Quality time with doggie dog

Spent the entire afternoon napping if not keyboard mashing. Tonight I'm scheduled to have dinner somewhere in a remote island called Eastwood. Okay, it really is not that far away and is definitely not an island. It just takes too much effort to get off the bed as I am more intimate with it than anything else. Of course, we spend more or less a third of our lives sleeping. You know that right?

All right then. Since this site is about the boring side of me, let me show you whom I spent the whole afternoon with. Meet my loyal friend, Bubu. This is what happens if you have nothing much to write about. Whew!



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Knockout pets
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So what if Lebron gets dunked on by a college player?

I read this yahoo article today about Lebron getting dunked on by a college ballplayer from Xavier University. It's either the anti-Lebron or the less mature basketball fans who make this a blown up "success" story for a young hoopster. What I mean is hey, this is the game of basketball: you either block a shot or get dunked on. The greatest shot blockers get dunked on. Some to the point of real embarrassment. To name a few: Anfernee Hardaway - Patrick Ewing (#1 on link video); Robert Pack - Shawn Kemp; Kevin Johnson - Hakeem Olajuwon; Kobe Bryant - Dwight Howard; Larry Johnson - Dikembe Mutombo; and so on. Every basketball fan probably has a list of unforgettable facials in mind. Some of you may say, "Yeah right, get dunked on but not by a college kid." Of course a volume of great NBA shotblockers get dunked on by mediocre players. This propaganda of Lebron "gets dunked on" just makes Lebron's star a whole lot "shinier". It's big deal to dunk on a GREAT player. Oh, I remember what a friend posted on a social networking site yesterday: "Success is not determined by a single accomplishment; it's a habit of consistency." Okay, it sucks because I can't remember the exact words. What it means to me is give the guy a hundred attempts to dunk over LeBron and we'll see how many times he scores. And misses.

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Yahoo News!
Witnesses at last: Video of Lebron James getting dunked on
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Laugh of the day: Evian tv commercial

Check out this video of baby rollerskaters!!


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Improved study area

Today's boredom attack is not bad at all. I served a different approach as I let it wait the whole day to get into me. In fact, it did not have much success to bore my brain out. In the end, boredom got bored waiting for an opportunity to 'dullify' my day. You heard it, the word of the day: dullify. No makes sense but what the heck. Let's move on.

I now have an improved study set up. Hopefully this would help me get through the book-reading slump I have had in the past few days (an understatement for someone capable of reading no more than two [2] textbook pages a day). Do not question my dedication to higher learning though. There is just too much cerebral rust to shake.

*click to enlarge image

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Freddie Aguilar: Mariah Carey's right

Filipino music artists respond to Freddie Aguilar's comments questioning the patriotism of two fellow international Filipino artists in Arnel Pineda and Charice Pempengco.

Reports indicate Ka Freddie's statement that both Pineda and Pempengco validate Mariah Carey's sour remark regarding Filipino artists' inability to come up with a musical style distinct from the rest of the world.

Aguilar, himself a renowned international artist, reportedly criticized the absence of homegrown songs in both Pineda and Pempengco's performances. In my opinion, the two artists' achievements represent Filipinos very well as being world class performers. Although I also believe that success is more gratifying if foreigners embrace what is our own, like what Ka Freddie has accomplished in his storied career. Perhaps with more exposure, Arnel and Charice would find open windows for an opportunity to promote our culture intimately and that is by singing songs in our native tongue. I bet they'd love to do so.

On picture: author (back) with Freddie, Shiaianne "Anak" Aguilar, and former teammates


More on this incident, click here
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Got new phone Nokia E71 / 1202 (review)

Black and white E71


E71: feature-filled, priced reasonably.

The Nokia E71 is a mid range priced phone that costs around Php17000 or less. A combination of eye candy and performance, it turns out to be a pleasant surprise. Symbian S60 OS performs well. The interface looks great. Mobile internet is fast. The E71 is superb as a ♪Music Player♫- thanks mainly to its loudness and thump despite the single loudspeaker. The QWERTY keyboard takes a little bit of getting used to, but after a while it makes texting a breeze. Fat-fingered texters may disagree. Thankfully, mine is properly trained to hit small buttons. In addition, battery lasts approximately 3 days or so depending on the type of applications being used. I like to play loudspeaker music at the highest volume setting.

Overall satisfaction as far as I'm concerned is a perfect 10. If you are planning to buy an E71, check out the newer E72 first. Personally, I like E71's appearance. The E72 though is an improved version of E71 in terms of internal memory, battery life, and the addition of the highly anticipated optical track pad. (See comparison link at the bottom of this page).


Nokia 1202: cheap and light

I was looking for a cheap phone, preferably a low end Samsung phone, with long battery life priced below Php2000. I found the Nokia 1202 instead. This phone is u-n-b-e-l-i-e-v-a-b-l-e. The 1202 serves its purpose well: Easy keypad (arguably one of the best phone keypads ever) for the lightning texter such as myself. No nonsense black and white screen. Weighs only 78g. Battery tested very good as it lasted 4 days in one charging (approx 2 ½ hours of airtime and moderate text messaging). Built in flashlight may come handy during sudden power outages. Other websites rate this phone a 6 out of 10 which is insanely low considering its below Php1500 price tag.


E71 and 1202 side by side

Compare E71 and 1202, click here
Compare E71 and E72, click here Read more>>

Mobile unlimited call & text services: giving consumer great options

Image by Bah Humbug

During its infancy stages, texting service was free of charge. As the popularity of GSM texting progressed, the unpleasant news echoed across the pioneer generation of texters: the cost of 1peso/text.

Smart and Globe were popular choices; although there were other networks such as Islacom and Mobiline. The birth of Suncellular and its aggressive 'free call and text' strategy modified consumer mobile communication. And the rest is history.

Today we enjoy improved services (no more good morning messages at night due to text lags), cheaper rates, and unlimited calls and text messaging to name a few. The new cellphone models also contribute to price slashing. Picture messages for instance (Php15 for b/w graphics), a craze back in the black and white cellphone era, is almost a thing of the past as the public now enjoy mobile blogging, MMS, em@il on the go, and so on.

Red Mobile, Suncellular, Globe, and Smart offer a wide variety of unlimited services. I'll give an overview on each servicer based on personal experience.

Suncellular- Pros: To the fortunate subscriber who has good coverage, Php20 will give 2 days of free same-network texting and 20minutes airtime. Php30 Call & Text Combo for 40minutes sun-to-sun calls, 120 sun to sun texts and 40 texts to other networks valid for 3 days. Other flexible promos are also available. Cons: To me, it is a nightmare to use this service mainly because the reception is too weak in our area. I initially used it back in 2006 and is quite surprising how it has not improved over the years.

Red Mobile- Pros: red to red local rate is very reasonable and is the lowest among Philippine telecoms at Php0.50 per minute. Countrywide 3G coverage. Cons: I bought one last month, then realized I do not know anyone who's using red yet. A 3G phone for a spare sim? Yes, because it runs on 3G.

Globe- recently introduced Duo. Globe Duo is a service, thus existing Globe sim may be used. There's no need to buy a new sim. Subscriber will have 2 phone numbers: the current mobile number (i.e. 0905*******) and will be given a new Duo landline number (i.e. 02******). Pros: unlimited Duo to any landline, any Landline to Duo, and Duo to Duo calls. For prepaid users: Php125 is valid for 5 days and Php350 for 14 days. Cons: Duo to Duo call means the service apply provided the other person is also Duo-subscribed or is using a landline. Costly if not abused, so make sure to get the most out of it. Postpaid users add P399 on top of the regular bill and has a 3 month lock period. Pre-termination fee of Php1200 apply to postpaid subscribers. Initially available in NCR and Cebu only.

Note that Duo is for CALLS ONLY. For texting, I personally like unlimited globe to globe text for 80pesos/5days. Others want more flexibility by using the TEXT ALL service which gives a set number of free texts to globe and other networks. This is good instead of the standard 1peso/text to other networks.

Smart- Pros: Cheaper compared to Globe's Duo. Priced at Php100/5 days unlimited calls or Php500/30 days. Cons: Compromised signal reception perhaps due to heavy subscriber traffic.
Same as with Globe, Smart offers flexible texting services.

Overall, it's a good thing to have this options available. Hopefully, telecom companies would also offer other unlimited services such as MMS, mobile email, internet, and all of those features that the latest handsets are capable of.
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Forever college

Today marks the first month of a new school year. After a 5 year absence from college, all I can say is it is good to be back. My ultra short attention span is gradually improving...



Fully loaded with 26 units this semester, snubbed drinking buddies should try to be as considerate as possible. Those books alone make up only a total of 8 units. I have long outgrown reading books (at least 11 years back in time), as I conveniently switched to browsing through the pages of FHM or Maxim instead. Lately my genuine fondness of educational books is somewhat rekindled.

All right then, time is up. I just remembered I had bought the July '09 issue of MAXIM with Jackie Rice gracing its cover. Let me go back to reading.

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Gino @ Tabu photos

Makati City, Philippines





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Matchbox traffic

My cousin's matchbox obsession is crazy. GMA 7 featured the toy collection in one of its tv programs. Check out this mini traffic:





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