HOT!

I didn't post for a over a week. No excuses, but I'll tell you that I wasn't idle during those days.

60% of those times were work-related (project nearing completion crunch time, so overtime is mandatory to get the job done), and the other 40%, you can see for yourself here-- and hey, it's not even complete yet. :)

Anyway, my airconditioner broke down last Sunday night. It's blowing out air, but when I turn the dial to "Cool", it makes a noisy choking sound which intermittently goes away and comes back, but the temperature doesn't change. In other words, it's currently working as a very expensive electric fan.

It chose a really lousy time to break down. Why couldn't it have broken down last February when the temperature was below 20 degrees? The summer evenings are averaging between 30 to 35 degrees, without counting humidity. It's sweltering nowadays, and I sweat easily too.

I have 2 electric fans in my room, a wall-mounted type and a 12" floor fan which I use to keep mosquitoes away from my legs when I'm working at the computer table. The wall fan doesn't blow strong enough even if I aim the fan on the bed and put the speed setting on high. The 12" floor fan sits on a stool I keep in the room, and it's not enough either.

Don't get me wrong... I wouldn't want you to read this thinking I am living the luxury life with the aircon and all. :D But come on people, you gotta admit that it's HOT. Yes, I turn on my aircon every night, but I don't leave it on for too long. We bought a timer thingy wherein I can set the aircon on for 1 to 2 hours-- just to cool the room to a comfortable sleeping temp, and then it will shut off the aircon and automatically turn on the electric fan, which is good enough for me as long as I don't sweat while sleeping.

Going back, I dislike leaving my window open at night, so you can imagine the air circulation in my room: hot air moving around in circles. I'm a bit of an agoraphobe (as opposed to being claustrophobic) coupled with slight nocturophobia, so I absolutely REFUSE to open the windows. It also doesn't help that I like to watch monster/horror/thriller movies and that my wild imagination makes me think that something will be coming in through my window if I leave it open. My windows have bars and a screen door, but still... yeah yeah, the HEAT! I KNOW! But I'd rather suffer the heat than like awake at night wondering if I'll see something looking in on me when I open my eyes in the middle of the night.

I blame it on the JeepersCreepers2 movie.

And you know how service centers are in the Philippines. National said they could come look at it on Thursday (tomorrow). While I have my doubts about my old aircon unit still being servicable (I think it's over 10 years old), I'll wait till tomorrow's verdict before looking at shops for a new one. I've already got the dimensions written in a piece of paper in my bag, hehe.

For the sake of saving money though, I hope the aircon is still serviceable with a reasonable price tag.

...

As an afterthough, getting a new aircon means I'll be able to save electricity when I use it, since the newer models consume less power than the old ones. ;P

PLDT myDSL Sucks

I hate PLDT.

I've been a PLDT myDSL subscriber since July 2004. Back then, the internet packages were something like P2500 for a 768Kbps (or was is 786kbps?) connection. In those days, a 768Kbps connection was already pretty good.

Technology and the internet has kept on advancing in the past 2-3 years, and as of August 2006, the PLDT myDSL packages look like this:

Plan 999 = 512Kbps
Plan 1995 = 1.2Mbps
Plan 3000 = 5Mbps
* Note that the prices are exclusive of VAT.

Where am I going with this? Well, did you know:

1. PLDT did not provide flyers regarding the new DSL packages to existing subscribers.
2. Existing subscribers do NOT get an automatic upgrade.

Which means that UNLESS you storm over to PLDT to get your plan changed (only after your 2-year lockup period has passed, of course), you will be paying good money for poor service.

My 2-year lock up ended last July 2006. Technically, I have been paying P2545.56 (with 12% VAT) for a 768kbps connection, but newer myDSL subscribers pay only P2035 (with 12% VAT) for a 1.2Mbps connection -- they pay less for better service.

And get this...

1. When you ask PLDT to upgrade your speed under the same plan, my P2545.56 per month will only allow me up to a 1Mbps speed upgrade.

2. When you ask PLDT to upgrade your plan to upgrade to a higher speed, they call it a DOWNGRADE, since they make less money (they get P2545.56 for 768Kbps VS getting P2035 for 1.2Mbps).

3. When you ask to "downgrade" your plan, the telephone customer service people will tell you that you have to pay a P5000 service charge (F*ck that, I'd rather terminate my DSL plan. Besides, I'm WAYYYY past my 2year lockup period, stupid! DUH!)

4. When you ask for a rebate to compensate for the overpayment you are making (versus the current DSL packages), they'll tell you this is not possible since the old plan is still in effect.

5. When you tell them that they should've automatically "downgraded" the plan, they'll tell you they don't change current plans without the advise of the subscriber.

6. When you tell them that they should've provided the new packages information to existing subscribers (hello, they send useless ad flyers with your PLDT phone bill), they'll tell you that the information has been available since the day the packages were made available to the market.

Oh... I had to ask all of these via a Business Center because their telephone customer service hotline SUCKS BIG TIME!

I hate PLDT.

The only reason I have a PLDT DSL subscription to begin with is that my company was the one who applied for the DSL subscription (since it's a work-related benefit). Since the 2year lockup is over, I have the option to switch to Bayantel. Unfortunately, Bayantel does not offer competetive rates / speed. I need a connection of at least 1Mbps, and Bayantel can't give this to me at a reasonable rate. Globelines is not available in my part of Metro Manila. *sigh*

For now, I've decided to retain my DSL subscription (but I made them "downgrade" it to Plan 1995, but have to wait for 2 weeks before the changes take effect), at least until August. By then, I will be moving to my new place in another part of Metro Manila, and I'll have to get a new subscription with whatever carrier will be available there (screw PLDT if they're still the provider in that area). It would be too much effort to change to a Bayantel subscription if I'm only going to be able to use it for 5 months, when there is a lockup period to consider, plus the ludicrous rates).

But damn, I hope I'll be able to switch to a better provider then.

Space filler

Didn't have the time to make a decent entry today.

I got home at 12mn last night, went to sleep around 1:20am, got to sleep for 4 hours before I had to take my mom to the airport, left the house at around 530am, got to Centennial around 6am, decided to go straight to the office (I live in QC, so if I went home to sleep, I would've gone South from North, North to South and then South to North again... wag na lang), took an emergency call while on the way to the office at 630am, worked the whole day straight for the emergency case till 12:45pm, went down to the food area and got a hotdog sandwich at 1pm, took it immediately up to the office and ate at my desk till 1:30pm, continued the emergency case and stayed in the office till 4pm, left to go to my supplier and arrived there at 5pm, took a snooze in the car till 5:45pm, had dinner at 6pm, left my supplier's office at 7:20pm, went to pick up some design materials and arrived there at 8pm, got home at 8:15pm.

*breathes*

As you can see, it's been a full enough day as it is.

It's now 10pm, time to doze so that I can get my brain pumped for a better blog entry tomorrow. I actually have 3 pending topics I can write about since I want to rant/rave about some experiences that happened in the last 2 days.

Good night!

Resolution # 2

Holy sh*t!

As of 2007 April 09, I officially weigh 118lbs.

Damn it.

I've now (re)discovered resolution number 2.

RESOLUTION # 2: Lose Weight!

At a quarter less than 5" in height, my ideal weight should be 93 to 98lbs, based on the BMI (Body Mass Index), if I remember correctly. My actual weight before I joined my present company was 103lbs. I'm not overly weight-conscious, and I abhor the thought of dieting, so if my weight fluctuates between 100lbs to 105lbs, I'm good.

I'm an avid eater (I love food), and I don't really exercise since I get to do a lot of walking. I know that I have high metabolism, so I depend on that as well to keep... fit is not the right word... from getting big. I have never minded being slightly overweight (hello, what is slightly?), as long as I have minimum "jiggly" and "orange peel" skin. My philosophy on eating is don't skimp, eat heartily and finish every morsel.

But

When you see that you are 20lbs++ over the ideal weight AND 2 of your favorite pair of pants AND you can no longer wear those fit shirts you bought a few years go, it might be time to change that philosophy about eating.

I guess it's time to start being conscious about what I eat. I'm developing an aversion to pork (as friend says, it's sticky), so I don't have to worry about removing that from my diet since I don't crave for it... unless we're talking about liempo here. ;P I hardly ever eat the fats, but it's now time to stop eating them entirely. I love fish and veggies, but since they are pricier than meat servings when eating out, I will have to increase my food budget for those. Cutting down on junk/snack food is the most difficult part, since pizza, fries and potato chips are major cravings-food for me. Hmmm... I guess I will have to add soda to this list as well.

This also means I can no longer afford to skip breakfast, since I've noticed that an 8am breakfast of cereal or oatmeal (my usual breakfast choices, mind you), keep me feeling full for a good 6 hours.

Again, I don't believe in dieting, so I'm not going to stop eating those just because I started getting weight conscious. I just have to minimize my servings and cut down the frequency of the munchies.

*sigh* Good luck to me.

5 days later...

Argh! I missed 5 days of writing!!!

But I have a valid excuse... :D It was Holy Week! So I chose not to open my laptop while I was out of town. Hey, I'm not going to spoil my resting days just to post a blog, and I was definitely not going to lose my head over not being able to access the internet for 5 days. I'm not THAT technology-dependent yet! :)

It was a good Holy Week for me. I got to rest, I got to visit 9 churches, I got to go to Zoobic Safari (posting videos later on), I got to simply hang out with friends, I got to resist the temptation to eat liempo on Good Friday and I got to attend the Easter Vigil mass.

We didn't have our annual easter egg hunt at my granny's house this year though, bummer.

Yeah yeah, this isn't a real blog post, fine! I have another blog entry which I will be posting tomorrow so that it counts as tomorrow's blog entry. ;P

Anyway, busy now. See ya tomorrow!

April 2007 Resolution: Resolution #1

It's actually a bit late to be making New Year's Resolutions, but I've always thought that later is better than never.

I've come to a realization in the last few months... actually, I've come to this realization ages ago, but have FINALLY decided I seriously want to act on it. I don't know what brought this on, and I can't really explain it. All I can say is that I believe it's a good start. :)


RESOLUTION #1: Regain my lost writing skills.

My writing has been stagnant since I graduated high school in 1996. That's been almost 11 years ago. While I can still speak english the way I used to, I find that it has not improved (vocabulary-wise, among other things). I find that I am no longer able to cohere my thoughts with my words, especially when it comes to composing something on paper.

I'm still able to edit existing paragraphs to a better, more-readable prose, but can no longer CREATE any long compositions on my own. I've backed myself into an intellectual corner.

Time to get out.

How to do it? Well, I figure I could start small... like writing blogs.

Blogging is a modern way for me to start writing again. Since blogging is free-form (no themes in particular, no stories or epics to continue...), I should be able to come up with entries that improve as time goes on. It should be easier than trying to start writing stories again, since I can talk about any topic under the sun. I have also decided to blog every day. At least 1 decently long paragraph that is coherent, cohesive and able to convey a thought properly.

This is my starting point. I hope you readers will come with me on this journey. :)

Nokia Siemens Networks Trademark

February 7th, 2007

PepsiCo sues to block new Nokia Siemens Network Logo citing trademark infringement.

Purchase, NY—Frito Lay, a division of PepsiCo filed suit today in federal district court seeking to block the use of the logo representing newly merged Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). Citing the similarity between the NSN logo and the popular Ruffles brand potato chip, attorneys for Frito Lay are seeking an injunction baring Nokia Siemens Networks from launching any marketing campaign using the newly created icon.

Charles Nicolas, Vice President of Public Affairs for Frito Lay, insisted at a press conference earlier today that irrevocable harm to the Ruffles brand would result from any use of the NSN logo. “Consumers associate delicious Ruffles Potato Chips with the distinctive ridged shape,” Nicolas said, “we had to act to make sure there would be no confusion in the marketplace.”

Chip lovers have come to know that “R R R Ruffles Have Ridges!” The thick ridges of Ruffles Potato Chips help hold more great potato chip flavors and stand up to the thickest dips. “We’ve delivered the Triple Play of Ruffles, Dip, and an ice cold Pepsi, now Nokia Siemens Networks is attempting to confuse consumers with their ‘voice, data, and video’ triple play.” Nicolas asserted. “How well does a Flexi Base Station Platform stand up to a thick ranch dip fresh from the refrigerator?”

Simon Beresford-Wylie, CEO-designate of Nokia Siemens Networks disagrees with Nicolas’ assertion. “First of all, the Flexi Base Station is housed in a high impact ABS plastic housing, which, one would assume, could support more dip than all but the thickest potato chip” Beresford-Wylie retorted. “Second, Nokia Siemens Networks is offering an integrated product portfolio that allows our customers to offer the quad play of voice, data, video, and wireless. How does Frito Lay intend to step up to the quad play? By adding a napkin?”

Legal analysts give the lawsuit little chance of success, but concede that the Nokia Siemens Networks logo does look remarkably similar to both Ruffles and Lay’s Wavy potato chips.

Ruffles Potato Chip

Nokia Siemens Networks Logo

Article taken from Dan Covey's CRAPPIBlog