo taken in the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican using
my Sony Ericsson w800i walkman phone with 2mp camera

Anyway, while thinking of what new point and shoot camera to buy next, it occurred to me why was I considering them when Sony Ericsson's releasing a new range of cellphones with their Cybershot camera later in the year. It seems like it might be the end of the point and shoot as we know it. Their new cellphone/camera range is more like a Cybershot camera with a cellphone instead of the usual other way around, + wifi. Hence, traditional digital point and shoots beware. It might indeed be the beginning of the end. Why carry one of each when you can carry just one combined, right? Particularly when you're looking to get new ones of each.


I am thinking that just like when I bought my old Sony Ericsson phone with camera, I might as well buy something that also has both too since I'm thinking to replace my cellphone and get a new point and shoot at the same time.

So am checking out the new SE models and hoping that the output of their cellphone camera this time is akin to the quality of output and range of options found with my old Canon point and shoot digital camera with manual/shutter/aperture options, etc. I am waiting for proper reviews of the camera in the SE C905 model once it gets released. I've an Olympus E-510 DSLR camera but carrying a point and shoot doesn't hurt either, depending on the time, place and opportunity present for taking photos.

There were times I had hoped that the iPhone would offer a camera with similar capabilities. But I guess that's a bit far off where Apple's concerned. So far only Sony Ericsson's offering much more decent camera capabilities that's perfect for shutterbugs like me, while other phone brands are into the touchscreen, apps, and internet functionalities so far. Which aren't so bad except I'm a shutterbug and not too much immersed in the Internet 'cept when it comes to posting photos I take and when am utterly bored and have nothing else better to do (then I blog, like here).

I'm not too into social networking either. I've still no Facebook account and have no plans yet of creating one. Life was simpler not getting sucked into the cyberspace void, and more private. Sometimes I tend to think it would be hubris for me to post so much of my life online and tell the world of friends' and families' names and faces sometimes without them knowing, including their kids' photos even.

But hey, if it makes some happy to do so for themselves you know... *shrugs with hands raised*... and Google and Facebook, and others like them are just too happy to earn from you, too. hehe! You don't really need to belong to as many social networking sites as possible to be considered cool or whatever do you? hehe!

So far I've posted photos with friends, but do not identify them by name; and little or none of/with family. They're not for public consumption. Perdoname. Lol. The most I'd probably do would be to keep it within the family, and so share only with family whatever family pics I post online. Capisce? ahihi! I don't mention the names of the companies I worked in either, past or present, if I can help it.

Anyway, I must be really bored that I've actually written this piece. And I hope my Sony Ericsson w800i dies soon, and my Mac (well, not really)... Lol!

Lost Data

My external hard disk just recently died on me. I lost a lot of files but most of the important ones I've backed up to CD prior to backing up to that hard disk. The CDs were the source of most data in that hard drive. So am fine with that.

However, all the photos I have from March to Sept. of 2006 are now lost. No CD back up there. Waaaah!! Most of them were photos from work, with the project/team I was on. And the time I spent on that employed period was among the better experiences I had, plus the friends I gathered along the way, were just simply valuable.... *sigh*. My office venue at the time was also the best location I've ever worked in so far. Arrrghhh! This incident really sucks!! Grrrr!!

That's like 6 months worth of recorded memories of my life history lost. Uggh! Demmit! Might have to arrange to get copies from one of my friends from work at that time who might have stored copies of her own. Gah. Hi J! *waves* lol!

Good thing I still have copies of the 2006 photos worth around 3.5 gb big since I haven't backed those up to another storage medium yet either. The backed up ones were in the said external hard drive. Am just really glad I hadn't thought to delete those 2006 photos from my other computer, its primary storage location.

Lesson learned: always back up data to CD/DVD/whathaveyou, and not just to an external hard drive that lasts 1 - 3 years on average (in my case, less than 2 years). So remember: Have data + storage media, won't wait and will back up.

And that's that. Waaah!