Book Prowl Success
My most recent book prowl has resulted in an addition to my growing Brian Jacques collection.
In the most unexpected of book hovels – the Books for Less on the third level of the Podium within RCBC Plaza – I managed to purchase Martin the Warrior, one of the most important books of the Redwall Saga. This book tells of the wanderings and adventures of a newly-freed Martin the Warrior Mouse and his quest for his father’s sword which is, as expected in any SF-Fantasy book, being held by a bad, bad stoat named Badrang. The events in the book took place before his visits into Mossflower.
I’m about 25% into the book which I get to read every now and then every time I have a free time at home.
The Big Move
By next month, my family and I will hopefully be moving to a new apartment.
Our current apartment (somehow synonymous with being a firetrap) has become more a burden than an inconvenience and recent events with the landlord’s right-hand man proved once and for all that moving to a new abode is the better option.
Last May, we were the only tenants in the 3-door apartment. When we received our monthly billing, I was aghast as electricity soared to Php 5,000!!! Since we began our tenancy last August 2006, the highest rate that our electric bill has reached was Php 2200. In April, we paid Php 1,600 so something fishy happened in May which skyrocketed our bill to Php 5,000.
Plus, since February this year, water service has been interrupted monthly. Every month, Manila Water comes to our compound to cut off the service presumably because they have received no notice that our beloved landlord paid the water bill. While the water service does get returned right away, the inconvenience the situation brings is wildly bewildering.
Rats, big, big sewer rats are also a problem with the apartment. Come night time, the rats infest the place – destroying plastic containers, trying desperately to forage for food, climbing refrigerators and tables and chairs. But the worse thing the rats did was to destroy wirings. They ate away the telephone cord, they destroyed our components power supply cord, and the rats have been terrorizing the wirings of my computer – AVR wire, LAN cable wires, headphone wires, power cords, extension cords, etc.
Lastly, new tenants moved in early this month and unfortunately, these were young chaps – students – who unfortunately forget that they live with neighbors. Conversations between the two brothers involved shouting and they are developing a nasty habit of waking up before 7:00am and conversing. If they’re not conversing, they play basketball which involves bouncing the ball to produce an all-echoing, dribbling noise enough to wake u your senses.
Hence, the big move is on next month.
The Upgrade
After a punishing yearbook project, my PC is in need of an upgrade.
Since I’ve bought the machine in 2005, the only upgrade (if it qualifies as an upgrade at all) it had was a change of the power supply unit last year. Aside from that, my PC has been virtually slave-driven and its available resources maxed out when I used it.
Last week, it decided to conk out. When I powered it up, it refused to boot. With my inept computer hardware skills, I removed and re-attached the memory modules (in the process losing a memory holder of one of the slots and now I only have three memory slots until I can find that wee bit of plastic needed to hold the module in place), cleaned up the fans a bit, and unplugged and re-plugged the wirings but to no avail. A former officemate serviced it back to working condition (he said that the memory modules needed cleaning and he got half-a-roll of mocha cake as my way of thanks).
To make sure my P4 1.4GHz computer gets to run effectively for the next 2 to 3 years, these couple of upgrades, I think, are most needed:
• boost my current 512MB (2 pcs of 256MB RAMs) of RAM to a higher capacity – probably make it 1GB at least. With only three memory slots functioning, my best bet would either be to buy a 512MB memory module (to make my total RAM 1GB) or buy 1GB to boost my PC’s capacity to 1.5GB.
• replace my CD-RW with a DVD Combo – due to cost constraints, I think a DVD combo would be my best bet because my projects require me to be able to write onto CDs. Another option would just be to buy a DVD drive and buy a CD enclosure. But the second option means spending double the amount of a DVD Combo so I think it’ll just be more prudent to buy a DVD combo and sell my CD-RW.
These are the only upgrades I need in the next few weeks given my budget. But if I had a bigger budget to splurge on (short of buying a new PC), I would upgrade my PC with a DVD-RW drive, max out my RAM to 3 GB (4GB if I manage to find that plastic memory holder), an ergonomic keyboard, and a higher capacity PSU.
Getting Caught in the Croc Frenzy
My sister, Wheng, who works at the Dubai Duty Free (of course, in Dubai) has voluntarily promised to buy me, Elvie, our parents, and little Ikai Crocs (www.crocs.com).
My most recent book prowl has resulted in an addition to my growing Brian Jacques collection.
In the most unexpected of book hovels – the Books for Less on the third level of the Podium within RCBC Plaza – I managed to purchase Martin the Warrior, one of the most important books of the Redwall Saga. This book tells of the wanderings and adventures of a newly-freed Martin the Warrior Mouse and his quest for his father’s sword which is, as expected in any SF-Fantasy book, being held by a bad, bad stoat named Badrang. The events in the book took place before his visits into Mossflower.
I’m about 25% into the book which I get to read every now and then every time I have a free time at home.
The Big Move
By next month, my family and I will hopefully be moving to a new apartment.
Our current apartment (somehow synonymous with being a firetrap) has become more a burden than an inconvenience and recent events with the landlord’s right-hand man proved once and for all that moving to a new abode is the better option.
Last May, we were the only tenants in the 3-door apartment. When we received our monthly billing, I was aghast as electricity soared to Php 5,000!!! Since we began our tenancy last August 2006, the highest rate that our electric bill has reached was Php 2200. In April, we paid Php 1,600 so something fishy happened in May which skyrocketed our bill to Php 5,000.
Plus, since February this year, water service has been interrupted monthly. Every month, Manila Water comes to our compound to cut off the service presumably because they have received no notice that our beloved landlord paid the water bill. While the water service does get returned right away, the inconvenience the situation brings is wildly bewildering.
Rats, big, big sewer rats are also a problem with the apartment. Come night time, the rats infest the place – destroying plastic containers, trying desperately to forage for food, climbing refrigerators and tables and chairs. But the worse thing the rats did was to destroy wirings. They ate away the telephone cord, they destroyed our components power supply cord, and the rats have been terrorizing the wirings of my computer – AVR wire, LAN cable wires, headphone wires, power cords, extension cords, etc.
Lastly, new tenants moved in early this month and unfortunately, these were young chaps – students – who unfortunately forget that they live with neighbors. Conversations between the two brothers involved shouting and they are developing a nasty habit of waking up before 7:00am and conversing. If they’re not conversing, they play basketball which involves bouncing the ball to produce an all-echoing, dribbling noise enough to wake u your senses.
Hence, the big move is on next month.
The Upgrade
After a punishing yearbook project, my PC is in need of an upgrade.
Since I’ve bought the machine in 2005, the only upgrade (if it qualifies as an upgrade at all) it had was a change of the power supply unit last year. Aside from that, my PC has been virtually slave-driven and its available resources maxed out when I used it.
Last week, it decided to conk out. When I powered it up, it refused to boot. With my inept computer hardware skills, I removed and re-attached the memory modules (in the process losing a memory holder of one of the slots and now I only have three memory slots until I can find that wee bit of plastic needed to hold the module in place), cleaned up the fans a bit, and unplugged and re-plugged the wirings but to no avail. A former officemate serviced it back to working condition (he said that the memory modules needed cleaning and he got half-a-roll of mocha cake as my way of thanks).
To make sure my P4 1.4GHz computer gets to run effectively for the next 2 to 3 years, these couple of upgrades, I think, are most needed:
• boost my current 512MB (2 pcs of 256MB RAMs) of RAM to a higher capacity – probably make it 1GB at least. With only three memory slots functioning, my best bet would either be to buy a 512MB memory module (to make my total RAM 1GB) or buy 1GB to boost my PC’s capacity to 1.5GB.• replace my CD-RW with a DVD Combo – due to cost constraints, I think a DVD combo would be my best bet because my projects require me to be able to write onto CDs. Another option would just be to buy a DVD drive and buy a CD enclosure. But the second option means spending double the amount of a DVD Combo so I think it’ll just be more prudent to buy a DVD combo and sell my CD-RW.
These are the only upgrades I need in the next few weeks given my budget. But if I had a bigger budget to splurge on (short of buying a new PC), I would upgrade my PC with a DVD-RW drive, max out my RAM to 3 GB (4GB if I manage to find that plastic memory holder), an ergonomic keyboard, and a higher capacity PSU.
Getting Caught in the Croc Frenzy
My sister, Wheng, who works at the Dubai Duty Free (of course, in Dubai) has voluntarily promised to buy me, Elvie, our parents, and little Ikai Crocs (www.crocs.com).
While my father has refused to wear Crocs sandals and instead opted for shoes, topsider-style; my mother has made mention of her preference for Crocs Mary Janes model in gold hue. My wife has also expressed interest in Mary Janes as 
well but chose the greenish Sea-Foam color. I, on the other hand, will be going for the male version of Beach, in either charcoal gray or choco brown.
well but chose the greenish Sea-Foam color. I, on the other hand, will be going for the male version of Beach, in either charcoal gray or choco brown.And what will little Ikai wear? Wheng has already set her sights on a fuchsia pair of Baby Crocs for our daughter.
