ASUS EeePC 1201T-SIV005W

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The great war is over. War over who is going to use our current ASUS laptop that is.

Me and wifey went laptop hunting earlier. We were looking for a netbook which is powerful enough to handle JAVA IDE development, well at least that is the primary concern. Of course, we were looking for another ASUS since this brand has already been proven by us as very reliable. We kind of looked into some MSI's and Dell's as well just for curiousity's sake though.

We went first to VMall in Greenhills. In the first shop that we checked into, we were offered an ASUS Eee PC also. The attendant was quite nice however we feel that we are being lied into as they were telling us that they have no other stock of the model we selected. We were being offered to get the displayed item instead. We do not want it as we know that normally displayed items most likely are demo types, meaning that it is either overused already. The front panel of the laptop in fact is somehow oily already with matching finger prints on the surface yet they are telling us that no one has ever touched it yet before. I told the salesman that we will have to decide about the purchase first and that we'll get back to them. But no, I was decided already. We will look somewhere else.

The second shop where we found the model that we want sure has lots of stocks of it. There is one problem though. They have a very slow process. Wifey decided already to purchase it from them but had to change her mind as they kept us waiting for them to finalize the order while still trying to assist other customers. When we noticed that the salesman was not prioritizing us, wifey stood and we hurriedly left. Benta na, nawala pa! Sorry for them.

We got tired of Vmall at that point and the whole Greenhills area. So where else do we have to go? Off to the ever reliable Megamall. We had to scour all the shops at the Cyberzone area. Since we know already which model we are aiming for, we only had to ask for the price of each and of course what freebies can we get. That is important especially since we realized that all shops were offering that model for the same price (must be an ASUS requirement).

We finally were able to get our hands on the laptop through a salesman/girl. He/she is really very accomodating. Customer service tops in our list so since we know that all other shops are almost offering the same items only, we stayed put with him/her. The product is this:

ASUS EeePC
1201T-SIV005W
AMD Athlon
2 Gig of RAM
320 Gig HDD
12.1 inches
With protective sleeve
Free mouse and flash drive

This has no OS yet though except for the ASUS supplied Express Gate which is not a problem. We will be installing Linux CENTOS into it anyway.

Andrew Lloyd Webbers's "Cats" In Manila

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I met my wife as a fellow student and member of a student organization called the Thespians Guild. We basically have the same love for theater althought she has all the talents and me just all the wacky ideas. And since we are celebrating our original anniversary every July, I thought of buying tickets to watch Andrew Lloyd Webbers Cats which will have a limited run at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) beginning July 24, 2010.

And since it is said that the main cast will be led by no less than our very own Ms Lea Salonga as Grizabella, it serves a double whammy for us. My wife loves and adores everything Lea. She was even thinking of using one of her songs before as our wedding March because she really likes her. I am proud to say also that my wife was at some point in time been mistaken for Ms Lea Salonga also. I could not count anymore how many times total strangers will talk to her just to tell her that she looks like Lea.

I want my wife to love me more this July hehe so I gotta have those Cats tickets. If you guys are also interested, you can watch it on any of the following dates:

SHOW DATES (as of April 2010)
SAT July 24 Matinee
SAT July 24 Evening
SUN July 25 Matinee
SUN July 25 Evening
TUE July 27 Evening
WED July 28 Evening
THU July 29 Evening
FRI July 30 Evening
SAT July 31 Matinee
SAT July 31 Evening
SUN August 1 Matinee
SUN August 1 Evening
TUE August 3 Evening
WED August 4 Evening
THU August 5 Evening
FRI August 6 Evening
SAT August 7 Matinee
SAT August 7 Evening
SUN August 8 Matinee
SUN August 8 Evening
TUE August 10 Evening
WED August 11 Evening
THU August 12 Evening
FRI August 13 Evening
SAT August 14 Matinee
SAT August 14 Evening
SUN August 15 Matinee
SUN August 15 Evening

The following are the ticket pricess though:

Ticket Prices:

Matinee
SAT (3:00pm)
SUN (2:30pm)
PhP7000 PhP5000 PhP3500 PhP2000 PhP1000

Evenings
TUE, WED, THU (8:00pm)
SUN (7:30pm)
PhP6000 PhP4500 PhP3000 PhP1500 PhP750

Evenings
FRI, SAT (8:00pm)
PhP7000 PhP5000 PhP3500 PhP2000 Php1000

Ticket Prices are exclusive of Ticketworld fees.

Again this is to be done at the Cultural Center of the Philippines inside the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo. See you there.

For more information about the event, you can visit their Facebook or Tumblr pages.

http://facebook.com/catsinmanila or http://catsinmanila.tumblr.com

Now if I can just get a ticket for free. hehehe LOL.

The Black Pencil Project

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Who does not want to be an advocate of something good for a change? Even the most dreaded criminal must be thinking of doing something good for others once in a while. I guess that is a fact. People has, even in the most unlikeliest one, a few inch of goodness in him to care for others.

I basically admire most those people who are not really powerful individuals but instead normal regular guys like us who are able to start sharing and helping in their own way. Such is the humble beggining of the advocacy group known as the Black Pencil Project.

It started when three photography hobbyist climbed Banaue primarily to get photographs of the landscape and its people. However since it is the start of the school season they brought along a bunch of black pencils to be given to the small kids that they know they will meet in the area. This small step became their initiation to better understanding their roles in the community. It was on that day, "humbled by the warm hospitality of people of Banaue, that they realized the shared value of social responsibility and vowed to continue the effort in their own little way."

Through the help of friends and different online social media, their advocacy grew from a movement of three people to a collection of different people in the society. From photgraphy clubs, to mountaineering organizations, private individuals and tourists alike.

There are a lot of ways to help. One could just literally send in a pencil and that will be counted as a great assistance already. Others tend to adopt-a-box for companies and other institutions abd be returned filled with school supplies. providing cash donations will also help. The more adventurous individuals can be sherpas that will help carry the items to be distributed to the target community. Normally the objective communities are in far flung regions so one is expected to shell out his or her own transportation fees and at least be able to walk long distances and climb steep terrain. Corporate partnerships are very much welcome.

As for me, I am reblogging this. I hope I am able to help by doing this. And I hope a lot of people will be able to read this also. Maybe this will help in making them realize that they too can do something on their own by helping the Black Pencil Project or by doing something else on their own. I am also trying to make contact with a local group in my hometown right now. Who knows, maybe we can adopt one box.

To learn more about the Black Pencil Project, you can visit their website blackpencilproject.org or click here.

Calamias Childhood Memories

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I happen to see from FB some relatives whom I have not seen in a while. It so happened that these guys used to live two houses away from our own house in our hometown. Now they are far off living Down Under. After browsing some of their pictures, nostalgia started to creep.

The place where we grew up in is a little barrio in a small town of Ibaan, Batangas. Everybody knows everyone as almost all are of blood relatives. It is almost as if the whole barrio was owned by our "mamay sa tuhod" who I think the name is Guillermo Rabino. I used to hear stories of him like when he is at odds with someone, he would tell him not to set foot on his land or else something might happen. The threathened will then have to go around the whole barangay just to go to what is beyond our great grandfathers domain.

As young kids, we had nothing to do as there used to be no internet, phone lines were only connected during the latter part of the '90s. The main source of income for most people are farming and the usual "paglalako". And so as kids we got used to playing in the fields, swimming in a very very small river and playing backyard games. The closest guys I grew up with are my cousins. These guys are mostly my second cousins. The bunch of us used to call ourselves the Paltik Gang. The oldest among us I think was about 11 years old only when we started to call ourselves such. Paltik is how we in our area of Batangas calls a slingshot. I had fond memories of those days when we would go from fields to fields playing like soldiers armed with slingshots. We will always target our grandfathers fruitbearing trees most especially the mangoes during summer. It is also during summer when we always get to setup a mini-beach in our area locally called "layon". Since the only flowing river that we have in our place is narrow and not deep at all, what we used to do was to create some sort of a dam that will allow the water to overflow into the banks. We would then pile more and more rocks along the waters path to make it deeper. I remember how these mini-dams were given names like Julian Beach, Arong Beach, Haba-Kipot etc. But there was always danger in putting such dams everytime. This is from our palu-palo wielding kakang's, tita's, tiya's, ate's and lola's. This is because the same narrow river is also the place where our older women relatives are washing clothes. And by us doing the dams this creates tension as the water normally gets muddy whenever we youngsters are doing our little picnics. We are not allowed to dive into the water as long as they are not finished. Oh I cannot count anymore how many times Kakang Soledad and Ate Nita (not my mother) would come after us wielding their "pambugbog" because we used to constantly disregard this unwritten rule. Now that I am thinking about it, "hehhehe sorry po".

Ohhh there are lots of stories, beautiful and exciting, and all these I miss so much. Not that I again will run after jeepneys at night naked like what we used to do when we were young. It is just that these memories should be kept and should be told to our grandkids also. I miss being young and living the life that our lolo's taught us. One day though, I promise, I will write a book about all those experiences. And that will be complete with all the characters involve especially the the members of the Paltik Gang.