Let It Snow. Let It Snow. Let It Snow...Not!

December was a rather dry winter where am at.  It snowed only once, overnight, and was gone the next day.  But this month of January, winter has indeed come.

It had started snowing one night last week.  Since it's my first time overseas during winter in a place not normally known to snow everyday, the sight was quite a surprise to witness in the late evening.  The scene and sky was sort of red, with flakes falling fast.  It didn't look like my usual evening.

that's pretty much the color of what I saw that night

I took a video from the den/balcony of the snow falling that evening.  Hehe!

 a closer look at a tree branch near me

using auto white balance, scene turned bluish green

So it snowed in the past 2 days or so.  Today is no exception, it snowed in earnest today. 

More Fun in the Philippines

The Philippines's Department of Tourism is launching its new tourism campaign "More Fun in the Philippines".

I found it simple yet effective and easier to promote.  Many people do.  It's been quite successful locally.  No wonder there's now even an online More Fun in the Philippines meme generator, whereas the official campaign site hasn't yet gone live (now that's a fail.  Tsk!).


Anyhow, I posted a photo I shot in Panglao Island with the meme via the morefunmaker website:

It's true.  Some activities are indeed more fun in the Philippines.  Now if only traffic/driving/and the commute isn't so stressful in Metro Manila (definitely not fun!), then I could have had more fun in the city.  Lol.

Yes many things, activities and people are more fun in the Philippines but some of the customs people (on arrival in the country) at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 -- the oldest NAIA terminal -- certainly aren't.  And they're notorious for this. 

You arrive tired from a trip, looking forward to getting past the airport gates and being home sweet home, but wait, customs person here is definitely sending feelers to get some "goody/ies" from me or whatever are in my/our bags...asking, staring at, and pointing at our huge bags "o, ang dami nyong bags.. ano mga nauwi nyo... ang lalaki ng bag nyo ah?" (translation... it's akin to saying: "Wow these bags you've brought back are rather big... what did you guys bring home?") or something to the effect which didn't sound quite right to our ears.  It's almost like telling us, "If you get my meaning...." Red flag! 

To which I would dearly have loved to have replied, "Sipa, gusto mo?"  (loose translation: Want a kick in the butt?)  hahahaha!  :D  And to think those bags were from a weeks-long trek we undertook in the Himalaya.  Geez.  Sige, iyo na lang my hiking sticks/trekking poles.  Go take a hike won't you?  And never return sana.. hahaha!  *sighs* 

Xmas and New Year's Eve Party Pics

Some new year's eve party pics...

 black forest cake

Some Scenes This Winter

Scenes shot from the balcony...

 

Critter in the Trees

Outside the window...

Gmail Teahouse Theme Screenshots

view of my Gmail account with the Teahouse theme, blurred the

details of my inbox of course

I used the Teahouse theme for my Gmail account in the past few months.  And I noticed how it changes scenes and how the fox character changes locations or activities in the design depending on what time of day it was.  It's fun trying to check out what might be the latest setting for the time I open my email.  So much so that I took to taking screenshots of each changed scene that I catch.  Lol.

fox feeding the birds in his garden

fox in his kitchen

fox watering his bonsai in the garden

fox in the kitchen and food on the garden table

fox watering his garden

Happy Holidays

Snoopy and Woodstock

and "Oh Christmas Tree"

lovely

Happy holidays!

My List of Overrated Films

The following big-ticket films disappointed me and made me wonder at all the fuss.  Will update this post every time I find another film overrated.

1.  Eclipse and all its sequels.
Just when I thought it's done with a part two, here comes a part 3.  Gah.

2.  Shutter Island (by Martin Scorsese)

3.  Inception (by Chris Nolan)
Tried to make its story seem smart but isn't really smart at all.  At least The Matrix movies got it right. lol.

4.  The Departed (by Martin Scorsese)
You'd be better off watching the original Hong Kong version Infernal Affairs, anytime.  And this won an Oscar? *shakes head*

5.  Hugo (by Martin Scorsese)
Attempted to resemble an artsy fartsy French film but story failed to engage the audience.  Too dull.  Felt sorry for the kid who was watching it beside me.  Glad I didn't have to pay to see it (saw it for free care of rewards points from card), but appreciated the cinema history lesson.  Liked the little dogs though. :P

6.  Mystic River (by Clint Eastwood)
No more Clint Eastwood films for me from then on.

7.  Star Wars prequels.
Should have stopped at the 3rd installment of Star Wars.

8.  An Education (by Lone Scherfig)

9.  Atonement (by Joe Wright)

10.  The Notebook (by Nick Cassavetes)

11. vintage drama movies starring Leonardo di Caprio
No thanks.  lol.


For now, it's safe to say that if a film is by Clint Eastwood or Martin Scorsese, count me out of going to see it. hehe.

Putting Things in Perspective

Just putting things in perspective....some words from Bill Gates to members of the Harvard community:

"I hope you will reflect on what you’ve done with your talent and energy. I hope you will judge yourselves not on your professional accomplishments alone, but also on how well you work to address the world’s deepest inequities, on how well you treat people a world away who have nothing in common with you but their humanity."

I might add: ....and not just how well you treat people a world away, but also within your immediate environment.  Hehe!


Referenced from a Businesweek article online about 'idolizing' Bill Gates instead of Steve Jobs, a good read: http://www.businessweek.com/management/idolize-bill-gates-not-steve-jobs-11012011.html

Skip This Book

Have you ever bought or read a certain sci-fi/thriller/suspense book and wished you hadn't done either?  That it was just hype and that it didn't live up to it?  Well, I just recently did and hope others would steer clear of this book -- The Passage by Justin Cronin.  You can perhaps borrow it, but I wouldn't recommend buying it.

The story seemed too long or prolonged.  It read like one long, winding and somewhat badly edited movie with no clear direction.

I can't believe I actually finished reading it.  Lol.  The first part seemed okay.  However, I was expecting an ending, like a loose ends tied ending.  But didn't get it.  Why?  'Cause turns out the book is the first of a trilogy.

And then I find out eventually that the author collaborated with Ridley Scott, and that it's the first novel out of a supposed trilogy.  No wonder then.  It was deliberately written with the possibility of having it made into a movie/s.  Talk about hype and commercialization.

You can bet am not gonna bother with the sequels.  And I say this right after I finished reading it and put down the book, and without having known at the time that it's the first of a trilogy or that it's a collaboration with Ridley Scott.

Oh well.

Good Read

That's the cover of the non-fiction novel Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.  It's the author's personal account of a tragic climb by a few groups of climbers to the summit of Everest on May 10, 1996, where, by the end, at least 8 people died.  And the author was one of the survivors.

my shot of the outside of Mandala Book Shop

I bought the book at the Mandala Book Shop in Pokhara in Nepal prior to our trek, but only got to read it about two months later.  This version is the British publication of the non-fiction, by the publishing house MacMillan.  There's a newer version printed in the U.S., with more photos.

I just finished reading the book last night.  And man, what a read.  Had a hard time putting the book down.  Some passages also are kind of creepy --

Autumn Collage

some of my shots this autumn... testing Picasa's collage feature.. hehe!

Happy Halloween!

Some pics taken while and about this October..

interesting home window treatment.. frankenstein.

shopwindow

carved pumpkins

Afternoon Window Pics

Just some pics I shot from the window this cool and sunny autumn day...

 

towards the right

somewhat center

 at the left

My Nepal Trek Gear - A Review

Some months back I posted a blog of the gear I planned on wearing and using during my Nepal Himalaya trek.  This time, I'm blogging about some points regarding these gear/apparel after the trip because such info might also be useful to some.

Note that I'm also a photography enthusiast so I also brought some photography gear with me, and the trek was done during the monsoon season.

To start off:

1. daypack

in the bus from Pokhara to Nayapul

I used a Deuter Act Trail 28 SL.  Used it all the way from the flight from Manila, to Bangkok, and to Kathmandu and back, and of course while on the trail.

at one of the teahouse stops

Verdict = essential, but when I bought it, I was looking to buy the 24 SL 'cause it's slightly smaller and I didn't want to bring heavy stuff while on the trail so I thought 24 SL might be enough.  However, since I also used the same pack as a carryon bag on the flights to and from Nepal, the 28 SL was the better choice.

Design and Culture Icon

"We don’t have good language to talk about this kind of thing.... In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains and the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service...

.....That is the furthest thing from veneer. It was at the core of the product the day we started. This is what customers pay us for — to sweat all these details so it’s easy and pleasant for them to use our computers. We’re supposed to be really good at this. That doesn’t mean we don’t listen to customers, but it’s hard for them to tell you what they want when they’ve never seen anything remotely like it."

 -- by Steve Jobs

The above was quoted from the New York Times, re Steve Jobs expressing his focus on design in a Fortune magazine article in the year 2000, the year after I graduated with a degree in industrial design.  I couldn't have defined design better myself.  Even back then, while working on my industrial design degree, I was already tracking the comeback of Apple.  And I have entrepreneur uncles who used Macintosh computers in their businesses pre-colorful iMacs.  So about 5 years or so later -- after some messy experiences with Windows PCs and laptops and my non-existent Windows OS reinstall and formatting skills (lol) -- I finally got my own, an iBook running on a PowerPC G4 chip by Motorola (the last of its kind).  

my old Apple iBook G4, at a hotel in Germany

Along with the above info (only emphasized by the Fortune magazine interview), once I got that Mac and used its OS and hardware, I never went back.. hehe!  Best decision I made and money well spent. 

Nepal Himalaya Trek - Some Highlights

my favorite shot from my trip
That's one of the peaks of the Annapurna in the Himalaya,
shot from the bus on the way to Nayapul from
Pokhara for the first day's trek

It's been 1 or 2 weeks now since I got back from my trek in the Himalayas. Things kept me busy on the home front since my return, with family visiting from other countries and us going on another vaca while they were here.  And then finding out that my old laptop keyboard has gone bust the day we got back home.  What's a girl to do?  hehe.

Anyhow, this trek was my first weeks-long trek anywhere.  We took the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) trek, not the Everest one.  Hearing the name Everest alone sort of makes a newbie trekker like me hesitate to undertake one's first long trek.  Lol.  However, just because the Annapurna Base Camp trek can also be for newbies doesn't mean it's any less challenging.

One thing's for sure, if you're not fond of taking walks or have a pretty serious problem with your knees (I have no knee problem but ended up having to wear knee support to be on the safer side when the right knee started feeling weak/sore... still managed to carry my daypack everyday though) or aren't really into the outdoors, trekking in the Himalayas isn't for you, including this one -- Annapurna or not.  But if you're like the Hong Kong residents who typically walk fast or Westerners (mostly Europeans) we encountered on the trek who are used to hiking and have similar terrains back in their hometowns, it probably would be a breeze for you.  And maybe I'll blog more about this in another post.

This is the itinerary we chose to undertake:
On the way --

Binondo Church

My last shots of Binondo Church before I left Manila, using my Olympus XZ-1 point and shoot:

no effects, cloudy white balance

used art filter mode, dramatic tone (possibly my favorite option from the said mode.. hehe!)

Cat on the Table

just a shot of what's on the table at a hamburger place nearby, where 

I had dinner last week, while waiting for our orders.

coke bottles by the tables

my dinner.. was really hungry after a day out and about.. hehe!

Current Phone

while installing the Skype app

Just got myself a new phone plan, and it came with a free Google Nexus S phone.  It seemed to be the best deal so far with many unlimited features (including unlimited international texting) and the phone was a bonus.  I deliberately avoided choosing plans with Blackberry units or Nokia with Symbian OS (we all know where both are headed I think. hehe! :P ).

Wasn't really planning on an Android phone but needed a new mobile plan asap and it just so happens that the Samsung Google Nexus S is the best with the offer so far, since Apple's iPhone 5 is not yet released (tsk...).  I've been waiting for the iPhone 5 but need a mobile phone service asap so this free Android phone that came with the plan will do for now.  After all it came free when its actual cost is 400-500 USD thereabouts.  Gosh.  hehe!  Wasn't even aware of this model 'til I started looking around in shops for a new mobile phone plan the day before I got it.

So far so good.  Been like bringing a pocket PC with me with this smartphone.  hehe.  I just hate the apps running in the background when you don't need them.  And one big caveat?  My Macbook Pro with Lion OSX (yes I replaced my 5-year-old Mac with the striped feline OS) can't read the thing when I connect it via USB.  Gaaah!!  What's up with that?  :(   So might really switch to an iPhone 5 later once it's available.  Good thing I didn't shell out any cash for this free Android phone.  *sigh*