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The David Among the Giant Printers

Choices for printers have improved a whole lot since the days of slow black and white matrix printers. Anyone can now have faster quality prints at home that years ago could only be achieved through costly commercial printing press services. Now we have one in our hands. It’s a Brother all-in-one printer 150C model. An impulsive but justified buy. A printer, scanner and copier in one package at the price of just approximately Php 4000 (<USD 100) is money well spent.

This brand may not be as popular as Canon or HP when it comes to printers, but the features it has are competitive enough. The printer’s interface is user friendly. Its overall case and parts appear sturdy which remind me of our Brother portable typewriter that I’ve done a good deal of torture but still remains in operation until now—15 years later. Hopefully this multi-printer will stay strong just like his brother (pun intended).

Scanned images and print outs appear better than expected. At first we got disappointed when the photo prints outs had lines in it but after reading the user’s manual (duh!) and following the instructions a better print came out. I can’t say it’s perfect, but it’s like just any other photo I received from my sister who I know got a Canon photo printer and from some friends who developed their digital images thru professional developing centers. By the way, it has four separate ink cartridges (black, magenta, cyan and yellow) which makes it economical. Only the consumed color gets to be replaced. My resume will use up only the black one first anyhow.

Nothing is perfect though. Upon installation I saw some issues with it. The scanning software doesn’t have a preview unlike my Canon’s LiDE 20 which I find very useful as it lessens scanning time when doing small size papers such as paper bills which I used to test it. I read in the manual that it’s illegal to scan money. Don’t worry I don’t intend to forge my 500 bill. Though I wish it could multiply just like that. Ti abi.

printer
AC Cord on lower left corner. Scanner bed is shown as lifted to access USB port.
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Red arrow pointing at USB port.

Lastly, I find the AC cord and USB connections weird. I expect the AC cord to be at the rear part and the USB port just somewhere visible. The port is hidden underneath the scanner bed which must be lifted in order to connect/remove the cable. I don’t know if the other multi-printer brands are set up like this.

Overall, this neat multi-printer will make the top brands a run for their money. It’s like David vs. Goliath. It’s like AMD vs. Intel. Hmm. It’s a stretch, and let’s not go there. It’s for another blog.

 

The Yoyo and One Vantage Point

Every now and then, I would always remember one of the emails I received regarding man having just two choices the moment he wakes up and starts his day. So as this week seems to be a week of confusion, fun, adventure, fun—or in short, just confusion, I had to deal with these two choices: is it going to be a good or a bad day? So on April fool’s day, despite already having a hint of the things that may happen within the week, my wife and I refused to let it go down on us. We chose to be happy.

At lunch time we decided to eat at Brazilian Bbq restaurant in ATC which is fairly new in the area. The place is just at the back of the former Saisaki restaurant and its small space gives a homey feel to it. I think it can only accommodate approximately 50 customers at a time—less elbows to rub, less buffet rivals, more chance to pick and savor the food. Don’t be deceived by its size though as this restaurant packs a variety of good food, mostly grilled. I don’t know who conceptualized it, but this place gives yoyo diet a new definition.

Other than the plates, spoons and forks, and condiments, the waiter also places a yoyo on the table. To a newcomer, this may come as surprise as to what its purpose may be. The yoyo is colored green on one side and red on the other. Laying the toy with green on top means a waiter will come to your table with random grilled food still at its rotisserie stake although you may ask whatever food you preferred. They’ll be coming right back until you’ve turned the yoyo over with its red side on top. It just occurred to me that this is a good way to keep the customers from saying “stop” while their mouth is “stuffed”. Wise idea.

As we normally do, we checked out the movies after the hearty meal. And as much as I’m longing to watch an animated film, Horton. I quickly erased the thought of it as the grilled meat made me look for something adrenalin-packed. So we transferred to the nearby Festival Mall and without any doubt I saw what I’m looking for—Vantage Point.

The first 30 minutes of the movie will make one think of seeing a crappy film. The scenes keep on coming back at 11:59:59 AM. Back and forth, back and forth. It drags. Sooner though, the plot continues to become clearer and interesting and that is when the movie reveals what 8 strangers, 8 stories, 1 vantage point mean. The car chase scenes are almost at par with that of Ronin. Other that the obvious Hollywood flaws like the almost preserved clean state of some of the characters amidst the bomb blast and car crashes this movie has a cast who renders convincingly great acting. Two thumbs up.

***

Earth Hour 2008

I have just participated in the Earth Hour. From 8-9 PM our house was in total darkness with only the light from the street post beaming through the window. I was hesitant at first to turn the TV off as I was watching the show Shocking Video: Deadly Force (it always fascinates me to see cops emptying their guns on hooligans but that’s another story) but good thing it ended at exactly 8 PM. Seriously, I’d end watching it, finished or not finished just to do my share.

Since my wife was out, I was left out alone and was thinking what to do outside while killing time. So I tried sending an SMS to some of my friends reminding them to observe the lights out activity. Out of the 20 plus contacts five actually replied that they too have their lights off. Great. At least I’m not the only person looking up to the heavens and trying to appreciate its natural beauty (haven’t done that for a long time). I think I’m the only person in our neighborhood who observed Earth Hour 2008 so I find it nice to know that somewhere out there are some of my friends doing the same thing. I now wonder how many joined and how much energy was saved.

I Met A Hottie

The anticipation of storm Mitag affected this week’s day-off. I got more bored, got lazier and missed the company of my wife more. To compensate for all the negativity and longing, I got out of my normal routine and tried to look for something worthwhile doing.

That’s when I met someone I haven’t seen for a long time, and if I remember it right, I haven’t touched her for years. Well the time and opportunity was perfect–-my wife was out, I was alone. And with the eagerness to deviate from something so predictable, I picked her up in excitement. She’s still got the curves and she turned hot so easily. Great, just my type.

Being separated for quite a while, we got some getting-to-know-each-other moment but fair enough we got along pretty well soon. As I lay my hands on her, she responded immediately and did what was expected of her. Hana is her name and we miss each other a lot.

We did it three times in a row and the last one was the best. I was getting the hang of it already but then my “session” with Hana has to end.

Time flies so fast that I didn’t notice that all three shirts are done. And our Hanabishi flatiron has to end its job.

***

Blame it on the rain as they say. In this case, on the storm that gladly didn’t pass through our place. It is nerve-wracking to wait for the 100kph storm, but looking at the bright side I get to notice Hana who has been collecting dust right under our computer. I just don’t know if when I’ll see her again, but it seems that we’ll be frequenting to see each other as I just realized that I love the sight of a well-ironed shirt. Ti abi.

‘Tis The Season To Be Jolly

 

“Don’t be afraid to be weak Don’t be too proud to be strong

Just look into your heart my friend

That will be the return to yourself” – Enigma. Return to Innocence

The ‘ber’ months begin once more and September sets the holiday mood. Different ages react differently to this transition however. For most adult this is the start of expenses pouring in as everything seems to get listed in the needs section of the budget list. The wants list becomes empty for the time being. For most children, however, this is just the season to be jolly. Period.

I could still remember my excitement as a kid when our calendar flips to September. It was as if the calendar would play the song Santa Claus is coming to town on cue. The Santa Claus I would soon discover as ordinary adults who get restless when the ‘ber’ months arrive. Twenty years later, I would become one of them.

It feels like it was only a couple days ago when someone reminded me to start buying gifts to avoid the rush. Just like any broken vinyl record the thought of Christmas shopping skips and repeats. Sadly, the rush doesn’t skip. It just repeats. It intensifies even. The farthest I can remember panicking at this level was since I started having my own pay check–now I wonder if paydays be celebrated or cursed. My wife and I normally kid each other usually around every January to start buying Christmas trees and gifts. But before I know it, the ‘ber’ months are here again.

Now we’re staring at November. The mall sales are getting more frequent. The bonuses are coming in (or shall I say passing through). The yuletide songs are as common as jeepney noise.  The dreaded traffic worsens.  The horrifying thought of the inaanaks knocking at the front door getting realized as December nears. It’s funny but now when someone says “Christmas is just around the corner” this to me is like a windtalker’s code that someone is out to get me.

So have I become the Grinch? During this season most adults are anyhow. Well it must be the cycle of life. Some call it karma. The act gets repeated but the recipients change. If before I was thankfully receiving crisp bills, now I’m…I’m not giving one. Beside, the crisp bills now are of less value. Hehe. Every time I’m in this situation I think of an old Filipino song (by Asin) with the following lyrics:

Itanong mo sa mga bata (Ask the children)

Ano ang kanilang nakikita (What they see)

Sa buhay na hawak nila (In the life they have)

Masdan mo ang mga bata (Observe the children)

Sila ang tunay na pinagpala (They are the lucky ones)

Kaya dapat nating pahalagahan (We should appreciate them)

Dapat din kayang kainggitan? (Shouldn’t we envy them)

Although this is not a Christmas song, this describes how having the innocence matters. It’s about taking the simple meaning of the season for what it is. Children love Christmas for Santa Claus. (If they love it for Christ’s birth, the better of course. But that’s where our adult explanation comes into play and that’s another topic worthy of a long discussion.) So if only us adults could see this significance even just during December, then I think this is only when we could wholeheartedly join the children in saying, “’tis the season to be jolly.”

Hello Wifey, This poem is for you…

Being you…

Enhances my identity

Being caring…

Makes me appreciate your presence more

Being patient…

Teaches me to be one.

Being understanding…

Encourages me to know compassion.

Being funny…

Just tickles my funny bone.

Being strong…

Makes me stay as one.

Being loving…

Makes me love you more.

Being a late greeter…

Gives me the excuse to write this one bad poem. Happy Birthday!

I love you!

***

This is a poem for wifey’s 2007 birthday which I hurriedly composed since I’ve been busy at work packing precious processors instead of packing a birthday gift.

Got Hooked On Numbers

I hate to admit it, but I hate numbers. Ever since I started going to school, I despised any activity that has something to do with it. That goes on without saying that I hate math. As a graduate of a course related to electronics engineering (and just last year, as a computer engineer) I had to bear with the fact that I can’t escape the reality that I have to face and deal with problems involving calculations and computations on a regular basis. Thankfully, I didn’t fail any of those “numbers-related” subjects (That doesn’t include my previous Mechanical Engineering course which was spent learning BMX freestyles in- stead. Come to think of it, it deals with some Physics anyhow). But I didn’t excel in it either. So until now I’m still amused every time I remember a classmate mentioning that he’s been peeking at my Calculus test papers for “clues” and was able to pass the exams because of it. How I pulled it off, I don’t know.

By the start of this year, my wife bought this weird puzzle booklet from the supermarket and upon seeing that it was about matching several numbers, I avoided it right away. Had it been a crossword puzzle, I would have been her rival in an instant.

sudoku_zpshwhfywdw
Sudoku.

Since that time, I would regularly see her with this booklet and a pencil. I would wonder every now and then if what makes her attracted to play Sudoku puzzles and if it is really worth the time. It went on even during our trip to Malaysia. She also convinced her brother and he got hooked just like her or even worse.

A couple of weeks after we arrived from that vacation (which was a wonderful one, despite the Sudoku distractions), I eagerly asked for the weird puzzle and tried my hands and brain on it. Just like a car’s engine left idle for a long time, my brain’s number sector hesitated for a couple of minutes before engaging on the problem at hand – i.e., solve the puzzle rated as one-shuriken. In Sudoku speak, it is the easiest. Time went by and after several mind-boggling hours, and after our floor (and bed sheet) collected mounds of eraser shavings, I realized that I was hooked on this numbers game. I timed my puzzle-solving and clocked 5 minutes or less on some one-shuriken problems. My wife said she has done better. I don’t care. She’s not my competition. My rival is myself. I have likewise solved two- to four-shuriken problems. For how long? Don’t ask. What matters most is that I solved it anyway.

Last night we bought our third booklet. It is rated intermediate. The first page starts with four-shuriken problems and I peeked at the last ones, most of it has diagonal-odd puzzles. In plain words, It can make one crazy. Hehe- hehe. Hahahahahaha. Huhuhuhu. Am I drooling yet?

C++ for the Tipsy

I’ve read a couple of “for Dummies” book lately and it seems to work fine with me. The text and illustrations of this book series are so clear and good, than non-dummies will likely appreciate it as well — most probably as a reviewer, just like myself (big naughty smile).

Well, I was surfing through the web tonight while having my nightcap of cheap Tanduay 5 years rum (which my father didn’t finished during his visit here) and started to check on some C++ reviewers to kill time. As it has been more than a couple of hours since I had the alcohol, I have trouble understanding some of the syntax and commands when this light bulb of mine began to light up.

C++ for the Tipsy? Wouldn’t it be nice if some good authors come up with a “for the Tipsy” book series then sell or display it at liquor bar tables? The series can have some titles such as “Driving Home for the Tipsy”, “Road Ethics for the Tipsy”, “Assembling a PC for the Tipsy”, “Biking 101 for the Tipsy”, “Job Hunting for the Tipsy” and any other things one might think of while being tipsy. I had to recommend though that pages of these books should be waterproof as some don’t stop at just being tipsy. Go figure.

Internet for Oldies

This recent Christmas vacation, we introduced our parents to the modern world of computers. A week has passed and most days were spent on buying a new PC, setting up the connections and an almost never ending tutorial on how it will be used to connect to the internet.

I recall more than a couple of years ago when my wife and I gave my mother a cellphone for her to join the SMS fad. I can still picture her out laughing out loud upon discovering that she has just sent a text message to herself. Luckily, after some patient sessions with my wife (with the unnecessary texting even when they are a couple of feet apart) she learned the basics and was able to send us messages while we are at the airport on our way back by the end of our holiday vacation.

Now is her time to transition to the more complex World Wide Web.

Fortunately, with some organizational and training skills I acquired from work, I got to somehow manage and make the sessions less stressful by labeling almost every wire at the back panel, capturing actual hardware pictures and screenshots. All of which were then transferred to a Word document as a training material and printed and made available for her to refer to while doing the start-up from the very beginning–from plugging the AC cord, powering up the UPS, turning the CPU on, logging in to Windows XP and then connecting to the internet via dial up.

Once connected, more were asked. “What is an icon?” “What’s a double click?” “Why double click on some and single click on the others?” “What’s a domain?” “Why’s there an @ character?” “What’s a shortcut?” “Why’s the Window’s Start button got the Turn Off computer option?” “Why did the message turn to Read status?” And these, are just a few of the long list of questions that I never anticipated.

Despite the newbie encounters, I think my patience is paying off. Mother has already sent a couple of emails to my sister abroad and some family friends. She has already started surfing the web and has already filed and accessed her Favorites.

Even with such progress, today I checked some books in our local bookstore expecting to see some computer self-help book applicable for people like my mother. Well, I saw Basic C++, How to Upgrade your PC, Do-It-Yourself: Fixing a PC and other books with fundamentals written on it but which contain a lot of computer jargons that would only intimidate more rather than encourage my mother to continue using her new PC.

I came near a book from local authors  with the name “Internet Fundamentals” but that too lacks the basics on the PC’s operations. If I could have the chance to publish my own, I would have made some bucks out of it. It’s so frustrating, but so far I haven’t seen a book with a direct approach to Internet for Oldies. Hopefully, I’ll find one in Powerbooks once I get back to Manila.

I have few more days here in Bacolod. Tomorrow I’ll be teaching my father. Fingers crossed.

December Weddings

Today I almost missed attending a friend’s wedding (Villafuerte-Espinosa) due to sore throat. Since I’ve prepared for this day so I could see this normally rugged and casual guy march down the aisle in barong tagalog to meet his bride, I dragged my aching throat and drove my way to Tagaytay.

I arrived at the Ina ng Laging Saklolo Church late, but not late enough to be included in the photo op (which I swear is the most stressful part of any wedding) with other friends and co-workers.  And as if by reflex, after the pictures have been taken, I with a couple of friends sped off to the reception area at Lake Garden Hotel and arrived there first. It dawned on me that I could win an Amazing Race series if all the pit stops are event reception centers. I’ve done this a couple of weddings already.

The tables and buffet meals were set overlooking the picturesque Taal Lake. The weather was good and the view of the volcano was a perfect background for the bride, groom and all the guests. It would have been more perfect if there was alcohol to warm up our body from the chilly atmosphere. But then again it wouldn’t have mattered as I got the damn sore throat.

I left early to catch up with my doctor’s appointment. We will drink to that someday. Congratulations Rommel and Betchay.

***

Another wedding I attended this month was my in-law’s 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration which my wife and relatives had been preparing for almost two years. Although the weather on December 9 was flip-flopping, the folks in Batangas got things going early. The bayanihan spirit, which is not uncommon in their place during events like this, kicked off in high gear.

The guys butchered the pig in the wee hours of the morning and prepared the pork parts and cuts for various recipes. The ladies, old and young alike, chopped and got the spices ready, while the others cooked. The smoke-filled kitchen was bustling with activity and the aroma of typical Batangueno food reaches every corner of the place.

Despite the threat of rain, the wedding started on time at the local chapel. The males donned barong tagalog, while the females wore golden yellow dress. The little girls (granddaughters) had butterfly wings on them.

After the ceremony and photo op, inay po and itay po rode back with us in our humble Kia Pride back to the reception area that was set at the common basketball court just outside their house—another typical Filipino setting.

Due to the inclement weather, the wedding entourage tables, set under a tarpaulin, got flooded still due to the uneven portion of the ground (a remnant of the last typhoon Milenyo) but it did not stop the festive mood. Some guys who are still in barong, neatly ironed pants and shiny shoes armed themselves with dust pans and broom sticks to clear the area so that guests may be seated.

The rest of the night stayed rainy. Everyone had to wade in inches of flood to get to their tables. Others had to take shelter under their own plates while lining at the buffet area. But as most people would believe, the rain is a sign of blessing. So be it.

It is a blessing indeed for a couple to reach 50 years together. It is a blessing for their children to have such parents; for their grandchildren to have been able to see and be with their lolo and lola; and for us in-laws to have someone who trusted us with their children whom we now have as our own spouses.

I have nothing but praises for my parents-in-law. For them to be with each other for this long is a feat by itself. It takes more than just patience, love and understanding to hold on to such relationship especially in the current times where loose morals, fast-pace life, consumerism and materialism prevail. It is always easy and sometimes mushy to say, but it’s a fact that God had to be in the center of one’s marriage to surpass every trial. No more, no less.

To everyone who had or is just about to have their wedding this December, my congratulations and best wishes to all of you. I’m sure your Christmas and New Year will never be cold.